XC Ski Bindings (a primer for non-snow-country people)

This is for my Australian friends who don't know a  lot about Cross Country (XC) Skis and bindings. So if you're from Canada ... move on ... nothing to see here

Basically the style of XC I do is "classic" which means you propel yourself forward by a combination of "kick" + "stepping into the glide" + "poles"

Firstly, lets look at a video I did some years back on (by todays standards) a crummy camera. Take note of how much the heel lifts and how much the boot needs to move as if on a hinge.

Those are my "off track" skis (they're actually NATO military stuff so they're tough and can take abuse). When I post pictures of my local Ski Track like this:

its been groomed by a machine (snow mobile) towing something flat and heavy to pack down the surface a little (making sking easier) and carve in that pair of grooves, which resembles what you'd experience if you were "off track skiing" in a group (following someone as you do ... because its easier).

The Skis

So, lets look at the difference between "track skis" and "off track skis" ... firstly "track skis" are shorter

slimmer

and of course lighter. My track ski weighs 880g while my off track ski weighs 1,780g (yes, nearly 2Kg on each foot, not counting the boot {or any ice you happen to get friendly with}).

This makes skiing the same distance harder work with off track skis (on a track) than track skis (on a track) ... if you have to lift you skis a lot (which you may do on the track when skating a bit) it wears you out a lot ... but the extra with and length means it will carry you over snow which you'd sink into with the track skis, making it easier going in the rough. The off track skis I use also have steel inlays around the edges to make it possible to get some grip on hard packed snow and ice (think spring)...

One needs to be a little careful handling (like storing and transporting) these because that edge is sharp ...

The Boots

On my bindings above (which are New Nordic Norm {a subject unto itself, introduced here}) and there are track and "Back Country" styles ... the BC ones are heavier duty, which becomes clearer when you look at the boots:

(... and do ya like my lounge pants?)

and have wider binding mounts and thicker binding Pins (which form the hinge, allowing stepping)

You can see from this shot that the boots are only secured to the binding at the front

and that the binding Pin is much thicker as well as wider ... so one boot will not go onto the other binding.

The boot presses simply onto the binding with a click (well as long as the fucking thing isn't frozen solid with ice, but see that other post) ...

... where the Pin is captured by the front of the binding and held captive in that hole (where the red circle is) by the arrow slider closing over the top of the "cylinder".

Thus the boot is held onto the Ski firmly allowing you to "ski" it forwards, keep good footing (that won't tip on you causing a twisted ankle...) and lift the ski to do stuff like change direction, step over something (like dog shit on the lake ... thanks arseholes) or move around stuff in your way (as happens in the forest when you ski up {yes up !!} a hill)

note the obstacles and uneven terrain ... hard work? Yep ... sure is, but much harder sinkin in to your groin and trying to walk it up or snow shoe up with your shoe getting snow falling in on top of it and having to lift your foot up further with every step...

When its too steep, you can climb by traversing (see the horizontal "lines" up the slope in the below picture) allowing you to keep your feet at a comfortable angle to your legs (unlike snow shoeing)  and if you have a decent clear run you can ski down which is a shitload of fun (unlike snow shoeing) but you can't steer without stepping.

But to step you need to "have sure footing", transfer your weight, lift the other ski (as if you were skating), move it "outwards", and step into that now moving the other ski (to follow the same path). Yes I like that bank and yes I train there a bit.

... expect to fall over a bit (entertaining those you're with) till you work it out.

So, now you know :-)

Another Trip Round the Sun (and a return to a special place)

Well I find myself at the date of our Anniversary and wondered what to do this year.

Back in 2006 Anita took me to a part of Koivusuo which was an excellent trip, and was about my first trip skiing. I'd had about 12 days ski experience at  that time and so I was not required to pull a sled or carry much ... just cope and keep up. Suffice to say it was one of the most memorable ski trips I've had. Click the image below to take you to an old post on an old website for more on that story...

That particular day was substantially colder than this day (about a week after that date on the calendar).

