 Poster: A snowHead
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I beleive one area is over 1500 m, which is always a plus.
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1500m long? Is that considered impressive. Les Saisies has 80km of cross country trails, traditional tracks and skating, groomed every night, at every difficulty level from green to black. Even the greens have sections which are too steep to stay in the tracks - which disappear at those places, so you snowplough (or at least try to snowplough) down until it flattens out a bit. The instructor we had told us that the local ski club kids do a lot of work on cross country skis, to improve their balance, as it needs heaps more finesse than bashing around in stiff boots and skis with metal edges. When I see Nordic skiers out in their lycra tights on a blue downhill slope I am duly impressed, knowing that it's much harder than it looks. Friends went "cross country skiing" somewhere in Austria but it seems that they just shuffled round on the flat along the valley floor, which seems a bit pointless - they weren't taught the various gliding steps. Our instructor kept yelling at us "Ne marchez pas! C'est un sport de glisse". If you're going to walk around you might as well just go for a nice walk on snowshoes - and fall over a lot less.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Our instructor kept yelling at us "Ne marchez pas! C'est un sport de glisse". If you're going to walk around you might as well just go for a nice walk on snowshoes - and fall over a lot less.
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Yes indeed - what our juniors would call a "Waymarker"
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I beleive one area is over 1500 m, which is always a plus.
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We can manage more than 10x that in the Clash in Scotland, and we try and piste at least the ~8km loop when we get snow. Though as it done by volunteers I can't gaurantee it'll be done evry evening ready for the next day 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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There were even signposts for trails to other resorts ~60km away
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That would be a fair old days ski for a hut to hut tour. Not sure I'd be up to much skiing the next day
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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If I could split it into six sections (one per day) I think I could do it  maybe slightly less....
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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I'm a new X-C fan - I tried the skating version about 6 weeks ago, and after a bad hour of unsteadiness drove back home, collected the Superfeet insoles from my downhill boots, put them in the X-C boots, went back to the track and found they adjusted my balance and the skis felt far less wobbly. Since then I've bought proper stiff skating boots and have been teaching myself the technique to the point where I can now go 5km in.... ummm.... 2 hours with walking up steep hills  But I like it, it gets a good sweat going and feels like a proper exercise. Does anyone know of any rollerski clubs in or around Wilts, Dorset or Kent who do weekend training sessions?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| pam w wrote: |
| Quote: |
I beleive one area is over 1500 m, which is always a plus.
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1500m long? Is that considered impressive. Les Saisies has 80km of cross country trails, traditional tracks and skating, groomed every night, at every difficulty level from green to black. Even the greens have sections which are too steep to stay in the tracks - which disappear at those places, so you snowplough (or at least try to snowplough) down until it flattens out a bit. The instructor we had told us that the local ski club kids do a lot of work on cross country skis, to improve their balance, as it needs heaps more finesse than bashing around in stiff boots and skis with metal edges. When I see Nordic skiers out in their lycra tights on a blue downhill slope I am duly impressed, knowing that it's much harder than it looks. Friends went "cross country skiing" somewhere in Austria but it seems that they just shuffled round on the flat along the valley floor, which seems a bit pointless - they weren't taught the various gliding steps. Our instructor kept yelling at us "Ne marchez pas! C'est un sport de glisse". If you're going to walk around you might as well just go for a nice walk on snowshoes - and fall over a lot less. |
I think Ami might mean over an altitude of 1500m, which is definitely a plus for late snow.
What Les Saisies like? The skiing sound OK and I wouldn't mind somewhere to go which is a bit more easily accessible from the UK, and it is fairly easy to get to Geneva from here. I like going back to Norway, but the journey is a bit of slog for me.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Basil Short_trousers wrote: |
| I'm a new X-C fan - I tried the skating version about 6 weeks ago, and after a bad hour of unsteadiness drove back home, collected the Superfeet insoles from my downhill boots, put them in the X-C boots, went back to the track and found they adjusted my balance and the skis felt far less wobbly. |
Second that!
