The Åsnes Thread (News for 2020-2021!)

[CwmRaider]

OK, yes I know Skandinavisk Høyfjellutstyr. I bought some camping gear from them recently. Ill check for a pair of waxless Åsnes with them when the time gets ripe for more skiing

[lilcliffy]

Are those full-wrap steel edges I am seeing on the 2019 Falketind and Rabb 68?!!!!!

[lilcliffy]

Question-
Why choose the Ousland BC over the Gamme 54 BC?
Choose the Ousland BC if you are going to be in a groomed track?

[Nitram Tocrut]

Are those full-wrap steel edges I am seeing on the 2019 Falketind and Rabb 68?!!!!!

I noticed that as well and I remembered that Verskis pointed out that the tips of his Raab were “quite damaged” not even after a full season. Are you going to get a pair Illcliffy?

[greatgt]

Have some old Rebounds without the full metal wrap....We have to re-pin every so often because of the damage...Right ski becomes left....generally they don't have a long life...(Rebounds)....The only white I see around here is the best apple blossom..... possibly ever....Nice! TM

[Åsnes1922]

Question-
Why choose the Ousland BC over the Gamme 54 BC?
Choose the Ousland BC if you are going to be in a groomed track?

Hi!

I'll try to answer.

First of all, like with everything else, there will always be personal preferences in regards to choosing skis. Some may choose the Ousland over the Gamme and vice versa.

But to the specifics.

The obvious selling point for the Ousland BC is the weight. It will weigh in at around 825grams in 200cm. That is really, really lightweight for being a BC ski with a full steel edge.
The Ousland will also have a lot of the properties that the Amundsen Fram has, meaning it will be really directional and perfect for pulling a sled, expeditions or quick tours in groomed tracks. The Ousland will also have a more agressive rocker and early rise than the Gamme and Amundsen (which has none). This, together with a high and stiff camber profile, allows for great carrying capacity in deep snow. It also allows the ski to glide over and through ice, difficult snow and sastrugi with ease.

As you probably already have guessed, the Ousland is made to be a really versatile, lightweight and solid ski. It is narrow, which means it will glide well and be very directional. It is not a downhill ski, but it handles surprisingly well!
I suspect that the Ousland BC will be well represented on expeditions to the South Pole and Greenland in the years to come, and we already know that some will use it for the Åsnes Expedition Amundsen race next year.

Gamme, on the other hand, will still be among us, and for heavier skiers and those who love the versatility of that ski will probably still choose is over Ousland.

[lilcliffy]

Are those full-wrap steel edges I am seeing on the 2019 Falketind and Rabb 68?!!!!!

I noticed that as well and I remembered that Verskis pointed out that the tips of his Raab were “quite damaged” not even after a full season. Are you going to get a pair Illcliffy?

Hey Martin,
Well- I would love to get a pair of both the updated 62 and the 68- especially if they have full-wrap tips. My FT62s have significant wear on the tip, and I certainly don't need the racing skin slot...

As far as getting a pair- I don't actually plan on buying any skis this year...

[lilcliffy]

Thank you for your response!

The Ousland will also have a more agressive rocker and early rise than the Gamme and Amundsen (which has none). This, together with a high and stiff camber profile, allows for great carrying capacity in deep snow. It also allows the ski to glide over and through ice, difficult snow and sastrugi with ease.

This is very interesting...
Won't it also reduce the glide zone on consolidated snow?
For example, the current Ingstad skis very short on consolidated snow...

Is the tip stiff?

I have had a lot of trouble with rocker-tipped XC skis in deep snow- when XC skiing. However, this mostly with very soft-tipped skis...

[lilcliffy]

Can we get confirmation about whether the updated 62 and 68 have full-wrap steel edges?

[Nitram Tocrut]

Hi again guys, I hope everything is good with you and that you've had some time to check out our new Catalogue. We will post a lot of good stuff to Instagram @asnes1922 and to Facebook this coming year, so if you like you can follow us there too.

I noticed that some have asked about the FT62 and the Rabb 68, so I will try to explain some of the differences, their intended use, and the construction. It may be easier to understand where we are coming from and what we have thought after that, I guess.

Falketind 62:

The new FT62 is really similar to the old one. Basically, the use of materials and general construction is the same. We saw the need to update the design, so that is the major change in this model. Other than that, we did some extensive testing of the ski this season and picked up on few small details we wanted to change to perfect the ski. As I have already mentioned, I use FT62 quite a lot.

Initially, when the Falketind 62 was drawn up and constructed, we based it off the former Vetletind ski. Vetletind was a full on fiber and carbon ski, designed to merge together all the knowledge we had from telemarking, alpine touring and our most playful Nordic BC skis. We took everything we liked from alpine touring skis and basically put it into a robust lightweight construction not very unlike the Ingstad ski. After that, we "beefed" it up with a more responsive wood core, more sidecut, a more aggressive rocker and some seriously overkill tails. The Falketind 62 was always supposed to be a really playful, robust and fun ski. It was supposed to be stable in speed and be easy to handle, but at the same time, we wanted to keep intact the personality a Nordic BC ski has. Meaning we wanted it to have a more classic XC camber combined with rocker and the properties needed so that the ski could be really good to walk on flats with. I believe we succeeded pretty well.

