What’s up with Asnes skis?

[John Dee]

Its a lot of work to research things here. It is helpful if people spoon feed you information. Its so much more nuanced than a car forum or something. I looked into the Gamme and Ingstad a lot. There is a pair of Ingstads on my porch right now, and I'm not home to pick them up. I'll probably get some Gammes, too. None of these backcountry-cross country companies are very forthcoming about the camber and rocker of their skis. Thus you have to read the back and forth here, and ascertain the details.

[Woodserson]

Oh my, you guys sound like you have some sort of syndrome!!!



I’m just curious ! Too bad the Asnes website isn’t more organized or something.

If someone has a picture of the Asnes rocker splay would be interesting. You take a picture of the skis decambered side by side.

Here is the tip splay on my Voile Vectors:
3992E837-2C0C-49AA-86AB-B5A0FA33CEB1.jpeg

Here is Fischer Outback 68, Nordic rocker, seems pretty subtle

386AC400-5062-4E90-A4E3-C2D678B0214D.jpeg

This will just be easier if you just say which ski you want to see and someone can post a picture.

Rocker is a design attribute that does specific things depending on application. Rocker is neither good, nor bad. More of it isn't necessarily better. One side-effect of rocker is that is makes skis slower. Especially XC skis, which require muscle power instead of gravity. This can be counter-acted up to a point with more camber underfoot, but then that creates other problems. Another big issue with rocker is that is tends to ride up onto the snow with crusts, so instead of breaking the crust with the ski tip, the crust is broken by the midsection of the ski. This is annoying and wildly inefficient.

The Ousland has a bunch of rocker specifically to help polar explorers get over gnarly snow blocks and ice heaves that are endemic to polar travel. They are usually towing pulks so speed isn't so much an issue.
The Gamme has subtle rocker to raise the tip a bit and help initiate turns in ungroomed snow terrain and make it a more all-around ski for traveling long distances.
The Ingstad has deep pronounced rocker to plane on deeper snow and turn easier going down hills, but it is slower on consolidated snow because of it.
The Otto has rocker in the shovel and tail with a more pronounced sidecut than any of the above skis as it is tuned to hilly up-down skiing. Without the flat tails, it tracks funny on consolidated snow.
The Nansen has zero rocker, but a softer camber. The tip crunches through snow-crust with authority, and the it has a nice long glide without resorting to a stiffer underfoot section. Great for lighter skiers or people looking to turn a bit.


We have measured rocker to the mm and in terms of % of overall length for pretty much all the skis, with pictures to boot. Compressed, and uncompressed. It's all here. But we can take new pictures for you and really go down the rabbithole!

[Woodserson]

Its a lot of work to research things here. It is helpful if people spoon feed you information. Its so much more nuanced than a car forum or something.

While we all enjoy writing and talking and debating the finer points of the Cult Ski Company, this can get very repetitive. The answers are almost always here somewhere. Doing a google search and spending some time digging through the results and reading the discussions can be very fruitful, and then pertinent questions can be asked while the basics are already understood.

I am a member of other forums for other topics where many basic questions just get ignored completely or people get lectures. We have a friendly group here! (Which is good)

[DG99]

The Ousland has a bunch of rocker specifically to help polar explorers get over gnarly snow blocks and ice heaves that are endemic to polar travel. They are usually towing pulks so speed isn't so much an issue.
The Gamme has subtle rocker to raise the tip a bit and help initiate turns in ungroomed snow terrain and make it a more all-around ski for traveling long distances.
The Ingstad has deep pronounced rocker to plane on deeper snow and turn easier going down hills, but it is slower on consolidated snow because of it.
The Otto has rocker in the shovel and tail with a more pronounced sidecut than any of the above skis as it is tuned to hilly up-down skiing. Without the flat tails, it tracks funny on consolidated snow.
The Nansen has zero rocker, but a softer camber. The tip crunches through snow-crust with authority, and the it has a nice long glide without resorting to a stiffer underfoot section. Great for lighter skiers or people looking to turn a bit.

Sounds like each ski has a little bit complicated story. Not so easy to get an all around overview of the line up! Too bad
(I’m not tempted to buy multiple skinny skis myself though.)

[Woodserson]

Sounds like each ski has a little bit complicated story. Not so easy to get an all around overview of the line up! Too bad
(I’m not tempted to buy multiple skinny skis myself though.)

Have you seen this page? https://www.en.asnes.com/how-to-choose-mountain-ski/

[John Dee]

Its a lot of work to research things here. It is helpful if people spoon feed you information. Its so much more nuanced than a car forum or something.

While we all enjoy writing and talking and debating the finer points of the Cult Ski Company, this can get very repetitive. The answers are almost always here somewhere.

If the questions can be googled than you have a good point. Some of them here probably could have been. I do still think that finding answers here requires a type of analysis based on what each persons experience and expectations are.

[lowangle al]

Has anyone mentioned getting a Voile Vector or better yet the Hyper Vector while you're trying to decide? That way you won't rush into possibly buying the wrong Asnes model.

[JohnSKepler]

They are like skiing on the wings of an angel.

[jyw5]

Hey guys!

I'm back! its been almost a year. alot has happened. I retired and moved to western ND as planned. My wife is working the Bakken Oil field.

We got record snowfall and it just keeps snowing! (up to 46inches in a wk). just my good luck. I put less than 10 days this yr on skis due to injury (I have recovered) and being busy....so I am getting reacquainted. I have practiced 3 days in a row this wk on the adjacent golf course with my S112 to get a feel for the snow. Going to go out tomorrow on the course again and try out the Skog 185cm... would like to ski at the National Park but the roads have been bad...and its been -20F and getting colder.


To the original poster:

choosing asnes skis depends on your purpose/objective, the snow conditions, and the type of boots/bindings you want to use. As others have said, there is so much info on this forum. I have learned alot over the years and my skiing has greatly improved because of the discussions here.

Ask yourself what you want to **do**. then it becomes easier to match it with a pair of skis.

GAS is real... run while you still can!


Joe

[Stephen]

Hey guys!

I'm back!
Joe

Joe! (said in a chorus, as in “Norm!”

Nice to hear from you.