Considering the Gamme

[Musk Ox]

Where I live, you could basically get by the whole season with this and a couple of skins:
https://www.swixsport.com/us/ski-wax/wa ... 5950376648
(I also want to talk you into getting a narrower skin too for those days when waxing is tricky or you can't be bothered... a few cm of snow on top of a hard base and 35mm skins on a pair of Gammes mmmm)

Others and Åsnes recommend that you should not use soft wax with skins. Is purple wax still hard enough with skins?

I look forward to getting a pair of Gammes tomorrow. I was planning to wax them when below -1’ C, and to use skins in zero weather, warmer, and on icy snow. Then I could maybe need only the Swix V40 Blue Extra from the package @Musk Ox linked. When snow gets sticky, I could also add a thin layer of Vauhti GF carrot on top of the blue wax.

Welcome to the cult club. I wouldn't put skins on anything softer than Swix Blue Extra, no.

I personally use waxes softer than Blue Extra all the time. I love my Violet and even my Red Spesh. When it works it's just the best.

But yes, narrow skins are a game changer if you're not planning to do too many hills. No more risking the snow sticking. Snow sticking to your bases isn't really an issue when temperatures are 'Blue Extra'. Snow sticking to Red wax at 0°C is famously rage-provoking. Narrow skins can just make that whole issue disappear, effectively a wax replacement in the right conditions. I still find skins disappointing on very hard snow, though.

EDIT: I see you ask about fluorinated waxes... they're actually banned from sale in Scandinavia now... no skitur is worth making amphibians and fish miserable! So that's the end of that issue, I suppose!

[lilcliffy]

From reviews Ive read here, the Gamme tends to split the difference between the Admudsen (slightly more flats oriented) and the Svedrup (slightly more steeps oriented)?

This is kinda true- but the Gamme and the Amundsen have more in common- they are longitudinally stiff and cambered.
The Sverdrup is definitely tuned for tight surfy, smeary turns- more playful than the Gamme, but less supportive and stable.

[lilcliffy]

I feel there's a bit of dick-measuring going on with longer than recommended skis.

My preference for the 210 Gamme is definitely all about my dick.

[tkarhu]

EDIT: I see you ask about fluorinated waxes... they're actually banned from sale in Scandinavia now... no skitur is worth making amphibians and fish miserable! So that's the end of that issue, I suppose!

The Vauhti GF Carrot is a new product. It came to market, when the new EU legislation took place. GF carrot replaces an old Vauhti high fluor kick wax called K18.

Yes for nature, better go without fluor... Yet for coating I might still use a little of the new, less harmful ones.

[lilcliffy]

Anyway, maybe on straight trails with room to carve I'd want the longer, but these are narrow trails between trees, no room to pick your own path.

If we are adding "steep" to the narrow wooded trails context- then I definitely understand the shortish Gamme- but then again there are other skis that have a much tighter turn radius and are earier to pressure into tight turns.

I use my Gamme almost exclusively for distance-oriented tours on forest trails and woods roads in hilly to steep terrain.
I do come down some very steep grades on these tours, but I do not try to make tight-radius linked turns on narrow steep trail. Therefore, I don't see the downhill advantage of a shorter length in my context.

The Asnes lenght recommendations are guidelines- they are there, because they have to offer something as a starting point. If you explore the website- they expand on theie length guidelines and offer skiiing contexts were one might consider going shorter- or longer. If you talk to them directly- they will expand even more. Crister (Asnes pro) for example- who weighs less than me- skis on a 210 Gamme/Finnmark, and a 205 Ingstad.

In a perfect world- and old country world- we would all go to the shop and hand-select the exact pair that suits us best. Up unitl recently, I had two pairs of 205 Ingstad that had slightly different flex- one being a bit stiffer and more cambered (I admit it could be that it was newer and the other had MANY miles on it)- I sold the stiffer, more cambered pair to someone much bigger and heavier than me.

All that being said- the guideline is the place to start- especially if one really does not know what choice to make.

Assuming you follow the length recommendation-guideline-
- If you get them and find that they are too short- buy another longer pair next season, and then sell the one that you like least.
- If you find that they are too long- I would consider that the ski is perhaps not suited to the application before I ordered a shorter one (or perhaps you need to work on waxing and technique).

(Example, I really had no idea whether a 201 or 208 Amundsen would suit me- I ordered both- kept the 208, sold the 201).

[freedom glider]

The bases come clean from Asnes. I wouldn’t use any glide wax at all. You’re not racing. I have glide waxed, but much prefer utilizing Swix white polar as my glide wax.

so just rub on and cork in several layers of polar along the entire base?

[lilcliffy]

(Apropos Åsnes's size recommendations, I don't think they're totally 100% perfect across the range... just to reiterate, I'm right on the cusp of the 190 and the 200 for the MR48 and would have been better served by the longer ones, I think, but again this is a really long conversation...)

Yes- and they are only meant to be guidelines- if you ask Asnes about them, they will tell you that they will not claim that they are perfect.

My wife loves her Crispi Stetinds... adequate for a bit of this

My "impression" is that the Stetind and the Alaska would be very similar in performance. Pal Gamme's tests-reviews in UTE magazine certainly suggest the mid-sole stiffness-stability to be equivalent (he rates both as being stiffer than the Svartisen BC- and both as being stiffer and more stable than their 75mm counterparts). The Stetind has full-grain leather construction, as opposed to the Alaska's rough-out leather. Regardless, in my mind, I would put the Stetind and the Alaska in the same class of touring boot.

[fisheater]

The bases come clean from Asnes. I wouldn’t use any glide wax at all. You’re not racing. I have glide waxed, but much prefer utilizing Swix white polar as my glide wax.

so just rub on and cork in several layers of polar along the entire base?

Freedom Glider, that is exactly what I do. However a lot of guys here rub it on, iron it in, then buff with a cork. I just rub it in with the cork vigorously. It gets a little warm. It works well for me.

[mikael.oh]

You don't have to wax if you don't want to. 30mm mohair x-skins make a good grip wax replacement.

We have so little snow that I've only been using them on groomed tracks now but I'll get to deeper snow eventually.
I've only been out maybe 5 or 6 times with the Gammes as classic skis and before that the last time I used classic technique I was 10 years old. Still learning, in other words, but I'm progressing quickly. As my technique get better and better I cut the skins shorter and thus get more and more glide.
Did my first longer ski with them yesterday. 20km with 660m of climbing in a little under 2 hours. Pretty much uphill for 10km and then down again. Kept the skins on for the way down so I could practice how to get them to glide optimally.

You're pretty much always gonna have better glide if you wax, but I value always dependable grip regardless of circumstances higher. The glide is getting to be pretty darn good as well now, and currently I have more grip than I need, so some glide gainz are coming.

[grizz_bait]

Second guessing my decision to get the 45 mm mohair skins...If I intend to use skins for grip wax replacement, or for days with variable temps, should I get the 30 mm instead? I do plan to climb steep terrain with these skis, so maybe better to have both?