XC Ski For Women

[Musk Ox]

@Stephen jokingly suggests Asnes was clairvoyant. Ha ha. Funny. But they left the room for a reason that predates my arrival. They didn’t do this because it was against their interests. They had a REASON.

I was working for Åsnes at the time.

What are you talking about?

[Manney]

Then why did they stop participating? You tell me?

And if it was you (and you retired or left), why didn’t they appoint someone else?

What about Fischer? Madshus, Salomon, Rossignol, Voile? Why aren’t they here?

Ppl treat this forum like a personal sandbox… bark at approaching animals, piss in the corners, shit wherever they want, don’t clean up, don’t post content. Maybe that’s why?

Recall reading a thread a while back about @Nitram Tocrut on a ski marathon. It was awesome, as was @spopepro ’s. Nitram got dumped on because of some perceived slight (some question about whether it belonged because he didn’t use the word “tele” in every second sentence or some such bullshit).

It was CONTENT ffs. A Trip Report. And don’t get me going on the limited response to @Erik H ’s super cool video.

This place is starving for content, fresh ideas. Instead, we have ego. Ppl taking offence when none is given. Deliberate attempts to bait. Name calling. Overt thread bashing. Behavior that wouldn’t be tolerable at a KKK cross burning.

Jeez. What sane company would want to enter a social media Octagon these days?

[Musk Ox]

Then why did they stop participating?

They haven't? There was a change of personnel. Crister, who is a great guy, simply left Voss about 18 months ago. Åsnes haven't made any decision to stop posting here whatsoever, what are you talking about? It's totally weird to think they even have a policy about posting here of any kind, this is literally an Åsnes cult site and until you got here it was just really harmless and enthusiastic.

[Manney]

When was their last post? Where is there an example of them being engaged in a conversation? New product announcement? We’re talking about participation here…

It’s been a LONG, LONG time. So obviously this isn’t all that important. And why not? Not doing something and not deciding to do something = the same thing.

Yeah, an “Asnes cult” may explain some of it (why buy the cow when you get the milk for free). Doesn’t explain the other ski companies absence.

My point is that everything has a reason… whether we want to accept that reason or not doesn’t change reality. So when ppl blow things off as useless, it’s usually because it is of no use to THEM. Hence the 0% oxygen comment.

Sharing knowledge (like a link to real data) should count for something more than it appears to atm. Instead some ppl equate it to bragging… about what ffs? It’s sharing somebody else’s good work. Freely.

This is a sign of a broken culture that needs to be fixed one way or another.

[Stephen]

… this is literally an Åsnes cult site …

Oh god, I must be in the wrong place. I thought this was a SWIX V05 Polar cult site, of which I hoped to be worthy.
.

[Musk Ox]

… this is literally an Åsnes cult site …

Oh god, I must be in the wrong place. I thought this was a SWIX V05 Polar cult site, of which I hoped to be worthy.

I am literally lubed in that much Swix Polar right now, Stephen, for maximum adhesion as I squirm all over my house. I even ironed it on to my face.

[Manney]

You guys are in luck… my next thread starter (in a few days) will be about how wax actually works.

Not my ideas… a summary of the paper whose link was posted (that nobody bothered to read). Ppl can go back and shit on the original researchers… or they can say this is some kind of ego trip on my part.

But the truth is that ppl don’t appear know how grip wax or glide wax actually works, or why. Which explains why some ppl outside the arctic zone feel the need to buy a lifetime’s supply of Polar grip wax for the 2023/24 ski season.

[Stephen]

This is a sign of a broken culture that needs to be fixed one way or another.

Is one of those “one way or the others” the one where you don’t fix it? I would vote for that one.

Manny, lately you seem to have switched to a relatively more neutral tone, which is nice.
You may not care about “nice,” I’m just sayin.
The thing is, you started out from a position that sort of rubbed some people the wrong way, and first impressions are sticky (to use a word in the common vernacular).
And the other thing is the sheer # of posts. Of course there is no limit or right amount for you to post, but 3.67 a day is a lot. You may see is as valuable content, others may see it differently.

Heck, for total posts, you’ll soon surpass GrimSurfer (whose initials you seem to have assumed for your signature line).
After GS, it’s Randoskier, then soon me you’ll surpass in total # of posts. Frankly, I’m feeling threatened. I’m going to have to start posting more if I want to stay ahead of you in the post count.

I’m kidding, of course. I just don’t know what to say. Taking the situation seriously seems futile. I’ve resorted to seeing the current situation on the forum as tragicomedy, hence my mostly irreverent and flippant tone lately.

[Manney]

Go Skiing? Didn’t know there any hidden meaning in such a simple phrase.

As for most of the other stuff… whatever.

On the issue of culture… “your vote”? Ha ha. That’s a good one @Stephen.

An older skier is, at any given time, one season or one injury from being unable to practice the sport. Those who think that they’ll “graduate” to being a guardian of the sport (or some such bullshit) are in the same mindset as the bloated, aging IOC bureaucrats soliciting kickbacks over dinners at 5-star restaurants.

So what does that make your vote worth, relative to a younger skier? About the same as an IOC official… less the payola and lobster bisque soup. The culture of the sport going forward will be determined by ppl much younger than you, with 10x the number of productive seasons still ahead of them.

If you work on the basis of one person, one vote, then it’s even more absurd. In terms of eligible voters, there are now more registered millennials and younger voters than boomers.

Or maybe the focus is just on the forum? All that means is that the direction on the future is in the hands of the ppl who will never see it as skiers. What kind of sense does that make? None. LOL.

Or maybe you think this is a democracy? It’s not. This forum is owned and hosted by a person. However they wish to shape the forum is dependent on their generosity and future plans. The future favors the young. It always has.

[JohnSKepler]

Yes, Manney. 'Off label.' You're so close to understanding the very, very basic principle by which thousands of skiers successfully and happily use product x for purpose y in snow conditions z.

So very, very close.

Just to reiterate, it is possible and often actually desirable to use Swix Polar in the glide zones of fjellski. This is a thing. It is a thing that people do.

There was a time when grip wax was all there was. I guess they started with bees wax? I have no idea. Our predecessors were so much smarter than we were and had a lot less to work with. Clearly they observed differing performance and learned ways to process the waxes, distill them from different things, and different ways to put them on. The Sami, Inuit, and others survived for thousands of years using these tools. They didn't have access to many choices and weren't exposed to marketing but, amazingly, they still knew what to use under what conditions. It was important to know who to listen to because mistakes could mean death by exposure or starvation. These days, there's little risk to giving or receiving bad advice. Too bad.

I tend to think most of the world's perceived problems come from a 24-hour news cycle and from marketing. The marketing telling us what to use, when, where, and how, not for the purposes of illuminating us, but for the purpose of taking our money and putting in in their pocket. The 24 hour news cycle keeping up frightened enough to sit through the commercials. It's pretty easy to tell who watches a lot of news because they also see a lot of marketing.