Birkebenrennet - Do-Able for Me ?

Birken run went today in glorious weather with a massive margin on the win for Martin Sundby, surviging even a Skidoo attack on the closing miles! Unfortunetly that was all which I have seen televised today as I was hoping for the type of coverage from the national channel akin to the BBC, which is NRK here.

Seemingly NRK had called the ski run's organisers bluff and not paid for TV rights at all, perhaps I am cynical. Anyway this was the very year I would want to see the course on TV and hear the race reports from different competitors, or participants as many are, on conditions, ski waxing etc.  I have half a mind to train up for it!

The run is 54km which at current appaling fitness level would take me 5 hours odd, at a measly 10km/h,. and that is without thiniking about the weighted rucksack you must carry all the way. The furthest I recall logging in a session has been 22km, on a partiuclarily crisp day when I was a little under clothed and got cramps in my legs. I could have managed 30 km. Also my skis seem a little slow, I was on my fast touring skis, not my atomic training slim n' straight ones. It was only a couple of km longer than my very first day on skis at Geilo, when the instrtuctor said I was a little fool hardy doing the 'round the fjord' 14km after our session first had been up about 6km. I couldnt walk the next day for any distance and the thought of snowboarding which I had planned for the next two days,  sent me back to bed with a hot drink.

Ski choice though is important for getting the most efficeincy out of your efforts of course, as is waxing or having the right conditions if you have 'furry soled' waxless like my Atomic Skintec 4000s. I noted Sundby was going like a train with relatively broad skis, presumably because of the extra weight he had to carry, and perhaps some soft conditions. Oh, breadth, length and arch tension..... how many pairs of skis to think about!!

Ideally then you may want to have a soft pair , possiobly a bit broader for new snow or slushy conditions to encourage float and make kicking adhesion work better. These would then not be skin skis, because these are conditions they do not work in, not all that well. In new snow they grip badly at lower temperatures , typical blue conditions, while in sliush they get waterlogged. They have an advamntage in zero conditions though, which you may experience underway.  Then  you could have your hard pair as skin skis, which would cover any older snow condtions right up to very firm, but not glazed conditions.

An akternative to both wax or skin skis, would be using Start grip tape, with a good application using a hair dryer or wax iron to a very clean, rubbed base. This stuff realluy does what it says on the box, and covers much the same range as skin skis,  but tackling loose and wet snow much better. It is very resistant to wear in normal conditions, and tends to neither pick up too many hard crystals nor hold onto them that long. They have a race version I have not tried, but this would be a good alternative if  you get to try them out on your skis first in a range of conditions, and get the length of application right, which in my experience is longer than clister zone, but shorter at the front and at the sole than a blue wax job. I had one applicatiion last a couple of months in mid winter, doing maybe 200 km in total, before though just two days 15km total took them down to almost bare.

Skinsks have the appeal for runs like Birke'n in that they dont need to be rewaxed as long as there are crystaline conditions and clean tracks without new snow, hard ice or slush. The issue with climbing is that you need a soft wax like purple to get under way and do the major diagonals on the way up (VR 50 VR 55 swix recommended today, on a clister binder with melted in green base known as a pro level endurance job) while the temperature usually drops and snow copnditions become mountain over the top and towards Sjusjoen. Soince there seems to be a good degree of double-poling (staking) once the first ascent is out the way, you could do a 'pocket only' job with lillac wax and hope it is grippy enough yet wears off enough so as not to clog with the colder, harder crystals over the top sections of the course.

Skin skis then today, would have been ideal with a range expected at my start time of almost zero at the start and down to minus 3 to minus six on the highest points. There would be little risk given the tracks were of course run through the night after any last snowfall was expected and done with decent weight onto a good base prepared in forehand. However the wrong arch tension could have made a messy day for you. Skinskis also by in large have a clister zone insert, which ends half way down the sole of the foot. So you could add about three to four inches of wax, or dare I say clister or even grip tape if conditions were to be loose or particularily hard on some portions of the Briken or any other run.

My 4000s are a bit too hard arch tension (spenn) for my current style as soon as the snow base becomes a little soft or gets icey. However it looked like they would have done fine today, and I would have been able to pole effectively much of the slack way down from the highest point witthout hindrance. However I think I could compromise with a little less in order to train up in longer, lighter tours and build my technique a little more, especially in the 'keep the wheel rolling' double pole with kick, which for me suits a softer ski I think. A softer skin ski may be a mistake though, because the skin might drag too much. However what really tires you physically and mentally is back slipping or not getting your effect of double pole kick over the semi fast sections. Staking over flat and softer snow down hill is very tiring, although fast for lighter skiers, it is not as efficient for a big skier like me as double with kick I beleive at least.

So I would be opting for about a 10% less stiff skin ski for the distance as in todays blue/violet, or over to older,cold hard snow and up to zero conditions. For pluss conditions I would opt for a softer pair of clistered skis with a green spray and ironed in wax, and rilling and glider done by a pro at the specialist shop here. For a new snow forecast , or possibility for a lot of wind blown snow, then I would opt for the same softer skis and do a day wax ontop of a good base and blue mid layer. VR seems to work a lot better in terms of durabilituy than no flourinated Blue and Lillac, but beware the temperature ranges are little different than standard wax.

