Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

I'm looking for skis for multi day winter camping trips here in Ontario. I'll mostly be following canoe routes so a mix of lakes and Portage trails and I'll be pulling a fairly heavy sled. The more challenging terrain will be the Portage trails so maybe something more geared towards softer deeper snow in steeper terrain.

I'm sure there's lots of skis that could do the job fine, I'm just curious to here your opinion/recommendations.

Cheers.

If it were me in those conditions (we likely have similar terrain in western upper peninsula of Michigan/northern Wisconsin lake country with chains of lakes and portage trails of varying steepness) and snow was deep I would take my Asnes Combat NATO old model for sure.

I think @mca80 is spot on as he lives in similar terrain. I thought I would add an Xskin and a full skin if the trail is steep and thick woods make alternate routes difficult.

fisheater wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 20, 2024 6:12 pm

I think @mca80 is spot on as he lives in similar terrain. I thought I would add an Xskin and a full skin if the trail is steep and thick woods make alternate routes difficult.

X skin for sure. Full skin not here, the steep sections are gonna be short, but I don't know about where s/he is in Ontario. If you aren't going more than 70 feet up (I never do here) then no need for em, just herringbone if need be. But regardless, that's a great ski for variable conditions that include deep snow and steep sections.

Have similar experience other northern US folks above, for utilitarian bang for buck I love my waxable USGI Asnes 210cm skis (different than Combat NATO) with a beefy NNN-BC boot. They are great at breaking trail in deep powder. While they’re heavy and tiring to herringbone you can always extend the wax zone longer if you want to change the pitch at which one’s required to switch from stride to herringbone.

I would recommend Finnish forest-skis, about 280cm.

Portage trails are not ski trails and may be too narrow to maneuver on skis. Unless you're familiar with the portages and know what to expect you may be better off switching to snowshoes for the ports. Portages are typically a small fraction of your total mileage so you may want to pick your gear focusing on the lake travel and wing it on the ports. You could, for example, skin up and take your skis off for the down or just hike it if the snow isn't too deep.