Wildly speculative talk about Asnes 21-22 lineup: Otto/FT62

[jyw5]

Varuste is fast and good. good prices. they have 205cm. no sellers have 210cm. you may want to email them ask about it or email Asnes directly. trying to get skis in december can be difficult. I usually buy skis between April and Oct.

thanks for the great tip! trying to order the 205s from varuste but the site is not accepting cc payment. have reached out to them.

I had to call my credit card company. They asked some basic information and the order went through.

glad you were able to order! I haven't had problems with ordering from there...but also because the credit card I use gets used often for purchases overseas. this was definitely a cc specific issue. I have ordered two pairs of skis and accessories from Varuste at different times without any issues. Sportalbert is also good but more expensive, but they have a wider selection.

[freedom glider]

thanks for the great tip! trying to order the 205s from varuste but the site is not accepting cc payment. have reached out to them.

I had to call my credit card company. They asked some basic information and the order went through.

glad you were able to order! I haven't had problems with ordering from there...but also because the credit card I use gets used often for purchases overseas. this was definitely a cc specific issue. I have ordered two pairs of skis and accessories from Varuste at different times without any issues. Sportalbert is also good but more expensive, but they have a wider selection.

thanks. has anyone spoken with varuste on the phone? i am concerned about the language barrier.

my credit card co (discover) said that it never received the attempted charge - so the issue is at the company's end.

[Woodserson]

I've written about this somewhere. Calling them isn't going to do anything. You need to call the card company and tell them what you're trying to do. Varuste wants verification from the actual card company, not the corporate holder of the account. So my verification code didn't do a thing. I had to call BoA who then called VISA with my plan and then, with BoA on the phone I made the purchase and it went through. Varuste getting BoA verification was worthless, the site needed VISA verification.

You couldn't know this, it's a back channel behind the scenes thing going on and while my VISA card is held through BoA the BoA green lights are worthless to Varuste who wants VISA to say it's ok, which is why making a phone call and explaining what you're trying to do is the way to go about this. Calling Varuste probably won't fix it.

America is perpetually about ten years behind with credit card technology with the rest of the world and I suspect this is part of the issue. (Even though the companies are all the same)

[Stephen]

I had exact same problem and solution.
I think bank told me I could put a travel notice (account settings, online) on my card and that might have flagged my card to accept foreign transactions.

[freedom glider]

I had exact same problem and solution.
I think bank told me I could put a travel notice (account settings, online) on my card and that might have flagged my card to accept foreign transactions.

thanks for the good info, i think that this issue could be circumvented if varuste agreed to accept paypal payments. i have found paypal great for overseas purchases. i know that paypal costs 3% or something like that, but i think that credit cards do too.

[John Dee]

I can understand why a seller doesn't want to accept paypal. Paypal and ebay basically side with the seller when there is any dispute. The main reason people use paypal vs a credit card is for that individual guarantee, and with a site like varuste its totally uneccesary. The only thing it does is expose Varuste to potential scamming.

[Bross]

Same thing happened to me with Varuste - pop up said 'call Visa' when I hit 'pay' - long wait on hold with the Visa fraud folks, just confirmed my order was legit and not a stolen card, done. Pain in the ass but better than having to deal with a stolen card number again.

[John Dee]

I received a text message when I tried to order from Telemark Pyrennes. I didn't respond to the text message in time, so I had to call a number. The nice lady said she would relax my restrictions for Finland and sporting goods, and I never had the issue with Varuste.

[Nitram Tocrut]

20211204_114030.jpg
The snow was a bit tricky, about 20cm of semi crusty powder without a base. I hit some rocks on the first descents so I was very careful afterwards, and it was just a short tour with some steep narrow climbs. I waxed for the climbs (heel to 15cm in front of snakebite), this caused some more drag than I would like on the flats but was very grippy.
I'm happy so far but given today's conditions i cannot provide any real objective info apart from that they are very nice and nimble to use.
Anyone else had a go?

@Roelant just wondering if you had the chance to take your Sverdrup for a new ride? Still have not mounted mine as i want to make sure they are way faster than the Ingstad or my 220 Europa on flat/rolling terrain. Still fighting with my conscience before mounting them as I want to make sure I just don’t get a similar ski to what I already have

[CwmRaider]

@Nitram Tocrut
Unfortunately not. There was until yesterday a lack of any new snow in spite of stable cold for weeks, a one week warm spell washed it all away. There is a thin new layer since this morning, still too thin and we're flying south for holidays tomorrow early. I should have some time in the 2nd and 3rd weeks of January, at least for day trips, but I'll do an overnighter in a hut if our situation permits.
My previous snow conditions were totally insufficient to do any real assessment. And I waxed too long and possibly a bit soft.
Regardless the Otto Sverdrup have replaced the Nansen Waxless in my quiver. I really did like the Nansen geometry and performance, the same way I like the Nato. I just somehow had more difficulty with the Åsnes waxless than others here.
I'm pretty confident I'll enjoy the Sverdrup. But fast XC performance is not a high priority for me for this ski. I'm more keen on stability, ease of turning and good all-round performance, and in that regard jyw5 gives very promising first impressions.
The terrain in my immediate vicinity (outside of the 120km of prepared XC tracks right in my back yard) is rather steep and rugged, where XC performance matters little. And future longer tours will with some exception be with a pulk and family, probably not useful to be in a rush.
Besides, I have never skied an Ingstad, Gamme or Amundsen. I think you'll have more reliable and relevant info coming from Gareth or Woods before I can properly test
I dont doubt there will be some overlap in usage scenarios between the Nato and Sverdrup, but that is also OK for me.