this thread has gone towards a very interesting direction! Thank you all for contributing!
Now, I can give you a short update of how I got on.
During Christmas time I was lucky to stay in Myrkdalen which is an hours drive from Asnes headquarter at Voss, Norway. I had the chance to make a very inacademic short test. I only had half an hour for this test and since I had been skiing on carving skis several days before so I could not really handle the Xplore system as one should to make a proper comparison. I had to handle not only different skis to the one I had on the feet but also the different and much looser Xplore binding and soft shoes.
But still: I was lucky to test the Rabb explore and the Falketind explore. @ 85 kg shower weight at 174 cm, I should have tested the FT at 180, as I did with the Rabb. But there was only the 172 available - so it was on the weak side. This emphesized the fact that the FT has a cross country construction which is rather soft. The Rabb in contrary has an alpine like built and was MUCH stronger than the FT even considering that the latter was 8 cm shorter AND considering that the FTs sidecut is not so much different. Its just a different construction.
The conditions were icy - just as I needed for my purpose - standing and slowly curving on the icy resort slope, I had more grip on FT than on the Rabb. I think this was because of the softer construction and because auf the narrower cut and because of the narrower shovel, since the Rabb is much wider at the front, (and of course, because the FT was too short for my weight)- I just bent the edge to the ice. Maybe if one would drive the Rabb through the curves with a bit of speed @ my weight and not just slowly crawl down, it would perform better concernig grip.
Now, there were 15 cm of powder left over at the side of the resort piste. The Rabb had an amazing float and steerability compared to the FT! Still have in mind the FT was shorter. But I do not think that mattered so much. I could only cross that powder once with each ski, but the difference was overhwelming. I would have immediately chosen the Rabb for conditions with deeper snow, and steeper slopes. Still the ice issue (on very steep slopes) withheld me from buying the Rabb AND the fact, that it is not a waxless ski - as is the FT.
I bought an Xplore binding though. With the experience made i screwed it on an old extreme funcarver with 150 cm only and a waist of 68 mm. The test is very positive! I just skied it on hard pack and the grip is amazing. Since the radius is only 9 m, it turns on a dime and there is no time for acceleration on steep slopes. I just need two skins and my soft-alpine setup is ready.
The backdraw is that it will definitely sink in powder but I do not care on the ascent because I am usually not the first one to set the track. And I do not care on the downhill, since I will just "walkdrive" down on flatter areas and enjoy the extra time to watch the countryside. I will try to share my experiences as soon as I have made my first "low angle soft-alpine tour".
Now, I still want to have a longer ski for flatter terrain and I am waiting for an S-Bound 98 to arrive at my home
Cheers
Lighturn