Wildly speculative talk about Asnes 21-22 lineup: Otto/FT62

[エイダン.シダル]

It seems like @jyw5 has tackled somewhat this problem with shorted (than recommended) narrow, stiffer skies. Don’t remember the specifics, but maybe he will comment?
Definitely not the FT62, and I’m guessing not the Rabb.

Interesting. I like long skis, but it's an aesthetic argument...

[Stephen]

It seems like @jyw5 has tackled somewhat this problem with shorted (than recommended) narrow, stiffer skis. Don’t remember the specifics, but maybe he will comment?
Definitely not the FT62, and I’m guessing not the Rabb.

Interesting. I like long skis, but it's an aesthetic argument...

Not really aesthetics. Very practical. If you’re on hilly terrain or in-bounds, you wan to be able to turn. Longer skis are going to be more challenging. Longer skis are good for speed and distance, and support in deeper snow. A narrower ski is going to edge better on icy, hard snow than a wider ski, like the FT62 or Rabb. Not arguing with you, just offering an opinion…

[エイダン.シダル]

It seems like @jyw5 has tackled somewhat this problem with shorted (than recommended) narrow, stiffer skies. Don’t remember the specifics, but maybe he will comment?
Definitely not the FT62, and I’m guessing not the Rabb.

Interesting. I like long skis, but it's an aesthetic argument...

Not really aesthetics. Very practical. If you’re on hilly terrain or in-bounds, you wan to be able to turn. Longer skis are going to be more challenging. Longer skis are good for speed and distance, and support in deeper snow. A narrower ski is going to edge better on icy, hard snow than a wider ski, like the FT62 or Rabb. Not arguing with you, just offering an opinion…

Understood, and taken in the right spirit.

[エイダン.シダル]

So I'm completely overwhelmed by which ski I want now...

I've got idle Alico Snow March boots, and Voile Cable Telemark bindings (I'd put on modest risers). Should I put them on new/old Falketinds/Rabbs if I can get them?
Will the Rabb, or the FT, be the better ski for learning light tele technique?

For what?
- Ontario/PQ hilly trails, and some inbound
- medium density snow the norm, transforming into hardpack and ice
- also groomed
- Chic-Chocs some day...

To be more succinct: can heavy leathers get the most out of Rabbs, or would I want something like T4s?

I'm well set-up already for the lower angle stuff: Gammes and Fischer S Bound Outabound 88s, both on NNN BC. Praying for the shipment delays to dump on the market off-season for sales. A vain hope I know.

Thinking the Rabbs would be overkill for my uses, and for the boot. The regular FTs, 188cm (12cm shorter than my Gammes) I should be able to put on edge, and turn them on leathers. I'm 187cm, 190lbs. When I go plastic, I'll go all-in: not T4s on 3-pin.

[fisheater]

Interesting. I like long skis, but it's an aesthetic argument...

Not really aesthetics. Very practical. If you’re on hilly terrain or in-bounds, you wan to be able to turn. Longer skis are going to be more challenging. Longer skis are good for speed and distance, and support in deeper snow. A narrower ski is going to edge better on icy, hard snow than a wider ski, like the FT62 or Rabb. Not arguing with you, just offering an opinion…

Understood, and taken in the right spirit.

The terrain that jyw5 is real mountainous terrain, not hills. I strongly recommend a ski that is made to turn, a ski that you can bend. A cross country oriented ski isn’t really made to bend, consequently while you can ski it a little short and bend it to a degree, you still cannot bend it evenly. It will perform in a sub par manner in certain conditions. I have done just this thing with a 200 cm USGI ski. I skied a season at the ski hill with my son, utilizing that USGI ski. I could link turns, and handicapping myself made the skiing interesting, but the deficiencies of this type of ski downhill was readily apparent. If you are a good skier, and have a plan, go for it. I was a ski instructor, I know a bit about teaching people how to turn. I think suggesting a short XC ski to learn to make Telemark turns is high on the list of terrible suggestions.
So onto turnable skis. If you are on a budget look for what comes on the market used, Madshus Annum and Epoch, Fischer S-98 and 112, absolutely Falketind 62, i’m sure that Rossignol 110 would be fine as well.
What can you handle with the Ski March boot? I can handle any of the skis listed above with my Ski March boot. It is a powerful boot. I ski my Tindan 86 in Powder with my Ski March boot. There are a lot of guys that would ski any of the above skis with NNN-BC. While it is reasonable to suggest a plastic boot for an S-112. That has more to do with the ability of the skier. I can easily overpower an S-112 with a Ski March boot. I certainly understand why skiers mount those skis NNN-BC. Any of those skis, with a 3 pin cable would make a fine turning rig. No riser is necessary, but wouldn’t be harmful either.

