REVIEW: 2015 Åsnes Combat NATO

2015 Åsnes Combat NATO

A true XCD ski from the point of view of balance.  This ski truly does offer both cross-country and moderate down-hill performance.  It also climbs reasonably well for a double-cambered ski.

Fast, smooth, light and responsive.

Truly awesome flex pattern: enough stiffness and camber for efficient xcountry travel; wonderful round flex for downhill turns; low camber facilitates efficient climbing.

Beautiful broad, raised, elongated tip carves its way through snow- a trail-breaking machine.

The integrated Skin-Lock kicker skins both increase traction and extend skiing onto most any snow condition.

The very best distance-oriented, backcountry Nordic touring ski I have ever tried- PERIOD.

Is it the best at any one thing- well of course not.  BUT- it is the most versatile BC Nordic touring ski I have ever tested.  It is the best because it is good enough at everything that it just makes me smile- ALL THE TIME!!

Åsnes knows what they are doing man.

Summary

• Excellent backcountry Nordic touring ski.  This ski defines the concept of the “Fjellski”.  A finely tuned flex pattern to offer true XC performance and moderate downhill performance.
• Wide enough to offer reasonable flotation in deep snow- especially if you get 'em long enough.
• Wide enough to offer significant sidecut- for those with wide-open alpine bowls (or fields/ open forest) to arc through.
• Stiff enough to perform reasonably well on dense/hard snow.
• Finely tuned for soft snow.
• Truly magnificent trail-breaking kick-ass tip.  This ski may not float as much as a super fat Nordic ski- but man does it plow its way through deep snow.  THE choice if you are breaking track through deep snow with an army (or a family) following behind!  Almost leaves a groomed track behind it.
• The integrated kicker skin- “Skin-Lock”- is wicked.  Extra traction man.  Difficult snow?  Who cares.
• High-quality, waxable sintered base.
• A true Nordic touring ski for the backcountry- and with a flex pattern to handle some serious terrain.
• The modest dimensions make this ski manageable with light-duty BC boots/bindings on all but the most extreme terrain.

The model I have was bought on clearance this past spring- it is a 2015-2016 model.  As far as I know the 2016-2017 model has not been updated.

The Combat Nato is a highly versatile, high-performance backcountry Nordic touring ski.  Cambered and stiff enough to offer true XC kick and glide performance; soft enough and flexible enough to climb and turn.

The Fjellski.

Specs

I am 5’10” and weigh 185lbs.  I am skiing on the 210cm.

Here are the specs:

• Lengths to 210cm.
• Sidecut profile: 84-62-72mm.
• Camber profile: low relatively soft initial camber; low profile, stiff second camber.
• Flex pattern: the best way to describe this is balanced and stable .  Stiff enough to offer a low-profile wax pocket, and some moderate Nordic kick; yet still offering a smooth, round reverse-flex- obviously the mid-section is stiffer than the tip/tail.  
• Broad, elongated, raised tip- moderately flexible below the raised tip.  Flat- no rocker- at all.
• Flat tail.
• Full length, wrap-around, metal edge.
• High-quality, sintered base.
• Integrated “Skin-Lock” kicker skin.

This is a double-cambered ski- despite how low and soft the initial camber is.  The second camber is low-profile and stiff.  This flex pattern underfoot meets the criteria of what some define as “camber-and-a-half”.  The flex pattern, from tip to tail, is finely tuned for skiing on soft, fresh snow.  This ski feels remarkably stable throughout its entire length.

Background

What is the Combat Nato ski?

This ski was developed for the Norwegian military- and I assume it is being produced for other NATO member countries- hence the “Nato” moniker  (SPECIAL ALERT: keep your eyes open for Army surplus sales of this ski- this is a MAJOR step up in performance over the old “Nato Planks”).  The civilian version of this ski is the Ingstad.  There are a number of upgrades to this ski that are not on the Ingstad:

1. A titanium-enforced binding plate.
2. Riveted hole in the tip for sledge (i.e. “helpersledge”) construction.
3. Hole for fixation of a customized “Skin-Lock” kicker skin in the tail.
4. Milled area at the attachment point of the Skin-Lock to produce less glide friction.

