My Ski History by anemic
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2016 12:16 pm
Allow me to share my story with you because you may enjoy reading it.
Thank you. I have enjoyed this site for years; I love the XCD focus. You've taught me so much! Yet, I have never tele'd! I don't have a tele rig of any kind!
In the 1970's as a middle school youth in Michigan who'd not yet skied (I knew I would love skiing even before day one), a friend of the family gave me his 210 cm woodies when he moved to FL. The poles were bamboo. The boots were blue addidas high tops with a long duckbill and of course a light 3 pin binding. I kickwaxed the full length of the pine tarred base as was the tradition. I learned they were HUGE! I was not a tall kid or even average height. I've owned those skis over 30 years now. Eventually the boots started cracking and it seemed like a good idea to upgrade to NNN. The old school boots would pinch my foot to a degree with every kick. The NNN were a good step in the right direction. I even raced a few times on these skis - the lone woody. As the recreational caliber NNN boots aged, I wanted to look into something heavier duty so I upgraded the bindings to NNN BC with Alpina 1550 boots. Not a bad move, especially the left boot. Sadly, the right boot is a blister machine on my heel. There is a plastic edge which cuts it's own liner and there is no way it will ever be comfortable. Meanwhile I bought some beautiful black mohair skins for these skis. They are very skinny about half width. I leave them on all the time because they glide GREAT! I no longer kick wax them. They stick to the wood great, snow never gets underneath them. they climb incredibly well. If only these skis were capable of making a turn. Any turn. 30 years of step turns.
When wood is good, it's really hard to beat. When it's bad it is slow like a snowshoe. I have skied almost all the way across Michigan on a horse trail on these. That was a 2-night overnight adventure, self supported, with backpack. That's what necessitated the NNN BC upgrade.
Those skis got me into Nordic ski racing, which I still do. I had a full bore Nordic life for about a decade. so I have lots of skate & classic race gear.
Meanwhile, when I finally did go Alpine skiing in middle school, I loved it. I raced on the high school ski team and loved it. I graduated from college and became a ski bum in CO for a couple years. I currently have some big mountain resort skis (186 x 100) and some race SL skis and I still enjoy that type of skiing to a degree (but it is somewhat boring to me by comparison to self-serve skiing, which I find more satisfying, and would be happy to do only that forever).
One of my Nordic race buddies has a place in Driggs and he does a good deal of AT skiing which is great in the Tetons. Under his influence I became the owner of an AT rig.
But the AT rig is NOT the ticket for Michigan. It's perfect for ascending and descending. It's really not any fun on the flats. At all. All the individual parts feel pretty light for how big and capable they are. But when you put it all together, especially with the full-width skins, it's heavy. If I had enormous climbs and resulting descents I would put up with the funless flats, but I don't have that here. Also, with 130 wide tips (100 underfoot), I cannot avoid knocking the striding ski against the kicking ski. They are really just too fat for that kind of activity. Yes a more moderate ski would alleviate that. But then the binding is like $500 and I’m still left with the boot, and the heavy skins.
So I am headed to a new career as an XCD tele-ist! I have ordered some old school 200 cm waxable (or skinable!) XCD GTs from LoveJohnny and some fine old soft Merrell 3 pin boots from a mountain man in the Sierras (who prefers more of a resort rig) and some Mountaineer HD 3 pin bindings (all these new toys ship today!).
I am fascinated that we all have our own region and it's topographical peculiarities which give rise to slightly different preferences in our gear choices. I have seen a lot of feedback from enough skiers using crowns, fishscale, waxless patterns that I am hesitant to go that route right now. Yet I am fascinated by the Altair Kom with a waxless pattern that is claimed to be much better. I am fascinated to be able to communicate with the Altair ski guys, who developed the Karhu XCD lineup. I am fascinated by their inspiration, the indigenous skiers of the Altair region who have been skiing on fully skinned “Hok prototypes” for thousands of years. I am fascinated that such small differences in the spec and width of the Karhu/Madshus lineup creates significant changes in the performance and sensations of each ski. I am fascinated by the Japanese XCD enthusiasts who are heading into the mountains and even riding lifts on NNN BC XCD rigs. Those videos are kind of life changing for me because they redefine tele life. Tele life doesn’t have to be heavy duty, dedicated resort rigs, that apparently cannot climb without a ski lift. (I don’t want to cause a storm there. I’m a tele noob but that’s what I’ve read about NTN.)
For now I will experiment with somewhat minimalist skin skiing on the waxable XCD GTs (sans kickwax). I showed my wife the Japanese videos and she agrees, this looks like fun! My AT foray was never going to include her; unfortunately she doesn’t share my massively overdeveloped sense of adventure. I am not quite certain what rig we’ll put her on yet (would prefer the same as mine, whichever I go with, so possibly 3 pin, yet perhaps waxless). She is looking forward to the XCD adventure too! Her background is similar to mine; some alpine racing, a very competent resort Alpine skier, a fast Nordic ski racer (especially classic in her case) and zero tele experience - willing to start a new ski chapter!
