Great summary, thanks Zach! To add some n=1 data points here, I have preferred Salomon skate skis for the past two decades. They just feel right. However, I also have Madshus Redline 3.0 F3s and have really enjoyed them, despite their opposite weight-balance characteristics, as you describe here. They do feel slightly less stable in the glide phase but it doesn't bother me. Fischers feel fine to me, just kind of mushy and boring. Rossis feel absolutely terrible to me (at least the pairs I demoed last year). Too springy and grabby, a completely different experience. For me Rossi seems like the clear outlier in terms of design/handling characteristics (not in a bad way, just not for me).
I would be interested to know more about the materials and construction used in the edges of xc skis. It seems to me that if the material and construction of the edge is harder and stronger than the surface you are skiing on, that might help it hold an edge. If the edge is getting beat up by the surface, that doesn't bode as well for holding an edge. Especially in a longer race, where by the end of the race, the edges might not be in the same condition they were in at the beginning. I had some skate skis that I skied in very icy conditions and the edges got rounded, and another pair where the edges got cracked. Another pair held the edge better on ice and suffered less damage. I wonder what the differences are in materials and strength-related construction, in ski edges.
Gee, I would have guessed that skis with high local edge pressure would have more edge stability than long low pressure, and skis with long low edge pressure would do better, in soft conditions, especially speed wise. Wouldn’t high localized edge pressure make the ski plow and slow down in soft conditions,and give it a better chance to get a bite on the surface of hard plate conditions?
Hi Randy - I should have been more clear. Trying to cram everything into 15 minutes makes for a lot of abbreviated information. The place where longer edge pressure can be good is on really hard icy snow where you don't make an impression with the edge. As soon as the snow is a bit plastic - subject to deformation - then the higher local edge pressure is better. Both cases would be considered "hard snow" though. In general you're correct that longer pressure zones do better on soft snow for spreading the load and increasing floatation / limiting loss in viscous flow in the snowpack.
Great summary, thanks Zach! To add some n=1 data points here, I have preferred Salomon skate skis for the past two decades. They just feel right. However, I also have Madshus Redline 3.0 F3s and have really enjoyed them, despite their opposite weight-balance characteristics, as you describe here. They do feel slightly less stable in the glide phase but it doesn't bother me. Fischers feel fine to me, just kind of mushy and boring. Rossis feel absolutely terrible to me (at least the pairs I demoed last year). Too springy and grabby, a completely different experience. For me Rossi seems like the clear outlier in terms of design/handling characteristics (not in a bad way, just not for me).
I would be interested to know more about the materials and construction used in the edges of xc skis. It seems to me that if the material and construction of the edge is harder and stronger than the surface you are skiing on, that might help it hold an edge. If the edge is getting beat up by the surface, that doesn't bode as well for holding an edge. Especially in a longer race, where by the end of the race, the edges might not be in the same condition they were in at the beginning. I had some skate skis that I skied in very icy conditions and the edges got rounded, and another pair where the edges got cracked. Another pair held the edge better on ice and suffered less damage. I wonder what the differences are in materials and strength-related construction, in ski edges.
Gee, I would have guessed that skis with high local edge pressure would have more edge stability than long low pressure, and skis with long low edge pressure would do better, in soft conditions, especially speed wise. Wouldn’t high localized edge pressure make the ski plow and slow down in soft conditions,and give it a better chance to get a bite on the surface of hard plate conditions?
Hi Randy - I should have been more clear. Trying to cram everything into 15 minutes makes for a lot of abbreviated information.
The place where longer edge pressure can be good is on really hard icy snow where you don't make an impression with the edge. As soon as the snow is a bit plastic - subject to deformation - then the higher local edge pressure is better. Both cases would be considered "hard snow" though.
In general you're correct that longer pressure zones do better on soft snow for spreading the load and increasing floatation / limiting loss in viscous flow in the snowpack.
@@caldwellsportskiAh, okay, got it. Thanks.
Ski Trab's Skate ski is like an ice skate. It's so boring but......I'm just washed up old man.
Those, gen 1 Redlines, tho...😁😁😁