Back to training up. Because we often have soft, new and melting snow here near the coast, I could not see myself doing forty km training sessions on my 4000s 2.08m long planks. I do see skins work well because one day it is blue, the next red, so purple so clister and I would save hours on end stripping and reapplying waxes. My 4000s would then be used for shorter, intense sessions where I practice sustained glide and timing the repowere after each glide phase on each leg optimally. You just cannot be lazy with them, they need a hard press down each time to release that carbon fibre insert.

Training up means about 8  hours a week until two weeks before apparently, when you do one last full lenght run or even 60km and then you scale back to intensity, before a light session three days out, and just stretching and suppleness two days up to it. To come in at 12km an hour, in just under five, then I would need to do that 8 hours a week for about three months, which would require either a good old fashioned winter, or access to a cabin above 500 m. lacking that, a gymn with specialist ski machines would help, or even roller skis of course. We are lucky to have 15 km of fairly gentle cycle lane alongside the route of the main road, with very little fish bone  and only a couple of iffy downhills for yours truly. It really is an option with short sessions with the ratchet on, and longer round tours with skate style for endurance.

Given though very silky conditions on the day with snow just a couple of days old, and a stable temperature profile, ort one which favours skin skis, then I can see i could complete it with a lot less training, and having actually not done the whole distance before. But that would not really give me the satisfaction of peaking out from a good season.

Logistically it is annoying and expensive, but some clubs get packages together win bus and hotel combis to get you there and back., and there are some showers lorried in i believe. A bath tub is what is needed, and a sauna after, so an overnight stop in telemark somewhere on the way home, with poissibility for a morning swim in a heated indoor pool would be the ideal. All in all this is looking at not much change from a bout a thousand pounds, for entry, bus,. hotel and food. For me that would make it once in a life time.

If next season proves to be a good one, with an artic oscillation and the scandinavian high dominating from early winter, then I am determined to trian up for a 42km run, either the Telemarkhelten or one of our own concotion with my offshore mates if that does not match, or it is blown off or too cold. I am then not fussed if it becomes 42km on mountain touring skis, or in nicely laid tracks, as long as it isnt four times round a 10km course.

So I need three things, A softer pair of skis, skin or not, a good winter and a goal of 42 km before I decide to invest time and money in a future birken,. Next year it reaches 80 years old, but for me what ever year I do it will be the right year for me!

Furry Skis? The verdict on skin-skis (felleski)

Apparently skis with an integrated mohair skins are nothing all that new, and since patents  ran out accordongly some time ago, all the main XC makers now offer 'furry soled skis'. However is this all just a fad?

Historical Beginners Skis

Patterned waxless skis got a bad name because they were mostly the reserve of beginners' products. However Atomic offer quite a few tour good skis with pattern,  for the North American market in particular it seems, and Salomon also have some better skis with rough patterns. Fischer have a near pro level ski (XCS carbon if I remember right) with their own patented pattern, which work quite well in my personal experience, and many an  "Oslo 50" or Birkebeiner competitor has a pair of these in reserve in the car in case conditions are going to vary greatly.

With Waxless patterned skis, by in large you get a longer zone which is patterned than that which is waxed or clistered up, because it has to grip in all conditions. This means they usually make a lot of noise on down hills, which means friction of course in what should be the glide zone. I would recommend grinding off and polishing the front of many of the patterned sections and taking either a short skin or clister with you for the more difficult days, rather than enduring the noise and extra friciton of one-size-fits all.  Also in some conditions the bare plastic will ball up with snow, so in fact they are no totally preparation free, they need to be glided.

Do the new integrated skin-skis make up for the short-comings of the older waxless, patterned skis?

Enter the Flush Furry Ski-:Skintec TM from Atomic.

Furry skis got a far more serious start with Atomic betting on a high end training ski, almost three times the peice of a cheap waxless starter ski. The magnetic system was all verry high tech, but it wasn't long before they glued in a standard, inch across skin on a wider range of training skis. We say training,  but these skis have already been used by many amateurs in Birkebeiner and other races where height and /or snow conditions are likely to change dramatically, making a clister or soft wax lowland wax job a balling mess in the new snow of the hill.

Since their inception, I have been itching to get my hands on a pair, but the investment /percieved risk held me back. Last season I managed to pick up a pair of used 208cm atomic skintecs with glued-in skin. This was a good two birds with oine stone purchase, because they were also my first "straight" sports skis ie minimal side cut and no concession to 'off piste'..... also my first with any carbon fibre in them.

 Pleased ? Yes very much so, but only as pleased as I could be with the conditions !

All Skis Have Their Limits or 'Envelope' of Performance

In truth, getting out in the ski-tracks without worrying is a bit misleading. As with your ordinary, common-or-garden training skis, there are going to be days when the spring (aka flex or spenn) in the ski is too hard - soft conditions render a hard tensioned ski like mine difficult- they become a labour, while ordinary or firm conditions seem to be no problem.

