Doing the last minute packing. How many pairs of skis should I take? This is a bit easier to answer now - stick with 3 because the Skintecs have most of the advantages of waxed skis with few of the disadvantages of waxless skis i.e. they don't lose much on the glide. But I still don't know how they perform in the really cold temperatures we get e.g. -30C.
At the moment, the long term forecast on www.yr.no for the next 10 days takes me to half way through the RR. It shows a high of +1C for my last two training days in Kuusamo, 0C for the first day of the RR. 0C for the second day (Taivalkoski). -2C for day 3 (Iso Syote) - but this may be at the top of the hill and 0C for day 4 (Ranua).
Of course, there is plenty of time for it to change - a couple of days ago, the forecast showed it dropping to -11C for the end of next week.
The outlook isn't improved by the news item (only available in Norwegian, but thanks to online translation you can get the essence of it) - "This is God-awful things. Mild weather and halke lead goes on the mood loose for the skiglade TV metereologist John Smits. Now he fears plus the degrees for many weeks to come."
Basically, it is looking more and more like last year's weather. Still, I am better prepared - new ski boots with an outer waterproof skin so that my feet don't get wet skiing through water on top of the ice. These are Norwegian boots designed by a specialist company, and design is now taking into account the conditions we face more frequently.
I suppose the next ski evolution should be "hover skis" - they would have fantastic glide; maybe when you weight the ski to get grip, spikes automatically extend into the snow (goodbye klister). These would work with tracks with water in them, and more importantly (for me) I could train without snow. Alas, the theory is good, but the practicality of carrying the energy to produce the air cushion is not. But maybe in 450km of skiing, there may be an eureka moment; who knows?
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