@spopepro I love to Sierra and all the conditions and snow it throws at us. Including our crust and cement, etc! So here is the crux of the problem, I almost never get to enjoy that corn since to get to it, I have to ski through sun cups, cross lots of creeks, hike at least a couple of miles or more to even get to skinable snow., of course, in reverse order, actually. I see some AT folks, who are lookin for a thrilling downhill run, riding bikes until sun cups, skin over sun cups and then FINALLY get to ski down. At that point, I would rather put on my crampons and hike on foot without skis. Sun cups are hard enough to walk over, I can only imagine how tough to ski. …But maybe if I had a wider ski??
@lilcliffy I also do not understand why they always want to size me down. The Svartisen’s are a beautiful boot. The leather and workmanship is superb! It will cost $20 in shipping for not standing my ground and insisting Martin send the 41. However, if I had “normally” shaped feet, the length would have probably been correct. So many years backpacking with a too heavy pack have,made tough to buy shoes and boots. I even backpacked pregnant and my feet took me everywhere I wanted to go. So I do not complain about my feet. I do complain about nlasts.
I just hope that the 41 will fit.
@lilcliffy Sorry for the confusion, yes, I meant the Epoch’s when I said Madshus 98.
@lilcliffy I apologize for the ignorant question, what do ou mean by “Objective” ?
@Manney excellent perspective that me on a 98 is like a heavy man on much wider ski. I do appreciate your perspective in general. It has really gotten me thinking, when do I wish I had a different ski or more control? First of all, we put on the skins once when we get too much backslide to tolerate, climb for a good part of the day, enjoy views and make our way down. If thee is a short steep part for only a few yards, i will power through or herring bone. Skins only go on and then off once in a day. It is making our way down that I often feel like I am fighting with all my might to keep that snow plough and control my edges. More after a new snowfall. I cannot say deep powder, since our snow would be considered too heavy to call powder.
Sometimes, very rarely, we have a very cold snowfall and we get fluffy powder like the Rockies. Those are the times we can do whatever we want and are amazed taht our skis are buried out of sight and yet do exactly what we want with so little effort! How fun it is!! …But rare indeed.
So after a long skin up, my daughter and I always say to each other “I am SO GLAD we have our Fisher 88’s!! Any wider ski would ave made that so much harder!” …But the we have to make our way down.
After tons of research, I finally was able to uncover the ski we had rented way back when. Your trick,
@Manney of identify the graphic really helped me confirm that back in the day, when I had rented several different pairs, I had tried the Epoch’s and found them to be so very fatiguing and slow going up. However, the control coming down an in deeper snow was so easy. I also tried the Fisher 98 and found them just snappier going up than the Madshus but not much more control than the 88’s on the down. This was in 2014 so I am thinking, with much more experience behind me, and now going out in more difficult terrain, I will appreciate the Epoch’s. Also, perhaps, I will be able to realize my dream of ditching snowshoes for Spring multi day backpacks. The heaviest ski wou always be better than snowshoes!
As a final anecdote, this past season, with crazy high snowfall, I was navigating far from huge mountains of snow that were created by wind and did not exist on the map. My usual routes were no longer safe. So, it was a year of exploring while watching the slope angles and aspects like a hawk. One day, we ended up climbing up a hill, that is so unimportant, it is barely. Squiggle on the map. (Still a total of over 1000’ climb that day, but not on the map, nevertheless.) It was in an area I know like my backyard. As I always do, I HAD to ski up just a little more to see what I could see when I got out of the trees. WOW!!! What a view! I saw all the mountains for at least a couple hundred miles!! And here I had skied and backpacked in my usual routes all these years and had been in trees and missed this! WOW! So, here is the funny part that will tell you all something about my reasons for being out there… This was the same direction and (safely) under Mammoth Mountain. I began to ask all of the alpine skiers I know, “What is the view like at the top of Mammoth? Is it spectacular? Do you ogle all the way to Yosemite and half dome like I did that day?” Not ONE has been able to tell me about the view! Not ONE ! They all say, “Who looks at views? I just want my turn going down fast after waiting in line to go up the lift.” In my opinion, why go out if you are not going to enjoy the views and the forest and the water features, and the sparkling snow in sunlight and the pink snow at dusk and dawn and the occasional giant raptor in the sky, etc?