 Then we come to snow type, and here we have limitations of the untreated skin-ski. They don't like fine, new snow, and at the other extreme, very compressed or 'transformed' snow, aka concrete in the tram lines, neither of which are good for traction. Unfortunetly, both of which are typical of our southern Norwegian winter with dumps, wind blown poweder and then also thaw back or long term ing of old snow in cold , dry periods.

However in typical blue' and 'Lillac' conditions, to be found in  higher 'pastures' or better days, ie silky ski runs, then the skis are mile-eaters, with zero prep' (if you have the glider right or have Kuzmin scraped them!) . In slightly softer base snow then you get quite a lot of wirring noise but the friction seems minimal.

 You can easily argue that even a 5 minute,  cabin porch job of blue or purple fluoro' wax could behave just the same without any of the accompanying skin friction. There is the 'rub' then, just to be punny. In good conditions you would expect a simple, good wax job to grip and last.

When you get up to red-wax and clister conditions and into wet snow, the skin works really well until it obviously becomes waterlogged, when a decided suck happens. This required a 'rock' from toe to heel in order to break the suction on an otherwise fast down hill for me last week. In soft, wet conditions with a poor base, my skis are also so hard tensioned in their arch, that the tour becomes a slog in standard, kicking diagonal technique, and unrewardingly slow down hill due to friction and the narrow ski digging in. I've noticed that before, that my tour skis are nicer on softer base while folk were struggling. 

Everyone and their dog under 70 here however,  uses sports skis for "ski jogging' and I see why, like a racing bike with 120 psi tyres versus a shopper, you get a faster run in good conditions. But a wide skis have their time and place.

When you go over to concrete-like tram lines,  then you can forget a hard tension ski with a skin imho. There is no real traction more than a bare friction. Perhaps a softer spenn/flex will make for more press into the substrate crystals, but I am sceptical. However since the skis I have are hard tensioned, then I can double pole and then go over to fish bone, or be surprised with how grippy they are in the "skating" section between tracks. Here you get the first of two centre section surprises.

Firstly - The skin-ski grips well on coarse, crystalised or machine ground snow on the centre lane, where a waxed ski would either not grip well, or pick up crystals. 

Surprise two- this being because the skin usually has no pick up of snow crystals, unlike clister, red or sometimes even purple. The ski skates very, very well. Okay they are too long, and the poles will be too short, but I found all three main techniques worked well with the skis, where as wax skis will tend to judder and catch, or on coarse snow, loose their kick wax faster.

Conclusions - The Pros and Cons

So there are a couple of fringe benefits but what is the main thing? Well we get a lot of variable conditions here and sometimes a forecast of rain and sleet becomes heavy snow in reality. The main plus for me is then not having to strip back a soft wax or clister job. In hard conditions I get only about 12 km out of my best clister job, so i could rather pick a ski run where i can double pole, which is fantastic physical training.

In picking a ski, it is best to have grip for your style and expected snow conditions. So a hard spring (flex) in a ski can make for a lot more back slipping if you are not prepared to learn a more energetic technique innpushing down harder in a racing style.

We get a lot of conditions here in Southern Norway when one day is blue, the next red, then the tracks get old and need mechanical churning, then the crystals stick to your clister, then there is a freeze and new snow comes......Also the ski locations vary from 15m above sea level to 600m within a couple of hours from here, so you can expect to encounter variation day to day, place to place.

My last ski run though showed both the good and the evil of this particular pair of Atomics, with the eastern run to "Østertjenn" better for skins than waxes I believe, and a joy in all techniques, while the western section towards "Hekketjenn" had had sun and mild wind on it, and was just horrid for both the grip from the skin and the hard flex from the ski. That really brought it home to me, how poorer conditions are irritating!

Waxing Issues

So far I really, really enjoy these skis in good conditions and am prepared to try out the various products now available for keeping them waterlogg free, grippy or even clister grippy on the hard stuff, which is my main bug bear to date. No grip on the hard stuff, where an Ice Clister would be working for a while at least.

My next area of experiment is then in using wax and sprays ! This may seem to defy the point of skin skis. However the skis should be cleaned properly and then there are 'zero' conditioons when clogging crystals will be an issue, or wet condions when you get water logging and 'suck'. Swix have a cleaner spray and a prep' "skin glider" for this now.  There is also a spray wax which is for - i believe- new snow and icey conditions, which works a little like a hard wax but is optimised for the hairy substrate.

You can see that the skin does not reach further than half way up the sole of the binding, so you could -I suppose- wax this part on a hard day when the skin does not work or for soft, fine new snow.

Furthermore, on my skis and a couple of other models from the main manufacturers, the skin only comes back as far as the mid-sole. So there is a couple of inches in the "pocket" where i could use, for example, a blue-ice crystal.