[エイダン.シダル]

Thanks, 'fisheater'. Yeah, I'm a bit long in tooth for cranking couloirs. More like blue/single-black-diamond type hills. But it sounds like the Rabb or FT, or the others.

The risers will be mainly to clamp the wires out of the way, but leave them in place.

Other considerations:
- being able to use Åsnes X-skins between skis (even though they're 45mm for Gammes)
- hard 'no' to waxless for these purposes
- gotta have the ability to do longish approaches in comfort

I'm a rusty alpine skier from a youth of club racing. A proficient Nordic skier from more recently.

[Stephen]

@fisheater, do Rabb or FT62 perform well on medium density snow, transforming into hardpack and ice?

[エイダン.シダル]

@fisheater, do Rabb or FT62 perform well on medium density snow, transforming into hardpack and ice?

That's a great question, because in the Åsnes videos the snow is perfect, as are the skiers. Doesn't apply to Eastern Canada, or me.

[fisheater]

What do I call you? I don’t read Japanese characters.
Here’s the deal, the older FT has an alpine camber. If you have 3 or 4 inches of soft snow it’s magic on the kick and glide. If you have a compacted trail, the wax pocket drags. I personally like it’s compacted snow performance better than the Fischer scales on my S-112. However I don’t like the compacted snow of the old FT enough. I have a new FT Xplore, it seems like it will be an improvement over the old FT on consolidated trails. It is also longitudinally stiffer than the old FT, it should be more supportive in soft snow and also less affected by mank. The last two conditions were a problem with the old FT, so the Xplore should be an improvement.
So as far as skins, I have a 45 mm X-skin. I tried it on my Gamme once. I skied 50 feet, pulled the X-skin and put on red/silver wax. The red/silver gave me grip and glide. The X-skin didn’t glide well enough to satisfy me. In fairness to the X-skin, it extended beyond the heel on the Gamme. I really have it for steeper climbing for the FT. I don’t think the X-skin would offer much glide on either the FT or the FT Xplore or the Rabb either! The skis aren’t cambered enough for the skins to release. Based on my experience on my S-112 which doesn’t have the skin attachment option, I doubt S-bounds offer much glide with skins either. Maybe a S-98 has more camber than a S-112, or maybe they added camber over the years, but my 190 lbs squashes my brown model S-112 at 189 cm flat. However unless those S-bounds are now different I don’t think they glide well with skins.
So I guess I’m not the greatest help with skins. However I live in a similar climate, in southern Michigan. I got by with just kick wax for 3 or 4 years. I started to add klister to the mix. It really works well, but you need to scrape it off after you ski. It takes me about 20 minutes.
Good luck in whatever you choose. If you don’t want to mess with warm waxing conditions you may be better on a Epoch/Annum or S-bound. I’m not an S-bound fan, but that doesn’t make it a bad ski. The S-112 is better than the old FT in mank. The other option is an Objective. It would be recommended to be skied with a plastic boot. That doesn’t mean it wouldn’t give excellent performance on the Ski March boot.

[fisheater]

do Rabb or FT62 perform well on medium density snow, transforming into hardpack and ice?

Stephen,
The red/white FT I have has a soft round flex. It gets pushed around in any kind of manky snow, including wind crust, sun crust, refrozen chunder, really anything refrozen. I find it okay on ice, it has good edges and it is torsionally rigid.
I have a new FT Xplore. It is longitudinally much stiffer, I am hoping that it handles all forms of manky snow significantly better. It is my hope it will, it is significantly stiffer