Military Ski Master List (w/ Photos)

[Manney]

Not having much luck with the Swedes atm. Not much written, photographed. Swedes are much more suburban, urban people than the Finns and Norwegians. Can see special forces doing stuff, but they’re camera shy folks regardless of the nationality. Plus, spec forces get to choose a lot of their own gear… even have a broad range of personal weapons, so equipment differences between teams is common.

@Theme got me looking at border forces. Was halfway there with Carabinieri but the Finns take things to a whole different level. Conscription and 100k XC loppets with full packs in training. Respect.

Looking at Estonian border guards on Salomon. More of a light touring ski. Not finding them yet but Salomon has good catalogs. Only a matter of time,..

Hoping to find stuff on the Danes. Seen some reference to lighter skis used on the continent. Nothing on Greenland, which is totally different in character. Something like those wider Canadian patterned skis (not the XCDs, the other ones) might be a better fit maybe. Can’t be too different from tundra.

Agree about the Coleman’s. Brand new, great deal, though inspecting the bases for storage wear would be nice. Considered that when shopping Combat NATOs a few years back. Lingering trauma from all kinds of hand-me-down planks and blown edges in my youth got in the way. Ha ha

[Jurassien]

Here in CH our military don’t use Nordic skiing equipment. The special mountain troops (Gebirgsinfanterie) use alpine skis by Stöckli and alpine-touring bindings by Fritschi.

Our “hills” are, generally speaking, a bit different from the Scandinavian ones.

[Manney]

Awesome. Thanks for the info. Assing that onto the list for Swiss aficionados.

Yeah, your hills are pretty special.

[Theme]

Not having much luck with the Swedes atm. Not much written, photographed. Swedes are much more suburban, urban people than the Finns and Norwegians. Can see special forces doing stuff, but they’re camera shy folks regardless of the nationality. Plus, spec forces get to choose a lot of their own gear… even have a broad range of personal weapons, so equipment differences between teams is common.

Swedes have a very old set of skis. They did let conscription go at one point, only to ge continued in 2017. They have not yet updated the skis

Similar to Finnish ski lengths, but their skis are very heavy, basically 100% wood. They have the wood base exposed so you use tar.

[mca80]

Just wanted to say thanks to all for the great info here. It's undeniable that military is responsible for most advances in technology, even though they have to advance most things in a "one size fits all" manner.

[Jurassien]

Not having much luck with the Swedes atm. Not much written, photographed. Swedes are much more suburban, urban people than the Finns and Norwegians.

The Swedes don’t need a military deterrent. All they need to do is open up a few cans of Surströmming and nobody will want to come near the place.

[Theme]

Awesome info. This will come in handy… can look at more photos with some background and context. Thx!

In the meantime, came across this photo… the border guard on skis is the least of my worries. Ha ha

IMG_9243.jpeg

There are the skis though… exactly as you said! Looks like a 210 in this case maybe. Added this model ski to the list. Few specifications online. Let me know the side cut of your skis if you ever measure them. Also any info on the cap, sidewall material.

IMG_9242.jpeg

Yes these look like 210cm skis

Sidecut is positive. So middle is the widest, tapers to the tip and tail. Don't have measurements at this time. The standard issue Karhus are ~70mm through the whole length, which is why I like them more in these lengths. Better on hard snow. Karhus have way higher true double camber which is very stiff. Järvinen models are stiff, but usually have very low camber. Not sure of the military models, those may be different. There is significant variance in skis produced, at least in civilian models.

Sidewalls in this model have some sort of protective coating, same as on top. Same as standard issue military skis and older Karhu forest skis. Sandwich-construction, tip is made of fiberglass. Nowadays Järvinen Lapponia only has paint on the sides (280 and 300cm, ~2022-> 250 and under are cap construction). This makes for easy scratches on the sides and used Lapponias tend to only have part of the paint left.

[Manney]

Just wanted to say thanks to all for the great info here. It's undeniable that military is responsible for most advances in technology, even though they have to advance most things in a "one size fits all" manner.

It’s getting there. By no means complete..l and a few bugs to smash in the data. Having in country correspondents is priceless… especially those who have skied the gear while on national service.

Want to make sure that all the countries militaries get covered. The troops put in hard yards… some with superb gear, others overcome the elements on stuff we wouldn’t buy on a dare.

[Manney]

Awesome info. This will come in handy… can look at more photos with some background and context. Thx!

In the meantime, came across this photo… the border guard on skis is the least of my worries. Ha ha

IMG_9243.jpeg

There are the skis though… exactly as you said! Looks like a 210 in this case maybe. Added this model ski to the list. Few specifications online. Let me know the side cut of your skis if you ever measure them. Also any info on the cap, sidewall material.

IMG_9242.jpeg

Yes these look like 210cm skis

Sidecut is positive. So middle is the widest, tapers to the tip and tail. Don't have measurements at this time. The standard issue Karhus are ~70mm through the whole length, which is why I like them more in these lengths. Better on hard snow. Karhus have way higher true double camber which is very stiff. Järvinen models are stiff, but usually have very low camber. Not sure of the military models, those may be different. There is significant variance in skis produced, at least in civilian models.

Sidewalls in this model have some sort of protective coating, same as on top. Same as standard issue military skis and older Karhu forest skis. Sandwich-construction, tip is made of fiberglass. Nowadays Järvinen Lapponia only has paint on the sides (280 and 300cm, ~2022-> 250 and under are cap construction). This makes for easy scratches on the sides and used Lapponias tend to only have part of the paint left.

Ah, makes sense. Saw the “69” printed on the tail. Probably nominal width… a mm more or less is production tolerance. Those kind of skis, with hard camber, can fly in the right conditions.

Used many pure XC skis with simple cap construction. Lack of ABS or nylon not a huge problem on skis without metal edges… brings out the perfectionists in us though. Ha ha.

[fgd135]

The Swedes don’t need a military deterrent. All they need to do is open up a few cans of Surströmming and nobody will want to come near the place.

Do you prefer it whole, or fileted?