10th Mountain Division Skis

GI Joe Super Articulated 10th Mountain Division MIB

Thanks for the pix Rossiskier. Nice to see you're a bit of a historian.

10th Mtn. v. 10th Mtn.

Karhu 10th Mountain Tours are not Karhu military skis, nor are they a civilian-ized version of the skis the 10th uses or used. I have both 10th Mountain Tours (K10MT)and a pair of Army skis. Because of the name, a lot of people seem to think the K10MT is some sort of military ski. Think "huts" and you'll get the idea. Karhu started marketing the K10MT back when the 10th Mountain Hut System (www.huts.org) in Colorado started becoming popular. Like the hut system, they commemorate the 10th Mountain Division, but they are not military skis. They are a beefy cross-country, metal-edged ski for loaded hut-to-hut ski touring. My pair is 210cm long and 65mm wide at the shovel. They are my workhorse ski for patrol, winter camping, etc. They were not meant as skis for the 10th Mtn. Divison any more than Karhu Catamounts were designed only to be used in Vermont. Unfortunately, Karhu is not making the K10MT any more. The closest model is the Pinnacle. I think for one year they also made a K10MT that was basically a blue-colored Catamount. That was the last year that Karhu used the brand name.

The US Army and Marines use skis from both Asnes in Norway and Karhu's Canadian plant. They are solid white on top,(no brand names, logos, etc.) black on the bottom, have full metal edges and cable bindings. They are available surplus, and once and a while you'll see a pair on E-bay. (That's where I got mine.) The only way you can tell whether you have Asnes or Karhu is that Asnes skis have a grommeted hole in the shovel tip, for attaching skins.

Ski safe,
Hans

One of the first years that Volant Skis were made there was one called the 10th Mountain Ski, it had the 10th mountain emblem and was made to honor them. I do not know if, though I doubt it, the 10th mountain ever skied on them.

They also had an NSP ski that year. They were virtually the same as the FX 2.2 which I got instead of getting the NSP model. I paid less without the NSP logo.