Åsnes Mountain Race Skin Sizing

[Peschamel]

Hey there Lurk-People,

I try to get myself a pair of Åsnes Mountain Race Skis if I find a good end of season discount somewhere. I am 1.80 m and 75 Kg (naked) - which size would you get? Asnes says 1.90m what do you say?

I will use the Ski at the Swiss Jura Mountainrange where there is a combination of a large groomed track net and a bit of offtrack cruising. Snow is mostly crusty hard and bad. That is why I fear a bit the longer size.

https://www.en.asnes.com/produkt/mountain-race-48-skin/

Cheers and thank you,

Peter

[beeeweee]

You’ll want to go here first: http://www.telemarktalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2186

[Woodserson]

I'm 188cm/68kg (normally 75kg) and I'm on the 200. NNN bindings (not BC). Fast kick and glide, and with strong telemark technique I can turn them pretty decent on groomed trails. HOWEVER- I mounted mine 1cm forward of Balance Point. They were a skiing too long mounted at BP, and moving them forward completely changed the ski. If you go for NNN boot and get the NIS plate and the 200cm ski mount them with the aft position of the plate at BP, so you can get up to 2cm of forward mounting position. No point in going backwards for more glide, in my opinion.

Very good ski for groomed ski areas with hills and hard snow. One of my favorites this winter.

[beeeweee]

I'm 188cm/68kg (normally 75kg) and I'm on the 200. NNN bindings (not BC). Fast kick and glide, and with strong telemark technique I can turn them pretty decent on groomed trails. HOWEVER- I mounted mine 1cm forward of Balance Point. They were a skiing too long mounted at BP, and moving them forward completely changed the ski. If you go for NNN boot and get the NIS plate and the 200cm ski mount them with the aft position of the plate at BP, so you can get up to 2cm of forward mounting position. No point in going backwards for more glide, in my opinion.

Very good ski for groomed ski areas with hills and hard snow. One of my favorites this winter.

This is good to know. I plan to mount my Rottefella MOVE NNN RMP binding plate 1cm forward of BP as well for the 190cm pair that I just ordered. That gives me +1.75 and -2.0 cm of adjustability. My weight is around 60kg and the recommended weight range for 190cm length is 70-80kg.

[spopepro]

Hi Peter,
I am 185cm and 80kg and I ski the MR skin in 210. I agree with Wooderson that mounted at BP they feel long, but I left mine where they are. They are a handful to turn but I have other skis for that. Otherwise they are perfect I think.

At the end of feb I took mine to Jura for 6 days, went La Givrine to Mollendruz for the first two days, then transferred to Chez Liadet and took 4 days down to Giron on the French side. Such a fun area to ski! The MR skin is just about the perfect ski for this area I think. It was good to benefit from the grooming when it was in, and not worry about it if it wasn't done or conditions were iffy.

[Woodserson]

I do NOT have the skin! I'm sorry I didn't realize this was for the skin version. I have the wax version.

[tkarhu]

Hey there Lurk-People,

I try to get myself a pair of Åsnes Mountain Race Skis if I find a good end of season discount somewhere. I am 1.80 m and 75 Kg (naked) - which size would you get? Asnes says 1.90m what do you say?

I will use the Ski at the Swiss Jura Mountainrange where there is a combination of a large groomed track net and a bit of offtrack cruising. Snow is mostly crusty hard and bad. That is why I fear a bit the longer size.

https://www.en.asnes.com/produkt/mountain-race-48-skin/

Cheers and thank you,

Peter

Did @Musk Ox disagree on Åsnes size guides especially on just this MR model?

[Musk Ox]

Hey there Lurk-People,

I try to get myself a pair of Åsnes Mountain Race Skis if I find a good end of season discount somewhere. I am 1.80 m and 75 Kg (naked) - which size would you get? Asnes says 1.90m what do you say?

I will use the Ski at the Swiss Jura Mountainrange where there is a combination of a large groomed track net and a bit of offtrack cruising. Snow is mostly crusty hard and bad. That is why I fear a bit the longer size.

https://www.en.asnes.com/produkt/mountain-race-48-skin/

Cheers and thank you,

Peter

Did @Musk Ox disagree on Åsnes size guides especially on just this MR model?

Well, kind of, in specific circumstances. I was about 77 kg and got the 190, as the size charts recommended, knowing it was a little on the short side... I squished them, very much with a load, and this made for a lot of drag. I actually had a green pair and a yellow pair. The same applies for the green ones, if you plan on using X-Skins with the green ones.

Had it existed, the 195 would be much better. The 200 better still. These are skis for going fast on a base of compacted snow, as has been pointed out by my far more estimable colleagues... there are better choices for deep snow and hills, right? So if that's what it's tuned for, you may as well fill your boots and go long. If you're on the cusp of two sizes according to the charts, I think you should choose longer skis than the charts suggests.

[Musk Ox]

I squished them, very much with a load, and this made for a lot of drag. I actually had a green pair and a yellow pair. The same applies for the green ones, if you plan on using X-Skins with the green ones.

Just to clarify (forgive me replying to myself but it's kind of relevant so I'm bumping the thread), the green MR48s in 190 were fine for me when they were waxed, albeit I had nothing to lose apart from a bit of nimbleness maybe/ would have gone a bit faster if I'd got the 200s. It's just that with any X-Skin wider than 30mm on the green ones at 190 with my weight, the drag was a permanent buzz-kill in the exact conditions that the MR48 really shines. It was still OK in deeper snow, but, you know, that's why God made Gammes and Nansens and E99s and E109s and Ingstads and... whatever.

I can only speculate how much better the yellow MR48 Skin would have been if I'd got the longer ones, but it's informed speculation for several reasons, and I'm certain it would have been more fun.

Also if you want a pair of these I'd nab them when you see them, because unless something's changed they're going to be phased out of the Åsnes line really soon, possibly even this season (2021 – 2022).

[beeeweee]

I’m still waiting on my MR48 Skin to arrive but managed to get out and ski the Madshus Fjelltech M50 yesterday and have developed some thoughts on track skiing with wider metal-edged skis in different conditions.

A few things I’ve noticed with the M50 which should also be applicable to the MR48 are:

• Although the tracks are wide enough for the 60mm shovel which is common between the M50 and MR48, I found that there is a noticeable amount of speed reduction in conditions where the tracks has some fresh snow which has been previously used by people with race skis. Effectively, there skinnier tracks within the tracks caused the shovel to ride over the older skinny tracks and this made for more resistance than I would have expected and are used to when skiing on my 44mm wide race skis.

• The softer shovel combined with metal edges made for quite the noise as the edges make contact either with the sides of the tracks. It took a way the peacefulness of the silent glide I normally get on race skis, even on the icy tracks.

• When I was using the M50 in more ideal snow conditions, the 177cm M50 felt too short and lacking glide but on icier spring conditions yesterday, I don’t think I would have wanted a longer ski as I had the bindings shifted 12mm forward and was just barely getting enough grip in some places. And on the way down, shifting the bindings back 20mm helped a ton with glide.

• Skiing on trails with about 5-10cm of fresh snow was pure joy

Overall, if someone is planning to spend the day in the tracks, I wouldn’t recommend something like the M50 or MR48, especially if you have proper XC race skis. But if your plans includes both trails with tracks and some off trail skiing, the appeal of the M50/MR48 is definitely there and would be worth the degradation of in-track skiing experience if it can extend your range and give you the float needed off the trail.