Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

So, a week ago I had the opportunity to test my new Gammes and Alfa Outbacks in Norway. Turns out that I'm pretty crap on Nordic skis! Nevertheless, after 3 days I was staying mostly upright and managing some fairly steep downhills (snowplough of course ). I was very pleased with the float of the Gammes in deep powder while breaking trial too.

To test my setup for pulk hauling, I kept my mohair X-skins on for the duration. They gave surprisingly good glide (at least for a tourist). While I was slow on the down, which is a good thing for me, I had decent pace on the flats and ups.

However, by the end of the third day (around 65kms covered) my skins were buggered. The hair at the rear 4 inches or so of the skins had worn off practically down to the fabric and they were then severely icing up, causing me to grind to a halt (I had to repeatedly stop and scrap the big chunks of compacted snow off).

Can that seriously be the lifetime of them??? For a 200km expedition I'd have to bring 3 sets of skins. Thats crazy. Any ideas what's up?

For reference, I was only skiing on snow and conditions were about 0 degrees C lower down, and just in the minuses higher up. Due to the warm temps I had cold waxed the skins with Coltex ski and skin wax, as advised. I was 50% on ski tracks and 50% breaking trail through forest powder. No issues with the skin glue at all.

70km doesn't sound like a lot.
But then again Åsnes themselves claims lifespan of 80 km for mohair, 150km for nylon, 120km for mix.
https://asnes-academy.com/velg-riktig-u ... t-skifell/
https://www.en.asnes.com/climbing-skins ... nd-tricks/
And i guess it does depend on the snow conditions.
Perhaps the gliding itself is responsible for faster wear of the skins? With AT they seem to last longer.

Did you trim the skins to your heel? If they are wearing out behind your heel, that is the primary glide zone of your ski and you don't want them there anyway.

wabene wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 29, 2023 10:13 am

Did you trim the skins to your heel? If they are wearing out behind your heel, that is the primary glide zone of your ski and you don't want any them there anyway.

Yeah this.
Also, you should wax your skins. Give them a good rubbing with a glide wax. Some go against the grain, i only go with.
Additionally are you doing long distances going downhill?

Woodserson wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 29, 2023 10:21 am

wabene wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 29, 2023 10:13 am

Did you trim the skins to your heel? If they are wearing out behind your heel, that is the primary glide zone of your ski and you don't want any them there anyway.

Yeah this.
Also, you should wax your skins. Give them a good rubbing with a glide wax. Some go against the grain, i only go with.
Additionally are you doing long distances going downhill?

This and this!
You need anti-ice spray if the temperatures are around freezing. Alternatively use nylon for these temps to avoid icing - and for longevity.

Also yes, cut mohairs at the heel!
I keep my nylon long for extra grip with pulk, the glide is terrible anyway.

The Aesna website states they only last for 120 miles at most, if I read it correctly. This tells me that they aren't meant for everyday all day skiing for an active skier, unless you want to replace them every couple weeks

Excellent responses above↑

Another idea is to contact Asnes support directly and engage with them- Asnes customer service is quite something in my experience.

Mohair offers incredible grip and GLIDE performance for a skin- but pure mohair is not durable.
I have torn entire sections out of mohair skins in a single outing- striking forest debris.

I have always used nylon kickers for long-distance pulk pulling.
Otherwise, I don't use kicker skins much, so my mohair kicker skins last many years.

I see that Asnes now has nylon-mohair mix X-Skins as well. This could be a sweet spot for grip and glide with a pulk- but still won't be as durable as nylon.

Using mohair kickers as a klister replacement in warm conditions on Gammes will produce very little wear. The camber of the ski and infrequent usage contribute to this. Using nylon/mohair mix kickers on lower camber skis, my SB98's and M62'S, to pull a toboggan on sometimes hard snow, I would expect more wear. Beer is heavy!

Sounds like the skins are not worn out. They might actually have gotten better, if they are Colltex mohair. In earlier discussions with jyw5 estimate was that worn out Colltex 45 mm becomes like Pomoca 40 mm because hair length is the main difference.

Also I have had two pairs of Intelligrips, and skiing with one 30 cm long, hair worn short, and other brand new full length you did not notice any huge difference between the skins / skis.

Having said that, I have used skins only once on my Gammes. I do not like listening to the rub of skin wear, when skiing on hard snow.

Normally I use light blue wax which you do not need to heat, so you can add it outside. And, you can put skins on top of the blue wax. I have my skins for klister replacement, too. For a pulk tour, I would have Colltex 45 mm x-skins and 38 mm mix full length, plus the blue wax.

I have got 600-900km out of Mohairs on three pairs, keeping them on all the time even in springtime. Spring snow definitely wears them down quicker, on powder there is essentially no wear when just touring.

But the first pair I messed up on the first day, snowplowed down an icy slope. On very abrasive snow you will lose hair if you go down fast enough or brake enough.

I have not trimmed my skins this far, but I can extend life of some of the more worn down ones by doing this. And maybe for better glide I will anyways do it on new skins

I think you could also try the newer Mix-skins. The yellow ones had bad glue on many pairs I tried. The new ones are light blue and have way better glue. These could take a bit more wear aswell.

One thing I suspect although am not at all convinced of, is the skis do not have enough camber for you, given if snow conditions were ok. It has taken me 400+km to notice any significant wear and that was on too short and low camber Ouslands... I would think even a short Gamme should have the camber to negate this way better