Asnes Mountain Race 48 SKIN

[Cannatonic]

I'm OK with some "innovation", these companies that make our gear have to survive & remain profitable. It reminds me of music, for example the first few Soundgarden albums rocked but then they had to do "Black Hole Sun" commercial-sounding stuff for a few albums to make money, I'm cool with that!

I remember buying a pair of Salomon XC skis from Akers to replace some old 210 Kharus and the longest option was like 201cm. Within 10 minutes out on the skis I'm thinking "these are slow as molasses! what is wrong"....the science of physics is what was wrong - 200cm does not glide as fast as 210cm. I donated those skis to the AMC youth sports program.

it seems like Asnes is thriving as people realize they still make traditional length XC skis and waxing skis and nobody else does. People in Norway are smarter than here.....the country is currently obsessed with playing chess!

http://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/sport ... rlsen.html
The Magnus Effect: Norway Falls Hard for Chess
Chess is omnipresent in Norway, the home to the world champion Magnus Carlsen. And, somehow, it has become cool.

[Johnny]

There should only be 200 to 250cm XC skis. With different camber and weight ratings. Similar to the racing XC skis where you can buy soft, medium or stiff versions of the same size...

[Woodserson]

If only they could make 210cm skinnies with a camber for lightweight skinny guys...
(This is called vintage decambered skis, my favorite...!)

This is why I really love wood skis, I can gently adjust the camber of the course of an off-season to my personal preference with how I block the ski.

The Sondre has slightly lower weight ratings for their length, 205cm for 75-90kg...

[Johnny]

My verdict after one season: The Mountain Race 48 SKIN is freaking awesome. If the words FAST and LIGHT mean something to you, the whole MR series will make you smile. They are awesome for everything: classic XC tracks, frozen fields skating or pure mountaineering. (Even jump-turning downhill is fun too!) I sure will increase my Mountain Race fleet next year...

TRAVEL FAST!

[Musk Ox]

I just want to add a couple of notes here about the MR48 Skin, particularly about sizing if you're right in the middle of two sizing options on the chart, like I am.

Firstly I have to reiterate what Johnny said. These skis are absurdly, ridiculously fun. Like, you probably could, genuinely, breakdance in them. They're like a 1980s Nike advert, especially with those arcade-game graphics.

While I can't claim these would be anyone's first choice for pure Telemark or hunting elk, people take these on genuine polar expeditions and they're like owning a dog you groom with fibretex. Today I laughed with pleasure, which is the point.

The waxable ones are definitely faster still on hard snow, and I know this because I've ended up with both. But the grip is, and I cannot stress this enough, godlike, and they don't 'grab' whatsoever when you're controlling your speed round corners on compacted snow, if that's a concern for you. When you're moving, you really do fly.

I can hear the skins very quietly go vvvvvVVVVVVVvvv going down hills in hard snow. I'm aware of a negligible friction on groomed trails.

Now. On the sizing chart, I'm right between the 190 cm and the 200 cm skis, being a couple of cm short of 180 cm tall and a couple of kilos short of 80 kg. I would have preferred a 195 cm ski. I opted for the 190 cm ones, in part so my wife could grab them sometimes. But next time I'd definitely get the longer ones for myself. It's not for me to take issue with Åsnes's chart. They actually make skis. They have generations of experience. The company is staffed with people basically made of snow. But I think I'd say, if you have any vacillation about the size, really go for the longer ones.

[Musk Ox]

(The reason I mention the skins 'grabbing' on corners is because of something that happened to me at the granules-and-holes stage of the end of last season. Coming home after a hike with my X-Skins on, pretty fatigued and numb, I came around a corner on a big party of school children all over the hill, wearing skis at the bottom of our little 'downhill slope' which ends there. I tried to slow and angle around them but I was going quite fast. One of my skins just held fast in that awful icy, holy snow and I fell kiiind of hard. The punchline of the story is that one of these ten-year-olds asked me, really sweetly, "Are you OK?". In English. Because it was so, so obvious that I wasn't Norwegian.

My wife loves this story.)

[Johnny]

I'm 54kg at 6' and I wouldn't want my MR48 shorter than 210cm...

It's not for me to take issue with Åsnes's chart. They actually make skis. They have generations of experience. The company is staffed with people basically made of snow. But I think I'd say, if you have any vacillation about the size, really go for the longer ones.

Yep, they are master ski builders. But making all those nice skis takes a huge amount of money. So they also have to be top of the line business men. Which means giving the people what they want. (Most) people are stupid, they are overweight and they like short XC skis. They are afraid of long planks. So ski companies have to follow...