The road in wasn't cleared all the way, so I had to ski the last few Km along the road leaving the car at a maintenance administration point off the side of the road (nobody was there)



So I put on my skis and headed down the road. Some snow mobile rider had been down there (probably from in that shed there and probably to check firewood at Hanhikoski) and so that made the trip a lot easier to ski (than the deep soft snow).

Today was just under freezing, about -3°C or something like that. There was little breeze and I quickly got down to just my fleece and shirt.

Ahead of me was this view:

and up at the top of the road there is pretty much were we parked the car on my first trip. Its about 4km to here from where I left my car this time.

The track entrance was far more "over grown" since last time but the heavy snow had bowed down trees and left a most amazing scene for me.

A quick (and shakey) look around

This picture is at that lump of snow bowing down a small pine that ended the above video ... more detail in this picture, but the video above provides context not had in a picture.

That snowmobile rider was really keen as this was quite tight going but I'm glad he "cut a trail" for me. So at the place where the forest got thicker (and the trail more or less got tougher) I decided to call it quits and head back. This is looking back at where I'd come (and yes those are only my ski marks).

Besides I knew that the weather was going to get "bad" meaning warm ... and snow sticks to skis like shit to a blanket in those conditions ... yes I know cos last weekend I had to walk home carrying my fucking skis.

Anyway the ski (well, pick and hunt a path) through that was beautiful and breath taking ...

On the way back I had my lunch beside this hut ... just staggeringly deep snow ... my skis are 2.1 meters long and I was still sinking about a foot deep with every step,

This "storage" of lumber had so much snow on the cover roof that if I got close enough to see down the crack to the bottom I couldn't capture the top but far enough back and it just looked like a mushroom ...

I'd previously checked the weather and knew that it was due to get rain (god help me, rain on soft snow in -1°C, what a shitfight) So it was about time to head back. Indeed knowing this is why I didn't press on the last 1.4Km from where I gave up to get to the destination.

So as I left my lunch spot it indeed (as predicted) started drizzeling on me ... you know, that annoying tiny stuff that just wets you after an hour or so in it. I wasn't getting "wet" without my Goretex coat on so I just stayed with the fleece (which is a little water repellent) but my pack got a nice layer of ice on it.

nice ...

So I packed my skis onto the roof, got in the car and came home to have a glass of wine and some cheese.

This is now my 5th Anniversary without Anita ... in a couple of years it will be longer without her than the time I had with her.

I find that its getting easier to actually deal with living, its either that I'm getting stronger at carrying it or the clarity of memory is fading. I can't be sure which. I would say that its now at the point where I can do most things and just have a background sadness at times.

Today I laughed at many lovely things and the simple joy of being out in such a beautiful place. Peaceful and alone. I skied well enough that I'm sure she'd be proud of me.

I hope you enjoyed the trip too.

A day on the lake

when one is over 50 birthdays aren't really about the sort of celebration that involves cake and booze ... well not to me ... its more about the celebration of the fact that you're alive and you can go out and do stuff.

In Finland there is a word "Retki" ... it means an outing with a lunch ... so I took a sandwich and a thermos out and went for a short but pleasant ski to a place that I like.

Here's some pictures for you (saves me writing an essay)

Just across the river at the old docks

looking into the sun across a (small) island

which is a beautiful place despite its small size

the island serves as a wind break ... and snow forms in small banks behind it.

Ok ... well ... I'm about done now ... so thanks for coming

:-)

different forms of water

I was out skiing around the lake today and at one of the islands I found this beautiful example of the snow and ice.

There was a rocky island out in the lake covered in a bank of snow. Yet between the gaps in the rocks there was still something of the unfrozen (thus warmer) waters beneath the rocks. As the water gasses out from between the rocks, these ice crystals were growing.

getting in a little closer you can see the wonderful crystalline structure.

Of course the lake is frozen into a big sheet of ice (supporting my weight) and covered in snow (making skiing easier). But despite the well below freezing conditions there is still water as a gaseous molecule in the air coming out from the rocks making these wonderful crystals.

All these different forms of water and so much beauty in all of them

bad skiing conditions = don't use Rottefella BC Auto bindings

Finland is a great place for cross country skiing, but sometimes the weather conditions are not what they seem to be and disguise conditions which you may think of as being ideal, but are really rotten. This weekend was a prime example.

