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taking skate skis very high



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 4th 03, 11:34 AM
Ken Roberts
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Default taking skate skis very high

Jan Reynolds and Mark Strueli went to the top of a 7000 meter / 23000 ft
mountain in Nepal with cross country skate skis -- in an article by Jan in
the latest issue of Backcountry Magazine (www.backcountrymagazine.com).

At least one pair of the skate skis were Fischers. From one of the photos,
the binding looked like standard cross country track skiing binding. The
article said they were using normal cross country skate boots -- and it will
surprise no one the photos show some puffy yellow liners over their boots to
keep their feet warm.

The photos show their skis tracking thru some new snow. They made it up
pretty close to the summit with their skis on their feet, but then did the
final ridge with crampons on their skate boots. And they were able to ski
down much of the way.

But judging from the photos, they didn't do much _skating_ on their skate
skis. They did most of the uphill with climbing skins attached to their ski
bases -- so that part was "classic technique" on skate skis.

Seems like the main reason they chose cross country skate skis was that they
were the lightest available. Jan commented that they were able to save
several days because of their light gear.

Ken


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  #2  
Old September 4th 03, 11:38 PM
Gary Jacobson
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Default taking skate skis very high

Remember one of the early skate skis, the Fischers with aluminum edges?
I had a pair and did some "mountaineering" with them on Mt. Hood. (I'm not
saying that my adventure is even in the same world as this one.)
I was young, foolish, lucky, and occasionally badly bruised.

Also I have skied up and down Mt. Marcy on Bonna 1800s. Maybe not so crazy,
but last time I did it I was happy to be on heavy duty mountain skis.

Reminds me that a friend in Norway attempted to ski across Hardanga Vidda on
wood race skis. He fell into a crevasse where he found a German who had the
same fate. Luckily the rest of his party was able to ski out ,get equipment,
and return to get both the crevasse dwellers out.

Life seems so boring now in comparison to younger days.


Gary Jacobson
Rosendale, NY


"Ken Roberts" wrote in message
...
Jan Reynolds and Mark Strueli went to the top of a 7000 meter / 23000 ft
mountain in Nepal with cross country skate skis -- in an article by Jan in
the latest issue of Backcountry Magazine (www.backcountrymagazine.com).

At least one pair of the skate skis were Fischers. From one of the

photos,
the binding looked like standard cross country track skiing binding. The
article said they were using normal cross country skate boots -- and it

will
surprise no one the photos show some puffy yellow liners over their boots

to
keep their feet warm.

The photos show their skis tracking thru some new snow. They made it up
pretty close to the summit with their skis on their feet, but then did the
final ridge with crampons on their skate boots. And they were able to ski
down much of the way.

But judging from the photos, they didn't do much _skating_ on their skate
skis. They did most of the uphill with climbing skins attached to their

ski
bases -- so that part was "classic technique" on skate skis.

Seems like the main reason they chose cross country skate skis was that

they
were the lightest available. Jan commented that they were able to save
several days because of their light gear.

Ken




  #3  
Old September 7th 03, 09:19 PM
Chris Cline
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Default taking skate skis very high

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine and I did a
one-day ascent/return of King's Peak (highest peak in
Utah) using a similar set-up. This is an annual
40-mile round trip ski ascent that is organized by the
Wasatch Mountain Club. Our primary "technique" was a
fast backcountry classic shuffle, with skins on. The
skins we used had pretty good glide, so on a section
where it was pretty level (but we didin't want to deal
with wax), we did a pretty good session of classic
technique withs skins. When we got up to a pass near
the final summit, the snow was too steep and
windscoured to ski, so we changed to hiking boots and
used ice axes to finish the ascent on hard wind-packed
snow. We contemplated bringing crampons but didn't;
we were lucky that they weren't necessary.

The extremely light weight of the skate setup is a
major advantage for trips like this. We cut literally
hours off of our trip-- on a multi-day trip, I agree
with Jan that you can shorten the trip by days.

However, there are two caveats about skate gear in
this type of use. One is that skate skis are
generally poor in the downhill turning department, and
even more so if you're tired. On our 13-hr trip, the
steepest downhills (through trees with crummy spring
snow) were in the last 2 hours. After nearly slamming
into several trees because I couldn't make my quads
hold a turn anymore, I resorted to skiing downhill
with my skins on to slow me down enough to avoid
wrapping myself around a spruce. The second caveat,
which may become an unfortunate consequence of the
first, is that skate ski gear isn't really MADE for
this type of use, and so you have a slimmer technical
safety margin. It would be very easy to take a fall
and come up with a broken ski and/or binding. So,
even for a relatively short trip, spare parts and a
repair kit are strongly advised, unless you want to
try your hand at one-foot turns on skate gear!