Now I had tried "do it all" Start Grip Tape, with great success, but it had the same kind of limitations on hard packed snow, being a bit better on new snow though. However it wore out fairly quickly for the price on hard snow. Also I wanted to change to sportier skis, so I hit those two birds and am very pleased GIVEN good conditions. Crap conditions are just that, and I need a new indoor sport, or to splash out on Skate Ski Poles and boots for my end of sesson bargain skis i got and have toyed around with.

There is now a range of training skis and at least one, more tour oriented and so broader ski ( Salomon) on the market. I dare say there will be some back country skis with even longer fixed on skins, and perhaps the Salomon style slot system for adding a full legnth skin for steeper stuff. After all synthetic skins were first used for back country, and are now big sellers for the Randonee skier market.

Jumble Sale, soft flex , waxless skis, fun for slushy conditions !

I also have a pair of 'shopping' skis from a jumble sale, real 1979 types which are a wooden ski with a P-tex sole, and a classsic, long fish scale waxless pattern, over a 2 inch . These I had to force a tenner into the hand of the church elder for at the end of the jumble sale, he wanted rid off them! In 'old' snow I have a great time toddling around on these, skating and kicking, and relaxing. Not taking it too seriously in end of season slush, or up the pavement to the shops before the council scrape the snow off.

The moral here is think about what your level is, the right lengtrh and pre-tension in the ski for you and your ability or ambitions, and where and when you will be skiing. As a new beginner, if you are just going to do a weeks holiday or the odd weekend or dash out once a week, then a pair of well fitted patterned waxless will save you maybe a hundred quid/euros over a pair of skin skis. If though, you live in the mountains and want to get out often in well made tracks, and do some seruious training then yep, get a pair of skin skis with a kind of medium pre-tension for your weight, and also pay for some lessons with the money you save from buying a wax kit.

At the other end of the scale, as a ski racer, then a skin ski is going to be an extra ski for training. The atomic Skintec are quite a high end training ski with carbon fibre spring elements, at the price of racing skis, and were launched into this market.

 It will take you just about the life time of the ski to save back what you would have spent on grip waxes I dare say, it is more about saving time when conditions are changeable day to day or with altitude over the course of a race or tour.

So it is kind of horses for courses, and the greatest benefit are for those who never want to learn to wax up, or those where conditions are regularily from minus ten to plus three.


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Addenum - 11th March 2017

I am even more pleased with the skis after a week of skiing in what you could call typical easter conditions. Wet snow some days, some new, heavy snow others and finally a few days with 'trasnformed' snow churned and relayed by the machines.

Yesterday was a good example - the skins performed really well in the cold snow of morning , which was churned and firm to hard, but still with a light crystaline surface which gave excellent grip. Fish boning came in a little earlier than with softer snow of course.   As the day went on, the strong spring sunshine softened many areas and the ski continued to perform really well. So in a nutshell you may have gone out waxed on red only to find universal clister conditions prevailed later, thus you see the benefit of the skin.

My complaint about the day, was nothing to do with the skins, but the hard conditions on the pisted mid sections meant that my long, hard flex skis were very unstable in half plough or full plough and I fell really often, bottling out when I saw rocks ahead or streams showing through the tracks! With such good glide on firm snow available, a more 'compliant' soft.

Re-Conclusion!

If you can get a pair of Skin skis which match your height, weight and ability (see next blog!) then I would say for the average fun & fitness skier there is nothing holding you back. As a pair of training skis, it looks like all the top manufacturers are offering models which would please the hardest Oslo 50 'mile eater' amateur and even the odd Pro' could find these handy for training in variable conditions over say rising altitudes.

I look forward to integrated skins being included in a wider range of types of ski, towards the more tour oriented and the out and out race ski. 

Snow Business Closes for The Season

The ironic coincidence is not lost on me that today i took my final training run on waxless, c 1979 jumble-sale skis while the mini birkebeiner today was won with a goodly margin by Skinstad on Salomon skin skis....apt name too!

The weather forecssters got it wrong - today it should have become steadily more cloudy and then colder, but the sun burnt away the light cloud and the wind which came was quite mild and dry. This all happened as i parked up on a roadside pile of snow, hoping i would be able to drive out later as the sun began to beat down!

I decided two rounds at around 13.2 km total would suffice, and opted for skating style on my ancient jumble sale skis. They are Trak  "winner" model with a fish scale pattern which must be a full meter of the ski - but the scales are shallower in the leading 20 cm. The whole effect seems to be as good if not better than modern , shorter "3D" machined angular textured grip zones, and i reckon they glide much better while not losing anything much in adhesion against them.

In any case they glide damn well enough for skating progress without any cursing about noise and jittering. They are about 50mm wide with very little side cut (in swing) and about 205 cm long with quite a soft, long camber. Ok my Madshus Ultrasonic are miles faster, but I am not going to hit gravel on them, especially when grinding down a deep track in the softest snow. The 50mm wide skis float better on the slush, while being less jittery on the ice.

"Awefully variable conditions today" said the guy who often drives the piste machine. He is a pensioner with immense stamina, but today cracked him- he had fastmed himself to a pair of Atomic Skintec's in a narrower verson it looked like than mine. Fairly useless on the icey sections which followed the shaded parts of the forrest road like a hand in glove of course. The route was about 60% hard- like concrete, while the sunnier slopes were more  like the freshly poured consistency of cement.