We were intending to have an easy weekend and ski out to a cabin in the national park about 60Km from our place (at Repovesi).

We've had excellent snow falls and temperatures have remained below zero for almost all of the winter. With the temperature at around -5°C it was almost perfect to go out, even if it was a little overcast with a light dusting of snow falling.

We set off from the car and despite it being 30cm (at least) thick snow cover (making going less than easy) we hit our first patch of water under the snow, which accumulates above the ice, but hidden below the snow. This is really shitty stuff to hit when its below zero because it freezes to your skiis fast, and turns them into in bloody great heavy clumps on the bottom of your feet.



This was of course annoying.

We were close to a small island, which being higher ground would be a good place to clean off the ice and get going free from water. We re-evaluated our route and made it across the remaining part of the lake to the shore where we intended to head to a road to get us to the next lake we had to cross.

In case you didn't know it, Finland has lots of lakes.

Things went again nasty as we were crossing a clear cut section of forest where Anita broke a pole and it took us about 20 minutes to go about 200 meters. With deep snow and bad holes to fall a leg into its not wise to take your skis off and attempt to walk. You may break a leg and it will probably take as long anyway. Better to simply swear a bit and keep going.

I had a spare pole with us, so we kept going to the next part.

We only made it to the red arrow before we hit water again, and we had to turn back to the shore to de-ice the skis again.

This time my bindings froze open as I was getting my boot out. To me this high lights the weakness of the Rottefella BC Auto bindings, they chock up with ice real bad.


The problem is from the design which is intended to make it easy to release you ski without bending over (probably cos your either too lazy, too old to bend over or (in my case) ), you press in the middle of the depression (probably with your ski pole) to release the binding. That the plate needs to go down to allow the release; so two different problems can arise.

1. Ice can form in the space under that button, preventing you getting your boot out of the binding
2. Ice can form in the space where the red arrow points above preventing the biding from closing again.

Worse, you can get ice jammed all around the slot too, essentially welding your boot to the binding ... this happened to me later.


The boot toe pin fits into the slot where the left hand arrow is pointing.

This is a major issue for using these bindings in back country where you may encounter water under the snow. I would recommend to anyone doing back country skiing to never uses these bindings when going to places where you may get water and therefore ice formation.

Even without this issue, walking around can fill up your boots and clog this slot, so make sure you take a metal tool to clear the pin clamp and clear the ice from your boots.

This is not the first time I've had trouble with these bindings, the first time was in spring 2008 when trying to get to a place. I needed to cross some tricky rocky areas which needed a lot of backing and forwarding. Snow got trodden under my boot and formed a layer of ice between the arch of my foot and the binding. No problem, just a little uncomfortable. Until you go to take the ski off. As you can see in this picture of my gear back when I wrote this review. There is a black arrow on a silver plastic tab:

well this plastic tab slides back into and under the black part of the binding when you press down on the front to release it. When it is jammed up with hard packed snow it can not slide back and you can not open the binding. This is really annoying, and can in fact be life threatening if you need to remove your ski's quickly and can't (such as falling through the ice).

I contacted Rottefella about this back then (lovely people by the way, and thanks for the new rubbers too) and they reported that they knew of this issue but that it wasn't often a problem. Perhaps this is true in Canada or Norway, but in Finland its all too common in back country.

We gave up as we were only half away and still had at least 2 more lakes to cross before getting to the hut. If this was any indication it was going to be bad. On the way home (crossing the first lake which caused us problems) my boots froze up solid on the binding and I could not get the boot off the ski when we got to the car.



These really old style bindings and gum boots (with a special toe) are ugly but functional no matter what the conditions.

These are popular with hunters and outdoor workers who need to ski because: they work no matter what.

They can keep working with ice on them, and better still the boots allow you to use changeable felt liners so you keep your feet dry when you are out for a few days.

I use these felt liners in my Asolo boots pictured above, but my wife's NN 75mm toe Rossignol boots do not. Her boots are fine for day use, but if you got them wet inside (do your feet sweat??) it'll be all ugly the next morning putting on cold frozen boots. Also unlike my bindings, her 75mm toe bindings were fine with ice chocking them.

