Educate me on cross country skiing.

[fuzzybabybunny]

What are the gear requirements and can I continue to use any of my current skiing gear?

My skis are the Sir Francis Bacons: http://lineskis.com/skis/sir-francis-bacon

The 178cm work just fine in the trees and moguls and are great for powder.

My boots are those typical rigid boots and I know won't work for cross country. Hell, I can barely even walk in them.

I will probably need to get a different set of bindings too right? Come to think of it, since I need different bindings, I will probably need to get a completely different set of skis since you don't want to go swapping bindings all the time on a pair of skis.

 

[Soundmanred]

It's going to take a LONG time to ski across the country.
Just giving you the heads up.

 

[olds]

I didn't look at your link but if it's downhill gear, you'll need all new gear. And you need to be in decent shape.

 

[John Connor]

Decent shape??? Shit! I always wanted to do this. There is a place here called Beaver Medows and they rent the equipment out and can cross country ski. I used to be in damn good shape from mountain biking, but I let my self go.

 

[DrPizza]

Cross country skis are different from downhill skis. The bottom is sort of ridged, to allow them to glide forward easily, but bit into the snow, preventing you from moving backward. You could use downhill skis, but it would suck. It's an amazing workout.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Skis are usually longer and narrower.

Different types of bindings - you heel is supposed to lose contact with the ski.

Poles are normally longer; you use them for leverage instead of balance.

Dig up videos on Cross Country to observe the gear.

The concept is much different than downhill. You are propelling yourself and you feel each incline.

Unless you are on some loopback course; you need to get yourself back to the original starting point transportation.

 

[Doppel]

Cross country skiis are the kind that are purchased, used three times, and then 12 years later sold at a garage sale for $30. This is true for 99.991093% of cross country ski sets and it's a fact. It's science.

 

[Ricochet]

^What Doppel said.

You essentially take out everything fun about skiing and call it "cross country".

Tried it once and never going back.

 

[John Connor]

Rent the equipment?

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Eh, gotcha. So it looks like all new (different) gear for me. That's a huge bummer. I'll have to buy new the boots at least since my feet are so wide and difficult to fit. This might not be worth it.

 

[zinfamous]

Skis are usually longer and narrower.

Different types of bindings - you heel is supposed to lose contact with the ski.

Poles are normally longer; you use them for leverage instead of balance.

Dig up videos on Cross Country to observe the gear.

The concept is much different than downhill. You are propelling yourself and you feel each incline.

Unless you are on some loopback course; you need to get yourself back to the original starting point transportation.

Bolded: I think that's just for telemark skiing, right? Every time I see the Olympic CC skiers, they have fixed bindings, as far as I recall, anyway.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Different type of skis, different type of bindings, different type of poles, different type of boots. Rent and take a class.

Based on your need for speed, I would think you'd be more interested in telemark skiing.

 

[Scarpozzi]

First step is to find a small enough country that won't wear you out. If you try to ski across the US you're going to wear yourself out. May you can try it out in Sri Lanka?

 

[John Connor]

Christmas Island or Wake Island would work. LOL

 

[Capt Caveman]

Bolded: I think that's just for telemark skiing, right? Every time I see the Olympic CC skiers, they have fixed bindings, as far as I recall, anyway.

In the Olympics, some of the xc races allow the use of the skate skiing style. They still use non-fixed bindings but the technique may look like the bindings are fixed.