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Skating In Back Country Skis?



 
 
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  #1  
Old February 2nd 06, 06:19 PM
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Default Skating In Back Country Skis?

I have a park near my house with ungroomed hills which also has some
trails groomed for skate. Every now and then I find that I can "kind
of skate" on the skate track using my old Fischer Outlands (half metal
edges).

Are there things to keep in mind when skating on backcountry skis as
far as stance and weight distribution that are different from using
skate skis?

Any tips are deeply appreciated.

Ed V.

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  #2  
Old February 3rd 06, 03:22 AM
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it's good cross training for strength and endurance if not for SPEED.
you should try getting real XC skate skis though ... especially if the
Outlands have a crown kick zone. you really need a good, light waxable
ski to be able to get in the long training sessions that'll burn the
fat and build up speed and tempo ... training with the back country
skis will give you a slower tempo ... kind of like the difference
between marathon swimming and sprinting in the pool (except with the XC
skis you'll also be able to ski MUCH farther too). that being said if
gear isn't your thing and you like just getting out on the tracks go
for it. there isn't much difference in the technique except for the
fact that you'll find your skating deteriorating into herringbones and
kick/glide on the hills ... with a crown in the kickzone the temptation
is to alternate kick/glide with the skating since the lack of glide
will effect your performance considerably, i.e. you'll be training a
lot of combi and will never really build a top notch skate only outlook
on your skiing.

  #3  
Old February 3rd 06, 10:05 PM
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EdV wrote:

Are there things to keep in mind when skating on backcountry skis as
far as stance and weight distribution that are different from using
skate skis?


As Z noted, "crown" patterned skis could lead to inappropriate
positioning because they do not glide as well as properly prepared
skis. That said, you will need to also consider proper pole length.
My skating poles are 12.5 cm longer than my classic track poles and 15
cm longer than my usual backcountry pole length. If your poles are too
short, your skating stance (arm position and angle) will be less
effective and inefficient in using upper body strength and weight.

I would also imagine that your partial metal edge skis will degrade the
tops of your BC skis in that proper skaing motion calls for leg
abduction. If you get overly concerned about damaging the tops of your
skis, your body positioning, leg abduction and timing will be deviate
from proper positioning and timing.

It will be difficult to ski with abandon if your skis are too heavy and
do not glide, your poles are too short and you overuse arm muscles with
inapproapriate arem positioning and angles, and you are worried about
cutting the tops of your skis.

As Z implied, you would be better served spending some money and
getting skate gear. A friend is enjoying his new Atomic FX-10 skate
skis skiing in non-resort areas (e.g. snowmobile trails). Atomic is
marketing the FX-10 as crust skiing skis.

Edgar

  #4  
Old February 7th 06, 07:54 AM
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good point; I forgot to consider that if he's using backcountry skis
he's probably using a backcountry pole with a round basket rather than
the compact racing baskets with the short plastic teeth ... the round
basket and short (sometimes adjustible) poles are designed for downhill
performance; you could get them to about 160 cm. for the uphills and
take them down to 137 or so for the downhills. the shorter pole will
lessen the leverage and shorten the stroke as well. I remember many a
time in the "snowmobile sections" on my local golf course being able to
maintain a "skate" of sorts with my stiff crowned skis ... it was
somewhat satisfying and I thought the practice would put me in good
stead when I went to the groomed trails. invariably I was disappointed
though; getting passed like I was standing still by the folks with the
real XC skate gear. when I eventually splurged and got my own skate
skis I was also impressed with their downhill performance as compared
to my relatively more flexible XC classic skis. of course the
backcountry skis should be better there but surprisingly the crowns
could be disappointing on downhill sections, the crown would make the
downhills sections way too easy and reatively slow to boot; the double
camber for the kick zone also prevented aggressive edging and turning.
the most fun I had using backcountry skis on the trails was when I
upgraded my half steel double cambered crowned Karhus to a Fischer GTS
waxable telemark ski. the single cambered GTS waxed for full glide
was really fun in the downhill sections which I could overpower and ski
aggressively on ANY XC type of trail no matter how steep while I could
actually skate them up most hills w/o a problem too (although I did
have to herringbone some of the steeper sections) and again the weight
was considerable more than true skate skis.. as far as telemarking
with the GTS; I was never really able to progress much past the easier
lift served trails; the lightweight Norwegian welt style 3-pin boots
were too flexible and the skis seemed to deflect too much in the
heavier snow. for those skis, the plastic Terminator style boots
probably would have been too powerful (overkill) ... and that being
said the Norwegian welts were heavy and awkward compared to my
lightweight Alpina skate boots with lightweigh NNN race bindings.

it's truly amazing the size your quiver could get if you factor in all
of the different types of skiing that's out there and you wished to
maximize your performance for each of these conditions and disciplines.
based on the downhill performance of the XC skate skis I would
definitely think you should consider the upgrade from boring
backcountry crown skis (which are more for backpacking/touring kinds of
afternoons) ... but be warned down hill sections that you might have
handled easily with the crowns (and went boringly slow) could be an
adventure with the skate skis ... which are much faster and will also
deflect more than backcountry skis. the skate ski downhill performance
is considerably better than classic racing skis though (if you've tried
true classic skiing). the flexible kick zone was the downfall there..

  #5  
Old February 7th 06, 12:33 PM
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Thanks for all the info. All of the skating I plan on doing currently
is to get back and forth between north facing hills so I can practice
telemark turns. The skate tracks seemed to be keeping more snow than
any other routes here in melty land.

I am going to take some skate lessons(on skate skis) at Elm Creek next
weekend.

Later,
Ed V.

 




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