adjustment for soft tracks

I have never received the same kick response on new, soft snow as on
hard track. I would like to hear suggestions as to what adjustments
should be made for this condition:
- wax: use a considerably softer wax and cover it with the wax for the
temperature?
- ski: use a softer pair of ski?
- technique: ??? right now I feel I am wasting a lot of energy
pressing the ski down without getting the response
- expectation: may be I should not expect the same kick response as on
hard tracks period?

.... Mike

On Feb 17, 7:46 pm, mike wrote:
I have never received the same kick response on new, soft snow as on
hard track. I would like to hear suggestions as to what adjustments
should be made for this condition:
- wax: use a considerably softer wax and cover it with the wax for the
temperature?
- ski: use a softer pair of ski?
- technique: ??? right now I feel I am wasting a lot of energy
pressing the ski down without getting the response
- expectation: may be I should not expect the same kick response as on
hard tracks period?

... Mike

I wax longer in soft conditions when I go ski touring, which is very
often.

The only time I did the Birkie it was in really soft conditions---
which is, I think a Birkie standard. I had skis with soft tips and
they were rocketships. I was very impressed because I naturally
thought my skis would slow down in the "mashed potatoes." I believe
people look for soft tips for the Birkie and call it the Birkie flex.
Peltonens were famous for this. (Maybe this only applies to midpackers
who deal with a very churned trail.) But this was a skating event.
Still it somewhat points to soft tips as being of interest in soft
conditions in general.

I like both racing and touring but I'm not an up to date expert.

--JP

On Feb 19, 8:36 pm, "Jeff Potter (of OutYourBackdoor.com)"
wrote:
On Feb 17, 7:46 pm, mike wrote:

I have never received the same kick response on new, soft snow as on
hard track. I would like to hear suggestions as to what adjustments
should be made for this condition:
- wax: use a considerably softer wax and cover it with the wax for the
temperature?
- ski: use a softer pair of ski?
- technique: ??? right now I feel I am wasting a lot of energy
pressing the ski down without getting the response
- expectation: may be I should not expect the same kick response as on
hard tracks period?

... Mike

I wax longer in soft conditions when I go ski touring, which is very
often.

The only time I did the Birkie it was in really soft conditions---
which is, I think a Birkie standard. I had skis with soft tips and
they were rocketships. I was very impressed because I naturally
thought my skis would slow down in the "mashed potatoes." I believe
people look for soft tips for the Birkie and call it the Birkie flex.
Peltonens were famous for this. (Maybe this only applies to midpackers
who deal with a very churned trail.) But this was a skating event.
Still it somewhat points to soft tips as being of interest in soft
conditions in general.

I like both racing and touring but I'm not an up to date expert.

--JP

Living in coastal Ma., I see a lot of soft snow. I used to have a
Peltonen in-track race ski which I enjoyed immensely. I didn't
realize that it was the soft tip that did it for me. However,
Saturday I was out in fresh soft snow, but since it was only a few
inches deep, I could skate in it. Spring conditions I will abrade a
scintered polyethylene based ski mostly. For a long while I used two
pairs of skis that were designed specifically to be abraded for grip.
They had some kind of polymer base in the grip section. Blizzard and
Kneissl made them, but don't any more. I have used klisters
especially in corn snow.

On Feb 25, 7:54 am, Blowhardbuster wrote:
On Feb 19, 8:36 pm, "Jeff Potter (of OutYourBackdoor.com)"



wrote:
On Feb 17, 7:46 pm, mike wrote:

I have never received the same kick response on new, soft snow as on
hard track. I would like to hear suggestions as to what adjustments
should be made for this condition:
- wax: use a considerably softer wax and cover it with the wax for the
temperature?
- ski: use a softer pair of ski?
- technique: ??? right now I feel I am wasting a lot of energy
pressing the ski down without getting the response
- expectation: may be I should not expect the same kick response as on
hard tracks period?

... Mike

I wax longer in soft conditions when I go ski touring, which is very
often.

The only time I did the Birkie it was in really soft conditions---
which is, I think a Birkie standard. I had skis with soft tips and
they were rocketships. I was very impressed because I naturally
thought my skis would slow down in the "mashed potatoes." I believe
people look for soft tips for the Birkie and call it the Birkie flex.
Peltonens were famous for this. (Maybe this only applies to midpackers
who deal with a very churned trail.) But this was a skating event.
Still it somewhat points to soft tips as being of interest in soft
conditions in general.

I like both racing and touring but I'm not an up to date expert.

--JP

Living in coastal Ma., I see a lot of soft snow. I used to have a
Peltonen in-track race ski which I enjoyed immensely. I didn't
realize that it was the soft tip that did it for me. However,
Saturday I was out in fresh soft snow, but since it was only a few
inches deep, I could skate in it. Spring conditions I will abrade a
scintered polyethylene based ski mostly. For a long while I used two
pairs of skis that were designed specifically to be abraded for grip.
They had some kind of polymer base in the grip section. Blizzard and
Kneissl made them, but don't any more. I have used klisters
especially in corn snow.

What a coincidence!

I used to ski on Blizzard. It broke a few years back
The ski I used most in recent years is Kneissl ultra. It broke a few
weeks ago.
I dug up my 20yr+ Peltonen which I haven't used for ages from the
basement and found that compared with my RCS:
1. It is much easier to ski uphill
2. It stays in tracks much better than the RCS

On the other hand, I found it a lot more difficult to control, both
going downhill and simply striding off-track, let alone skating on
it. On the other hand, I can skate on the RCS (classic) with relative
ease. But the Peltonen has Peltonen tips and is way softer than the
RCS.

