Madshus, Rossignol or maybe something else? New to XC

[RysKus]

Hi,
I’ve used to ski many years ago, then I’ve switched to snowboarding and after ~10 years I’m planning to get back to skiing - more less. I’m totally bored with slopes and ski lifts, I prefer free ride. Now I’ve realized that it gives me more pleasure to walk/climb a bit than even riding. That’s why I want to buy BC skis. Could you give me advice if my setup is ok for what I need?

- I want to go for a long trips on more less flat surface. Probably pull sledge with my kid behind.
- Try to ride some small slopes. Try some free ride, but not on very steep slopes.

After lots of research I’ve found two models: Madshus Panorama M78 and Rossignol BC 120. I’m also thinking about Rottefella magnum or xplore bindings. Boots are pretty important for me - I want the soft ones. It doesn’t matter to me that stiff will make skis more responsive - I prefer soft (same for snowboarding) and comfortable, even if turns are not as good.

Is my setup correct? Thanks for any advices!

[spopepro]

Welcome! We are your people…

I’d say the madshus is good, but I’m personally not a big fan of the Rossi BC options. They seem to build them all with the same camber and side cut regardless of width, and I don’t think they are great skis (tho the price is often great).

I’d throw the Voile objective BC on the list, or maybe even the new ski when it comes out (a firmer snow, straighter tracking sister to the objective). I take my objective out for everything from flat tours to expert downhills and have been happy, as long as I’m not trying to get anywhere fast.

I haven’t skied the xplore—it’s on my list… but I suspect you’ll want xplore over nnn-bc. I was a big skeptic, but people seem to really love it and rotte seems to have gotten it right.

[RysKus]

Thanks for the answers!
So I guess my research was good Another question - is it common thing to put extra skins on the skis if I want to climb on more steep slopes?

[riel]

- I want to go for a long trips on more less flat surface. Probably pull sledge with my kid behind.
- Try to ride some small slopes. Try some free ride, but not on very steep slopes.

After lots of research I’ve found two models: Madshus Panorama M78 and Rossignol BC 120. I’m also thinking about Rottefella magnum or xplore bindings. Boots are pretty important for me - I want the soft ones. It doesn’t matter to me that stiff will make skis more responsive - I prefer soft (same for snowboarding) and comfortable, even if turns are not as good.

Is my setup correct? Thanks for any advices!

With soft boots, you probably want narrower skis. Wide skis can be very difficult to control with soft boots, unless the snow is absolutely perfect (it rarely is).

Something like the Madshus Panorama M68, or the Fischer S-Bound 96 will be much, much easier to turn down hills with softer boots. Of course, these skis are still very much on the soft side, and will be slow for long trips.

For just long trips on flat surfaces, I would go with a ski like the Fischer TransNordic 66, the Asnes Gamme, or the Madshus M50. Of course, these skis are quite stiff, and will be difficult to turn going downhill. Probably not the right compromise, either

Something like the Madshus M62, Alpina Discovery 80, Asnes Nansen, or Fischer Traverse 78 might be a reasonable compromise between flat surface trips and skiing small hills. These are significantly faster than the wider, softer skis, but also turn much better than the narrower skis.

They are probably 80% of the speed of the narrower skis, and 70% of the turning ability of the next class up wider skis. Is that a reasonable compromise?

[chris_the_wrench]

I skied the sbound 98s this season, with nnn bc. They arent the fastest, but I usually ski these solo so i dont care. They descend ok with soft leathers and nnnbc in fresh snow, but firm or cut up snow its survival skiing for me. Next season these are getting swapped to 75mm leathers with cables. They will be used for shorter or more descending focused days. I’ll get something longer and skinnier for my longer tours.

I still ride ski lifts 70+ days a year(alpine style), but Ive become more and more excited about long solo days in the mtns!

[spopepro]

One of the things to parse the responses here is how everyone has a slightly different idea of “fast/slow” for flat(ish) touring. Some will sacrifice almost everything for some good kick and glide momentum. Others will do hundreds of km shuffling to get stable turns and good float. Generally, most of us here tend to ski the narrowest, straightest ski we can get away with, possibly to a fault.

But reading your account—you might want to define “long tour” for us. I think that’s making folks think very XC oriented options. Same thing with “small slopes.” The peanut gallery can then probably give you better recs.

(fwiw… I’d still go kinda wide. To your other question, I have a set of nylon skins for my objective bc skis. They rarely get used, the scales are good up to around 15 degrees condition dependent.)

[RysKus]

Thanks for the answers. Trips won’t be like super long. Probably up to 10-15 km total. Skis doesn’t have to be fast - both during touring and riding. I’m done speeding, now I just enjoy the nature

Now I’m thinking between Panorama M78 and M68. Sometimes there’s a lot of snow, where I plan to ski, so it must be floating.

[Manney]

No fast skis on the flats wider than ~50 mm. Fast is ~10 mph+. Moderate, 6 mph. Slow, 4 mph. Average speed over ~1 hour of continuous skiing. Almost impossible for BC skis to be “fast” on the flats. Very difficult to push a DH oriented ski to moderate speeds on the flats. Slow is slow… even badly fitted or skis ill suited to environment can be driven at 4 mph on the flats for 10 miles.

Skis that track well have low side cut. Skis that turn well have lots of side cut. Touring skis for the flats up to ~80mm at the shovel. Cambered. Sizes by skier weight, sometimes height too. At ~100 mm + at the shovel, ski is DH oriented. Little camber. No weight chart is a clue.

How deep is deep snow? Wet, dense or powder or icy? Over what base? In among trees (within arms length), or wider open? Temperature? Any kind of surface “treatment”… walking or hiking trail with or without foot traffic, logging road, wind packed virgin snow, snow mobile trail, compacted groomed track set XC trail, compacted groomed light DH trail? Influences choices… scales, skins, width, edge, even length. If you’re committed to frequently pulling a sled (time with kids to give mom a break), might need one size longer ski. Occasional sled might allow you to get by most days. Depends on where you are on the weight chart.

Lots of factors. All dependent on conditions, use. Even fitness, skill level.

[RysKus]

Thanks. I’ll rather try to catch a nice, powder day. I can keep my snowboard for the rest of the season, when snow is not that good.


Those spots and snow conditions are similar to my local places.

I’m 178 cm tall and weight about 78kg. I guess longer skis will be better.

Ps. I really like riding forests, but this will take few years to learn how to ski again

[lowangle al]

Thanks for the answers. Trips won’t be like super long. Probably up to 10-15 km total. Skis doesn’t have to be fast - both during touring and riding. I’m done speeding, now I just enjoy the nature

Now I’m thinking between Panorama M78 and M68. Sometimes there’s a lot of snow, where I plan to ski, so it must be floating.

I'd say your boot/binding choice will make a big difference in how the skis perform. I had some M68's out this year with both a T4 plastic boot and the Fischer Transnordic boot. I skied almost the same exact route starting with the Transnordics. I covered 4.5 miles, climbing 665 feet at an average speed of 3.5 mph.

I got back to the car and put on my T4s and repeated the same route with a little extra added on. i covered almost 6 miles and climbed almost 900 feet and still averaged exactly 3.5 mph.

IMO there was no advantage to the lighter boot. Conditions were fair with moderate foot traffic packing down the trails. If conditions were better the transnordics may have done better, but as the trails get packed harder the T4s would have gained the advantage. The T4s made the ski more fun by improving tracking and better downhill control. Their increased stability makes for a more relaxing ski.