So these Rottefella BC Auto bindings are really only for work in areas where you'll be close to a warm area and not facing any difficulties. Hardly Back Country if you ask me.

I will be trying out the BC Magnum next, as these are similar to their other Manual range which (having looked at them) seem to not suffer this problem.

I'll letcha know

muh local ski track

I was chatting on the phone today with someone back home about the local ski conditions, so I promised to put together something to describe a little of this.

This is more or less the start of the track ...



which is in an urban area ... as you can see here ...



The snow here is quite different to Australian snow (as I understand it, haven't seen much snow back in Oz)



Anyway, lets head out onto the track and you can have a look around...




the heavy breathing is of course because I just skiied UP that where the ladies are coming along ...

The view from the top of one of the down hills ...


but as I needed my hands for that one I had to stop there ... the next ones are easier so we'll get some better footage ...



after this hill, its off back to the the track entry. Also, you can see the cuts in the track where other people are doing "skating" style skiing (like you see mainly in the biathlons and stuff ... the grooves are for "classic" ... but as I wanted to balance while I was skiing and shooting I picked skating (and its easier down hill than up).



I've skipped the boring bits, the track is about 4km long and has quite a few long slow uphills which I've missed out from this.

hope it was fun

back country ski bindings

Since I've been living in Finland (not many down hills here folks) I've been getting into cross country skiing and learning heaps about the different bindings for off track cross country work. After a little rooting around with trying the field I've found what works well for me.


No surprises its the New Nordic Norm BC binding and boot system! (pictured below)


If your familiar with the older types of off track cross country bindings like the trusty (rusty?) 75mm Nordic Norm 3 pin system you will notice some differences straight up, like the lack of the 75mm wide tag at the front of the shoe.

This results in a binding which (like the original intention of the the three pin system) does not crimp the shoe (with its binding strap around the heel) and gives a solid mount to the ski which prevents squirming around while allowing easy pivot.

You can see how easily it kicks this in the small video below.



If you don't happen to be so familiar with Cross Country Skiing this will also show you the basic style of getting along the flats.

You can see in this closer crop how my boot lacks the familiar wedge at the front, and seems to be just sitting on top of the ski. This not only makes walking easier (when not on your skis) but they pivot easier on the binding too.

With the behind the heel Telemark style binding you need to have the cable tight to ensure that your toe does not move around in the wedge and this means some resistance and boot sole deformation.

With this system I can get better kick and surprisingly good boot to ski contact. I can even side step up steep icy hills (my Åsnes ski's have metal edges) without having my ski flex away from my boot. I've never felt my feet more planted on my skis.

In complete contrast to this the most popular bindings among off track snow workers here in Finland is this system. Its a variant on the 75mm Nordic Norm binding that is designed to work with modified gum boots.

Now (so the old farts here tell me) since ski conditions in Finland are quite flat the need for better (tighter) connection to the boot is not really needed. (well perhaps they just pick boring lines and hope for the best on the downhills?)

Either way they then have good boots for walking around in the deep (sometimes wet) snow and for extended trips they have these neat felt liners which keep your feet warmer. They're removable too so you can swap them for a dry set and dry the others out after a days skiing / working / hunting. Its a practical solution and seems popular here (I wonder how well it would work in an envrionment like the snowy mountains in Australia).

For those unfamiliar with the 75mm NN style, the boots have a wedge on the toe to slide into a wedge shaped binding. In the image below there is the NN boot on the left and my regular hiking boot on the right.


Anyway, back to the BC bindings, the author of this article about the 75mm style NN boots admits to not knowing much himself but quotes Steve Barnett (author of "Cross-Country Downhill" and "The Best Ski Touring in America") as praising the system, saying:

Barnett reports that the boots are powerful enough to drive larger skis, saying "I'm currently using them with skis as big as the Atomic TM26 (97-62-88). That is a very capable ski, and it works well with the SNS BC system. It is easier to ski a ski like that than a smaller, less turn oriented one with the system boots and bindings - not harder. This is currently my favorite combo for mountain tours."

perfectly consistent with my own experience