That's actually quite smart of you, to have thought of it right away. It took me about 10 years! (to thought of putting my downhill footbed into my nordic boots )
What a world of difference it made!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| peura wrote: |
abc, thanks. Any report is better than none  . Besides, if I see you mention about a really great trail with enjoyable hills we'll know which one to avoid . I'll look for the ones you think are boring  . |
Well, it´s really quite warm here at St Moritz this week. Not the best condition to x-c ski.
I did manage a half day of it on my arrival day. Starting at half past noon isn´t the best strategy for a warm spring day. However, with the forecast calling for above zero the rest of the week, it´s either do nothing (OK, strolling about the village isn´t exactly nothing but I figure I´ve got the whole week for that), or do some "light" x-c skiing to get my legs going after 4 hours on the train!
I did a part of the Marathon route, the section from St Moritz Bad to Pontresina. Incidentally, that´s the "hilliest" part of the whole Marathon route! It had, prabably 50 metre of elevation gain and lose. Hence the most uphill and downhills. And I found it too boringly flat!
Granted, the very slow spring condition made the route more frustrating (for me) than normal. As such, I was only needing to herringbone up perhaps 2-3 times at all, each time no more than 30 feet. The rest of the "up"hills, I was able to simply walk up. On a more "normal" condition day, I imagine I could even kick-n-glide up. The downhills were even tamer. It was fairly open. Yet they put bright orange color pads around the few trees just in case (though probably more to protect the trees than the skiers  ).
The rest of the Marathon route that I didn´t do were either dead flat (on the lake) or slightly downhill. So you wouldn´t have to worry too much. I had originally planned to do one of the red section on my last day (not part of the Marathon route). But given the temperature (10C), I´m not sure I will. I think I might do better by looking to hire a bike instead! 
Personally, I think the lake section would be quite boring, both in terms of terrain challenge and from a scenic point of view. It´t better to have a bit of twist and turns to keep the course interesting. So, I highly recommend the section of the Marathon route I did. It´s only a about 7 km, mostly in the woods. Very quiet and peaceful. And when you come out of the woods, the mountain feels so much more dramatic. At about the 5km mark (from St Moritz Bad), there´s a mountain resturant you can rest and have lunch.
The grading of the downhill pistes were all quite conservative, reds are more like blues and blacks like reds. I wouldn´t be surprised x-c gradings are similar. Still, over half of the x-c trails are graded as blue and green (marathon route == flat to dead flat). So you got the idea.
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You know it makes sense.
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Not that I don't enjoy the short jaunt on skinny skis for a few hours. But to put my complain in the proper context...
St Moritz is pretty "famous" for its x-c skiing. It has A LOT of miles, over 100 miles! So I'm a bit diappointed at the lack of variety.
Apart from the little bit of skiing I actually did, I "observe" where the x-c tracks are as I move around, by train and on alpine skis. I saw a fair bits of the tracks running next to the train track for quite some distance! I'm a train enthusiast. But even for me, I will get sick of seeing trains as my x-c ski outing companion daily! 
Granted, the lay of land may have limited the location of some of the sections. Still, the valley is wide. And I would have thought they could put the tracks a bit further away from the train tracks. Ideally, in the woods closer in the foot of the hills. Would have been a lot more peaceful and scenic, and will have a bit of extra ups and downs, in this case isn't such a bad thing. (the valley itself is really, really flat)
The ski itinary off back of the peak of Diavolezza overlaps one of the "black labeled" x-c loop. So I can see how the "black" tracks are defined. On alpine skis, heading downhill, I had to push with my poles and even skate occasionally to go DOWN! There're only a few occasional short steep'ish section. This is my first time skiing in Europe, I can't compare with the level grading of any other places. That kind of terrain, in N.A. would have gotten a blue (European red, a.k.a. intermediate) lable.
