Jenn is looking for advice on purchasing skate skis:
Hello Skiers!
I’m getting ready for the ski season and plan to buy new skate skis…and looking for advice from fellow skiers.
During the winter I skate ski 2-3x/wk approx. 20-40km/wk. I’ve been skate skiing for about 7 or 8 years but always happily recreational. I’ve only ever bought used skate skis. My current skis-Madshus-have been great performance wise but have had some structural failure-cracks along the sides exposing the foam core, not sure how much longer they will last….hence looking for new skis.
My local ski shop has recommended 3 types of skis for my intermediate skiing:
Madshus Terrasonic
Fisher RCR
Rossignol S2
Each of these increasing in price by about $100. I don’t want to blow the budget but also want to get quality, responsive, durable, efficient skis (and due to previous experience I feel I am shying away from the Madshus).
Has anyone had experience with these skis? Favourites? Any others I should be looking at? How about the Fisher CRS and the Rossi Delta Comp sold at MEC at similar price points?
Thanks all! Any advice is greatly appreciated-I’m excited to get out there and be on the snow again!
Hi there:
So: The brand in my experience has very little to do with your perfect type of skies but here and there I experienced failure even before using them for the first time from all the brands.
When it comes to most suitable skies, I have a favourite for the conditions around here ( Canmore hard packed snow ) and that would be the Rossignol WCS S2 classified as an all around for all types of snow but they have a distinctive kick that comes very handy particularly when climbing.
I often do the Meadowview trail from the far end of, which is harder and I can feel that distinctive help that project my next stride more efficiently and save some accumulation of lactic acid in my thighs, therefore I highly recommend them as long as you don’t use them in soft spring snow, otherwise it is hell and they will sink inexorably.
My Madshus supernano for hard packed snow are just fine and fantastic and used them for 6 years already with no issues, comparable to Rossi WCS S1 for cold conditions, they hold the edge very well and V2 is a lot of fun, running strait without hesitation.
Hopefully this is good information for your choice but I wouldn’t set for a pair below this level of performance and wouldn’t spend the extra cash for top level, it isn’t worth it; I would take them home and pay extra care at the saturation of the base because it will make a lot of difference.
Best of luck.
Paolo
Hi Jenn,
I work up at TrailSports, we currently have both the Fischer RCR and Rossignol S2 along with many others in our inventory. We feel that these skis are substantially higher quality than Madshus’ older foam core skis. If you come up to our shop we can show you how these skis are constructed where they differentiate themselves from what you currently have. We can even give you an opportunity to ski on the skis to ensure that they are a good fit for you before you commit to buying them.
Happy Trails!
Get a pair of ex-World Cup skis from Grinders in Canmore