Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

Good morning

I have a couple Asnes skis in my quiver. The Vikafjell and Holmenkolen. They are pretty narrow for BC skis with metal edges but I enjoy the speed on approach trails and track groomed hut to hut trails. They are awesome with the right wax. The kicker skins, however, way too much traction! Terrible glide and jerking motion on downhill.

I am considering shortening them my question is what is better: trimming the width or cutting the length?


Additionaly I purchased the mohair version. It is being shipped. Is it significantly faster? Basically, I want to achieve one set of skins that are super fast...like a WAXLESS base and aren't annoyingly 'jerky' or loud.

Are you on the nylon skins now? The mohair will be much better. How long are your skis?

Welcome!

Yes. I'm on the Asnes nylon skins.

My skis are 200cm on the Holmenkolen (58,48,52)

205 on the Vikafjell (60, 51, 55)

TreeFallin wrote:Yes. I'm on the Asnes nylon skins.

My skis are 200cm on the Holmenkolen (58,48,52)

205 on the Vikafjell (60, 51, 55)

The mohair will very much improve your experience. Ski them first before you trim, you may not need to. Asnes provides a little paper in the skins with info on how to trim, it won't be much for you, not much more than 2cm if anything. I am on the fence with trimming my mohair at the same ski lengths that you have. Also, waxing the skin with skin wax will help with something like this:

https://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/e ... 0ALL1.html

Also, you will find the mohairs to be very quiet. On very hard icy surfaces the attachment plate will grind a bit whaddyagonnado. Otherwise they are silent, smooth, fast, and have very good glide. I see you're in Maine. Get the wax it'll help with temps north of 35 when it starts to get wet.

Thanks for the tip on waxing the skins. My wife carries a paraffin piece during sloshy xc days. Is the BD product achieving similar function?

TreeFallin wrote:Thanks for the tip on waxing the skins. My wife carries a paraffin piece during sloshy xc days. Is the BD product achieving similar function?

Yeah, no point in going over-technical on skin wax. Its just wax. Parrafin, XC glide wax, an old candle, that expensive BD wax bar....its as mostly the same performance wize.

Welcome!

my Asnes MT51's (same ski as Vijkafell) in 210cm do not really need the skins shortened, they come to just under the heel pad, the 30mm mohair skin felt perfect without any shortening. It's possible the holes for the skin were in a different place on the older Vijkafell.

How wide are the nylon skins you have now? A 45mm nylon is probably best left full-length in case you ever want to climb something steep. It would make sense to trim a 35mm nylon down for better kick & glide. I would try it on warm sunny 40 degree snow first, it might work better in those conditions.

I ordered the 30mm short mohair skin from Neptune. I'll test it first before I start cutting into the nylons.

There was a "thing" once of cutting full-length skins into a single half-inch wide strip to make skinny skins which basically converted a smooth ski into a waxless ski. It worked but they would roll off when you made a turn.

I only use my kicker skins (often over a waxless base) for climbing and take them off for the descent. IMO the burden of removing them and putting them back on, even when doing laps, is more mental than real.

Agreed. It all depends on the type of trip. On my recent trip, I removed the skins on safe downhills which provided pleasant ride down but it also ended up stripping my kick wax...so on big hills I had to reapply wax after the ride.

There are some trips, however where you get to a location where you need to take your skins off and just taking the foot out of the binding and losing balance and stepping into snow could mean postholing up to your crotch

Baaahb wrote:There was a "thing" once of cutting full-length skins into a single half-inch wide strip to make skinny skins which basically converted a smooth ski into a waxless ski. It worked but they would roll off when you made a turn.

I only use my kicker skins (often over a waxless base) for climbing and take them off for the descent. IMO the burden of removing them and putting them back on, even when doing laps, is more mental than real.