Skating gave me an really good work out and also i was able to practice my two weak points - timing/weight transfer and breathing. Glide was very variable as was edge adhesion, but I was able to get enough feel of it and also keep to a rhythm, modifying it slightly for good glide strokes or 'braking' type ones. Also going over to double dance and paddling with a change in tempo and style as required.

I practiced a bit without poles and also was conscious to use them a little less so as to feel the effect of the three body movements- extending the bent leg out, pushing up and risong off it and then transfering weight to the new ski. The skis had a lot of 'float' on the softer stuff, but little edge on the ice- it meant exagerrating the edging in paddling up shadowy hills. The slush sucked power out, but it was quite rewarding to get up some of the hills quicker than in diagonal kicking. The ice defeated me some times, while other attempts suceeded in really quick ascents. I tried diagonal a few times in the slush and the skis did a good job!

I elected to go a third round, bringing the tour up to just under 20 klicks. This round sucked me of stregnth but I was determined to keep up skating as much as possible and avoid any breaks or reversion to classic. The snow was melting now, and in some of my deeper cuts on the sunnier slopes it had turned it's own gangrenous grey - crystals dissolving. The icier parts had a glaze of water on top with the mild wind now blowing. After some paddling hills, I went over to baby steps double dance just to keep going as the sweat ran into my eyes.

I drank the rest of my water and felt the delicious cooling of the stronger breeze which filled in as I turned back on myself to complete the last homeward leg. About half way back i lost interest in rhytmic dancing, did 100m diagonal  and decided to take some scenic photos. The route has a 600m mostly uphill start, usually including a fair bit of fiah boning so this is to be avoided on the repeat circuits when it gets icey. My piste machine compatriot had chosen discression as the better part of valour and walked down it. I decided as this was likely the last trainin tour of the season, to ski down it, and took plough and half plough to negotiate the steep hill with bend at the foot, as my own better part of valour.

The run back down to the main road was fast after this and i needed a good anchor plough to brake up in the icey 'kick off' zone at the very end where folk trample about with skis on. Skis off i jogged back to the car. 70km last week, just under 60 this week. A seaon I can put behind me with some degree of satisfaction on both fitness and technique in both styles.

Skin-Skis .....Take 3....and it's a wrap !

Finally an overnight freeze and I could try the Atomic Skintecs out for camber tension in double poling conditions, and see how much grip there was in icey tracks.

This week has thrown all that would be unusual for Atomic or any other ski-house, at me. First new, wet snow and rising temperatures then a freeze back. Really conditions the skin was not designed for perhaps, but also conditions which are almost impossible to wax correctly on the 'right' skis. In the soft, the snow was too wet for hard wax yet too soft and granular for clisters. In the hard, it was wet enough in places for a 'red' or 'silver' clister while the harder areas needed blue ice clister. For me a good universal clister job today would have lasted only about 15km, and I racked up about 25km without thinking about more than water breaks.

So we have to seperate out a few things here

1. The Mohair skin
2. The camber tension
3. Conditions
4. Technique and weight of skier.

1. The skin ..... And 2,3,4 also....

Any skin's grip varies with the length & width of it, the snow base its on and any treatments such as glider or anti-icing.

Mohair skins in full legnth will climb anything, but being about 30 - 40 cm under the camber sole on all these new class of skis means that there is quite a finite amount of grip relative to 2,3 and 4 !

In other words to get to the performance of the skin alone, you have to subtract the other factors, including your own skill or style , which means you either need a comparable pair of non skinned or you compare to your 'best ever skis and wax job'.

So my personal opinion and summary on using Atomic Skintec is-

1) the skin's limits are new snow over 1 cm in the tracks; very soft, wet snow; glazed, icey tracks. Here you get bad traction.

2) the skin seems to waterlog in warm conditions, and ball up just a little bit in 'zero' conditions.  Sprays or glide Treatments may help. It both looses traction and glide imho when it gets waterloged

3) camber tension - to race or be really satisfied throughout the season, nyou probably want a softer pair and a pair which are quite hard. Atomic SDS gives an edge here.

In the hard conditions i felt the camber was great for double poling, but i had to press pretty hard on anything icey in diagonal to get ashesion. Downhill i could rock back weight onto my heels to get more speed and lose the little skin-noise there was. Hey, i do this with a clister job or in slower conditions on wax skis.

One odd thing which dawned on me after a few days, like a kind of double take, was how far forward on the ski the skin sits- from a mid ( clister ) forward mark back to only around  the ball of the foot I dare say you could clister back to the heel on the bare ski and get some much needed traction on polished - icey uphills !

So my conclusion - it sucks living near the coast if you want to enjoy an easy life of xc skiing !  The correct length and camber skin ski will give any skier less to worry about in well prepared tracks which are firm but not icey. They bust universal clister, but are not as grippy as red or silver clisters and on pure ice, blue clister.

