hemiboreal forest skiing in New Brunswick Canada

[lilcliffy]

That photo from Hamilton Beach is brutally amazing- awful.

[Cannatonic]

Hampton Beach is beautiful this time of year - Come on down!

[Cannatonic]

one more....I guess people in Gloucester thought it would be safe to leave their cars in the high school parking lot - and they wisely put their wipers up to keep them from freezing! apparently many flooded cars in eastern mass are now "frozen" - the slush froze up in the engines and they don't turn over.

[lilcliffy]

This is the stuff of nightmares man.

[lilcliffy]

We got about 50cm of snow in that Noreaster- or Weather bomb- or whatever they are calling Noreasters these days.

The drifts are nuts- there was drift as tall as me between the house and the barn!

[lilcliffy]

In the grand scheme of things we have had decent conditions here in the hills this week.

After that ridiculous rain storm we had an immediate freeze- it was 14C here on Friday afternoon, and -24C on Sunday morning!

It has snowed a few centimeters every day. And it has warmed up enough during the day that the fresh snow is starting to settle and bond to the 1m deep white frozen concrete base.

The best touring ski in my quiver this week is my E99 Tour- like lightning man.

I mounted up my new OAC XCDs during the rainstorm and have had a chance to test them a bit this week.

Some initial observations on the OAC XCD:
They are almost unbelievably light- it is kind of hard to believe.
They feel VERY short. Short enough that they kind a suck when XC skiing on hardpack- there is just not enough glide length- and they have no track groove, so they do not track very well on hardpack.
The tips are ridiculously low profile- haven't tried them in deep snow yet- but I think their trail-breaking is going to suck.
They are INCREDIBLY easy to turn with XC boots- so loads of fun on the downhill- but again, they are so short they felt unstable and twitchy at significant speed...
They have a camber-and-a-half flex underfoot- with a soft tip, and slightly stiffer tail (compared to the tip). But they are so short that there is no effective traction pocket at my 185lbs.
The skin is very high-quality mohair-nylon mix- good grip and decent glide.

My current thoughts is that the OAC XCD is a bushwacking ski for the dense Northwoods and I think it needs some soft snow to offer anything. And if it ends up being useless on dense/hard snow, then I doubt it is going to offer much more than a wider bushwacking ski like the Hok....And- there is no way it will be able to float, climb, or break trail like the Hok.

I will write a review once I have had a chance to try them in some deeper snow.

I have been ridiculously busy of late- have not had a chance to get to Houlton for my Voile bindings- have not mounted the Storetind or the Kom yet- still stuck in the stroking, flexing and gushing phase.

[Young Satchel]

Oh you got the OAC’s huh? Have been wondering about those a lot lately. Also the Hoks which I saw at my local outdoor shop when I bought my Fischer.

I’m excited to hear more about those as you put them through their paces. though in truth it sounds like I have little use for them, the desire is for some reason quite strong. Perhaps it’s all the stupid (awesome) videos of shredders they post on their Instagram [emoji23]. That one video of the dude carving through the trees in Sorels we all discussed a while back keeps me thinking about them. Clearly their marketing is working on me! Hahahahaha.


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[lilcliffy]

Oh you got the OAC’s huh? Have been wondering about those a lot lately.

I bought the OAC XCD (not the wider XCD GT from that awesome telemark video) on clearance with a XMas gift card. Not sure what to think yet...

Perhaps it’s all the stupid (awesome) videos of shredders they post on their Instagram [emoji23]. That one video of the dude carving through the trees in Sorels we all discussed a while back keeps me thinking about them. Clearly their marketing is working on me! Hahahahaha.

Skilled Telemark skier + PERFECT snow conditions.

[lilcliffy]

The Nordic touring conditions are excellent here in the hills!

Warmed up to just above freezing yesterday afternoon- the snow warmed up enough to begin to consolidate with the frozen hardpack base. It was perfect conditions for my E109 Crowns- had a wonderful hilly tour with my two teenagers- I loved watching them ski!

Went down to -12C last night, cold, and clear- went out early this morning after chores- was perfect Swix blue kick wax temperatures- the top was soft cold, and stable, with a dense base- took my E99 Tours. E99 with Polar ironed into the entire base- Blue corked into the kick zone. ABSOLUTELY EPIC SKI- was out for almost 4 hours- over hill- down hill- through field- through the woods- over the ridges- and down into the stream valleys. The grip and glide was magical and the E99s are absolutely FABULOUS XCD skis. I can ride them and completely overpower them with even my Alaskas when I want/need to. The E99 is VERY fast, incredibly light, and amazing in downhill turns for a double-cambered ski- LOVE those rockered tips!!!!!

[lilcliffy]

Started snowing after midnight- and steadily snowed until late morning. Got some bookwork done early after chores and then went out for a ski late morning- just as the snow was starting to change to ice pellets.

The conditions were amazing.

Since the ridiculous rainstorm, my steep terrain has been too weird, shallow, and refrozen to be properly enjoyed. But it has snowed a bit every day and the conditions on gentle to moderate terrain have truly been fabulous. I have been absolutely crushing miles over hill, valley, wood, glade, field, and stream- on my E99 Tours. The snow has been perfect for Swix Blue for days now. These skis have been so fast I feel like I can barely keep up with them!