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In article ,
Peter Clinch wrote:
bbense+rec.skiing.backcountry.Dec.18.03@telemark. slac.stanford.edu wrote:

_ I'm not so convinced of this as I was. Having actually tried
it, I think there is a lot to be said for AT in rolling terrain.
Particularly, if there is any chance of skating.

But it's a lot easier to put skate power through the ball of your foot
than via a hinge in front of it. Otherwise the track skaters would be
using rigid boots now.

_ They pretty much are... They certainly don't bend at the toe in
normal use. Many people skate with combi boots, that allow toe
bend for diagonal striding, but pure skate boots are pretty stiff.


Rolling terrain is a place for wax.

_ Not everywhere, I have my "rolling terrain AT" setup on waxless
skis that most people would put NNN/BC or 3 pins on. There are
places where waxing works well, but for most days in the Sierra
you'd need to carry 3 or 4 waxes and be changing/rewaxing every
hour or so.

I guess you could put a randonee
binding on a ski designed for grip wax, but I think there's probably a
reason why nobody does.

_ BAH, I'm not convinced that backcountry gear is anywhere near
optimized. It's just everybody copying what everbody else does.
I don't think we yet have good answers for the compromises
BC skiing requires. You can use grip wax on ANY ski, granted it
works better on skis with more camber, but it works.
Besides, I'm doing it and there was a recent article in
Backcountry about other people that have tried it as well.

If you're using skins in rolling terrain, even
with heavy packs, it makes a huge reduction in speed (hitting some
whiteout in a navigation tight spot last year, we all put our 40 mm
mohair skins on to slow us down to a predictable trudge)

_ True, I was not suggesting that, but your contention that AT ==
Skins, is just your prejudice.


the Silvretta bar and heel just plain works... The one place
where AT clearly loses is kick'n'glide, you can do it, but
it's just not the same.

Quite: and I find kick and glide is the way to eat up miles. Perhaps we
have a different idea of "rolling terrain"?

_ True, my idea of rolling terrain includes things that are
fun to ski down. You can get really good gear for making
turns and really good gear for covering miles, but finding
compromise gear that will do both is difficult. Believe me,
I got a garage full of experiments, some more sucessful than
others. If you can get beyond your prejudices about what you
can and cannot do with AT gear, I think it's a viable alternative
if you don't want to telemark.

_ Booker C. Bense


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