Skinny skis

Does this look like someone on skinny skis? This is Hayride at Prospectors yesterday on the Asnes Holmenkollens which are a mere 52mm underfoot. These are not 'all about the down' by any stretch. His 'regular' backcountry skis are over double that underfoot.

 It's really not possible to describe how it feels to rail a telemark turn in 8" of new snow on these skis...but you really should try it if you don't know what it's like.  (And study these movies, especially "Revenge of the Telemarkers".) There's an element of danger - you're not totally sure you can pull it off, but when (or if) you do, it feels like you just cornered on a roller coaster.  The skis are so unstable and do NOT float that you must actuate your downhill knee to make sure the ski goes the direction you want it to. The turn initiation has a delicate surgical feel to it, cutting into the snow slowly. Once you get the downhill ski on edge, you have already dropped the uphill ski's knee which is what really starts the carve...and then hold on for the ride. Even though you're somewhat slowing down in the turn, you're really accelerating until you come out of the turn and initiate the next one the same way.  

The beauty of these skis is their practicality and utilitarianism. They go everywhere, the user just has to learn to use them.  They're not easy to ski downhill.  Without skins, and just the right wax, we were out for 4 hours going up, down, and all around.  A little rise in the trail? Just jog up and glide down the flatter or downhill other side. There's an element of FLOW to skinny skis, more fluid than the farming of turns with heavier Tele or AT gear (not that there's anything wrong with that, i love that too!).

The best part about the ski was that on the uphill we both were hurting, not feeling ready at all for the Grand Traverse in 3 weeks.  It wasn't that much fun truly. Then we got up high. There was no wind up high which was just weird. It started snowing and then the visibility was nil. I mean ZERO...we couldn't tell if we were going up or down.   As we got over to the Prospector's area, the snow got deeper and softer.  We both were surprised at the amount of 'blow-over' from the other side of the Divide that has happened these last few days.  Traversing is the way to find new lines and that we did.  Unfortunately, the south facing slopes had such a bad crust that the new snow just broke off of it and we both took short spills because of that.  But as we got more north-facing, it just got better and better. It was supposed to be a crappy snow day but turned out to be one of the better powder days we had.  And it's always knee deep on skinny skis.

...and on down...