And the next thing you know, it seems like a totally normal weekend activity to go drive off to the middle of nowhere to try out some Norwegian skis in a farmer's field. Yes, thanks to @Nitram Tocrut I have acquired a pair of FT62s which I was able to test pretty thoroughly over the last couple days. I spend most of my time skiing on steep, narrow trails, or at Mont Alta, which is a small mountain (150m of drop) with no grooming, no chairlifts, and two skin tracks, one of which is gentle enough to climb with good grip wax. Putting on and taking off skins to go uphill for 10 minutes at a time is not my idea of fun so I wanted a light, waxable ski that would turn quickly.
Skis: Åsnes FT62 172cm, Rottefella Super Telemark (day 1), Voilé cable (day 2)
Boots: Karhu Descent
Skier: 75kg, 172cm, beginner to intermediate telemark
Day 1: Conditions were -3 to -5C, Swix VR55N. First, we went to a steep open pasture with mostly untouched snow. This winter has been atypical in Quebec, after a horrendous rain disaster in December which wiped out *all* the snow *everywhere* we've had two months of low snow but consistently cold temperatures. So there is no natural base. This is not the ideal situation for FT62s, but I found it to be a good test of my telemark technique, which I can report is still bad - basically with equal weight on both skis at all times, I would float nicely downhill, but in the transitions just a bit of extra weight was enough to sink one ski or the other, and I wobbled a bunch (but I didn't fall down). This is fine, because these conditions basically never happen here. What actually convinced me was going back down the partly snowshoed-on trail that we climbed to get to the deep snow! I was able to make "dollar signs" across the track effortlessly and stay in control all the way down. We then took them out on some trails around the farm with a couple of steep pitches, and I noticed that the kick and glide on them was surprisingly good.
This was harder than it looked:
so I took them out to meet up with a group from the TDL that was skiing the Western from Sainte-Agathe to Sainte-Adèle, about 30km. It had just started to snow so the conditions were old hard-packed snow, -10C, Swix V40. This trail is known for being a bit of a "wild ride" but the section I did was fairly mellow except for two *really* steep sections with sharp turns at the bottom. I did 18km on trails, crossing 3 lakes, and confirmed that the FT62s are "fast enough" - no trouble keeping up with people on E99s and Nansens, though I would have liked lighter boots and NNN-BC. The "feeling" on trails was surprisingly similar to my nordic rockered E99s, including the flapping tip when climbing. Uphill performance was just okay until the new snow started to support the ski better. I chickened out and did 3 kick turns at the top of the first super-steep bit... but again, I had great fun "swishing" on the moderately steep parts and I was able to nail some sharp turns with ease.They do have something like a "wax pocket" (shown here with a bit of roadside filth in it):
Grey skis on a gray day:
I was already an avid XC skier at that time and my neighbor big hill was a bit frightening for me and my friends. We did go a couple of times down the hill on some “crazy carpet” just to do some face plant just before getting to the fence! If I had known at that time the joy of XCD I would probably still not struggle with my telemark technique 
I will tell Denis, the owner of the hill, what you sais about his farm on this world renown forum... if I was you I would never go there again 
