S-bound 98? Falketind62? Rab 68? Other Skis?

[Lighturn]

Hello Community,

I have just joined the club and enjoyed reading the communication and now dare to ask my question, looking for new winter toys.

I have been XC skiing in my youth and resort skiing, which I found boring after some years and started Alpine touring light stuff 30+ degrees. Some years ago I discovered Telemark and went back to the resort with short carvers (R8-9m) and 22 Vice under a Scarpa T2 eco. What a pleasure!

Now I want to return to the woods and mountains and wonder, if I could take lightweight leather telegear to do my alpine touring in the future? The Idea of "easy skins", possibly in combination with full skins is convincing to me so short skins are a "must". I feel that with the XPLORE, a good moment has come. I definitely would appreciate to have a ski that has the grip to safely get me down hard packed or even icey 30 degree slopes. It does not have to look elegant - just safe.

So I would be happy if you all would help me wiith your advice since I have never ever had those kind of skis under my feet. Btw, those feet are wide, and I am looking for wide Xpedition compatible boots at the first place, but let's just assume they can be found.

Thanks alot!

Lighturn

[fisheater]

Madshus Annum and Epoch, Rossignol has a 110 would be in the same class as the Fishers. Voile Objective is a bit wider in the mid-80’s

[CwmRaider]

Hi and welcome,
Skiing down 30 degree icy slopes with leather boots is *really* hard, especially if the snow is less than smooth. With light XC gear i get satisfaction from getting nice turns on easy ish alpine slopes whereas the hardest ones were "boring" on alpine gear. I think you may find it tougher than you realise at the moment.
Supposedly the new FT62 are better, last years model is supposedly ideal only on powder. But no one here has skied the new ones yet.

[Nitram Tocrut]

Hello Community,

I have just joined the club and enjoyed reading the communication and now dare to ask my question, looking for new winter toys.

I have been XC skiing in my youth and resort skiing, which I found boring after some years and started Alpine touring light stuff 30+ degrees. Some years ago I discovered Telemark and went back to the resort with short carvers (R8-9m) and 22 Vice under a Scarpa T2 eco. What a pleasure!

Now I want to return to the woods and mountains and wonder, if I could take lightweight leather telegear to do my alpine touring in the future? The Idea of "easy skins", possibly in combination with full skins is convincing to me so short skins are a "must". I feel that with the XPLORE, a good moment has come. I definitely would appreciate to have a ski that has the grip to safely get me down hard packed or even icey 30 degree slopes. It does not have to look elegant - just safe.

So I would be happy if you all would help me wiith your advice since I have never ever had those kind of skis under my feet. Btw, those feet are wide, and I am looking for wide Xpedition compatible boots at the first place, but let's just assume they can be found.

Thanks alot!

Lighturn

Welcome aboard Lighturn!

It would help if you would share info like height, weight, shoe size, etc…

From my own limited experience in resort with the conditions described i would say you need a pretty stiff ski and be pretty good at skiing. It can be done for sure but be ready to learn the hard way

[Lighturn]

Madshus Annum and Epoch, Rossignol has a 110 would be in the same class as the Fishers. Voile Objective is a bit wider in the mid-80’s

Thanks for adding these to the list! I've just checked the sidecuts of both, Annum and Rossi Bc 110 have 78 mm under foot. Up to which width can edges be effectively used on those bad condition days and with leather boots? Is 78 mm realistic? Or rather sub 70? That would exclude these and Epoch would rest? How about the Epoch in terms of grip?

Kind regards

Lighturn

[Lighturn]

Skiing down 30 degree icy slopes with leather boots is *really* hard, especially if the snow is less than smooth.....
Supposedly the new FT62 are better, last years model is supposedly ideal only on powder.

I am sure you are right! I would not choose the 30 degrees icy slope for fun. But often enoug have I found that in the afternoon, when the sun has left the south-east slopes you encounter these situations by accident. Sad enough, that curling my toes has never increased the gip of the edges then - still you do not want to stay on the mountain for the night

So what I am looking for is the most suitiable of the not suitable skis. You do not recommend the Falketind 62 for that specific case I hear. Maybe this years FT is "better" for the purpose, but I doubt Asnes ist going to change the conept of the ski too much. Maybe they just put black paint on.

Let me guess: Rab, with more sidecut will even be worse than FT for what I am looking for?

