New skis (for when Ingstad WL do not work)

[Capercaillie]

The Traverse 78 is also fairly priced. Asnes moved their manufacturing to Eastern Europe but has kept their Norwegian (high wage) prices.

This season many Åsnes skis were lower-priced than Fischer skis during Varuste's November sale, and the spring sale La Cordée is having currently has lower prices on most of their Åsnes stock than I saw on Fischer skis during the season. Fischer skis seem to have sold out faster. So this year at least it was easier to find Åsnes skis online and for less money than Fischer.

[CwmRaider]

UPDATE on waxing Ingstads WL:
I got some Swix VG30 + V30 grip wax now for the Ingstads. I went down a rabbit hole with all the waxes available and concluded, that I will just permanently have some VG30 melted on the Ingstads, starting from where the X-skin mount is to maybe 15-20cm in front of it. Then I'll add the V30 and maybe get some lower temperature wax too. Some of you suggested the Polar wax, but doesn't that soften up too much when skiing around -5 - -10ºC?

Actually, when reading up on grip-wax, I wondered: It seems like grip-wax is problematic when the snow is soft and wet. Klister is then required. But what if instead you have a combination of scales and grip-wax. Åsnes scales for example. They only work well in exactyl this conditions, soft snow, around 0ºC or warmer. And for the colder temps, you add some grip wax in front of the (too short) scale section. This also makes it possible to add skins without ripping off wax and making the adhesive bad over time as the skinds are placed over the scales. So the most versatile grip would be a combination of short scales + a waxable section + skins that attach over the scale part to not worry about ripping wax off. Has anyone come to a similar conclusion and uses this ON PURPOSE?

1) - The colder the target range of the grip wax, the harder it is. Swix V05 Polar or other hard grip waxes act like glide waxes when the temperatures are well above the grip range. The snow crystals don't embed into the wax.
To wax grip wax, the best way is to crayon on and buff with synthetic cork. I sometimes iron in polar but I find that corking is almost just as good. But dont do it like they do the glide wax by dribbling it on the skis. You waste a lot of wax that way. Many here including me use polar over the whole ski as glider in warmer than -10 degrees C.
2) Regarding wet snow - It depends how wet. I have good success with Swix VP65 on wet snow but it is quite messy and soft. Some people here are fans of Swix V60 Red/Silver. I must admit that I never tried to use harder waxes over the VP65 to attempt to compensate for cooling conditions. No experience with klister but its on my bucket list.
3) Swix Blue Extra V40 or colder waxes are cohesive enough that they stick better to the ski bases than to skin glue. I have also tried this with VP45 (the black tin) with no ill effect. So when predictability is required I stick with cold waxes + skins. It never fails.
4) If you have glide wax on your skis and grip wax over it, the grip wax WILL come off when removing skins as the bond between grip and glide waxes is always poor.
5) If you do at some point get your skins contaminated with wax, dry them and stick them to thick brown paper. Then iron the paper from the other side at the lowest heat that will melt the wax, and the wax will resorb onto the paper. Repeat until skins are clean.

[randoskier]

The Traverse 78 is also fairly priced. Asnes moved their manufacturing to Eastern Europe but has kept their Norwegian (high wage) prices.

This season many Åsnes skis were lower-priced than Fischer skis during Varuste's November sale, and the spring sale La Cordée is having currently has lower prices on most of their Åsnes stock than I saw on Fischer skis during the season. Fischer skis seem to have sold out faster. So this year at least it was easier to find Åsnes skis online and for less money than Fischer.

The fast sell out could be attributed to the shutdown of the main Fischer ski factory in Ukraine, they had just rebuilt it after a devastating fire had destroyed this tree-to-ski factory (they have their own forestry operations) when the Ukraine war started. They are in a relatively safe zone being near the NATO borders but the men are all away destroying the Russian army, so no employees. They are temporarily made in the Czech Republic.

I can buy the Traverse 78 for 220 bucks at Sport Conrad in Germany or a Traverse 78 with minor cosmetic blemish at Aventure Nordique for 189 bucks (really minor blemishes)

[randoskier]

I grip wax all of my "waxless" scaled skis- including my Nansen WL.

Interesting! Where do you put the grip wax exactly? In front of the scales only? Or also behind? Also directily on scales? How long?

I am using the Fischer 88 Excursion in 188cm length. It works pretty well in the familiar conditions that you describe

Nice to hear your experiences! How do the Excursion 88 work for you on crusty or deep powdered snow when breaking trail?

I am just back from Norway, suffered an injury and came back early. I broke trail for a week in heavy fresh snow, dry powder at first then as I moved south into the Verdal it became heavier wetter new snow. On the loose powder of the first couple of days I used short Fischer EZ skins for better grip. For the two passes we crossed I used full length skins for ascent to help get the pulks up them. Last year I did these passes with only the EZ skins and it was much harder work. It is a great ski for breaking trail but as I said I wish I had gotten the longer version. The Fischer 78 has the same characteristics but is a bit faster in the flats being narrower, I will switch to it next year. Neither one is descent oriented as they have a high camber and the scales, but that aspect is not important to what I am doing. PS: I love Austria and do a lot of alpine skiing there, as you say in your home country- "Berg heil!"