Gear advice for newbie

[fisheater]

Al, when you wax the Vector, how big is your kick zone? Snow is getting deep enough for my fat waxable. It’s an Åsnes, so it has skin attachment slots. Normally I would call the wax pocket back of heel to skin attachment. I figure I will try 6-8” in front of the binding to start. To me 86 mm underfoot should provide good grip.

[Tomski]

Are there any NTN boots available (or coming) that are <4 buckle and closer to a T4 in height/flex?

[Nitram Tocrut]

Another question: I'm used to buying the longest size of XC skis. I'm 6'0" and 165 lbs. When it comes to wider BC skis, is there an argument for shorter? In general longer is faster, but I imagine shorter skis are more maneuverable and could turn better. Will I regret buying 184 cm in a UltraVector?

I just got the HyperVector BC in 184 cm and I love them but I weight about 45 pounds more than you so maybe 184 is too long if you want to ski in tight spaces but you would probably get extra flotation with the longer one. I mounted them with old, non 3 pins, HardWire and I am positively surprised by their k&G performance for such a big ski. I mostly ski alone so it does not really matter that they are way slower than XC skis... or i ski with slower partners so in that case they help For the boots i use my T4 and have not tried my leather boots but I suspect that is a lot of skis for my Andrew Zenith... and my skill level

[Tomski]

@Nitram Tocrut Good to hear! I think either could be good but I'm still leaning toward 177 at my weight.

Answering my own question, there is the Crispi Shiver NTN, three buckles, a bit lighter weight, but it seems many on this forum have not been happy with Crispi boots.
https://crispi.it/en/343/shiver-ntn/47/ ... aloe-green

So maybe no good lightweight NTN options still. There was talk of a light carbon NTN boot being developed a few years back; anyone know if Scarpa or anyone is still working on that?

[fisheater]

@Tomski contact Fey Brothers in regards to Crispi boots. They are in New Hampshire and are a respected shop. They are also a Crispi dealer.

@Nitram Tocrut congratulations on the new skis! I will be on the look out for your reviews. Too cool, I should have my Tindan 86 out this weekend. I plan on trying the Ski March and the T-4.

[lowangle al]

Al, when you wax the Vector, how big is your kick zone? Snow is getting deep enough for my fat waxable. It’s an Åsnes, so it has skin attachment slots. Normally I would call the wax pocket back of heel to skin attachment. I figure I will try 6-8” in front of the binding to start. To me 86 mm underfoot should provide good grip.

That's a good place to start. The scale pattern on my 170 vectors bc is about 70 cm long with 15cm south of my heel and this about where I would put the wax. I just recently started waxing from the heel forward (thanks to your advise) so I will do that with all of my skis going forward.

[lowangle al]

Another question: I'm used to buying the longest size of XC skis. I'm 6'0" and 165 lbs. When it comes to wider BC skis, is there an argument for shorter? In general longer is faster, but I imagine shorter skis are more maneuverable and could turn better. Will I regret buying 184 cm in a UltraVector?

I just got the HyperVector BC in 184 cm and I love them but I weight about 45 pounds more than you so maybe 184 is too long if you want to ski in tight spaces but you would probably get extra flotation with the longer one. I mounted them with old, non 3 pins, HardWire and I am positively surprised by their k&G performance for such a big ski. I mostly ski alone so it does not really matter that they are way slower than XC skis... or i ski with slower partners so in that case they help For the boots i use my T4 and have not tried my leather boots but I suspect that is a lot of skis for my Andrew Zenith... and my skill level

Martin, if you want to get the most out of your T4s for K&G try skiing without your poles on flatish terrain to get a better feel for how to best pressure the boots for a optimal kick. I pressure the cuff of the boot to get weight on the ski for the kick. The boot actually gives energy back when it decompresses. Also on the gliding ski I slightly pressure the back of the cuff with my calf to lighten the tips for better glide. You can do this with any boot but you get better results with less energy with a stiff boot.

I'm glad you love the skis.

[Tomski]

Al, when you wax the Vector, how big is your kick zone? Snow is getting deep enough for my fat waxable. It’s an Åsnes, so it has skin attachment slots. Normally I would call the wax pocket back of heel to skin attachment. I figure I will try 6-8” in front of the binding to start. To me 86 mm underfoot should provide good grip.

That's a good place to start. The scale pattern on my 170 vectors bc is about 70 cm long with 15cm south of my heel and this about where I would put the wax. I just recently started waxing from the heel forward (thanks to your advise) so I will do that with all of my skis going forward.

For double-camber XC skis, the simple method to determine wax pocket is to stand on both skis on a very flat, smooth floor, equally weighting the skis. Then have your wife/assistant/toddler/dog slide a sheet of paper back and forth under the ski, marking where it stops as the front and back of the wax pocket. Might work for a single-camber ski if you partially unweight the ski being measured...maybe? I have no idea....

The new method, for anyone curious, uses sophisticated pressure sensors to map the pressure all along each ski. Overkill for most people and use cases, though!

[Tomski]

Hey all,

I wanted to ask for more thoughts here on skis. I'm settled on an alpine-focused setup to start: going Meidjo 3 and Scarpa Tx Pro, and I'm trying to decide on lightweight fairly wide skis with around a 100 mm waist. The main reason is we have big mountains here and lots of snow, and my friends who I'll be skiing with have AT setups. I may add a lighter, leaner tele setup to my quiver in the future.

The HyperVectors seem a little too questionable (durability and no warranty) for the stiff boots and the type of touring I plan to do with this setup. I suppose I should still consider the UltraVectors, but my local shop doesn't carry them. They recommended Ogso skis (which are pretty rare in North America; this shop is one of 3 in N.A. that sells Ogso). They are a little heavier than HyperVectors but have better binding reinforcement for tele bindings. However, the model that they stock (Cosmique 90 and Schwarztor 100) has a super rocker design with a shorter camber that is 3 mm high and a very high tip rise. Seems perhaps too powder focused, and I'm not sure how such a design works for tele turns.

I am now exploring other options. Atomic Backlands seem very light and were mentioned as great skis in a thread about big tele skis on BackcountryTalk. Quite lightweight. They don't seem to have a 100 anymore, but they have a 95 and a 107. And Blizzard Zero Gs also look potentially good.

As always, I appreciate any thoughts or suggestions. There are too many options for backcountry skis....