Beginner boots for Kom/Hok's

[Manney]

There must be members who can jump in on that.

Pinning a lot of hopes on @CIMA (no pressure, my friend) for Japanese terms too. Hok type skis appear to have originated in Eastern Asia… maybe as far as the Mongolian steppe. That would place them closer geographically to Japan.

We know that Japan has a long skiing history. They also extensively traded and travelled on the Asian continent. As a very articulate people, with a long history meticulously recording history, they may have terms or expressions even closer to root meanings than eventually migrated to Eastern Europe.

[lilcliffy]

Oh, I didn't mean to disparage the Hoks. I've tried them and they are lot of fun and offer great utility too, as you described.

I guess I was just trying to differentiate them from traditional skis, that perhaps more people would relate to. Also, to highlight what an effective backcountry ski that the Kom is in a (modern)traditional sense.

If someone is only used to regular skis, they may be surprised/disappointed in the reduced glide of the Hok. If they are used to the Hoks, they may be surprised/and freaked out by how slippery and powerful the Koms are as a ski.

To the original post, for sure downhill skills can be worked on with the 125 Hoks. I would suggest though, for example, learning tele turns will be adapted to those Hoks and will be more challenging to learn on than on traditional downhill oriented tele skis. Also, those Hok skills will be less readily transferred to skiing traditional skis - compared to the other way around.

[inund8]

Interesting discussions here. I really had no idea that Hoks were would handle so differently from traditional Tele skis; I just assumed I couldn't do turns was because the universal bindings I was using wouldn't support my weight on edge (I'm about 240lb, 5'9"). 125's don't fully support my weight on powder that would let me do softer turns either, unless I get a decent amount of speed, which is pretty hairy on universals.
My feedback on the glide for Hoks is much more positive tbh. It's very comparable to a wax less ski imo, but with tons more climbing ability, even at my weight

[JB TELE]

The Transnordic is probably my preference, since its nice and tall, and I assume it gives good control from that. Like I mentioned, my preference is leather atm. The problem seems to be that they never seem to have my size? 8.5/9 US Men's. Do they still make these boots and they just sell out of the common sizes immediately?

I work at a shop that sells Fischer Nordic gear. We haven't received our shipment for this season yet and that may also apply to other shops. Last year we didn't get very many Transnordic boots, only 1/3 of a size run. Maybe that explains things. They are still making it.

[CIMA]

There must be members who can jump in on that.

Pinning a lot of hopes on @CIMA (no pressure, my friend) for Japanese terms too. Hok type skis appear to have originated in Eastern Asia… maybe as far as the Mongolian steppe. That would place them closer geographically to Japan.

We know that Japan has a long skiing history. They also extensively traded and travelled on the Asian continent. As a very articulate people, with a long history meticulously recording history, they may have terms or expressions even closer to root meanings than eventually migrated to Eastern Europe.

After checking our history, I discovered that the Ainu people, who were the indigenous inhabitants of Hokkaido, a northern island in Japan, and the far eastern islands of Russia, used a type of skis similar to Hok skis. Unfortunately, since they did not possess their own written language, there are no existing documents that describe these skis. However, in the late 18th century, an explorer from the mainland who visited Hokkaido documented a type of skis used by the Ainu, which he called Tachi-soli, meaning stand-up sled.

source

[Manney]

Thank you for this. As far east as Hokkaido… amazing.