Atomic Skintec- Meddommeres Kjennelsen.....

LPEndelig var det klar himmel og noen minus grader kunne omgjøre skisporene fra grøt aktig drit til noka "robust" före. Litt for hardt egentlig. Men då fikk jeg teste atomic skintec både i altfor blaute og altfor isete føre i det samme uka.

Kjennelsen er .....bra !  208 utgaven med innlagt felle har en god spenn for meg...stivere ski enn disse med karbon SDS motstand skulle skape vanske med feste trolig. Dette var bekymringen- at spennet var ikke nok pga elendig glid jeg erfarte på myke underlag.

Utforkjøring gikk strålende...joda det kunne forekomme litt virring og hissing fra fellen men det var mindre støy enn med et par vanlige ski smørte bra med klister- då samler man ofte iskrystaller på motbakke som bråker og bremser i utforkjøringen.

Staking var jeg fornøyd med aug. Jeg følte ikke at fellen hindret fremgangen i de harde sporene. Bare min egen teknikk som begrenser optimalt 'bevegonist' fremgang.

Diagonal gang var uforutsiktbar. Feste er alltid litt vanskelig i omdannert, hardt pakka sne. En gubbe med Universal på sålene klaget veldig om det. Jeg hadde mye bedre glid enn ham i dag også. På selveste 'halvbratt' som man kan suser opp når dert er blå vox eller lilla, ble umulig å få feste på. Kun ei lite dame med utrolig bra teknikk fikk en beskjeden fremgang på motbakkene, og hun gav seg etter to runder på det 6km løypet.

Jeg hadde sett flere Skintec brukere seint is sesongen i fjor når det var en del 'zombi' sne som ble omdannet mange ganger med temperatur og maskinfresing. De slet veldige i sporene og klaget om feste på midtbanen. Sånn er det ....de har sine begrensinger og dvs kanksje omtrent det samme som universal klister - når man bør gå over til en mykere klister i det blaute,  eller bruk isklister for tak og utholdbarhet.

Konklusionen er - sesongen er noe dritt med snø som var både fyllt med luft og litt for varmt når det kom på nytt. Ellers med skiene å gjøre, løp og kjøp !  Finn en utgave fra en av de mange produsentene, som nå lager disse pels bunna ski, som har riktig spenn for deg og din teknikk. Får målte dem på spennmaskinen i butikken og sjekk at de er veldig nøye med plassering av bindingen.

Dobbel sjekk spennet er ok ved å stå på paret med  støvlene på og få ansatte til å utføre papirark under smøresone prøve- det skal glid fram til foran fellen og lengre bak fellen. Bruk en tusj for å markere hvor fellen ligger under skiene. Ikke betal for skiene før dette er utførte. Hvis mulig få en retur avtale dersom spennet og feste virke feil mhht dine tidligere gode par smøreski.

Husk at en 40cm med pels ikke kurerer alt som er ondt - løse føre , blaute føre og iaete føre vil ikke være noen særlige bra, men det er ofte heller ikke så bra for smøreski - feks nysnø på beinharde spor eller slike 'svampete' og blaute forhold vi erfarte tidiger i uka.

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Ja vel, nå er det gått 8 mil på mine Atomic Pro Skintec 4000 så lenge. For augeblikka leter jeg etter nye oppdrag eller en stilling og dermed har endelig både tid, skiföre og fine nye planker med pels under.

8 mil på noe av de verste påske-aktig-före jeg har opplevde. Blaute, svampete spor som ble til betong noen dager. En mye bedre idee å øve på skøyteskiene mine. Men å gjøre et kupp med disse interessante lange plaste ting med hårete midtsåle førte til så mue prøving og luring om.....

Jeg må skille ut mange faktorer med hoved lure-punkter er da

1. Er felle litt slit , eller föret så dårlig?
2. Er smalere ski mer vanskelig for meg på myk underlag ?
3. Skal jeg bare lære meg å gjøre bedre klister-jobb og skaff gode vanlig ski?

Jada, isete före er dårlig for klister-jobb også - jeg får kun 15 km ut av et bra belag universal eller litt lengre kanskje fra blå. Man fort glemmer at klister smøring ikke alltid gir bakglatt frie tur.

Myk före - det er alltid frustrerende for meg på krammsnø - jeg er tung og graver ned i det. Nysnø ofte kladder på hardvox og nysnø på hardespor med klister er ille.

De beste dagene har antakelig vært mye bedre feste enn mine gamle, halv-bred turski, og glid er bedre i harde spor uten at man ligger merk til lyd særlig - det er en sikkert tegn på at man trenger en stivere skin-ski.

Jeg bør innrømme at forholdene har vært nesten like krevende som mulig for testing av nokre nye ski som helst!  Jeg har holdt fart med og kom meg vekk fra andre mosjonister jeg gjenkjenner i løypene. Jeg har ikke sett at noen andre tar flere enn to runder på treningsløypet våres, som er da cirka 18 -20 km, mens jeg utførte 4 runder på fredag uten å få særlig skader fra glatt spark som jeg ofte får i slike harde spor som det var.

