Skin Width for Combat Natos

[Genoah77]

I took the plunge this year and got the Natos. They're great!

In other news, I thought I bought 58 mm mohair X-Skins from La Cordee, according to the photo on their site (which had the blue plastic tab), but it turns out they are the full length skin! (Oops). I already have a 45 mm nylon full-length skin, so having two seems overkill. I am considering returning the skins, or I may give one pair to my dad for his skis.

I now see the X-Skins up on their site, so I made sure this time and ordered the correct ones.

From what I've read, nylon provides superior grip at the cost of glide. The consensus seems to be that mohair skins are more enjoyable overall, especially if they have less width.

1. Will I enjoy having a full width (58 mm), full length mohair skin for my Natos?
2. Should I exchange them for 45 mm full length?
3. Or is it simply redundant with the X-Skins?

I can't imagine I will be doing too much steep skiing, but I live next to the Rockies, and I just watched the Telemark Movie, so you never know...

[fgd135]

You will definitely have a better glide with mohair X-skins vs. any full length skins, mohair or nylon. Only reason for full length skins might be for climbing multi-km continuous uphill where grip is more important than glide.

[bgregoire]

I took the plunge this year and got the Natos. They're great!

In other news, I thought I bought 58 mm mohair X-Skins from La Cordee, according to the photo on their site (which had the blue plastic tab), but it turns out they are the full length skin! (Oops). I already have a 45 mm nylon full-length skin, so having two seems overkill. I am considering returning the skins, or I may give one pair to my dad for his skis.

I now see the X-Skins up on their site, so I made sure this time and ordered the correct ones.

From what I've read, nylon provides superior grip at the cost of glide. The consensus seems to be that mohair skins are more enjoyable overall, especially if they have less width.

1. Will I enjoy having a full width (58 mm), full length mohair skin for my Natos?
2. Should I exchange them for 45 mm full length?
3. Or is it simply redundant with the X-Skins?

I can't imagine I will be doing too much steep skiing, but I live next to the Rockies, and I just watched the Telemark Movie, so you never know...

58 is a fine width for those skins. Here is a thought, do you own other pairs of BC skis? are they wider or narrower? If they are narrower, you migh consider excanging for the 45s adn make the full skin more versatile.

Do you need full length? Well its up to you man, how steep you gonna climb. The full length will get you into much steep territory for sure. but only you can decide.

[Genoah77]

Thanks for the advice. Having a versatile skin sounds like a good idea, but I've concluded that I will enjoy having the grip of the wide, full skin out here in the Rockies.

Another question about the Asnes skins:

I have noticed that the new plastic X-Skins seem prone to breaking, so I'd prefer a metal Skin-Lock. And if I ever needed to replace the skins, it would be nice to have a metal rather than plastic clip to attach a new skin (which I hear is possible to do).

Asnes apparently makes a Skin-Lock specifically for the Natos, but from their website I cannot distinguish between the NATO nylon skin and the Short Skin Extreme...anyone know what distinguishing features the NATO skin has?

[Genoah77]

Perhaps the difference is the addition of a plastic pin to attach the skin just behind the heelplate?

[bgregoire]

Dude, get this:

https://telemarktalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3265

[Genoah77]

Whoa that seems pretty sweet. Merci pour ce conseil.

[lilcliffy]

I almost exclusively use the 45mm mohair skin on the Combat Nato.

I do have the 58mm mohair, but find it is more grip than I need and only use it on my Storetind (68mm)

I have only used the 45mm nylon skin on the Combat Nato when pulling a heavy pulk.
I also have the "Combat" version with the plug at the tail- I haven't used it much as it is more grip than I generally need.
Other than the Combat skin- all of my kicker skins have been trimmed to my heel.

I do prefer the performance of the plastic on the X-Skin, but prefer the durability and replaceability of the metal Skin-lock.

[Genoah77]

Thanks, lilcliffy. I was able to find a 45 mm mohair skinlock with metal, so I think I will go with that. Maybe a 30 mm x-skin one day, if any become available.