Complain aside, one good thing about the x-c routes of St Moritz? There're ALWAYS a resturants at almost every junction of trails. In fact, several of the trails are out and back, with the destination being a mountain resturant! So, if the skiing is not interesting enough, the beers will make up the difference.
Also, while waiting for my bus at Pontresina, I watch an instructor giving a skating lesson (1 student). It's pretty interesting. And the student seem to make astonishing progress, going from wobbly to making good speed in the span of barely 1/2 hr!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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peura, I enjoyed the holiday very much. And I wouldn't mind going back to St Moritz sometime in the future. Just not neccessarily for x-c skiing, despite its "fame".
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I'm curious what were you doing on xc tracks with alpine skis on though?
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The ski itinenary from the back of Diavolezza down the glacier eventually join up with the x-c ski tracks coming up from the train station of Montoract. The last mile or so had us skiing down the x-c skiing track. Actually, not skiing "down" but skating along the skating tracks!  I wouldn't particularly enjoy that stretch had I been on x-c skis and having to jostle for space amoungst downhill skiers with big planks!
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Even in our limited trips out from the resort this year we got far enough away that the only sign of human presence was the (machine-made) tracks we were on (an impression created in part by the number of trees) and the distant sounds of snowmobiles.
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The stretch of Marathon route I did (from St Moritz Bad to Pontresina) was in the woods and therefore very nice and peaceful. Though a bit too flat for my taste, despite it being the most up and down of the Marathon route. I would care even less of the sections ON the lakes.
Further more, many of the more challenging routes are up the side canyons and back down. That, of course, was limited by the lay of the land. But as a result, you're not really "going" anywhere by skis. (oh, correction, you're going to a mountain resturant! )
In short, there ARE good stretches to enjoy. But unless one knows the area very well, one may end up skiing next to a train track or on a flat lake A LOT! The "impressive" milage count of the x-c networks are too much weighted on the flat and wide open (which, in my view, boring) side.
On the positive side. the downhill skiing was a lot better than what the piste maps would suggest. Though that's partly because I enjoy skiing off-piste and St Moritz landscape was perfect for a great deal of "off-the side of piste" skiing.
The warm temperature in the valley, which wouldn't have been too condusive to x-c skiing even if the trail networks are more interesting, combined with better than expected condition on the mountain, kept me from trying too hard to find more x-c options. If I ever return when condition in the valley are better suited for xc, I would go seek out a few of the other red/black trails. There should still be enough of those for a couple of days of fun. I would personally classify St Moritz as a downhill resort with good xc alternative, rather than an extensive xc resort.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Don't know about hiring - maybe ask these people http://www.rollerskiing.co.uk/
I personally haven't xc skied in Europe as the places I've been DH skiing have always had tracks that don't look very appealing; however that doesn't mean that there aren't places in Europe that one can't get away from it all on skinny skis, just that I am ignorant of them. However Banff / Lake Louise is a different proposition altogether; and then there's my favourite, Mazama in Washington state. It has a couple of small hotels, a gas station cum shop, cum cafe and that's about it. Excellent for a nice relaxing holiday (well about as relaxing as a week of xc can be !)
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| dsoutar wrote: |
| I personally haven't xc skied in Europe as the places I've been DH skiing have always had tracks that don't look very appealing; however that doesn't mean that there aren't places in Europe that one can't get away from it all on skinny skis, just that I am ignorant of them. However Banff / Lake Louise is a different proposition altogether; and then there's my favourite, Mazama in Washington state. It has a couple of small hotels, a gas station cum shop, cum cafe and that's about it. Excellent for a nice relaxing holiday (well about as relaxing as a week of xc can be !) |
Actually, it doesn't take much for a x-c skier track to "get away from it all". The track I skied in St Moritz was in the woods. So it was quite peaceful. My only complain being not more of the tracks are that way. Too much of the trail networks are in the open, which aside from being windy and unappealing, is also quite discouraging for slow moving beginer skiers. You don't feel you made much progress at all!
