This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips / Telemark Francais Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web since 1998. East, West, North, South, Canada, US or Europe, Backcountry or not.
This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips / Telemark Francais Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web since 1998. East, West, North, South, Canada, US or Europe, Backcountry or not.
This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web. We have fun here, come on in and be a part of it.
Lowangle al- love this thread. Seems like every other post on this site is which ski should I buy! I recall when I was a bit of a gearhead myself and wanted the latest and greatest, but now I am just an old barkeater and realize it is all just sliding on snow. Got an old pair of those karhu waxable xcd's like yours that I don't use much anymore, but I probably have more miles on those than any other in my quiver. And they are my second pair. The first had bubbles on the bases ( guess the iron may have been too hot - note to self, not too many IPAs while waxing). I recall reading John Mortons book on nordic ski racing, when he referred to epokes as slowpokes.Anyway nice photo of some classic skis.
I probably have the most miles on those old XCD-gts too. After about ten years of touring for turns on my first pair I took them in to the shop for a tune up. When the tech squeezed the bases together the tips came apart and he told me they were no good. This was before modern rockered skis so I stopped skiing them and got rid of them, which I regret. I still have a pair of 210 in like new conditiion, I'll never need another double camber ski.
those epokes probably are slow because they are soft. That's probably why they worked in the BC.
I sometimes take some 10th Mtns around the house..but they were not new to me. I missed this era...went straight from classic skinnies to alpine skis mounted tele in the late 80's and have since been going back and toying with some of the older skis..10th mtns, 99's. IMO leather boots still have a place in the quiver but not the older skis...unless one is looking to clock a shitton of miles and survive some descents, in which case the old long stiff metal-edged skinnies may still be the weapon of choice.
Baaahb you are a man ahead of your time. I haven't used leather much since I got T4s. I probably would have stuck with them but my trail conditions went downhill(no pun intended) Too many walkers, joggers and bikers and not enough skiers.
I think those older straight skis pre mid to late 90s were higher quality then the lighter more shaped skis that came after. It does seem that quality has been getting better on XCD skis and prices reflect that. But that's a good thing.
Those old Epokes are indeed slow-pokies because the good Norwegians put cheap, easily damaged soft extruded ABS bases on them, instead of a better quality sintered ABS that was available, even then...think about it, a wonderfully strong torsion box laminate wood core, great camber that never wears out, and then cheap old plastic bases. And these were not low end "price point" skis, either. To make em go fast you gotta put some time into base prep, i.e., a base binder wax, then full length combo of kick wax in the pocket and glide on the tips and tails. That works to smooth em out. But oh how they tour!
The mica-base waxless Epokes have a reputation of not kicking or gliding very well, but I never skiied them myself.
Back in old days I must've sold hundreds of Karhu XCD GTs and XCD Comps. Literally selling a case or two a week. I think they turned pretty well for not having much sidecut, using the leather boots of the day, and with excellent style. Unfortunately, many of them didn't survive very long, as Karhu used cheap injection molded soft foam cores that lost camber and even frequently broke. It's pretty remarkable that you still have a skiable pair that isn't flat--I'd ski that with respect.
"To me, gracefulness on skis should be the end-all of the sport" --Stein Eriksen
Back in old days I must've sold hundreds of Karhu XCD GTs and XCD Comps. Literally selling a case or two a week. I think they turned pretty well for not having much sidecut, using the leather boots of the day, and with excellent style. Unfortunately, many of them didn't survive very long, as Karhu used cheap injection molded soft foam cores that lost camber and even frequently broke. It's pretty remarkable that you still have a skiable pair that isn't flat--I'd ski that with respect.
Hi, which Karhu’s do you mean? The ones on the left or right of the original picture? Thx!
Still ski my Karhu XCD-GT's regularly (same vintage as the ones on the left of the OP's photo), have had a few 900's and 1000's (wish I had kept a pair), have those Bonna's out in the shed... and skied those newer breed Karhu's a bit, though I just don't remember the name of that model.
Never found the waxable Epoke's to be slow personally, and they were wildly well liked in their day where I was (Adirondacks). The XCD-GT''s were also iconic, and common kit for the backcountry. Saw precious little breakage of either ski in all the years I sold and tech'd in that golden era.
The XCD's were a foam core, as far back as my familiarity goes, though I guess they may have been a wood core very early on in their lineage. Never saw 'em tho.
Hi, which Karhu’s do you mean? The ones on the left or right of the original picture? Thx!
Karhu used foam injection; look for an injection "nipple" or washer thingie on the sidewalls. Some skis, later on, were better made, but Karhu continued with foam core skis until K2 bought the company and reduced the number of models to just a few. Not sure if the K2 Karhus were all wood core skis, but I suspect they were.
Btw, The ski on the left is the older of those two.
Last edited by fgd135 on Mon Jan 24, 2022 8:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"To me, gracefulness on skis should be the end-all of the sport" --Stein Eriksen
"Was it...Ned Gillette that skied 70 days across Ellesmere Island using Epoke 900s? I think so. Tough guy, tough skis."
My recollection is that Ned, Jan Reynolds, and Galen Rowell circumnavigated McKinley on the Epokes.
Might've been both trips; Nortur was his sponsor for both, iirc, and they were the Epoke distributors. Epoke did later sell an "Ellsmere" model...Chuck Schultz, Doug Wiens and Dale Bard were also on the Ellsmere trip. It was actually closer to 85 days now I think about it.
"To me, gracefulness on skis should be the end-all of the sport" --Stein Eriksen
