Madshus Panorama M68

The Madsus Epoch is my first ski of this xcd class. I am used to cross country skis and alpine touring skis and I must say that the madshus combines the best of both. I combined the ski with the voile 3pin cable binding and Crispi Svartisen Boots. With this setup it is fun to kick and glide around like with cross country skis. No comparsion to a alpine touring setup and no fiddelig with skins etc. It has a surprisingly good glide for its width and it shines in powder conditions. But in hard crust or on groomed tracks I had some problems with sideslipping. I couldnt walk a straight line in these conditions, the skis always tended to slip sideways. A friend has the Salomon XADV which are a bit narrower and I guess because of that these skies don't sideslip like the Epoch. On the way up you can't compare the waxless pattern with skins so you can't go as nearly as steep. I put climbing wires on my binding but I never needed them. If you want to go steeper you need skins but that isn't what the ski is intended for. I am pretty satisfied with the uphill performance so I wont use skins. When going downhill the Epoch is easy to turn even for a telemark beginner. I was instantly able to do some nice teleturns even in steep terrain. In the skiresort however I wasn't able to get the ski on the edges properly. But I guess that was due to my bad technique and I think with a stiffer plastic boot this would be no problem at all. All in all I have to say that this is a fun ski to kick and glide around the hills and do some nice turns without the need for skins or heavy equipment. I even would use the skies for easier alpine touring routes. So If you are in a region where you have enough snow and you want to go offtrack this is your ski. I wouldn't buy one any wider like the Annum. But if you want to use the ski on groomed tracks a lot I would prefer the Salomon XADV. It is easy to turn as well, floats not so much in powder but is better on groomed snow as it has not the sideslipping tendency. I would always use a 3pin or tele-binding with the Epoch. Any smaller binding (NNN) wouldn't drive the ski enough in the turns if you are not a teleturn pro and the 3pin has an exellent kick and glide capability. The service at aventurenordique.com was great with fast shipping to Germany!