Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

I am getting back to backcountry ski touring after a decade-long absence (when I mostly skied downhill on AT gear) and just acquired two pairs of skis: Fischer BCX Europa 109 Crowns (203cm) with a 3 pin Voile cable binding and Fischer E99 Crowns (210cm) Rottafella BCX bindings. I am mostly interested in touring in the Pacific Northwest and, since most of the interesting trails around here go up, doing a little downhill. For the record, I am six feet tall and weigh 190 lbs.

I know very little about either ski and they are old enough that finding information online has been difficult. It seems like either could be used for nordic backcountry and, maybe, telemark but I guessing that someone here will know a lot better than me. I am surfing a lot of telemark and nordic websites but I guess I still have three questions:

Can I use these skis as is, or should I put a more modern bindings on them? While I inclined to go with the cable binding what's the best way to decide which to use? And is one of these skis just going to be a lot more suited to the task than the other?

Thanks from a noob,
Bill

btw, i just found the long thread about the E99... that's been fun to read. thought i would add a couple of photos of the skis to help the discussion along.

The 109 is the turnier of the two, both are fine touring skis. I know this is a bit forward, but I would be interested in whichever one you didn’t want. I have no interest in the bindings.
I am 190 lbs, both skis should work at 190 lbs

thanks for the reply. i will probably try skiing both of them this year and see which i like better. while i am inclined to 3 pin bindings, what would you put on them? cheers - wh

I would mount those skis NNN-BC. They are both nice skis, and both a little different. You probably would do well keeping both. Those are an older NNN binding than I don’t immediately recognize, is that a NNN-BC auto?
FWIW, I like 75 mm bindings as well. That 3-pin cable is nice on that E-109, but for me I would ski both those skis NNN-BC. They stride better for me, and for how I would use those skis I would get enough power out of NNN-BC.
I don’t know if you have boots. I really like the Alpina Alaska. I have both the NNN-BC version and the 75 mm version. I really like the BC version and recommend it. The jury is still out on the 75 mm version.

In this particular pairing the 109 is the better ski for the skiing you're describing.

I'm not familiar with this model E109 but I can see it has the "S-Deck" which is that raised area for mounting bindings which puts it as a later model, very late 90's early 00's. I bet it skis really nice and for the PNW it'll offer good support and better turning capabilities compared to that particular model of Purple Edelweiss E99. (Though if you're used to modern AT rockered skis it's going to turn like shit and you're just going to have to dig deep for the lost skills of your anceestors) The Purple Edelweiss E99 is relatively soft as far as E99's go and the crowntech is somewhat dated and not as good as the newer Mountain-tech Crown or current Offtrack Crown. The Purple Edelweiss E99 ski also has a low-rise tip, which was an odd design choice and will be a liability in trail breaking or going downhill. Keep the ski, it will be fun on forest roads, but for more dedicated ski touring plan on the E109.

Can you take a picture of the tail of the E109 with the data sheet if it's printed there? I bet it has Mountain-Tech Crown, which would be a win for you.

UNLESS the 109 it has the negative scallop shell crown -- just saw the black bases, then you're hosed! That crown absolutely blew monkey balls, you'd be better off to fill them in or get used to using grip wax.

Hi all, thanks for the replies. Here are a couple more photos...
And the bindings on the E99s are Rottefella BC NNN Autos (the ones with the push button) in good shape. I am going to put BC NNNs on the E109s and ski both in Alpina Alaska BC boots.

As far as learning to turn... I haven't been on AT gear for a decade, so I don't imagine I remember anything about turning, AT or otherwise. That makes me a rank beginner and I will be taking lessons to learn the basics.

Now to figure out whether I need to wax these skis, get skins for them, and so on. Thanks for all the help!

Seriously, we need to see the bases of the 109

Sorry, missed that you asked for photos of the bases...

Here's the E99
And the E109
Do I have the dreaded base pattern?

You are good. That's the Mountain-Tech pattern, is good. I have it on some of my E99's of the same vintage, and it's liked by two other experienced skiers on this forum as well.

Your 109 setup is quite worthy and I have the envy.

The terrible dreaded stuff looked like this:


STAY AWAY from this shit