Skintec har sine grenser og et feil matchet par vil straffe eieren med dårlig glid mer enn et smørbarski ville.

Jeg tror største fordelen blir i skiftende føre når dagen blir enten litt varmere eller kvelden senker flere kuldegrader på bakken. Overgang blå vox til lillac og tilbake vel. Kanskje også grønnvox, gamle føre når det er kaldere enn -10 på en stund.

På andre enden av skala er skin ski klart bedre enn rød vox og dekker en del brukaområser over til universal klister når det er fortsatt litt tak i underlaget og det ikke er isete. Vi får veldig mye skiföre med beinhardt underlag her på kystnær løyper på Sørlandet, og det takle klister litt dårlig og uten et uønsket påfyll etter et par mil.

Nysnø er tydeligvis problematisk for skinski når det er flere minus grader- kanskje noe spray eller vox kan hjelpe til med slikt?

Ideelt da for skirenn uten at det forventes nedbør, og særlig da temperaturen vil variere utover dagen eller med stigning på løypet. Så også ideelt for ferie på hytte da man gidder ikke ta av en rødvox jobb når nestedag skal vise en stupende termometer.

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Oppdatering take-two

Nå er det bare bite litt under 10 mil på Atomic Skintec !

Hva kan jeg si ?  Jada, det har vært en litt av en møkke sesong for å få nye ski av noen type som helst.

En kompis hadde hørt om Drivheia rundt og så kjort vi i to timer dit i dag, varmeste dag i Mars siden 2012. Skikkelig påskeföre var det med slapps i sporene men de hadde blitt litt fastere på veien oppover. Han med en parkeringsplass rød-klister jobb, jeg med rengjort felle og glida' skintec.

Min feste på skogsveiene var minst like god som hans, og glid var mye bedre enn hans fischer trening-tur ski på cirka 48mm brede. Ved stigningen ble det våtere og dermed fikk han litt fordel med feste men gliden ble enda bedre på mine ski, uten at de bråkte.

Föret ble mykere og mykere desto høyre vi steg. Då slet jeg med å trekke ned nok på skiene for å få pressa felle i den blaute snøen. Jeg tipper at et ski med mykere spenn (kalde ski} skulle ha presterte litt bedre.

Noe som stemmer med at disse skiene har mye spenn, var at de var ikke verst i "off piste"'n - De fant et behalgelig dypde i snøen og oppførte seg ikke som fjærn(spreng) . vi fyrte opp en nokså enormt bål 50m fra løypene for litt før-påske hygg mens svetta rant ned fra panna mi. 

Utforkjøringen var total tull med lyng og berg pekende ut mange steder, noen 'litt på kanten' snøbro over bekkene og flere omveier. Underlaget var uforutsiktbart - noe var nokså rakst, andre helt tilfeldig strekninger var 'svampete'. Skiene oppførte seg veldig bra og jeg kunne skøyte litt for å manøvre i det graut aktig dritt.

Det er da 4km med skogsvei hjem og det var blaute og kramm og enda verre drita före , med sporene lagt altfor langt ut på kantene ( luksus skøytebane til bekostning av dem som ville trene staking og diagonalgang før Birken). Stavene forsvant dypt ned eller fant bakken mange ganger. Skiene føltes igjen som de hadde altfor mye spenn.

Jeg tipper at Swix eller Madshus 'skin-wax" skulle ha hjulpet til i dag. Kanskje fellen ble "waterlogged" og det harde press jeg måtte utføre var egentlig for å presse ut vannet før fellen kunne fungere. I allefall, jeg tror ikke min kompis hadde det så mye bedre. Han lå bak meg hele 3 km.

Föret var mykere enn ideelt, men vi Sørlendinger har fått mye luftig og litt blaute påfyll snø de siste tre sesongene i februar-mars, på toppen av lite eller ingen tæle og gamle snø-underlag. Det blir fort til veldig harde løyper også når mildere vestlandavær trekkes inn og deretter flere kuldegrader stiller opp.

Jeg skulle gjerne ha en uke til med kystnær påskeföre men det blir bare noen få dager igjen, og enda mer tull med barmark, berg, bekk og grus som gror ut av våre kortlevde skiløyper. Då skulle jeg prøve skin-wax og kanskje litt rilling av glidersonen for å sjå om ski-prep' gir litt bedre prestasjon.

Dårlig føre for fellen er da fra mine erfaringer veldig harde og det motsatt- veldig myk före, mens andre på internettet påstår at de er dårlige på kald nysnø.

Gode före for disse Atomic skintec 4000 2013 modell skulle være :

- faste blå og selveste arktis grønne före
- overgang blå til lillac og lillac til røde hardvox - særlig med usikkerhet om temperaturen eller stigning underveis.
- faste men ikke isete före når man går fra rød vox til universal klister
- når man har et faste underlag men med tining i sporene ovg går over til røde eller sølv klister. Tipper skinvox hjelper her.
- fattig mans zeroski- tipper dette blir bra ved bruk av skin wax.
- alle harde vox gamle förer når man gidder ikke smøre!

