connyro wrote:IMO, one of the best things about the Vector BCs is the lack of needing to fiddle-fart with wax, kicker skins, and most of the time, I don't really even need skins. The scales are that good. These are BC skis for soft snow and in those conditions, I hardly notice the drag of the scales. I was out breaking trail today on waxable BC skis, (Asnes Combats 210s/nnn-bc) and I perceived that my speed and effort were about the same as when I break trail with the Vector BCs. IF my regular Vectors had kicker skins, I would still take out the Vector BCs 100% of the time in deep soft BC snow.
You're on to something here.
The width underfoot of the Vector, IME, gives flotation but it also gives excellent traction in soft snow (like a wide mud tire). I would expect the Kom to be even better- due to the extra width underfoot.
Where I find the waxless traction of even a ski as wide as the Vector/Kom to breakdown is when the snow is REALLY cold and dry. This is the domain where grip wax out performs everything (at least in a K&G and low-angle climbing context).
(I haven't been following the "kicker skin" thread- not sure if the Fischer S-Bound + easyskin has been beat to death or not)
I think that Fischer is perhaps not "off" with the idea of the "easyskin" on the wider, waxless S-Bounds. Perhaps they are just looking at it from the perspective that Connyro is...
What Connyro is saying is true- in a wide range of conditions (from warm wet snow, to deep soft snow), the waxless traction of the S-Bounds (and skis like the Voile BCs/Kom) performs very well. The "easyskin" in this context may be in a literal sense to "easily" and efficiently overcome conditions where the waxless traction isn't effective. These conditions are likely the following:
1) very cold dry snow
2) icy crust or refrozen snow
3) a "low-angle" slope that the skier underestimated and needs just a bit more grip to ascend (this has happened to me many times- but especially on a ski like the Annum/Guide that does not have a waxless design intended for climbing)
The "easyskin" fills the role of giving extra grip in situations outside the optimum for a given ski. I see this being equally true for either a waxable or a waxless ski.
IME, the situations where I have needed a full-skin to climb have been obvious. But the conditions where either grip wax- or waxless- traction have just not been enough, can be harder to anticipate.
And although I have not tried them yet- snapping in an "easyskin"/"skinlock" is a quick fix when you need a bit of extra grip.
So the easyskin on the S-Bound does make sense to me.
But getting back to Woods' suggestion of wanting a fat, waxable ski- with an integrated kicker skin....Need to convince Fischer to bring back waxable S-Bounds; and/or convince Asnes to put the skinlock on their uber-fat skis; and/or convince Voile to explore it...