And unfortunately, some of the more "interesting" (hilly) tracks are either parallel to, or worse shared with downhill skiers as the section I was on.
This was my first time trying x-c skiing in the Alps. I'll reserve my judgement till I try a few more places.
As for NA, there're endless good option for x-c skiing. From well-groomed tracks to totally isolated back country skier packed tracks. I do find Canada has the edge when it comes to well prepared groomed trail networks though.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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peura,
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Still (in a relaxed sort of way) thinking of roller (xc) skiing this year. I wonder if anyone knows of anywhere that hires equipment?
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Huntly Nordic Outdoor Centre hires kit http://www.nordicski.co.uk/hnoc/ though only if you've rollerskiied before. If you haven't they like you to have a lesson first. Alternatively you could come along to a HNSC thursday evening session which is held at the HNOC and borrow club kit for £2 per night - though you'd be expected to join the club after a couple of sessions. Alternatively a small group of HNSC skiers can be found on the beach boulavard at Aberdeen on Tuesday evenings - I have a couple of spare pairs of skis I could lend, but no boots.
If your not close to Huntly or aberdeen then the best bet would be to try one of the local xc clubs - there are a few scattered across the country, though I'd recomend getting your own kit asap if you are going to do much rollerskiing.
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The manchester xc ski club may be a start for kit, but often the best bet is to buy your own kit as then your a bit more flexible.
For places to rollerski, have a look around - quiet country roads are good (provided the tramac is reasonably smooth) but check out hills etc in advance - you don't want to be speeding down a hill only to find it ends in a T- junction at a busy road. Bike tracks are good, but watch out for bikes and dog walkers - especially if they have their dog on one of those extendable leads. Can lead to a nasty incident when the dog is one side of the track and the id.. i mean owner is on the other.
I'm not sure exactly where you are, but another possibility is the bike circuit in Lancaster at the Salt Acre sports complex (I think). We use that for races every year - access doesn't look to be a problem if its not in use for anything else.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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peura,
Sorry, I misread your post and was assuming you were between Manchester and Wales from the club reference. I can ask around, but an alternative might be to do one of the two day courses that the ESC run. They are scattered over the year with courses in London, Hetton Lyons in Durham, and Salt Ayr in Lancashire. They are usually run in conjunction with some of the races on the British Rollerski series - you get free race entry aswell, so if you go to the wrong course you'll get to beat me in the race . The course details are on the ESC website.
Ian Ballantyne also runs a number of courses though they are in London or nearby (his website is here http://www.rollerski.co.uk/ if you've not already found it.
An alternative starting point might well be to get in touch with Alan Shepard at MCCSC and see what they might be able to offer.
Stopping isn't easy - can do a snowplough on most skis (tends not to work well on fast race skis), which will slow you down, but not stop on a hill. Usual methods are to coast to a halt or snowplough to a halt on the flat so most hills need a decent run out at the bottom. Or alternatively take to the grass verge - if your good you'll remain upright and come to a halt quickly, if your me you'll fall flat, but its better than falling on tarmac or running into something .
To be honest, with sensible choice of route and removal of skis and walking dodgy sections, falls are not common. I haven't (touching wood ) had a bad fall* for a couple of years, and beginners usually start on the flat and speeds will initially be slow.
HTH
Dave
* I consider a bad fall to be one that draws reasonable quantities of blood
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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peura,
Not tried brakes, but have used skis with speed reducers once or twice. Good on classic skis to make the training harder - more like classic skiing on snow. Never tried speed reducers on skate skis though. Speed reducers don't work well as brakes as they act as a friction device that is adjusted by a thumb screw - not really adjustable on the move.
I shouldn't worry about walking down hills - we all do it and if the hill is steep enough and/or the runout poor then you'd be stupid not to.
We oraganised some possible tour routes for the day after one of our races - so anyone coming from a long distance off could make a weekend of it. A couple of the tour routes were good except for a hill - we planned to walk down them.