This ski is designed to be a highly versatile BC Nordic ski- for covering distance in deep snow and hilly to mountainous terrain.

This ski is classified as a “Fjellski”- meaning a Nordic touring ski designed for hilly/mountainous terrain- in other words, a ski designed to offer xcountry performance on fresh snow, with moderate climbing and turning performance.  Although, fundamentally this meets the definition of xcountry-downhill (XCD), this ski has much more XC DNA in it than modern hybrid XCD skis.  From a modern North American perspective, this ski would be classified as a backcountry xcountry (BC-XC) ski.

A ski like this precisely fits the balance between cross-country and down-hill skiing.  And perhaps most importantly in this day and age- this ski does not sacrifice XC performance in order for them to be “easy-turning”.

I have recently rigorously tested two other current skis that are similar to the Combat Nato in terms of performance: the Madshus Eon, and the Fischer E-109.  The Eon is very balanced like the Combat Nato- though it has a much softer flex pattern.  The E-109 is more finely tuned towards XC skiing.

Performance

Cross-Country Skiing

I can easily control the camber of this 210cm ski- this is no high-performance XC ski- at least not from a groomed track perspective.  But there is significant tension and resistance within that low-profile camber.  Even on dense/hard snow, this ski offers pretty decent XC kick and glide performance.  On soft, fresh snow these skis become “high-performance”.  The flex pattern of the entire ski, but specifically underfoot, is perfectly designed to offer excellent kick and glide performance on fresh snow.  But, it is not just that low-profile second camber- I feel supported by the entire length of this ski when I am XC skiing on fresh snow.  That resistance and stability allows this ski to get away with a low-profile camber.  This ski has a flat tail that helps this ski track like a XC ski should.

Flotation

Well- this is not a “powder” ski- heck it is only 62mm at the waist.  But- that being said- at 210cm, the flex pattern is soft enough, yet supportive enough, that I get reasonable flotation in truly deep snow.  And once the snow settles and stabilizes, this ski truly cruises through deep, soft fresh snow.  This ski has a lot of sidecut- with only 62mm at the waist.  I understand the physics of all of that sidecut facilitating “easy-turning”.  But- I believe it comes with a significant cost- loss of effective flotation.  I believe this ski would be better with a wider waist- say 68-70mm.

Trail Breaking

This ski has no rocker in the tip.  What it does have is a kick-ass broad, raised, elongated tip that absolutely excels at breaking trail.  It is the best trail-breaking Nordic touring ski that I have ever tested (with the old Åsnes Combat USGI a close second).  And- I am not entirely convinced that a rockered tip would be a great help to a ski with these modest dimensions- at least when XC skiing .  The tip of this ski is flexible but very stable- this allows it to carve its way through the snow, with that fat, raised tip plowing the snow to the side.  Compared to a similar ski with Nordic Rocker (e.g. Fischer E-109)- the rockered tip floats higher in the snow- but the ski is not wide enough to follow suit- plus the wimpy low-profile tip of a ski like the E-109 doesn’t plow its way through anything.  Recently, we had a big dump of very cold snow- followed by sustained high winds.  The wind consolidated and condensed the upper foot of snow- but not enough for me to ski on top of it- the skis were still breaking through and making a track.  That condensed snow was difficult to break trail through but the stable, kick-ass tip of the Combat Nato carved a perfect clean track through that snow.  The rockered tip of the E-109 floated on top of that condensed snow- leaving me trying to break trail with the kick zone of the ski- YUCK.  Although I truly appreciate rockered tips when making downhill turns- I am becoming convinced that perhaps it is a bad idea for a relatively narrow ski designed to offer long-distance XC performance.  I don’t think that the Combat Nato would break trail as efficiently if its tip was rockered.