Chris Cline
SLC, UT

--- Ken Roberts wrote:
Jan Reynolds and Mark Strueli went to the top of a
7000 meter / 23000 ft
mountain in Nepal with cross country skate skis --
in an article by Jan in
the latest issue of Backcountry Magazine
(www.backcountrymagazine.com).

At least one pair of the skate skis were Fischers.
From one of the photos,
the binding looked like standard cross country track
skiing binding. The
article said they were using normal cross country
skate boots -- and it will
surprise no one the photos show some puffy yellow
liners over their boots to
keep their feet warm.

The photos show their skis tracking thru some new
snow. They made it up
pretty close to the summit with their skis on their
feet, but then did the
final ridge with crampons on their skate boots. And
they were able to ski
down much of the way.

But judging from the photos, they didn't do much
_skating_ on their skate
skis. They did most of the uphill with climbing
skins attached to their ski
bases -- so that part was "classic technique" on
skate skis.

Seems like the main reason they chose cross country
skate skis was that they
were the lightest available. Jan commented that
they were able to save
several days because of their light gear.

Ken








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  #4  
Old September 8th 03, 02:01 PM
Ken Roberts
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Default taking skate skis very high

Great to hear about your experience with light gear, Chris -- and some good
lessons, like keeping skins on for some of the downhills in mushy snow.

Yes, I remember some photos of the Kings Peak, Utah trip -- and they're
still up on the web at
www.biochem.utah.edu/~heidi/WMCKingsTour.htm

I imagine some racers put climbing skins on their skate skis for the Wasatch
Overland -- though the idea of going down Thaynes Canyon early in the
morning without metal edges still astonished me.

. . . skate skis are generally poor in the downhill turning department . .

..

Except when compared with classic skis designed for groomed set tracks.
I've heard some people put grip wax on their skate skis for backcountry
tours that have hills -- just to avoid the horrible turning performance of
classic track skis.

Ken


  #5  
Old September 8th 03, 03:54 PM
Terje Mathisen
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Default taking skate skis very high

Ken Roberts wrote:
. . . skate skis are generally poor in the downhill turning department .


Except when compared with classic skis designed for groomed set tracks.
I've heard some people put grip wax on their skate skis for backcountry
tours that have hills -- just to avoid the horrible turning performance of
classic track skis.


You have heard it here, repeatedly:

I've skied at least 10 times from the north to south of Telemark (4 days
of real xc trailbreaking) on my old Fischer skate skis.

I also use them for all my mountain skiing above Rjukan, including some
relatively steep up and downhills.

Terje
--
-
"almost all programming can be viewed as an exercise in caching"

  #6  
Old September 8th 03, 10:36 PM
Chris Cline
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Default taking skate skis very high

I have a "special pair" of Wasatch Overland skis-- old
Fisher Revolutions that are sort of a skate/classic
combo ski with metal edges, about 165cm long. I have
them mounted with Pilot bindings. They are very light
on the way up. I use skins because-- unless you're
John Aalberg-- it's too steep to get up on wax.

And on the way down, especially in a year with old
crusty/icy snow, the metal edges are the difference
between repeated body slams and being able to enjoy
the beer at the end of the race without worrying about
drug interactions with all the ibuprofen you have had
to take to make your quads work again!!

Chris

--- Ken Roberts wrote:
Great to hear about your experience with light gear,
Chris -- and some good
lessons, like keeping skins on for some of the
downhills in mushy snow.

Yes, I remember some photos of the Kings Peak, Utah
trip -- and they're
still up on the web at
www.biochem.utah.edu/~heidi/WMCKingsTour.htm

I imagine some racers put climbing skins on their
skate skis for the Wasatch
Overland -- though the idea of going down Thaynes
Canyon early in the
morning without metal edges still astonished me.

. . . skate skis are generally poor in the

downhill turning department . .
.

Except when compared with classic skis designed for
groomed set tracks.
I've heard some people put grip wax on their skate
skis for backcountry
tours that have hills -- just to avoid the horrible
turning performance of
classic track skis.

Ken








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