The race calendar has a couple of hill races on them - up the hills. One is up the hill road from Glenmore to the Cairngorm ski centre car park. You'd be mad to try and ski back down (skiing up is stupid aswell ) though I'm told people have - though not on race skis. The other is from Rhynie to the Clash forest. I've skied down some of that, as its not as steep though I snow ploughed the hills and ran onto the verge regularly before my speed got too high as a method of controlling my speed.
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You know it makes sense.
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peura,
Most of my comments are going to very personal as I've mainly stuck with one manufacturer/binding. I've mainly used Salomen SNS binding system and Fischer boots (Fischer don't make SNS type boots now they have moved boots for NNN bindings).
Salomen do/did two styles of bindings - the old profil bindings (classic and skate) which have a single bar on the boot and the newer Pilot binding which has two bars on the boot. I have pilot boots but they fit the profil bindings (not the automatic ones though) aswell as Pilot bindings. I bought pursuit boots -designed for both skate and classic so I didn't have to buy two pairs of boots one for skate and one for classic. You do need good ankle support for rollerskis, particularly skating - more so than on snow.
The other choice is NNN bindings and Alpina or now Fischer boots. I've used these once in a race and they were fine.
I have three pairs of skis -
1) training skis for skate with narrow large diam wheels, no ratchets. They are slow but nice to skate on.
http://webskis.com/product.php?productid=301&cat=0&page=1
They are fitted with an Profile skate binding
Aluminium body so they vibrate on rough ground.
2) Race ski for skate, they are very fast and I'm not good at skiing on them
http://www.eagle-sport.nl/rolski_detail.php?Rid=15
Aluminium body and hard narrow PU wheels (no ratchets) so they are horrible except on the smoothest ground no matter what the website says. Fitted with Pilot bindings
3) Classic skis rubber barrell wheels, ratchets on one wheel per ski* so you can only go forward - designed for classic, compsite body, dont vibrate as much as aluminium bodies.
http://www.rollerski.co.uk/buyrollerskis.html The Swenor classics from here.
To some extent what you buy will depend on what you want to do.
For skate, if your not racing I'd personally get something like a Marwe 610 with slow or medium wheels as per here:
http://www.rollerski.co.uk/ourview.html
If you don't like the idea of the narrow wheels (they are harder for beginers initially, but give better technique if you want to skate on snow) then some marwe barrel wheeled skis are good - we use those at Huntly. Shown on the above link as the Marwe skating/skating with ratchet.
If you want to do classic then one of the Swenor classic skis are good, but there is a lot of other choice and I've not tried many classic skis.
Personally I go for a fairly long ski with barrell wheels and move the ratchet wheels* to the front as it gives better on snow technique.
If you want to do both then a combi ski is possible. I've tried Start combis, which are good. ESC use them at their coaching courses and they are the pool skis used for some of the races.
Huntly use Marwe barrell skis as pool skis for our races and for novices. The squad skiers skate on narrow wheeled skis - either 610s, Proskis or eagles with slow wheels on for part of the time and eagles with fast wheels for part of the time.
* ratchets wheels tend to be on the back but that can lead to poor technique as you then try and keep your heel down to extend the kick.
Its a somewhat bitty answer but hope it helps
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Dave Horsley, thanks for the run down. Very useful. I know it must be a very personal thing. I'd been looking at these (http://www.rollerskiing.co.uk/catalogue.asp?category=Skis-+Jenex) or those Marlows. I have nothing at the moment so could use either binding or those that use boots (I've got some fairly boots). I thought the latter wouldn't be so good though, especially if I have to take them on and off lots. I dunno whether I want to do classic or skate. On snow I classic but I'm not sure whether I'd prefer skating on rollers.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I've not personally skiied any of the Jenex skis - they are illegal for racing, but as thats not what your planning they may suit. They are probably better as a skate ski rather than a classic as they are quite short. I personally find shorter skis harder to classic well on. The Jenex combis may be a good compromise (C) in the second photo on the web page, not sure how easy it would be to classic on them though. The pneumatic wheels will give a bit more option on the terrain you can use.
