Touring ski reviews/chat anywhere?

I agree that there might be a diversity of solutions on a tour.

I personally encounter a bit narrower range of what works best in my
midwest USA skiing.

Still, it seems like there's a lot discussed about race skis and very
little about tour skis. Yet it's a very colorful field of skiing---
racing is perhaps more predictable. You don't have chances to include
wine, bread, cheese in the pics of racing! : ) Not too many reports
on impromptu jumping or tele-turns either. A fine tour ski is a mighty
thing, deserving more props than it's given.

I just got the new Silent Sports issue with the ski show report. It
included racing, nowax, and tele skis---notice anything missing? What
kind of skiing is done most in the midwest region covered by SS? ---
Let's hear it for TOURING!

--JP

kskier wrote:
Well, I would advise not getting the combi ski. It does work, but is
very labor intensive. After doing classic, and applying kick wax, to
do some skating, you have to wipe off the kick wax, and put some glide
wax on, to skate effectively. It is better to have a decated skate
ski, and one for classic.

My bro seems to enjoy combi skiing/skating with a bit of kick wax on
our local informal trails that are mostly packed by walkers. When it's
wide he skates, when the trails narrows-up he can throw in a kick.

As far as your question about a shorter ski,
with skate skiing you go could probably get away with a shorter ski,
but in classic, the ski length that you have is right for your height,
and if you go shorter, your kick zone will not be right. I have one of
the revolution combi, and it it worked for skate, but was horrible for
classic. It is collecting dust in attic.

Aren't ski makers pushing a new "mid-length" concept for classic? I
was told that Atomic isn't making a 210 tour-ski, only a 205. But I
don't know what-all is meant by mid-length---it also looks like sizing
has moved to sm/med/lg for some brands. Is this good? Does it work? I
mean, to the satisfaction of a skier. Someone knows how to ski, that
is. Or is that person passe'? Disappearing? It's hilarious that we
have to ask this. But the word doesn't seem to be out there with
clarity.

--JP

In article . com,
wrote:
Aren't ski makers pushing a new "mid-length" concept for classic? I
was told that Atomic isn't making a 210 tour-ski, only a 205. But I
don't know what-all is meant by mid-length---it also looks like sizing
has moved to sm/med/lg for some brands.

This has been going on for a couple of years. I had a
mid-length Fischer that I skied on for a couple of years and
finally sold the things off two weeks ago. The kick was
lousy and the grip was lousy and they just weren't all that
much faster than my much heavier backcountry touring skis.
I tend to be kind of old-school about gear, anyway, but I'm
a lot happier with some older full-length Asnes and Karhu
touring skis I've got. They're faster, they kick better,
and they seem to do better on skanky trails.

In terms of measurement, the full-length skis are both
195cm, the mid-length were 183cm, and the short Rossignol BC
skis are 165cm. I weigh about 115 lbs.

Sort-of off-topic but not really, Rachel Steer's brother
Zack is doing much better than expected in this Iditarod,
currently running in 4th place. He's also a skier and was
planning on poling his way from Anchorage to Nome to help
out the dogs (poling the sled has become common in distance
racing) but had only one pole with him and snapped it pretty
early in the race.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

If you can't say it clearly, you don't understand it yourself -- John Searle