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Old February 25th 04, 06:57 AM
Griss
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Default Near fatal ski incident


"Gene Goldenfeld" wrote

Hah! Imagine the welcome this would get on rec.skiing.backcountry,
talking about using skate skis and a light shell on a February
backcountry day excursion in Canada. Well said, Chris. -- GG


Since I did my share of spanking this guy (and learned from his story -
thanks for having the guts for posting it), I feel free to point out that he
never said he was on skating skis. He was on racing skis, but they were
striding skis. He did say he skated from time to time, but who hasn't on
striding skis of all types? Now, the reason that this is important is that
I've done quite a bit of touring with racing-type striding skis, and
personally, they can work fine in skied-in tracks, which is primarily what
they were sking in. Not great for breaking trail, of course. I don't think
this was one of his *major*, unforgivable errors (see my previous post for
personal opinion of that topic). A judgement error, maybe yes, maybe no,
but well down the list, in my opinion. The comment about the light shell
..... now don't get me started again (still shaking my head on that one).
And by the way, I agree on his opinion on good combi boots for light
touring - an excellent choice for touring without a heavy pack.

Here's what he said about his gear:

"Unlike the guy in the other couple, we were skiing on light equipment. I
have a pair of high end NNN combi boots. They are light and have great
ankle support. My skis were actually racing skis, 44mm wide with a lot of
camber. I waxed them with a big grip pocket. I was a pretty decent skier
and I could (and have) handled a wide variety of terrain with them. I've
often thought that those boots were as stiff and good as my old leather
telemark boots, which I no longer owned. My wife was equipped similarly
to me, but with a lesser quality boot and a wider, more all round ski."


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