r/CrossCountrySkiing

Skiing x-c here since 1971-72 winter. Always on old waxed skis. Purely from necessity this past season, I mostly used somebody's old pair of fishscales. Not at all as bad as imagined!

So very roughly guessing, 20% of the maybe 40-50 days that I skied on the fishscales, waxables would have been significantly better. [On 6.5% (??IDK) of days, the fishscales were "better."]

If I switched to "skin skis," would these guesstimates be unchanged?

I am having a hard time finding appropriate skate skis that will work with my height and weight, and am curious if anyone has any suggestions, or if I am SOL.

I am 5'4", and weigh ~165 lbs (with some fluctuations ,of course). I am a decent skier, and am looking for new, higher-end skate skis. I currently ski on a Salomon RS7 (179cm) and am looking for an upgrade. The skis are heavy, not very responsive, and truly I'm just ready for an upgrade to a better ski.

When I look online and in stores, most skis for my weight are only really available in the 187-192cm range, which is just going to be too long for me. It seems that all skis in the 177-182cm range are often manufactured for weights well below mine. I am having a really hard time finding shorter skis with the right flex for my weight.

I'm not particularly interested in losing weight simply to fit into skis, and am curious if anyone else has run into the issue and has any insight.

Thanks in advance!

Good morning everyone,

Me and my wife realised that we let ourselves go over the winter, we have a lot of outdoor activities we enjoy doing in the summer but none for the winter to keep us active. We live about an hour from Ottawa and have been looking into possibly doing cross country skiing next winter.

I did have a few questions I was hoping this community:

1. Where is a good place within a few hours of Ottawa to try the sport (rent equipment for the day, easy trail for people who are not in the best shape physically)?

2. I am a bigger guy (caused by a medical condition that is now under control and should gradually continue going towards a healthy weight) and I am wondering if it is hard to find gear for bigger guys (I wear size 15 shoes too).

3. How much should we budget for starting if we end up liking it? We don’t need the best equipment but something decent for a couple who might do it once per week or so in the winter.

4. Transporting skis: we have a 4 door sedan, will skis fit in the car?

Thanks in advance!

I'm wondering what online shops everyone uses for buying their skate skis?

I'm in the market for a new pair of Fischers, I am leaning towards the Fischer Speedmax Helium Skate Plus.