Informal survey: What skis are you using?

Just curious, after a 14-year hiatus from citizen racing, about what
makes/models of skis people are using. I notice that Eagle River Nordic is
down to 3 brands - Atomic, Fischer, and Madshus. Back in the day there were
also decent offerings from Peltonen, Karhu, Kastle, and, of course,
Rossignol.

Also curious about what is the oldest set of skis you're still actively
using for racing. I'm planning on using my Rossi "Delta Skating Cobra's",
from the late 80's/early 90's, for skating this season, at least.

-JJ

On Mon, 27 Sep 2004 10:05:03 -0600, "Wile E. Coyote"
wrote:

Just curious, after a 14-year hiatus from citizen racing, about what
makes/models of skis people are using. I notice that Eagle River Nordic is
down to 3 brands - Atomic, Fischer, and Madshus. Back in the day there were
also decent offerings from Peltonen, Karhu, Kastle, and, of course,
Rossignol.

Also curious about what is the oldest set of skis you're still actively
using for racing. I'm planning on using my Rossi "Delta Skating Cobra's",
from the late 80's/early 90's, for skating this season, at least.

Three or four years ago I did a race on a pair of Fischers from the
1986-1987 winter. They're stll OK (though the bases are beat), but
skis I got in the last few years fit be better and maybe are designed
better for skating.

JT

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Fischer RCS 1983.

I think my dad still uses a pair of 1975 Europa Racing SC for rock skis.

bt

Fischers, skatecuts primarily, but I still race on a pair of 1993 vintage
Fischers set up for cold soft track with great success. It is not the skis,
but the engine under the hood that makes the difference. My engine took a
setback last night with a hard fall classic DPing, I caught a rack and
slammed into the pavement. Bruised sternum and possible broken pinky.
Ouch.

The FrontRunner
"sknyski" wrote in message
m...
Fischer RCS 1983.

I think my dad still uses a pair of 1975 Europa Racing SC for rock skis.

bt

"Wile E. Coyote" wrote in message ...
Just curious, after a 14-year hiatus from citizen racing, about what
makes/models of skis people are using. I notice that Eagle River Nordic is
down to 3 brands - Atomic, Fischer, and Madshus. Back in the day there were
also decent offerings from Peltonen, Karhu, Kastle, and, of course,
Rossignol.

Also curious about what is the oldest set of skis you're still actively
using for racing. I'm planning on using my Rossi "Delta Skating Cobra's",
from the late 80's/early 90's, for skating this season, at least.


JJ,

Disclaimer: I ski for Fischer

Back in the 90s, I mainly owned Fischer's, but also a pair of
Peltonen's, Karhu's, and Kastle's. I was told by the store (back about
1990) that the Kastle's were actually made by Fischer. I don't know if
that's true, but I have never seen another pair of Kastle racing skis
since.

I had a pair of Karhu Blue matrix that I skied into the ground because
they were fast in warm snow conditions. I found through hard
experience not to use them in cold snow. I think Karhu has had a hard
time competing "with the big boys," and I haven't seen anything but
lower end skis from them recently.

Peltonen had some financial trouble a couple years ago and I don't
know if they're being sold much in the US or not, but Finn Sisu would
be the people to contact about that. For a while, I skied for
Peltonen, and they had a few different flexes in their top end skis
(Universal, Wet Snow Base-WSB, and a cold flex). I thought their cold
flex was their most universal and fastest ski, but the "Universal"
flex was the main model sold in the US.

When comparing the Peltonen's to Fischers, I found the Peltonen's
touchy about snow conditions. Certain pairs of Peltonen's would
perform well in certain snow conditions, but poorly in other
conditions. So, my cold flex skis tended to be good in soft and medium
snow, but squirley once the snow got slightly hard. The WSBs would
plow in anything soft, even medium snow. By comparison, the Fischers
don't plow at all (but I'm fairly light) and they don't get nearly as
squirley in firm conditions, so I've been able to get by with fewer
pairs of skis.

I've hung onto two pair of Fischer skis from the 1995/1996 year. One
pair is just excellent, and I'd still race on them no problem. The
other pair is still in perfect condition, and I still hang onto them
hoping they'll be as fast as the other pair, but I'll probably make
them into rock skis.

BTW, it seems like my classic skis keep getting better with every pair
I buy. Maybe I'm improving, but it seems like the skis keep getting
better year by year.


Jay Wenner

Like Wenner and the FrontRunner, my favorite skating skis are Fischer
RCS Skatecuts now. My oldest pair of working skis are both 12
year-olds. One is a pair of Atomic Clasic ARC(?) that are still fast.
I got them out of the close-out bin at Finn Sisu back in '93 I think.
The other pair is a really beat-up pair of top of the line Karhu Skate
skis. They are the black models with the blue trim. I only use them
for rock skiing in really bad conditions. They were rockets at one
time but are complete dogs now. The camber is all gone as is much of
the Petex. I have one exclusively for the right foot and the other for
the left foot. If I didn't, I'd be skiing on wood. I'd liken the glide
characteristics to Rex Yellow on a -40C/F day... I don't even think I
used them last year. I've also got a pair of Peltonen first generation
caps that are my primary rock skating ski now. Plus, I own a pair of
Peltonen Yellow Universal Cosmic skating models. My other classic skis
are Fischer RCS Crowns and Peltonen Infras that are for sale.

As for Wenner's comment about Kastle skis... Yes, they were made by
Fischer. I don't know if they are made now (our Euro friends can tell
us) but they are not imported anymore. Blizzards were made by Fischer
too. I think Wenner still has a pair of those in his rock ski closet.
I had the Kastles at one time and I had numerous other Karhus,
Fishers, Normarks, Peltonens and even some Kneissels. My brother still
uses my old Karhu Kevlar U classic skis that I bought new in 1983 I
think. Those were fast skis.

Jay Tegeder
"On the podium if the right people don't show up!" JT

Let's see... I've got a pair of fischers, a pair of fischers, a pair of
fischers, a pair of fischers and a pair of fischers.
That about does it for me.
(skate, skate, skate, classic, classic that is)

JK

On 28 Sep 2004 14:43:46 -0700, (Jay Tegeder)
wrote:

Kneissels.

I had a friend who had some of these in the 1980s that were super fast
and super scary in hard conditions. The "White Stars" I think they
were called.

JT

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Thanks for the feedback. I was on Peltonen Supra skating skis back in the
late 80's, then got the Rossi's. I think my classic skis were Blizzards,
then a pair of those Kniessl White Stars. Still have a pair of White Stars,
in the "combi" version (takes a wide track to skate them, though). I do
have one set of "modern" skis, a pair of Fischer SCR classics that are
wonderful in soft tracks, picked up on sale from Neptune Mountaineering in
Boulder a few years back.

Fischer skate cut (1 2-year old pair, 1 new pair) and just ordered a
pair of Fischer 610 from Zach Caldwell.