Our master plan is to be ski bums the moment we hit the empty nest. We have a high school junior and a freshman. XCD could really turn into our next lifestyle. I’ll let you know how LoveJohnny’s XCD GTs turn out! (when the snow comes back)
Thank you. I have enjoyed this site for years; I love the XCD focus. You've taught me so much! Yet, I have never tele'd! I don't have a tele rig of any kind!
In the 1970's as a middle school youth in Michigan who'd not yet skied (I knew I would love skiing even before day one), a friend of the family gave me his 210 cm woodies when he moved to FL. The poles were bamboo. The boots were blue addidas high tops with a long duckbill and of course a light 3 pin binding. I kickwaxed the full length of the pine tarred base as was the tradition. I learned they were HUGE! I was not a tall kid or even average height. I've owned those skis over 30 years now. Eventually the boots started cracking and it seemed like a good idea to upgrade to NNN. The old school boots would pinch my foot to a degree with every kick. The NNN were a good step in the right direction. I even raced a few times on these skis - the lone woody. As the recreational caliber NNN boots aged, I wanted to look into something heavier duty so I upgraded the bindings to NNN BC with Alpina 1550 boots. Not a bad move, especially the left boot. Sadly, the right boot is a blister machine on my heel. There is a plastic edge which cuts it's own liner and there is no way it will ever be comfortable. Meanwhile I bought some beautiful black mohair skins for these skis. They are very skinny about half width. I leave them on all the time because they glide GREAT! I no longer kick wax them. They stick to the wood great, snow never gets underneath them. they climb incredibly well. If only these skis were capable of making a turn. Any turn. 30 years of step turns.
When wood is good, it's really hard to beat. When it's bad it is slow like a snowshoe. I have skied almost all the way across Michigan on a horse trail on these. That was a 2-night overnight adventure, self supported, with backpack. That's what necessitated the NNN BC upgrade.
Those skis got me into Nordic ski racing, which I still do. I had a full bore Nordic life for about a decade. so I have lots of skate & classic race gear.
Meanwhile, when I finally did go Alpine skiing in middle school, I loved it. I raced on the high school ski team and loved it. I graduated from college and became a ski bum in CO for a couple years. I currently have some big mountain resort skis (186 x 100) and some race SL skis and I still enjoy that type of skiing to a degree (but it is somewhat boring to me by comparison to self-serve skiing, which I find more satisfying, and would be happy to do only that forever).
One of my Nordic race buddies has a place in Driggs and he does a good deal of AT skiing which is great in the Tetons. Under his influence I became the owner of an AT rig.
But the AT rig is NOT the ticket for Michigan. It's perfect for ascending and descending. It's really not any fun on the flats. At all. All the individual parts feel pretty light for how big and capable they are. But when you put it all together, especially with the full-width skins, it's heavy. If I had enormous climbs and resulting descents I would put up with the funless flats, but I don't have that here. Also, with 130 wide tips (100 underfoot), I cannot avoid knocking the striding ski against the kicking ski. They are really just too fat for that kind of activity. Yes a more moderate ski would alleviate that. But then the binding is like $500 and I’m still left with the boot, and the heavy skins.
So I am headed to a new career as an XCD tele-ist! I have ordered some old school 200 cm waxable (or skinable!) XCD GTs from LoveJohnny and some fine old soft Merrell 3 pin boots from a mountain man in the Sierras (who prefers more of a resort rig) and some Mountaineer HD 3 pin bindings (all these new toys ship today!).
I am fascinated that we all have our own region and it's topographical peculiarities which give rise to slightly different preferences in our gear choices. I have seen a lot of feedback from enough skiers using crowns, fishscale, waxless patterns that I am hesitant to go that route right now. Yet I am fascinated by the Altair Kom with a waxless pattern that is claimed to be much better. I am fascinated to be able to communicate with the Altair ski guys, who developed the Karhu XCD lineup. I am fascinated by their inspiration, the indigenous skiers of the Altair region who have been skiing on fully skinned “Hok prototypes” for thousands of years. I am fascinated that such small differences in the spec and width of the Karhu/Madshus lineup creates significant changes in the performance and sensations of each ski. I am fascinated by the Japanese XCD enthusiasts who are heading into the mountains and even riding lifts on NNN BC XCD rigs. Those videos are kind of life changing for me because they redefine tele life. Tele life doesn’t have to be heavy duty, dedicated resort rigs, that apparently cannot climb without a ski lift. (I don’t want to cause a storm there. I’m a tele noob but that’s what I’ve read about NTN.)
For now I will experiment with somewhat minimalist skin skiing on the waxable XCD GTs (sans kickwax). I showed my wife the Japanese videos and she agrees, this looks like fun! My AT foray was never going to include her; unfortunately she doesn’t share my massively overdeveloped sense of adventure. I am not quite certain what rig we’ll put her on yet (would prefer the same as mine, whichever I go with, so possibly 3 pin, yet perhaps waxless). She is looking forward to the XCD adventure too! Her background is similar to mine; some alpine racing, a very competent resort Alpine skier, a fast Nordic ski racer (especially classic in her case) and zero tele experience - willing to start a new ski chapter!
Our master plan is to be ski bums the moment we hit the empty nest. We have a high school junior and a freshman. XCD could really turn into our next lifestyle. I’ll let you know how LoveJohnny’s XCD GTs turn out! (when the snow comes back)
