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#1
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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
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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
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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 __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com |
#4
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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
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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
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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 __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com |
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