Duct tape doesn’t work very well for the cold, wet environs of ski mountaineering, but it hardly matters as there is something way better – Voile straps. In terms of classic designs, these are right up near the top and incredibly useful for almost anything, including holding your skis together. I prefer the Old Skool versions with the metal buckles as they are lightweight, simple and never break.
- Voile straps – the world would fall apart without them.
I’m not sure where this design came from, but I first saw it used for skiing purposes by Mark W. at Voile, thus they are commonly called “Voile Straps.” They can be used to clamp boots if a buckle breaks, hold a blown skin onto a ski, help split a broken leg, field-repair a binding, strap crap onto a pack, hold together a cook kit and just about anything else you can think of.
- Great on their own, or you can chain them together for added length.
The longer the better, although beggars can’t be choosers and any length will do. I assume you can buy these things, but more often than not, they are handed out for free at skiing events where I always try to grab more than my fair share.
- Strapping up in Iran – Greg VonDoersten photo.
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Nice plug for the Voile strap. We made a model with a plastic buckle, but returned to the metal shortly thereafter. Others have made similiar straps, but it’s a tough one to beat.
I have heard that Voile straps are great firestarter stuf in an emergency…
What’s everyone’s favorite length?
I have some old Voile style straps from Black Diamond when they were trying to use them on their crampons that I really like. I think they are about 18′ish inches. The 12 inchers are nice (as well as being the most likely to be handed out at sporting events…), but I don’t get much use out of the one’s that are shorter than that.
I got one at the sweet, sweet 08 Powderkeg. Think it was 24” though. It was definitely way longer than the other one I had which was good because it was big enough to hold on to my Zealots.
I definitely think the ones with the metal buckles are better. Hiking down from skiing the Paradise Glacier this summer I felt something weird flapping around on my pack and found that the strap on my skis (carried A-frame) had popped off and was somewhere up the trail. That has never happened with the older metal buckle ones.