Hi Bruce

Alpina also makes a steel edged waxless XC touring ski... the ones I have
are the Tempest model, which may no longer be in production... I bought mine
last year and found that they were useless for hill climbing in the snow
conditions here (Northern Ontario) and switched this year to waxable... I
can now get up the hills around here with ease, but going downhill is
becoming an adrenaline charged experience... particularly as my local ski
club likes to put in 90 degree turns at the bottom of slopes... and I must
admit to missing the edges on the Alpina's

Hope this helps
Glenn

Bruce W.1 wrote in message ...
I bought and used for one season a pair of steel-edged XC skis. They
were a wax type. I really liked the steel edge. And wax works well in
really cold weather, like below 15F.

Since then I've moved to a warmer climate. The wax type skis are not
practical here, klister wax and all that is a pain, so I bought a pair
of no-wax skis, without a steel edge. I miss the steel edge when doing
backcountry skiing.

I've been thinking of modifying my wax type steel edged skis to have a
no-wax kick base. I will use a router to cut space in the bottom, then
insert a no-wax kick base salvaged from yet another pair of skis which I
found abandoned.

So I have two questions. Does anyone have any tips on how to do this
operation, like what type of glue to use?

And if steel edges are so great then why don't I see other people using
them? I've never seen anyone use a no-wax ski that had a steel edge.

Thanks for your help.