Nå, et par ski med felle og en titanium system for variabelt spenn med en skrue eller lever.....det skulle noe !

Skintec Test Take 2

The weather forecast for today was terrific, so there was no way I wan't going out to bag some more miles under my newly aquired 2013 model Atomic Skintec Pro 4000s. Conditions looked aboslutely beautiful with the tracks prepared in the morning. The temperature was on the rise for march, it being notably stoked up from both sun and when the wind picked up from the south west later. The type of snow in the valleys was wet and gritty, thawing back quickly now. Up at 300m over sea level, it seemed like rather peachy fresh snow for perhaps Lillac hard wax conditions.

This prove not to be the case and I like many other skiers, had a bit of a frustrating day. Most it seemed chose clister, but the snow in the shadow was too new and light for it, while on the sunnier gradients the snow was becoming like a nice easter, a bit wet and almost spongy in the base of the tracks. The 75cm plus new snow had come ontop of a minimal base, if not completely absent, after the dread intrusion of mild rain weather over Scandinavia back in mid February.

I drove to our nearest tracks above 250m which include most good snow winters, a climb of about 400 ft and a route round a hill top looking towards biggerr neighbours which I would count as mountains. So this route includes a lot of fishboning to gain altitude as it meanders round different ridges, ascending them on their shallowest shoulder. Also there is though a very good deal diagonal and some staving-with or without kicking, plus enough dips to give you a breather when you  most need it.

Warming up in the valley in the shadow, the skis seemed pretty good but glide was not absolutely tops, A gang of very spoorty looking housewives had departed 5 mins before me and I never caught up with them, but we are talking about being in deep ski country where folk compete at a national level in all age groups. Their staving holes were very similar to mine, I just presumed they had better glide and gort away from me,  but five minutes is long enough ahead to not see someone doing the same pace as you on any part of the route.

The skis were about 10% slipping on the kicks on any gradients and that went up to about one in three kicks on the steeper diagonal doable sections, which meant experimenting with jogging, staving, fishbone or trying to see if the middle lane created more traction- which it sometimes did, but other times it seemed too loose. Snow was falling from the Scots Pine which pepper the wild country root, in great dods onto the tracks in places and these were definetly a killer for traction!!

Glide was furstrating also and I immediately started to think of how the skis would compare to my old Fischer planks? Did the soft, melting conditioins lend themselves to a wider ski? Was the fell (skin) dragging or sucking?

I took a photoshoot break on the top of the first shoulder of the ascent after 100m of fishboning.  There is a little dip right after this with a cute 180 degree turn to take you along the next valley to the end of the spur so you can climb the next shoulder. Here the skis proved to be super compliant, with some one sided plowing to shed speed being very firm, while step turning proved more stable than my blue planks.

Where the snow was colder, kick was a bit better, while on the other hand where the snow was warmest it seemed that double pole was quickest in the flats. It was a really beautiful day, so there were several photostops and a strip off gloves stop too, so in combijnation with the deep, soft conditions all this meant travel time to the summit was up from what then prove to be a really fast time for me on a course which absolutely will never suit my massive size!

The reason to do the round the mountain is partly as a good day out if you are going with friends, but otherwise a really good cardio work out followed by an exciting and very testing down hill, with both cross slope gradient, some hairpins, and some real deep little bowls to dive into and try to stave hard out to keep on the move. The latter caught me out today as the narrower ski would loose float on the deep beds of the bowls, and dig in, thus messing up both my step turn and any plow corrections and I got unceremoniously thrown off into the soft bank twice, once face plkanting at about 30 mph which broke my sunbglass arm on one side, Damn, why did I go so fast in and try to be clever step turning in the softest snow? I was more cautious on the hair pins, combining a good brake in lough wiht some step turning. Other bends I could take slalom style as usual. The skis felt really nice down hill, with no noise from the skin as far as I could tell, and a really positive, controlled feel to the ride and steering. The skis really came alive today on the dowhill, which is on the North face so maybe that tells me something.

At the end of the hill top route, the tracks plunge back onto forrest roads and I chose to branch off down for another 1.6 km of decent , with it being so fun an' all - going with gravity. The climb back up the same way was a real plod as I knew it would be and I wasnt expecting so very much- it worked out to feel much like being on lillac or red when you needed to go to clister, a bit of 'wheel slip' and the need to come out and bone up. But that is par for the course for me on this long 2km climb.

Since it was such a beaturiful day I decided to take in the third wing of the route, completing the circle to the foot of the mountain top route and then going down eastwards. Here some usually fast staving sections seemed slow and I got quite frustrated. There was no one around to judge my pace or slipping gains.

So the jury is unfortunetly out on both the camber and glide qaulity and the adhesion from the ski and the SDS system hard camber, soft kick carbon skulduggery.

What I really needed to do waas to test against my old skis and then get a well waxed pair of these https://shop.atomic.com/en/catalog/product/view/id/17023/s/redster-marathon-classic-hard/category/1245/  to test agosing ........