Traditional Cross Country Ski Length

[RShea]

So a few times a year at most, depending on conditions I may think about heading out on skinny skis. Most of the time the trails are not groomed- parks or a rail trail. So traditional Cross country skis, not skate skis. My old Rossignol skis are split and cracked in the back. Foam core that I glued and clamped as a fix- did not last.

So they are 213 cm, and I am 6' 0"

I am looking to replace them via shopping used at Thrift Stores. What size range should I be looking out for? About the same? Does weight matter or anything else factor into the length decision?

[Tye 1on]

205-210 waxless would be fine.

[Peruvian]

Your weight and the skis stiffness and length are the factors that matter. If you are only dropping $20 at the thrift store, Tye 1on is close enough.

[BCMtnHound]

I would recommend always checking your weight against the double camber. Use a playing card under your foot, with even weight on both skis, the card should slid easily under the kick area (easy to find if you go waxless/fishscale). When you fully weight one ski, the card should have slight movement under the ball of your foot but no more. Too much camber and you won't have enough kick, too little and you are dragging your kick through the glide portion of the stride. And do this check for both skis, I've tried 2nd hand xc skis that definitely had different camber between the two skis

[~mikey b]

Get the red ones

[RShea]

If shopping used, you get the color you find, have to order new to be able to get your color of choice...

[Shredhead]

What type of boots do you have?
Upgrading to NNN-BC is probably worth the cost.
ORS- Onion River Sports had a bunch of very informational videos.
Looks like they closed last week.

[SB]

Rossi Evos are the kewlaid all my wack a doodle friends like.

They go much shorter than tra dish onal planks.

[3PinGrin]

Not sure where you live, but if in an area where you get mostly dry cold conditions go waxable. Way more efficient for both grip and glide. However, if temps hover near freezing regularly or are very variable over the course of the tour, waxless makes sense.

[GeezerSteve]

traditional? Surely, you mean classic

Your weight and the skis stiffness and length are the factors that matter.

This. You can check camber with paper/playing card test or have a Nordic shop test it.

On groomed XC classic tracks, it's all about having sufficient camber to keep your wax/scale pocket from dragging while weighting both skis but flattening when loading one ski ("kicking," which in some respects is an unfortunate term). For ungroomed stuff, e.g., FS roads, rolling pastures, etc., a bit softer camber + wider ski is nice, albeit slower.

Waxing vs. scales deserves its own thread.

[3PinGrin]

Waxing vs. scales deserves its own thread.

True, but waxable is best (assuming the conditions I mentioned above).

[huckbucket]

Waxing vs. scales deserves its own thread.

For the love of God no ....

[sfotex]

You should try to warranty your oild Rossi's, then when they don't send you a new pair start a thread abut how Rossignol ripped you off.

[RShea]

Salomon SNS not the newer NNS style boots and bindings. Could have been 3 pin or the old rubber toe tab that you clamped into.

[RShea]

You should try to warranty your oild Rossi's, then when they don't send you a new pair start a thread abut how Rossignol ripped you off.

they ripper me off when they made the foam core and laminated top, all wood skis probably would still be skiable after the 25 years or so (I got them used more than 18 years ago, so no idea their age) 😉

[BCMtnHound]

Salomon SNS not the newer NNS style boots and bindings. Could have been 3 pin or the old rubber toe tab that you clamped into.

For my beater waxless xc set-up, I prefer my old leather 75mm and voile mountaineer clamps. These don't see set track often, mostly running with the hound from the house. The toe clamp gives me greater control over the ski tip, where I am not really trying to maximize stride over control. But ya, I prefer SNS pilot over NNN as well.

[bbense]

What type of boots do you have?
Upgrading to NNN-BC is probably worth the cost.
ORS- Onion River Sports had a bunch of very informational videos.
Looks like they closed last week.

Umm.... No. NNN/BC is like a 2 wheel Drive SUV. Doesn't really do anything well and does a lot of things really poorly. I've got a garage full of failed attempts to make NNN/BC either ski or tour better than the alternatives. About the only thing NNN/BC does is that you can get boots that hike/crampon better than XC boots.

[Shredhead]

Fits my feet better than boots with duckbills, especially the older models. YMMV.

[Peruvian]

Umm.... No. NNN/BC is like a 2 wheel Drive SUV. Doesn't really do anything well and does a lot of things really poorly. I've got a garage full of failed attempts to make NNN/BC either ski or tour better than the alternatives. About the only thing NNN/BC does is that you can get boots that hike/crampon better than XC boots.

I have to disagree. If you are looking to bash around on trails, NNN-BC are more capable than NNN. They allow much better kick and glide than pins. If you want to may parallel turns, they work quite well. The only downside is they don’t make tele turns very well.

[bbense]

I have to disagree. If you are looking to bash around on trails, NNN-BC are more capable than NNN. They allow much better kick and glide than pins. If you want to may parallel turns, they work quite well. The only downside is they don’t make tele turns very well.

If you've got NNN boots that work for what you want and fit your feet, NNN/BC is not an upgrade in any way. Combi/pursuit boots would be a much better investment if you want more control.

Anyway, back to the original post. There are a lot of thrasher/beginner waxless XC skis out there that will be cheap, but only come in small, medium, large. Large is generally around 190 cm.

More performance orientated skis will come in 200, 205, 210cm lengths for relatively recent models. For low budget skis, stiffness == length, so you'll want the longest you can find. High-end racing classic skis come in various stiffness and you really need at least the paper test to be sure you're getting a ski that will work for you. These are almost always wax only skis though.