 Poster: A snowHead
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Last minute decision to get some gear for the missus for Xmas. Looking on Sport Conrad but no idea on brands or models for skis, bindings or boots - http://www.sport-conrad.com/Skis/901/
She's a good alpine skier who tried x country a few times last year with her mates and enjoyed it. Help please.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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BobinCH, skating or classic?
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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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pam w, no idea. It was on a proper cross country trail.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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the "classic" is where you use the parallel grooves, "skating" is on the flat (in our place, the skating track is alongside the classic track) and the legs always move in the same plane. The latter - skating - is harder, more athletic, very impressive (wot they do with the guns). There's also a kind of "touring" cross country ski (rando nordique), wider than the classic ones (which have to fit into the tracks) and designed for skiing away from prepared trails, but they are still very skinny compared to powder skis and have free (and unfixable) heels.
I have classic cross country skis, but a bit wider than "perfomance" and a bit shorter - easier, but not so fast, old lady specials. Your wife would probably want something narrower and longer, being much younger and fitter. There are also differences in bindings. some have just one bar to click on - mine have two, again for a bit more stability but less good for skilled "gliding".
Mine are these
http://www.auvieuxcampeur.fr/hiver/ski-nordique-materiel-chaussures-et-entretien/materiel/skis-nordiques/classique-evasion-femme/passion-my-style-ski-152582.html
pour une randonée sans but sportif (though it still feels fairly sportif going uphill  )
It's a bit of a minefield really, like other kinds of equipment. I got very helpful advice Au Vieux Campeur in Albertville.
Skating and classic use different skis, different boots (Skating boots are more supportive, some of the classic boots are slipper-like.
Dave Horsley is very knowledgeable about cross country gear - you could PM him.
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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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cross country skiers get even more anal about their equipment than the downhill variety. 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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BobinCH,
A prepared trail with the 2 ski tracks cut into it? That's classic.
Mrs M has Fischer fibre crown skis (at 2m they are now longer than my diddy little 184s). They have a grippy fish scale pattern underfoot so you don't need to grip wax them which makes looking after them easier (I imagine they are better suited to beginners/intermediates as well for the same reason). You just need to glide wax each end. Sally binding & boots.
The best thing is that it's all so much cheaper than downhill gear - at least Mrs M hasn't discovered the XC equivalent of Kastle yet.
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The best thing is that it's all so much cheaper than downhill gear
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true. And no lift passes to buy! I always feel clumpy and cumbersome walking through the village in alpine boots with gurt heavy skis on my shoulders, when the cross-country skiers (many of them older than I) come slipping past with their light gear, looking super-fit. They definitely have the moral high ground, if not the topographical equivalent!
Actually we can use a couple of lifts to access the XC area without all the huffing and puffing, but if you already have an alpine pass, it doesn't cost extra. It's quite nerve wracking going up a long drag lift preparing to jump off half way, knowing that if you fall off (more likely on tricksy XC skis) before the right place, you are going to have to ski down quite a steep bit of blue run to get back to the lift. Actually, I couldn't ski down it on XC gear, I'd have to walk.
I had one week's lessons last year and hoping to do another this coming season, though the descents on the "black trails" will elude me for a while, I fear. But it's a safe activity to do on your own (unlike touring, or off piste skiing) and extremely good exercise. I don't find it easy, though, with those skinny skis - anything other than a very gentle descent is scary!
It's beautiful though, and so quiet. We are not in the tracks in this picture because the correct way is down, on that stretch, and we were going up, so had to keep out of the tracks.
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| BobinCH wrote: |
Last minute decision to get some gear for the missus for Xmas. Looking on Sport Conrad but no idea on brands or models for skis, bindings or boots - http://www.sport-conrad.com/Skis/901/
She's a good alpine skier who tried x country a few times last year with her mates and enjoyed it. Help please. |
My guess? It's classic. That's how most beginner x-c skiers "try" first. To be sure, you can ask the missus if it was all the way skating. If her answer is "are you nuts?", it means it was classic.
The Sport Conrad list is a big one. Ignore those that needs wax, and those elite racing skis, you're now down to the more suitable subset. Go by weight (hehe!) to get the right length of skis, which is challenging enough. However, there's no way you can figure out which boot fits. You need her to put her paws into it to find the one with the right shape! Not sure how you can manage that. Maybe just get her the skis and let her choose the boots in person? (binding needs to match with boots so that has to wait too).
As others mentioned, x-c skiers are way more anal about their equipments.
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