Day 18 - Gear trivia

The day turned out to be varied again, as usual. We didn't have easy terrain for more than an hour or two; the rest was the same old same old (however, not the worst quality we’ve had here). This is how it will be for the next few weeks; it doesn't help to complain, just ski.

A few inquiries have come about our ski equipment. There is not a lot of particularly sinking snow here, and the terrain is generally hard and icy. Besides that, there is really a lot of skiing to be done. That's why a steel-enforced ski, but one that is good for skiing, is suitable here. We chose the Åsnes ski made for these undertakings, which is also named after the famous Norwegian adventurer Børge Ousland. The ski measures 210 cm and has the middle part higher than the ends of the ski.

Ski vax does nothing here. We start skiing with full-length climbing skins, and soon we switch to short skins that only cover the grip area. These skis have integrated attachments for the skin, which was one of the reasons we chose this particular ski.

The binding is NNNBC, i.e. the trek version of the NNN standard. The binding is nice to ski, but structurally this is far too weak for these activities. A more durable binding will be available in the future that is better suited for these treks.

We have an Amundsen from Åsnes as a pole: the pole is really strong, and it feels like you could twist a stump up from the backyard with it. The grip area is long in the Norwegian style, and you can easily change the strap length between the traditional ski grip and the naive "I just push my hand through the strap” grip. This also serves as an easy length measurement. Although we in Finland have all been taught the "correct" stick grip as children, it must be said that the naive Norwegian grip is surprisingly good at these activities. The pressure from the strap comes to a different place, and the thumb doesn't freeze.

The shoe is Alfa's modern Polar APS. The shoe is really light, warm and comfortable, but it suffers from that weakness of the NNN binding: the toe iron is so tiny and narrow that it is clearly the weakest point of the shoe.