Regards

Lighturn

[Lighturn]

It would help if you would share info like height, weight, shoe size, etc…

Here we go:

174 cm, 83 kg, Size 43 (Us 9.5), skiing since 50 years, tight telemark carving turns since 5 years, never had severe accidents or injuries, though often skiing "on the edge".

So yes, I definitely need some "flotation" though I'd offer it for edge grip. If the Fischer 98 turns out to be the stifferst ski, I'd go for the 179 cm.

[Nitram Tocrut]

Skiing down 30 degree icy slopes with leather boots is *really* hard, especially if the snow is less than smooth.....
Supposedly the new FT62 are better, last years model is supposedly ideal only on powder.

I am sure you are right! I would not choose the 30 degrees icy slope for fun. But often enoug have I found that in the afternoon, when the sun has left the south-east slopes you encounter these situations by accident. Sad enough, that curling my toes has never increased the gip of the edges then - still you do not want to stay on the mountain for the night

So what I am looking for is the most suitiable of the not suitable skis. You do not recommend the Falketind 62 for that specific case I hear. Maybe this years FT is "better" for the purpose, but I doubt Asnes ist going to change the conept of the ski too much. Maybe they just put black paint on.

Let me guess: Rab, with more sidecut will even be worse than FT for what I am looking for?

Regards

Lighturn

I skied the previous Rabb and FT in a resort with T4 for the Rabb and leather boots with one buckle for the FT. I don’t have your experience and skills in dh skiing so it could have been different for you. I could link some turn with the Rabb in easier and less frequented runs but I was just surviving with the FT. But I was not in my best shape with the FT but even though I would have struggle as the snow was hard and with several icy spots. @fisheater has posted a lot on his experience with the FT in resort and he had some bad experience in challenging snow. I think @Woodserson has posted about his experience with the Rabb and I am quite sure he mentioned that he even had to stop in the middle of some runs as it’s skis were bumped around… BUT it seems that the new Rabb is stiffer and maybe heavier so it might be a different story now. The new FT seems to be significantly different in term of stiffness but as mentioned we don’t have reports yet on both the new FT and Rabb. If you are more into dh, the Rabb os a better choice. It has not been mentioned yet, but Åsnes also offer the Nosi which is 76 underfoot. You can find some reports on TTalk. In that case, according to Asnes, the Nosi has not changed except for the top sheet.

[lilcliffy]

if I could take lightweight leather telegear to do my alpine touring in the future? The Idea of "easy skins", possibly in combination with full skins is convincing to me so short skins are a "must". I feel that with the XPLORE, a good moment has come. I definitely would appreciate to have a ski that has the grip to safely get me down hard packed or even icey 30 degree slopes. It does not have to look elegant - just safe.

Hello Lighturn!

I am assuming that when you speak of "Alpine Touring" you are indeed speaking of big-mountain ski touring/mountaineering- in other words- climbing up real mountains and skiing down them- in the backcountry?

And when you speak of "lightweight leather telegear"- what kind of boot are you speaking of- can you give an example of the boot you would use?

None of the skis you list in your OP are well suited (or intended)- in my opinion- for what I would call "Alpine Touring"...
(Though I cannot speak for the updated Rabb 68- perhaps it has been stiffened up to the point that it would do the job...)

IMO/IME- skis like the Fischer 98/112, Karhu/Madshus XCD 68/78 are not built for Alpine Touring- they are "hybrid" XC skis with a geometry and flex that is intended for downhill skiing on moderate terrain and ideal snow. My limited experience to date with the FT62, puts it in the same class. I have no experience with the Rabb 68.

Gareth

[Lighturn]

BUT it seems that the new Rabb is stiffer and maybe heavier so it might be a different story now. The new FT seems to be significantly different in term of stiffness but as mentioned we don’t have reports yet on both the new FT and Rabb. If you are more into dh, the Rabb os a better choice. It has not been mentioned yet, but Åsnes also offer the Nosi which is 76 underfoot.

Thank you very much for sharing your experience. This is very helpful! This underlines my suspicion that at least these Asnes skis are not the stiffest.

I hope someone can compare their stiffness to the sbound 98 or the Rossi BC 90 or the Madshus Epoch?

Concerning the Nosi - I guess the 78 mm will rather hinder to get the required edge pressure in difficult conditions with leather boots? As I asked previously: How wide underfoot is too wide for Boots like Alfa Skaget ord Vista or Alpina XP on Rottefella XPlore in the discribed conditions?

Cheers

Lighturn