Personally I'd want to see (and if possible try them) in the flesh - I've seen some of the Jenex skis and some are quite large and heavy, I've also seen (but didn't get to try) one of the smaller Jennex skis probably (A) in the second photo V2 XL 125S which seemed reasonable.
I'd try and see if you could try out some of the skis before you buy, getting in touch with one of the clubs might be a good choice. The other possibility is asking Tom (from the Website you linkked to) is going to be at any of the course/races - he usualy turns up with kit at some of them and pop along to one thats convenient.
Most people skate on rollers as on slow rollerskis it's quite close to skating on snow . Classic is not so close to snow except on long uphills. Rollers have much more glide than classic skis on snow, and you get perfect wax from the ratchet. You can also get grip with much less downward pressure and much further back than you can on snow - so they can lead to poor on snow technique. Also on the flat and moderate uphills you tend to just double pole or double pole single leg kick rather than do double diagonal. On snow you'd be switching to double diagonal much sooner than you do on classic rollers.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Dave Horsley, thanks again. They seem to suggest "outriggers" for classic to aid the balance  . I guess I'd expect to skate most times, although I think a combi skate would be best just in case. Here is a more detailed review of the Jenex 150s. Pneumatic wheels seemed a good choice, since debris gets washed over the sea wall from time to time.
On to other equipment. Poles? How much "protection" do you wear?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Poles
I've got lots of poles as I require different lengths for skate, classic on rollers and classic on snow (in order of decreasing length). I started with cheap Swix alulight poles, but am now moving to carbon poles as they take the forces I'm starting to generate through the poles better than aluminium poles. Carbon poles are much easier to break though if you misuse them. The first time I took my new carbon poles out I stuck one down a drain and snapped it . The other advantage of carbon poles is they come with (usually) a much better strap than the cheap aluminium poles - the strap alone cost £20 so that accounts for at least part of the extar cost of carbon poles
For classic (on snow) poles should be approx up to armpit height, on rollers perhaps a bit longer. For skate, poles should be between chin and nose height. To some extent though it depends on what feels right to you.
Tips - for roller skiing you need special roller ski tips that are much harder than standard snow tips, and either very small or no baskets.
Protection
I wear a bike helmet, glasses (to protect form other peoples poles when skiing in a pack) either my ordinary prescription glasses or prescription sunnies if its bright and gloves as your hands will often take the worst of a fall. I usually wear a pair of full length running tights rather than shorts even when it is hot just in case - but I doubt it would make a difference in a fall. I usually wear a T-shirt or a warm top if cold and a lightweight waterproof if its raining.
I don't use knee or elbow pads and didn't even when I first started and very few people I know did. However if you feel more confident using knee or arm pads then I'd use them.
HTH
Dave
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Dave Horsley wrote: |
Poles
I've got lots of poles as I require different lengths for skate, classic on rollers and classic on snow (in order of decreasing length). I started with cheap Swix alulight poles, but am now moving to carbon poles as they take the forces I'm starting to generate through the poles better than aluminium poles. Carbon poles are much easier to break though if you misuse them. The first time I took my new carbon poles out I stuck one down a drain and snapped it . The other advantage of carbon poles is they come with (usually) a much better strap than the cheap aluminium poles - the strap alone cost £20 so that accounts for at least part of the extar cost of carbon poles
For classic (on snow) poles should be approx up to armpit height, on rollers perhaps a bit longer. For skate, poles should be between chin and nose height. To some extent though it depends on what feels right to you.
