Permanent integrated Skin in BC skis Sporten Explorer Skin

[Skirciak Pirciak]

Hi Gareth
I just examined skis at home and maybe my floor is not evenly flat, but I can barely fit my credit card under the ski, in the area of wax pocket...There can be at the most half of the open wax pocket...
Hopefully, manufacturer's weight charts are correct and I will be able to do some glides....
I rented some pair of older classic XC skis during the weekend for ungroomed track and those things were flying.
My friend on sporten explorer was way behind my
Thank you
BR Stefan

[Skirciak Pirciak]

Finally, ready to go
Thanks again for your advice
BR Stefan

[lilcliffy]

Very exciting Stefan!!
Thank you for sharing all of this with us and please keep us updated on your Nordic skiing story!
Gareth

[Skirciak Pirciak]

Hi Guys
Yesterday I did my first run in pretty steep terrain. 1200 meters incline on 13 km
I met just alpine tourists along the way.
Going up was fine, effortless. Skin gripped well even on ice
Going down...it was not so fine.
I had to take off the skis and walk
I was not not in the control of the skis
I was not able to do proper snowplow or turn
It is true, that I was standing on skis third time in my life, but I did better on old narrow fishscales XC skis, without steel edges a week before
I have read, that skin is not so good in lateral, side movement and I felt that ( I was expecting that I will be able to do some telemark : D )
Hopefully I get better
PS: These Alpina Wyoming boots are great. For riding and walking as well
Have a nice rest of the weekend
BR Stefan

[lilcliffy]

Wow- Stefan, those photos are spectacular!
I had no idea there were mountains like that in Slovakia!!
What are the names of the mountain ranges?

In that photo with you and the ski raised on its tip- why is the snow all rutted and broken up like that?
I particularly love that last photo! That untracked slope just screams to be charged down!!!

[lilcliffy]

Hi Guys
Yesterday I did my first run in pretty steep terrain. 1200 meters incline on 13 km

Yum I love vertical terrain. I love downhill skiing, but you know I love climbing as well!

I met just alpine tourists along the way.

Were they skiing? If so- what equipment were they using?

Going up was fine, effortless. Skin gripped well even on ice
Going down...it was not so fine.
I had to take off the skis and walk
I was not not in the control of the skis
I was not able to do proper snowplow or turn
It is true, that I was standing on skis third time in my life, but I did better on old narrow fishscales XC skis, without steel edges a week before
I have read, that skin is not so good in lateral, side movement and I felt that ( I was expecting that I will be able to do some telemark : D )

A number of thoughts-

Your descriptions of this ski suggest that it is very stiff, with a XC camber. This type of ski is very challenging to turn as you must aggressively, fully-weight the ski in order to try and make them turn. For example- I use striding and jump turns on my E-99 if I want to ski a tight line; and aggressively-weighted Alpine turns when I am on compacted snow and have the space to turn them. On a long, truly double-cambered ski, I can only make a true, equally-weighted telemark turn when the snow is soft and supportive, and the terrain is moderate, and I have loads of room to ride that enormous-radius arc!!

The other variable is that ski has a XC sidecut-profile as well- designed to track straight, not turn.

Being able to manage those skis on steep terrain and difficult snow is a tall order for the most experienced skier!

Hopefully I get better

You will most certainly get better!!! My advice if you are new to Nordic skiing is rack up as many miles as you can on gentle to moderate terrain. Classic XC skiing on less steep will build strength, and balance- this will help you on steep terrain!

PS: These Alpina Wyoming boots are great. For riding and walking as well

That is good news, Alpina is doing great things with their BC-XC boots!
At some point, you may want to try a more supportive boot on that mountainous terrain- see if it makes a difference on those steep slopes.

Have a nice rest of the weekend
BR Stefan

Thank you for the update Stefan!

[Skirciak Pirciak]

Hi Gareth

What are the names of the mountain ranges?

These in the background are High Tatras
*We have a quite a lot of mountains here with a lot of forrests. Unfortunately, We also have a lot of Mother.uckers, sitting in the government who decided to cut down these forrests in the interest of their self-enrichment..But we are fighting back

why is the snow all rutted and broken up like that?

i have no idea, but it is a quit windy spot. One of the highest points of Slovakia

Were they skiing? If so- what equipment were they using?

They were skiing freeride, using alpine touring skis

i did some further runs and it gets better

Thanks & have a nice day
BR Stefan

[connyro]

In my experience, skis with an integrated skin are very tough to ski downhill on anything other than soft powder. Anything a little firm or warm and the skins grab and release in a way that's hard to predict. Additionally, once you edge the skis in a turn, the skins are no longer dragging on the snow which causes a fore/aft imbalance that's really hard to compensate for.

[Inspiredcapers]

Reading this was very encouraging regarding getting better at skiing more advanced terrain. It’s sometimes frustrating to not be able to tackle terrain I wouldn’t think twice about on Alpine gear.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lilcliffy]

Wonderful update Stefan!!!

I truly had no idea that mountainous topography and ecology was found in Slovakia (not that I know anything about Slovakia!!! )

Love that pic of you charging up that slope in your Nordic boots!!!
Gareth