I have skied a few hundreds of kilometers with the Intelligrip kicker skis. If I remember correctly, I had them first on a 1-week trip in tundra fells. They actually, worked alright inspite of two issues.bgregoire wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 10:57 pmfisheater wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 10:01 pmThere is another possibility, Madshus makes skins which only have fur in the middle part of the ski and there is some glide zone in front.
https://varuste.net/en/p38014/madshus-i ... T8QAvD_BwE
So if you were to take your skis with wax for cold temperatures and use this skins when you lose grip when the snow is too warm, this could work. I don't know how much better they are than full length skins, but they cannot be worse
Fish, its a good idea however those Madshus skins are an example of exceptionnaly POOR workmanship. I own a pair. They will disintegrate at the anchor point in no time flat. Do not bring these in the BC. The black diamond half skins had a damned metal plate but they will withstand a beating.fisheater wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 10:01 pmThis post from Roelant was excellent. I only edited the quote to draw attention to the pearl of wisdom I missed In my first reading.I overlooked the unique Madshus skin recommended. It essentially allows the user to use the ski as a regular wax ski. However while the “skin” is full length allowing it to be used on skis without manufactured skin insert receivers. Rather the “skin” is polyethylene over most of the ski length with a mohair section in the kick zone.
This unique product will allow the OP to use his waxable E-99 in cold, easy waxing conditions with wax, while when temps rise near the point of freezing the Intelligrip skin can be utilized, approximating the the generally recommended skin insert performance.
It is at least another very viable option.
At first, the Intelligrip front metal clip felt too narrow for my skis. I put a strap to make the skin fit my ski's wax pocket. Well, it occured later that the strap caused more harm than benefit probably.
As another issue, the place where ski sole plastic turns to skin, gathered ice. Some icing is alright, when you can take skis inside overnight. We stayed mainly in cottages, and this did not become a real issue.
However, when you camp in a tent, I would feel uncomfortable with metal edge skis inside an expensive winter tent. You must rely on your tent in the wild. If you have a gas cooker, you could smelt the Intelligrips inside. However, such becomes a hazzle IMO, which I would like to avoid. Yet, probably the smelting would be way less hazzle than waxing on a 1-week spring trip, though.
For a second 1-week trip in tundra fells, I bought full length Colltext skins. The Colltexes were OK, when pulling a sledge. However without a sledge, the Colltexes have been overkill. Without heavy loads, Intelligrip kickes skins have been in use on day and 1-night trips. I even bought another pair of Intelligrips for my waxable track skis, when the first pair had turned half length of original length. I could keep up with others also on tracks, except downhill grandmas did pass me (I have cut the skin shorter always, when it has weared at heel. Now I went back to waxing on track skis.)
I have still used the old pair of Intelligrips, too, until today. I moved them today from old "gravel road" track skis to my Karhu XCD GT's, when I went to ski icy routes. I transferred the skins carelessly outside, and had some slack in the strap I mentioned before. You can see the attachment strap in images below. I think the strap and bad glue together caused th Intelligrip to fall apart after almost 10 years of occasional use. Glue below glide area plastic had worn out, which helped to create slack. Well I had considered the skin at the end of its life anyway, it had become half length and almost bold / with army style hair...
Based on my experiences, I could do a 1-week trip with Intelligrips again. However, I would use the Intelligrips only for klister replacement and bad weather. On nice "blue wax" days below 0' C, I would go with wax. Moreover, I would take two pairs of Intelligrip with me. Then you could take one pair inside to smelt when having icing. Further, you would then have one pair for spares, too. So if you cannot afford skinlock skis, a wax + Intelligrip kicker skins setup would be a cost effective alternatlve. That setup does have some drawbacks, but would be easier than wax only. In the end yet, I would prefer Åsnes wax + skinlock skis because attaching the Intelligrip half skins properly is somewhat worksome in non-optimal conditions. The E99's could be a good ski for wax + Intelligrips, if they have a proper wax pocket.