Traction

Kick wax, klister, integrated kicker skin- lots of options here.  Kick wax?  Well what can I say- kick wax is like magic- it grips and it glides.  As I ski mostly through the North woods- full of forest debris- I won’t be using much klister on these skis.  The integrated “Skin-Lock” kicker skins are well designed, well made and perform very well.  I have a 35mm nylon Skin-Lock and a 60mm mohair Skin-Lock that I am currently using with this ski.  I bought the 35mm in nylon because I was thinking that I might end up using it in icy, abrasive conditions.  As it turns out the 35mm skin does not seem to offer enough traction on icy, refrozen snow- but, excellent traction on warm wet snow (I wish I had bought the mohair 35mm).  The 60mm Skin-Lock is serious traction for this ski with a 62mm waist- I am glad I got the mohair 60mm, as it offer better glide.  I am using the Skin-Lock regularly in the following conditions:

1. Climbing
2. Icy, refrozen snow
3. Warm, wet snow
4. Pulling a heavy load (typically a pulk-load of kids at the moment)

The Skin-Lock takes seconds to install and extends my traction greatly.  The other application I am exploring with the Skin-Lock is XC trail breaking in VERY deep, soft snow.  Over the last 15 years I have used the Karhu Guide/Madshus Annum for very deep soft snow.  However, I am finding that if I get enough traction, the 210cm Combat Nato breaks trail even better than the Guide- and it lays down a better track for that army (or family) following behind.  On the flats- the 35mm Skin-Lock is enough in very deep snow- but, if I have to climb anything significant I find I need the 60mm.  I was out on a 20km hilly tour last week in 40cm of fresh, cold, dry powder snow.  I used both the 35mm and the 60mm Skin-Locks.

Åsnes makes a customized 45mm nylon Skin-Lock for the Combat Nato- with some mechanism to attach the skin’s tail through the small hole in the ski’s tail.  I haven’t tried it- YET.

The flex pattern of this ski offers superb classic kick and glide performance on fresh, soft snow.

The camber is low enough, and easy enough to squash that these skis climb very well- at least very well for a double-cambered ski.

Down-hill Skiing

This is not a downhill ski.  However, these skis are more than manageable on moderate slopes- even with light-duty boots and bindings.  This ski has such a wonderful round smooth flex- they just feel great when equally weighted, and you have the room to let them come around in a wide-arcing turn.  They feel at their best on fresh, soft snow.  I have had them out on a couple of steep open fields where I could just ride the telemark arc- wonderful feeling.  The camber is reasonable to control on these skis and when put on edge on hardpack- this ski has good edge hold.  When put on edge on hardpack you can carve an aggressive- but wide radius- turn with this ski.  Obviously, reducing the sidecut of this ski would increase the physical turning radius.  But- I don’t see the strength of this ski is to make tight-radius downhill turns.  Fortunately, these skis are light- I can make tight-radius striding/step/jump turns with relative ease on moderate slopes.  Obviously, a rockered tip would improve turn initiation with this ski- but I feel it would lose too much of its XC trail-breaking performance as a trade-off.  This is not a downhill ski, but it sure is a lot of fun on the downhill.  Most importantly it offers enough down-hill performance that it won’t stop your desire to efficiently travel distance in hilly and mountainous terrain.

Conclusion

Åsnes Nordic ski technology is such a beautiful blend of new technology, steeped in tradition.  Every detail of this ski has been thought out, tested and finely tuned.  The Combat Nato is a dream ski for anyone wanting to do distance-oriented tours in hilly/mountainous terrain- and especially on soft, fresh snow.  The Combat Nato is a XCD ski that does not compromise cross-country performance in order to maximize climbing and down-hill easy turning.  It is light, flexible, supportive and snappy.  The full-length support of this ski, plus the broad, raised tip, make this ski a trail-breaking machine- both for yourself, and the army following in your perfectly laid track.  And- even at 210cm long- they are wonderful on the downhill.  The modest dimensions make these skis quite manageable with even light-duty boots and bindings.

There is a rumour on the street that this ski is being redesigned.  There is talk of a rockered and tapered tip...I sincerely hope not.  If so- I am very thankful that I picked up my Combat Nato before it loses it kick-ass XC trail-breaking performance.

Would I change anything?  I hate to sound like a broken record…but, I would reduce the sidecut and give this ski 68-70mm at the waist.  I would gladly take a wider turning radius in order to have more float and traction in the backcountry.  BUT- I am not going to complain!

This is the Fjellski- and I love it.

Gareth Davies

January 2017

Stanley, NB

Canada