[Woodserson]

I just want to add a couple of notes here about the MR48 Skin, particularly about sizing if you're right in the middle of two sizing options on the chart, like I am.

Firstly I have to reiterate what Johnny said. These skis are absurdly, ridiculously fun. Like, you probably could, genuinely, breakdance in them. They're like a 1980s Nike advert, especially with those arcade-game graphics.

While I can't claim these would be anyone's first choice for pure Telemark or hunting elk, people take these on genuine polar expeditions and they're like owning a dog you groom with fibretex. Today I laughed with pleasure, which is the point.

The waxable ones are definitely faster still on hard snow, and I know this because I've ended up with both. But the grip is, and I cannot stress this enough, godlike, and they don't 'grab' whatsoever when you're controlling your speed round corners on compacted snow, if that's a concern for you. When you're moving, you really do fly.

I can hear the skins very quietly go vvvvvVVVVVVVvvv going down hills in hard snow. I'm aware of a negligible friction on groomed trails.

Now. On the sizing chart, I'm right between the 190 cm and the 200 cm skis, being a couple of cm short of 180 cm tall and a couple of kilos short of 80 kg. I would have preferred a 195 cm ski. I opted for the 190 cm ones, in part so my wife could grab them sometimes. But next time I'd definitely get the longer ones for myself. It's not for me to take issue with Åsnes's chart. They actually make skis. They have generations of experience. The company is staffed with people basically made of snow. But I think I'd say, if you have any vacillation about the size, really go for the longer ones.

Musk Ox YES! So glad to see you back this winter. Don't forget to post some awesome pictures of you strutting your stuff and showing how you do it Norwegian Style. No one here will mock you, you'll be a hero to the people!

Question: The MR48 seems to be quite popular in Norway and the Mountain Tour 51 seems (from my chair 3000 miles away) to get less love. I am really happy with my MT51's, they are the shizz with the long traditional camber. Both skis fit in the track. What is the deal, what made you decide to go MR48 over MT51 if it came down to it? Also, can you remind me what binding you're using on the the MR48?

Thanks for the great posts and convo about these awesome skis, keep on truckin'.

[Musk Ox]

Musk Ox YES! So glad to see you back this winter. Don't forget to post some awesome pictures of you strutting your stuff and showing how you do it Norwegian Style. No one here will mock you, you'll be a hero to the people!

Thanks for the great posts and convo about these awesome skis, keep on truckin'.

Wooderson! Hello!

Question: The MR48 seems to be quite popular in Norway and the Mountain Tour 51 seems (from my chair 3000 miles away) to get less love. I am really happy with my MT51's, they are the shizz with the long traditional camber. Both skis fit in the track. What is the deal, what made you decide to go MR48 over MT51 if it came down to it? Also, can you remind me what binding you're using on the the MR48?

Ah yes, hmm... That’s a really good question with quite a boring answer in my case.

OK, I think MT51s are pretty well-regarded here. Someone working in the ski section of the big sports shop told me they were "the best hiking skis he’d ever had". Every time I go there I kind of wish I had them, to tell you the truth. They’re supposed to be a little more sure when you’re coming down and I suspect those three extra mm and that camber translate into the best of all worlds.

I settled on the MR48 for pretty random reasons. I’d intended to buy a pair of Vikafjell from a friend for next to nothing. So mentally I had that particular slot covered (they’re basically identical to the MT51 with an extruded sole, I think). I ended up with MR48s for a bunch of other reasons not completely snow-related other than I wanted something sporty to keep up with the others on the tracks (which was a silly reason itself). I didn’t buy the Vikafjells because I was really happy with the MR48s/ was feeling poor, I suppose. And then later got the chance for another very cheap pair of undrilled MR48 Skins. So that was two pairs, one for cold, one for when it’s warm/ I’m feeling lazy!

Musk Ox uses and endorses Rottefella NNNBC bindings for his feeties. I attach to them Lundhags Guide with my feet inside. Those boots are the most comfortable boots I've ever owned.

[Musk Ox]

OK. I went up a mountain on my Mountain Race 48 Skins today, so I put my X-Skin Races on when it got steep. My instincts were that this wasn’t a good idea. But the skis have the X-Skin holes in, so clearly there was some kind of magic that would prevent anything bad happening.

When I took the X-Skins off on the top, they pulled off a quantity of plush from the integrated skins, making the X-Skins completely unusable without a total re-glue and possibly damaging the integrated skins too (I’ll have to test this more to find out).

Apparently this should be fine. Any explanations?