I have been skiing mostly groomers this year. The few times that I have made it to the backcountry/frontcountry/sidecountry/offP I noticed that twin-tips and rockered skis are getting to be a common sight.

On a BCMC night at MEC I picked up a pair of Hagan Daemons, length 170. This years version of the Hagan Deamon has the same  traditional camber and dimensions as last years version, but the shovel has been redesigned to give more overall girth and sports a 35cm rocker. The turning radius is down from 20.5m to 16m. They ski suprisingly well on and offP. I was not quite sure what to expect from these skiis and I am suprised at how well they ski. I did a BCMC trip to Hollyburn a few weeks ago. The lower part of the trail through the trees was hard, crusty frozen tree bombs. Skiing down, I was able to get a good edge on this stuff and stay in control. Definately diffucult skiing and I was happy with how the skis worked for me. Yesterday did a BCMC trip to Watersprite Lake, about 8km in. Most of the distance was skiing over gentle terrain, the last bit was a steepish 150-200m vertical bit. Despite the rockered tip, the skins gripped the snow very well and I had no issues with slipping and such. The snow was soft and dampish. Skiing down this steepish part was fun, the 16m turning radish made tree skiing very easy and  the rockered tip did a good job keeping the ski riding up on the snow. On the ski out down the access road, the rockerd tip kept the skis floating on the soft damp snow. A striking improvement over a tradtionaly shaped shovel that has a tendency to plow before lifting the ski.

Really nice skis at a really good price. Definately a soft snow ski, that likes to crank short turns and maybe not so happy to crank high speed big lines.

Are you familiar at all with their Alpin skis. They're really cheap and lightweight, but I suspect there must be a downside.

No, only the Daemon. The graphics are plain, but not a deal breaker.

If you are interested in more info about rockered skis, check out the article on this topic in the

off piste magazine, October 2012

 I haven't used the Alpin but have used Hagan Unicorn skis (~ $200/pair) with great success on dozens of coastal bush bashes. The Unicorn is no longer made so I upgraded to the Daemon (~$435 but last year's and not the rockered version). The Unicorns are a box type construction and almost as lightweight as the Alpin and they can definitely stand the abuse I put them through. If the Alpin is foam core as I seem to recall, I wouldn't use them. I used a foam core ski once and it was good for about one year. I did the Tantalus Range ski traverse on them in 1997 and they were fine. They succumbed in Chance Creek at the beginning of the next season when I skied over a log only partially covered by snow.

According to MEC, the reason that Hagan skis are so cheap is because MEC has a marketing arrangement with Hagan. Just remember when you're buying other manufacturer's skis you are probably being gouged big time.

I am building new ski set for approaches or some simple ski tours.

Maybe some of you can comment (PaulK ?)

I have now short Hagan Extreme skis (130cm) and original skins. My good friend from Colorado sent me a brand new set. Than I won ebay bid on Silvretta 400 and Silvretta 404 bindings. Both! I was not planning that , but end up with two bindings . Not extremely expensive. Oh, well ... I believe I will post 400 model on Gear Swap (MEC or else) to recover my money and keep 404 model.

Anyway, soon I will have ski setup to play with and "ski" in mountaineering boots. I have Scarpa Inverno plastic boots and will try all this on Grouse first, and than gradually move to backcountry. I also have my Dynafit AT setup with AT boots.

I was wondering if some of you tried to ski on short skis and in mountaineering boots? I believe Greg Stoltman had set like this ,but he told me once he is not using it anymore. Maybe you Paul played with this before or some of you can comment how good this can be for Neve Traverse or some Spring tours.

Cheers,

Zoran

Something like this:

I'm pretty sure there's a bunch of people over at cascadeclimbers.com who have had some experience with this setup. You see silvereta bindings go up for sale every now and then.

Thanks Alan,

On many forums i have read mixed opinions. Some older folks have this ski setups and they don't want to sell when asked. And some mountaineers play with this one season and hate it. They get rid of setup asap. Looks like no one really skied flawlessly in mountaineering boots ,and some hurt knees or ankles.

I met guy on Denali (lower section) who had short 130cm skis. He also had an umbrella.  He told me he likes his skis.

I will see what will come out of this.

Zoran

Zoran, I find skiing in mountaineering boots is about the same as using three-pin bindings and leather X-C boots. It might make sense for a long traverse without any significant turning requirements or an easy tour like Fat Dog. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule- people like Peter Ravensbergen who skis three pin and leather and can make jump turns through the junk on steep mountain trails. For about a dozen years in the late 80s era that's what we did and skied everything, including Baker, Matier multiple times. It works. The drawback is when things get too tough then you might end up kick turning.

I skied Tantalus (maybe the first ski descent, at least of the north ridge) on leather mountain boots and shorties. I may have had one of those plastic cuffs for extra support. Can't recall as it was over 20 years ago.

You simply could not obtain decent backcountry ski gear like there is now. I would not go back to leather. Waking up and putting on frozen boots. Yuk. There is great equipment now made of plastic. No one skis leather any more. Even dinosaurs like Tivy.

Thank you.

I am interested to see how that plastic cuff looks like? One day when you are keen to see what you have in storage ... Some people make own.

Here is a site that might be useful. Skiing with short skis is popular and called "skiboarding." I am not familiar with the sport.