Tips - for roller skiing you need special roller ski tips that are much harder than standard snow tips, and either very small or no baskets. |
Just a note on poles. I bought mine (classic) online according to the chart. I used them for about a year and then did a private lesson. The first thing the instructor said to me was "your poles are 5-10 cm too long". As a result of the long poles, I was planting too soon and waisting a lot of energy. So I went to the shop to get a new pair, and the saleperson (not a xc specialist) grabbed the chart and tried to sell me the same length poles I had before. I told him that I wanted something shorter and he rolled his eyes, because of course the chart must be right. Well, people's bodies are constructed differently, so the chart is merely a guide and not infallable. The difference was immediately noticeable when I started skiing with the shorter poles. The moral is that getting knowledgable help when buying equipment is invaluable.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Experience can also make a difference - I started with 150cm poles for skating on rollers and 145cms for classic on snow. I now use 160cms for skating on rollers, but I found the shorter poles easier when I was beginning. I now use the 150cm poles for classic on rollers as most classic skiing on rollers ends up being double poling with little diagonal stride. I know our juniors have used their skate poles for a clssic race on a flat course that was entirely double poling.
With carbon poles you can buy your poles as a kit and you cut them down to your size. Doing that you can cut them slightly longer than you think - try them out and shorten them if necessary. The other advantage is that ready made poles tend to come in 5cm sizes ie 150cm 155cm etc. yet 157cm might be the size ideally suited to you kits allow you to cut them to suit - though you could just buy the next size up and cut it back.
Getting advice like ami in berlin, is going to be difficult in the UK away from a club or lesson situation though.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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peura,
I have a pair of adjustable BD expedition poles that I use for telemarking. For xc they are heavy, they don't adjust long enough for skating and I reckon I could break them skating if I could get ones that went long enough.
The Axes poles are interesting - not sure about the tips or the straps - have to see and try one to really comment though.
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Dave Horsley, thanks again. Lots of ideas. I dunno about the tips either. They look rather different to most, although you can change the tips to spikes for doing this  . As with the nordic walking I wondered if they'd be useful at the outset before settling on a size.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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peura, Lidl's - last week - Nordic Walking poles. They might still have some left in your size. They had adjustable ones too. Quality seems surprisingly good for the price which was £9.99 AFAiR. I find the size recommendations for nordic walking poles a bit short and generally go 5-10cm longer. That feels better to me for ski-training. It means at 162 cm tall, (and a bit slow and unfit )I use walking poles at about 115 cm. My classic ski poles are 132.5 for mooching about. I used to race with 135s, or longer for a flat course.
I am not sure adjustable poles would be the best choice for track skiing - they are too heavy and have too much flex when extended to the right length, and are a bit fragile. It would be better to try out different lengths of normal poles until you find what you want.
You are likely to find you want to use longer poles for classic as you get more skilled and faster (and in my case shorter as I get more decrepit and slower) so you may find you change anyhow.
From what Dave is saying, if you start hanging round some ski club members, you might find they all have shed-fulls of cast-off poles of the wrong size! And poles don't date much since they stopped using bamboo, so second-hand is a good choice while you are learning. My favourite poles are nearly 25 years old and are nicely balanced, lightweight poles, still in good usable order. (Only had three replacement baskets, two replacement handles, and four replacement shafts.)
(Just kidding - all I have had to change is the baskets.)
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From what Dave is saying, if you start hanging round some ski club members, you might find they all have shed-fulls of cast-off poles of the wrong size! And poles don't date much since they stopped using bamboo, so second-hand is a good choice while you are learning. My favourite poles are nearly 25 years old and are nicely balanced, lightweight poles, still in good usable order. (Only had three replacement baskets, two replacement handles, and four replacement shafts.)
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If you hang around our juniors the best you'll get is lots of single poles as they have a habit of frequently breaking poles - usually in head to head races in the heat of competition .
I use my now too short skate poles for classic - where you might be able to pick up second hand poles is where people have upgraded from alulight to carbon.
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FAQ
). Was looking at some rollers with brakes/speed-reducers dunno what you think to those.
. I only have a pair of trekking poles yet although I intend to get a pair for nordic walking soon (trekking poles aren't ideal). For classic on snow I used 150cm poles which seemed ok but then I'm only really "ambling". I have seen 