Randonee ski questions

For skiing with a pack, I wonder if this would help: Try skiing blue runs without a pack but with your top boot buckle(s) unbuckled. This forces you to get familiar with a centered skiing stance, which is important for skiing with a pack. I haven't actually tried this myself, but I started backcountry skiing some years ago using mountaineering boots and the ability to ski with a centered stance has been very helpful since then, even with better gear.

Saxybrian, another thing you can do is carry along a large paperclip or ticket bale or other similar device to scrape out sticky snow from the boot divits where the pins contact. Keep it somewhere accessible so if you're on an awkward slope you keep movements and fidgeting to a minimum.

For skiing with a pack, I wonder if this would help: Try skiing blue runs without a pack but with your top boot buckle(s) unbuckled. This forces you to get familiar with a centered skiing stance, which is important for skiing with a pack. I haven't actually tried this myself, but I started backcountry skiing some years ago using mountaineering boots and the ability to ski with a centered stance has been very helpful since then, even with better gear.

Good idea, Lowell. Because I skied XC downhill and telemark for 20 yrs before going to AT, I often ski down gentle slopes (and short, groomed moderate slopes when on XC ski patrol) with the top buckle of my 2-buckle AT boot unbuckled and the heels not clicked in--a centered balanced stance on modern skis only requires minimal unweighting and slight tilting of one ski to turn in that direction. Since I always ski bc I always have a pack and the centered stance allows me to just forget about the pack. Of course, on longer slopes I lock the heel to avoid the extra pressure of higher speed turns on the toe piece.

Or you could use the "rusty knees"  method and carry 50-60 pounds for a day tour.  I think his pack includes a sleeping bag, 2-burner Coleman, hyperbaric chamber, and possibly a folding massage table.   :  40lbs will seem ultra-light by comparison!

I'm a man. I can change. If I have to. I go much slimmer now. My big red pack was mostly a pneumatic prosthetic device to make me look tough - mostly filled with air and blue foam, really.

But SaxyBrian (is that texan for sexy?) you should really commit to Telemack's complete body workout, which includes rock climbing, gardening with his wife, and vigorous aerobic civil disobedience. And he chases that with an occasional limerick. That puts the sculpt in his turns.

Hey, welcome to TAY, saxybri
You'll find many a witty ski guy.
Train with weight on your back
So you'll love the skin track,
Fixed- or free-heel, we'll make the snow fly.

you guys are funny! Gonna take them on a ski trip later this year probably to NM or CO and get a bit more used to them.

As far as the name, i played the saxaphone so saxybrian it was since nobody takes that name on any mail/message board.