Asnes skin failure!

[Severianin]

Hey all,

I took my green Gammes to the Brooks Range for a caribou hunt this spring. Highs of 29F and 18 hours of sunlight made the snow ice in the morning and quite wet by the end of the day. I used a pulk to haul all my gear in and skied around with it in search of caribou. For these reasons I decided to take my Asnes nylon and mohair skins. The nylon provided great grip on the wet snow and surprisingly good glide (as much as I could hope for pulling a load). However, they failed on day one of the trip. First the heel showed signs of separating from the ski then before I knew it I had lost the skin altogether in the tundra. Thankfully I brought the second pair of mohair skins. They stayed on the ski but they eventually were saturated. I'd lay my skis skin up on the snow while waiting for bou to approach, which seemed to dry them out well enough to get back to camp.

I put a lot of miles on the skins over three days but I was hoping for a lot better. What went wrong? The skins were purchased about a year ago and used only for the first time on this hunt.

The incident has me thinking maybe I need to add a waxless Amundsen to my quiver of skis. Not sure.

By the way, I posted asking for advice on Finnmarks earlier this year. I skied my Finnmarks (210 cm) all winter long with dogs, with a pulk, you name it. I love those skis. They're absolutely wonderful.

So what do you all think about the skins? Waxless Amundsens?

Hope you all had a good and long ski season.

[wooley12]

Did you wax your skins so they would repel some of the moisture?

[CwmRaider]

Hi,
Is your ski base waxed with anything, or clean?

[spopepro]

I’ve had this happen to me before—specifically wet top and then freezing later. Skin glue really can’t handle ice. Interestingly… it was also a set of nylon skins, but full length BD skins. When out for a long time there’s not a lot that can be done—try to keep bases warmer (in contact with snow, not in air), keep skins warm and try to dry when possible. Another option could be to trim the length of the kicker skin. I think they often come too long and the back get really wet and beat up being in contact with the snow too much.

I’m more surprised that you lost the entire skin! I didn’t think it could work it’s way out of the attachment.

[jyw5]

Hey all,

I took my green Gammes to the Brooks Range for a caribou hunt this spring. Highs of 29F and 18 hours of sunlight made the snow ice in the morning and quite wet by the end of the day. I used a pulk to haul all my gear in and skied around with it in search of caribou. For these reasons I decided to take my Asnes nylon and mohair skins. The nylon provided great grip on the wet snow and surprisingly good glide (as much as I could hope for pulling a load). However, they failed on day one of the trip. First the heel showed signs of separating from the ski then before I knew it I had lost the skin altogether in the tundra. Thankfully I brought the second pair of mohair skins. They stayed on the ski but they eventually were saturated. I'd lay my skis skin up on the snow while waiting for bou to approach, which seemed to dry them out well enough to get back to camp.

I put a lot of miles on the skins over three days but I was hoping for a lot better. What went wrong? The skins were purchased about a year ago and used only for the first time on this hunt.

The incident has me thinking maybe I need to add a waxless Amundsen to my quiver of skis. Not sure.

By the way, I posted asking for advice on Finnmarks earlier this year. I skied my Finnmarks (210 cm) all winter long with dogs, with a pulk, you name it. I love those skis. They're absolutely wonderful.

So what do you all think about the skins? Waxless Amundsens?

Hope you all had a good and long ski season.

one of the weak points of the asnes system. the Xskins can be unreliable. I often lift up to check to see if the skins are still on.

Surprisingly, Fischer's EZ skins on the S112/S125 setups stay on better and have been much more durable.

My Asnes skins are 3 seasons old and the plastic has cracked on one and chipped on the other. The Fischer skins after 4 full time seasons and 2 part time seasons are dirty, scratched up, and discolored but still good.

For longer tours, I use full length pomoca skins with tip attachment only, or even tip+tail on the Asnes. I'm baffled how Asnes skins are advertised as an expedition level gear...