I noticed that the use of "marked camber" was not really good so that the concept of words is changed a bit. "Marked Camber" was a bad translation for a prominent/higher wax pocket. Basically, it means that the ski has a stiffer waist that allows for a higher wax pocket and softer tips - in many ways like an overly tensioned traditional alpine camber with rockered tips. It has a higher and stiffer camber than alpine touring skis, not very unlike the Ingstad ski so that it glides well on flats. The FT62 actually has a small-moderate wax pocket, but it is not that big and high, so the wax will not stay on of long - but it is possible to use grip-wax on that model.

I short words, the Falketind 62 is made to be a really playful and easy to handle Nordic BC ski. At the same time, it has a lot of the same technical details as an Alpine Touring ski, without sacrificing the Classic Nordic XC Camber with Nordic Rocker, the glide properties and the directional benefits of skis like Ingstad and Nansen. That is why we have the groove in the sole as well. As that actually has a lot of effect on how directional the ski is.

While skiing a lot on it this last two seasons, we noticed that the tails (which is really overkill) could be a bit of an annoyance. We re-discovered the versatility of the FT62, so some of us started skating with them on flats. They are really playful and easy to handle, so we played around with them a lot. While doing all kinds of fun stuff on these skis, we noticed that the high tail sometimes was in the way, especially while skating and doing really short jump-turns. An because of this we decided to make the tail a bit lower.
The tails of the FT62 is actually more aggressive than on all our Alpine Touring skis, and that is a bit overkill. It is the same with the Rabb 68, so we have lowered the tail on that ski too. It will not affect the skis in any other way than that it ends up being a bit more directional on flats, and even more stable in high-speed turns. All in all, we believe it will be even more playful and become a better ski with the small changes we have done.
I think the visual design and profile of the FT62 is much better too, so hopefully, the changes will be welcomed by the market as well.

Rabb 68:

The Rabb 68 is a further development from the FT62 and the old Storetind ski. As some of you may know, the Storetind was a really stiff carbon ski with a lot of the same properties that the new FT62 now has. The Storetind was really popular among telemark skiers, old school mountaineers and used a lot like a regular Alpine Touring ski. We first tried to make the Falketind 68, basically a Falketind 62 with more volume, more sidecut, and thicker waist. But that didn't work as well as we wanted - don't misunderstand me, it was a really good ski, but we wanted something else.

As the demand for Alpine Touring skis has grown, the demand for Nordic BC skis that can handle groomers and powder has evolved as well. That is is the basis for the Rabb 68.

The Rabb 68 does not have the same camber as the Falketind 62. It is way stiffer on the waist, the ski has more torsional stiffness and is reinforced with carbon in the tip and tail. We also added a bigger wood core, inspired by Alpine Touring and Skimo skis. There is a similar Nordic Rocker in the Rabb 68 as in the FT62, but it has more lift and is a bit more aggressive. The shape and lift of both the tails and the tips on the Rabb is more aggressive than on the Falketind. You can also notice that we have a lot more sidecut and front tips shaped quite similar as in Alpine Downhill skis and as in the skis Skimo racers use to compete.

A big difference between the Rabb 68 and the FT62 is the lack of a groove in the sole and the fact that the Rabb 68 has a lower camber profile. The wax pocket on the Rabb68 is almost gone, and it has a really similar camber profile as we have in the Fjøro 92 ski, just slightly higher.

Because of the reinforcement carbon materials, the more responsive wood core, and the overall stiffer construction. The Rabb 68 can really be skied like a proper downhill ski. It has better edge control than the FT62 and can be carved like a regular downhill ski- or alpine touring ski. It does indeed require a bit more power to ski, but the response in the wood core "springs" and "pops" equally more - resulting in a much more responsive ski. The big difference will be most notable on hard crust, groomers and while skiing steeper slopes.

In general, one may say that the Rabb68 is a true "hybrid" ski. You still have some of the XC properties in the ski, but we have adapted the ski to meet modern demands of alpine touring skis. So all in all, the Rabb 68 is a really lightweight alpine touring ski, with downhill capabilities and just a little bit of the XC DNA still left. The Rabb68 is really not that different from my old Skimo competition skis.

A fun fact at the end: The Rabb68 has been used by a few steep-skiers, and I have myself skied some really steep chutes and couloirs with it. I believe it to be the perfect ski for mountaineering and alpine scrambling, as a tool for mountaineers. Actually, one of our ambassadors and some other people we know plan on bringing it to some serious mountains in Nepal and Caucasus.


I hope this could be of help, and that I did not overly-complicate everything. Let me know if I need to clarify anything.

With mountainous regards, Crister @ Åsnes

Hi Crister,

That was really helpful... and a really good sale pitch for the FT 62! Also I must say that both Fisheater and Lilcliffy are really good advocate of the FT 62, you should hire them

Although I have a “last” question. You wrote that the FT 62 has a lot more XC DNA than the Rabb 68 so I suppose that the FT 62 has significant better XC performance than the Raab? Also, I know they are not the same, but how would you compare the XC performance of the FT 62 to the Ingstad?

Thank you!