On Feb 25, 12:57 pm, mike wrote:
On Feb 25, 7:54 am, Blowhardbuster wrote:



On Feb 19, 8:36 pm, "Jeff Potter (of OutYourBackdoor.com)"

wrote:
On Feb 17, 7:46 pm, mike wrote:

I have never received the same kick response on new, soft snow as on
hard track. I would like to hear suggestions as to what adjustments
should be made for this condition:
- wax: use a considerably softer wax and cover it with the wax for the
temperature?
- ski: use a softer pair of ski?
- technique: ??? right now I feel I am wasting a lot of energy
pressing the ski down without getting the response
- expectation: may be I should not expect the same kick response as on
hard tracks period?

... Mike

I wax longer in soft conditions when I go ski touring, which is very
often.

The only time I did the Birkie it was in really soft conditions---
which is, I think a Birkie standard. I had skis with soft tips and
they were rocketships. I was very impressed because I naturally
thought my skis would slow down in the "mashed potatoes." I believe
people look for soft tips for the Birkie and call it the Birkie flex.
Peltonens were famous for this. (Maybe this only applies to midpackers
who deal with a very churned trail.) But this was a skating event.
Still it somewhat points to soft tips as being of interest in soft
conditions in general.

I like both racing and touring but I'm not an up to date expert.

--JP

Living in coastal Ma., I see a lot of soft snow. I used to have a
Peltonen in-track race ski which I enjoyed immensely. I didn't
realize that it was the soft tip that did it for me. However,
Saturday I was out in fresh soft snow, but since it was only a few
inches deep, I could skate in it. Spring conditions I will abrade a
scintered polyethylene based ski mostly. For a long while I used two
pairs of skis that were designed specifically to be abraded for grip.
They had some kind of polymer base in the grip section. Blizzard and
Kneissl made them, but don't any more. I have used klisters
especially in corn snow.

What a coincidence!

I used to ski on Blizzard. It broke a few years back
The ski I used most in recent years is Kneissl ultra. It broke a few
weeks ago.
I dug up my 20yr+ Peltonen which I haven't used for ages from the
basement and found that compared with my RCS:
1. It is much easier to ski uphill
2. It stays in tracks much better than the RCS

On the other hand, I found it a lot more difficult to control, both
going downhill and simply striding off-track, let alone skating on
it. On the other hand, I can skate on the RCS (classic) with relative
ease. But the Peltonen has Peltonen tips and is way softer than the
RCS.

What does that have to do with soft snow?

On Feb 28, 6:52 am, Blowhardbuster wrote:
On Feb 25, 12:57 pm, mike wrote:



On Feb 25, 7:54 am, Blowhardbuster wrote:

On Feb 19, 8:36 pm, "Jeff Potter (of OutYourBackdoor.com)"

wrote:
On Feb 17, 7:46 pm, mike wrote:

I have never received the same kick response on new, soft snow as on
hard track. I would like to hear suggestions as to what adjustments
should be made for this condition:
- wax: use a considerably softer wax and cover it with the wax for the
temperature?
- ski: use a softer pair of ski?
- technique: ??? right now I feel I am wasting a lot of energy
pressing the ski down without getting the response
- expectation: may be I should not expect the same kick response as on
hard tracks period?

... Mike

I wax longer in soft conditions when I go ski touring, which is very
often.

The only time I did the Birkie it was in really soft conditions---
which is, I think a Birkie standard. I had skis with soft tips and
they were rocketships. I was very impressed because I naturally
thought my skis would slow down in the "mashed potatoes." I believe
people look for soft tips for the Birkie and call it the Birkie flex.
Peltonens were famous for this. (Maybe this only applies to midpackers
who deal with a very churned trail.) But this was a skating event.
Still it somewhat points to soft tips as being of interest in soft
conditions in general.

I like both racing and touring but I'm not an up to date expert.

--JP

Living in coastal Ma., I see a lot of soft snow. I used to have a
Peltonen in-track race ski which I enjoyed immensely. I didn't
realize that it was the soft tip that did it for me. However,
Saturday I was out in fresh soft snow, but since it was only a few
inches deep, I could skate in it. Spring conditions I will abrade a
scintered polyethylene based ski mostly. For a long while I used two
pairs of skis that were designed specifically to be abraded for grip.
They had some kind of polymer base in the grip section. Blizzard and
Kneissl made them, but don't any more. I have used klisters
especially in corn snow.

What a coincidence!

I used to ski on Blizzard. It broke a few years back
The ski I used most in recent years is Kneissl ultra. It broke a few
weeks ago.
I dug up my 20yr+ Peltonen which I haven't used for ages from the
basement and found that compared with my RCS:
1. It is much easier to ski uphill
2. It stays in tracks much better than the RCS

On the other hand, I found it a lot more difficult to control, both
going downhill and simply striding off-track, let alone skating on
it. On the other hand, I can skate on the RCS (classic) with relative
ease. But the Peltonen has Peltonen tips and is way softer than the
RCS.

What does that have to do with soft snow?

Just my own experience of different skis on soft snow -- oh yes, I
wander off topic a bit. Apologies.