Bushwackin'

[JD]

Just wanted to post about what a great time I have on my fat XC skis. A new generation of waxless (scaled) XC ski has come into exsistence over the last 5-10 years that finally provide the downhill preformance of a Dh ski and the skinless climbing ablility of a classic xc ski. The result if a ski that makes short pitches worth it becauase you can bang out laps on a short pitch w/o having to dee and reskin. Some light 1 or 2 buckle tele boots and some 3 pin bindings and off you go. Golf courses offer great bushwacking. I can not say enough how great the new breed of scaled XC skis are for making very modest terrain alot of fun. No skins, Headlamp, beers...go shred the golf course or local sledding hill, old road beds in town parks...slopes on the sides of major highways....local bike trails. Lot's of fun, attainable skiing.
http://www.backcountry.com/store/review/100003071/Alpina-X-Terrain-Touring-Ski.html
http://www.telemarkski.com/html/rvw_fischer_boundless.html
http://www.ems.com/1/1/18241-karhu-xcd-guide-backcountry-skis.html
get your tele on!
for me this is what tele was meant for. Exploring rolling terrain out your door or in your town park.

 

[dmc]

I'm actually in the market for apair thnks for the beta...

 

[JD]

Alpinas and the fishers are very similar. Alpina climb a bit better, fishers might glide a bit better. I LOVE my alpinas. Karhus are a bit more of a ski. Something you COULD ski at a resort if snow was good.

 

[BigJay]

That's exactly what i'm looking for too... It'S been a few years that some of my friends want me to get some XC gear... I'm slightly interested in skating... but i guess it would get boring quickly... Then there was the light BC stuff... But i figured that if i were to get such a setup, i'd be thinking about tele-ing all the time...

I'm kind of looking at the same experience as mountain biking... you know, working for it...

For the past 4 years, splitboarding has been it... Getting out there... taking it all in on the way up... lunch (or BBQ!) at the top of the mountain... Few epic laps on a totally uncrowded mountain... tracks to yourself... That's priceless to me!

But i'm very interested about learning more about your light setup! How steep can you climb?

 

[tjf67]

Alpinas and the fishers are very similar. Alpina climb a bit better, fishers might glide a bit better. I LOVE my alpinas. Karhus are a bit more of a ski. Something you COULD ski at a resort if snow was good.

what do you mean about the Karhus? A lot of the guys I ski with use them in the BC. I have a used 15 year old pair of BC skiis. They have a little metal strip. Suck at gliding, turning.
The Alpinas look strong. Is there something I am missing?

 

[JD]

what do you mean about the Karhus? A lot of the guys I ski with use them in the BC. I have a used 15 year old pair of BC skiis. They have a little metal strip. Suck at gliding, turning.
The Alpinas look strong. Is there something I am missing?

Al these skis will ski very nicely in good snow. They turn nicely. They ckimb OK, not nearly like skins. Much better on packed snow then breaking trail. The Karhus are more bulry and slightly heavier ski. They could handle some resort conditions as in higher speeds on more firms snow. The other 2 are much lighter then a DH ski. If you wanted to use them on bigger climbs and descents, the thing to do would be to set your skin track with skins, but not too steep, so after the first lap you don't have to reskin. I don't have skins for mine, I just climb at a lower angle.