If you could only have one ski for your most typical skiing...

[lilcliffy]

What ski would you choose if you could only have one ski for your typical, every day or most common skiing?

If you decide- please describe the specific skiing context.

I must pick two different contexts- and therefore two different skis:

1) Distance touring in hilly to steep terrain- variable snow- lots of soft snow:
#1 pick: Asnes Combat Nato
- completely stable in truly deep snow
- trail-breaking machine in deep snow, breakable crust, windswept compacted snow
- acceptable XC skiing on hard dense snow
- very light and maneuverable
- beautiful round, open turns

2) Touring for turns- rolling to moderate terrain- steep ravines and sweet stashes are often remote.
#1 pick: Asnes Storetind
- completely stable in deep snow
- decent XC ski on soft snow
- very light
- amazing downhill ski in a very wide range of snow conditions

[fisheater]

Okay I'll bite, but my take is on a smaller sample size. I actually have other skis that have not been tested. However, my favorites are good at what they do so I am listing them.

Trail ski: Kick and glide skiing on hilly, short up and down hiking trails in Michigan. Trails are also very twisty and turny. Typical outings 7-15 miles, occasionally 20 + miles

Snow: Less than 8" of fresh. More than 8" of fresh (with some kind of base) is touring for turns. Trails do receive a lot of use. Less use in green wax temps, substantial use in red wax temps.

Ski: Asnes USGI 200 cm

Skis well in soft snow, it does not get out in anything deeper than 8" as I usually bring out a turning ski when the conditions are deeper. However in 8" of cold snow or wet snow it is very stable.

Kick and glide performance is quite good. This ski handles my 195 lbs, with good snap and glide. Maybe I was lucky and got some stiff 200's, but kick and glide are good.

Turning: I can turn this ski, I think between my weight and the softer tip the ski will flex on edge.

Durable and cheap: I live at 42•40' N, I don't always have good base. My home hills are glacially deposited sand, gravel, and cobble. If I can slide, I trail ski. These bases are darned tough, these skis are tough.

Cons: They are a bit heavy, but so are the Alico boots I ski them with. I mounted my second set NNN-BC. They will seem a lot lighter with Alaska's! I also wish they had an insert skin, but with two sets mounted one set will be a klister ski.

Tour for turns ski: Same trails, but with blue/black steep open hillsides and power/telephone pole openings. Not unusual to kick and glide a few miles between turns.

Snow: Minimum 4" of soft snow, which sufficient base for downhills.

Ski: Asnes Falketind 62

Kick and glide performance (you gotta get there) This ski is tuned to soft snow, the wax pocket drags on a hard surface. Yes, I am now calling it a wax pocket, because it does preserve a wax pocket in soft snow. Put this ski on 4" of soft and it comes alive. It is fun to kick and glide in soft snow, and it is light! A pair weighs less than one Tindan 86! For touring for turns in soft snow it is really a joy to kick and glide. I will add the caveat that the deepest I have kicked this ski is 12". It was a joy at that depth. My only comparison would be to an S-112. The FT 62 was far superior in kick and glide performance to the S-112.

Turning Performance. This ski turns, and it is a great powder ski (up to 12", max depth to date). The Nordic rockered tips surf to the top, the ski is supportive, and the rockered, turned up tail make this ski just a dream in powder. This ski is also torsional rigid, and can carve hard pack. As a matter of fact I was able to run some high school gates on solid refrozen glacier recently. I wasn't carving, more of a bump style skid, riding the trough. Not at all what this ski is intended for. As a matter of fact, I am currently nursing bruised ribs and some strained back muscles from charging on glacier with 6" of tilled granular. Yes, it finally has sunken in that there are ski area conditions that require a more substantial ski. Did I mention the pair weighs less than one Tindan 86? About the weight of one Objective! Great for touring and touring in rolling hills. Great norpine ski in packed powder. Not a ski for lift served ice, crud, or tilled granular.

I really like this ski, I don't try to gush over it too much because it seems very different from other skis in this class. It really is in it's own class. I look forward to Gareth's review. I believe it to be far different from the Storetind, and most likely different from the Rabb 68. However I can say if you have some rolling hills, and you like to make turns, it is a fun ski

[Mountain Mitch]

One? But both of you pick two!

I’ll go for one and that is the Rossignol125BC. It’s not a ski to love on the cross country track but if you are into skiing to earn your turns it will reward you so much when tightly turning down hill, even on narrow trails, that you will forgive it any uphill lapses. Now I ski a bit more dramatic downhill here in the Selkirks than most so downhill capability means a lot to me. For dog walking and casual stuff I still like my ultralight Salomon AdvX89s (ok, I picked two too ).

[Rodbelan]

I can't! I need at least 3 pairs; xc, xcd and downhill... We are taking our vacations, my gf and I, and we have a ski box full... (Pinnacle and Ursa, Atomic TM24 and Tua Montour, K2 Shukshan and Dynafit SL80, K2 Wayback...

And now, the bindings? And the boots? Oh man, we've got way too much for the low snow conditions around here (Rimouski).

[Cannatonic]

I'm the same way - 95% of my skiing is covered by the E99/Gamme 54 profile or the Ingstad profile for deeper snow or more turns. Like to have something a little skinnier for pure XC skiing too.

[snow-mark]

Probably my Glittertinds with pins for most of what i do. I can’t do tele turns with them except in absolute hero snow. But they’re great for long tours and reasonable kick and glide speed when the trail allows.

I usually ski them with Alaskas. They’re comfy, maybe a little too soft, but they work.

Some days our outings involve one long climb (say, 1500 vertical feet or more) and one fun run down, often with a fair amount of powder. For those outings I usually use my Epochs and Fischer BCX 875s. Next year I hope to replace Epochs, maybe with the same class ski from Asnes.

[phoenix]

Objectives. I have the BC's, but the waxables would be just fine.

[Leo Tasker]

Most of my skiing is in the forests north of Oslo, mostly groomed tracks leading to wooded bushwhacking trails. Currently using Rossignol OT65 most of the time which do everything ok, but nothing spectacular. Mainly because they are short (185) they are slow to glide (waxless bases don't help ), but nice and manouverable when things get twisty. They are narrow enough to fit in the tracks which is nice, but I often find myself wanting for something faster. I also normally do one or two longer trips to the mountain areas of Norway each winter, hopefully will try the Hardangervidda crossing this spring.

So my ideal "One" ski is one that works for long days and hut to hut trips on rolling terrain, without a need for deep powder or steep descent performance.

Being in Norway means there are a lot of options available! I had been eyeing up the Åsnes Mountain Race 48 Skin as an option, probably in 200cm (I'm 80kg in my ski gear) as it is light, has 3/4 steel edges and I like the ease of use of the built in skins on my track skis.
However, I just found a great deal (40% off!) on the Gamme in 200cm, I just couldn't pass it up The full steel edges and slightly wider dimensions will be better for the mountains but might be a squeeze in fresh cut tracks, but shouldn't be too bad. Reading the reviews of the skis on here along with the backcountry waxing guide makes me very confident that I'm going to like them! Now just need to decide on which boots and bindings to get...

[Woodserson]

Leo Tasker has DA ASNES FEVAH!!!

[Leo Tasker]

I think I have the European strain, but the symptoms are similar: an empty wallet and a big grin on my face!