Ski Review: Altai Kom 162cm

Real reviews by real skiers. What a concept! Add your own today. Reviews only please, questions can be posted as replies but new threads looking for opinions should be posted to the main Telemark Talk Forum.
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fisheater
Posts: 2509
Joined: Fri Feb 19, 2016 8:06 pm
Location: Oakland County, MI
Ski style: All my own, and age doesn't help
Favorite Skis: Gamme 54, Falketind 62, I hope to add a third soon
Favorite boots: Alpina Alaska, Alico Ski March
Occupation: Construction Manager

Re: Ski Review: Altai Kom 162cm

Post by fisheater » Mon Feb 19, 2018 7:45 pm

Gareth, I think you will be very pleased with the Storetind. Now that is based on assumptions I am making based on the FT 62. I would wax a little on the cold side in the pocket (yes, it is single cambered, correct). I know the next time out on the FT 62 I will wax a little cold. A tin of warmer and a cork fit in my pocket. I look forward to another good review.

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Woodserson
Posts: 2967
Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2015 10:25 am
Location: New Hampshire
Ski style: Bumps, trees, steeps and long woodsy XC tours
Occupation: Confused Turn Farmer

Re: Ski Review: Altai Kom 162cm

Post by Woodserson » Tue Mar 06, 2018 8:45 pm

Just spent a day roaring around frontside on my KOM's in delicious spring corn and riding the lift. Sure, they chattered a bit at speed over pushed-up piles of sweet spring corn and jump around a bit more but interestingly they still give confidence because of their short length, the lever arm is shorter so they don't go pulling legs apart. I also paralleled them today which is something I almost have never done and they were very well behaved doing this too. Damn! Everytime I go for them, I don't come away disappointed. It's a weird thing. I forgot my regular skis and had these in the trunk and the first run I was a little bummed out- especially since I was skiing with my ski bud on his Vectors (smooth base). But he slowed up just a bit and I sped the KOMs up, and we had a great day!

Telemark patrol woman (who I happen to know) said I made it look so good! YEAH, KUDOS!



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lilcliffy
Posts: 4112
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2015 6:20 pm
Location: Stanley, New Brunswick, Canada
Ski style: backcountry Nordic ski touring
Favorite Skis: Asnes Ingstad, Combat Nato, Amundsen, Rabb 68; Altai Kom
Favorite boots: Alpina Alaska BC; Lundhags Expedition; Alfa Skaget XP; Scarpa T4
Occupation: Forestry Professional
Instructor at Maritime College of Forest Technology
Husband, father, farmer and logger

Re: Ski Review: Altai Kom 162cm

Post by lilcliffy » Thu Apr 02, 2020 8:23 am

So I have saved my Kom from the yard sale-

#1 is that I grip-waxed the entire base this year- this transformed this ski for me and meant that it gripped and glided superbly in cold soft snow (which I get a lot of) and meant that I could charge up and down my local glades and ravines without having to use skins.

The Kom is a superb BC touring for turns ski- it floats, it breaks trail superbly-

It turns beautifully- it is stable and supportive, yet it turns on the dime and particularly loves to make smeary floaty turns on both soft snow and spring corn.

It is perfect for skiing tight lines in the Northwoods.

The other thing I have discovered is that I like it better than the Hok as a bushwacking ski...
It turns better, it tracks better, and it glides better...(and with grip wax, it climbs just as effectively as the Hok).
For bushwacking in gentle to moderate terrain- lately I have been using my Kom with my light, soft Lofoten boot (instead of my Hok) (I do a lot of skiing like this with my 8-year old autistic son- he on his Balla Hok- who loves to explore in the woods.) On gentle to moderate terrain, I love the Kom with the softer BC-XC boot (much more than my T4 in this context). The one thing I prefer about the Hok- in this context- is that it is lighter- especially due to the much heavier binding that I have on the Kom.

I have an extra set of 3-pin cable bindings sitting on my shelf...I might just swap it for the 3-pin hardwire on this ski...

As a dedicated ski the Kom can certainly cover what the Hok offers and MUCH more.

We have two pairs of Hoks- one with the universal binding. I do prefer the universal binding as a utilitarian bushwacking ski- I use it both on the farm and in my forestry work. It is a huge advantage to be able to wear work/field/hunting/chainsaw boots and then clip into a ski to travel on the job.

Anyway- love the Kom!!!
Cross-country AND down-hill skiing in the backcountry.
Unashamed to be a "cross-country type" and love skiing down-hill.



Whiteout
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2020 1:58 pm

Re: Ski Review: Altai Kom 162cm

Post by Whiteout » Sun Dec 27, 2020 5:18 pm

lilcliffy wrote:
Thu Apr 02, 2020 8:23 am

[snip]
As a dedicated ski the Kom can certainly cover what the Hok offers and MUCH more.

We have two pairs of Hoks- one with the universal binding. I do prefer the universal binding as a utilitarian bushwacking ski- I use it both on the farm and in my forestry work. It is a huge advantage to be able to wear work/field/hunting/chainsaw boots and then clip into a ski to travel on the job.

Anyway- love the Kom!!!
Dipping in here as nearest I can find to info on Universal Bindings. I have some Hoks I am going to give to friends to use as a guest-in-the-meadow-with-soft-boots ski. Slidey snowshoes. (The skis have a fatal flaw for me--re-frozen rain crust). But I need to get Universal Bindings. Ain't cheap. And I now see an upgrade from flex plate to pivot plate. Should I strive to find some older flex-plate ones for greater.....universality...of boot size? TIA



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