I tend to do a lot of skinning over timber. Why, I’m not sure as it is not really that much fun, but I suppose it is better than traversing way around a fallen tree, then backtracking. Timber skinning is especially common early in the season or when it is a low snow year, such as we have now (sniff…). Continue reading ‘Skinning Over Timber’
Tag Archive for 'skinning'
Having the right mindset is almost as important as the right gear and technique when it comes to steep skinning. You have to be into it. I was out touring with a friend from Switzerland in the Wasatch Mountains a few years ago and he refused to follow any of the existing skin tracks, which tend to be steep (from what I’ve heard from out-of-state visitors – they seem normal to me). “These skin tracks are stupid!” We ended up breaking new trails, which is about the worst that can happen if you can’t or don’t want to push the angle. So what, eh?
Another little trick is to be calm a subtle with your footwork and try to milk every little irregularity you can. Put your ski/skin down once, pressure it firmly and stand up on it smoothly. Stomping rarely helps and more often than not destroys any grip the snow might have.
Perhaps one of the reasons I like steep skinning is that I also like friction climbing (moderate angle, smooth slabs, minimal handholds). I was a little insulted when a friend once said “Oh yeah, friction climbing – whatever. Once you get the hang of that you can hike routes all day long.” which is kind of true. More than anything it is about developing a feel for the rock or snow, trusting your feet and relaxing. Once you get comfortable with these elements, you can hike steep skin tracks all day long.
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The technique for steep skinning is just the opposite of skiing, which makes sense as you are going up, not down. One of the harder things to get the hang of is the idea of leaning back, not forward. Because touring bindings have a pivoting toe, it is hard, if not impossible to pressure the tip of the ski while in tour mode, which means you can’t press the skin’s nap into the snow. Because of this, all of your grip comes from your toepieces back, so you want to make sure that is where your weight is.
Chris Figenshau skinning up a 34-degree icy slope in New Zealand with textbook perfect style. Not bad for a photo dude from J-Hole. Good job Figs.
- Keep your back straight – don’t bend/break at the waist
- Keep your skis as flat as possible on the snow to maximize the surface area
- Press through your heels (important)
- Plant your poles near to your toepieces – not too far forward or off to the side.
- Stay off of your edges. If you need to move sideways, “crab” to the left or right by moving your entire ski instead of trying to edge.
- Look up and forward, not down at your boots. As the Bloodhound Gang song goes – “Lift your head up high and blow your brains out.” Steep skinning may be painful until you get the hang of it, but it also gets you places in a hurry.
If you find yourself slipping, try lifting your big toe. This is hard to do if you are leaning forward, (so lean back) and it will help shift your weight to the aft. It’s like hitting the brakes.
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You don’t need any special gear to lay down a steep skin track, but there are a few adjustments you can make to your existing set-up which will help.
Heel lifters are absolutely essential and should be turned to their highest setting. Don’t be bashful. Certified guides dislike heel lifters for their clients as they are too tippy, but once you get the feel of them, there is no going back. It’s kind of like walking around on a roof with high-heels – it may not seem like a good idea, but it keeps your foot flat so you can use your thigh muscles instead of your calves.
Lifters up, poles down, feet flat. Go dog go.
Shorten your poles down so you can get on top of them instead of hanging off of them. Pushing on them instead of pulling allows you to use your arms, chest and back instead of just your arms. It is the difference between doing push-ups and pull-ups. I can do little cheater push-ups all day long but am cooked after about ten pull-ups. If you have asymmetrical baskets (and you should), rotate them with the short side forward so they don’t lever out.
Get some good nylon skins. Nylons are known for their sticky climbing abilities and that’s what we are talkin’ about here. Good glue and a tip & tail kit are also important for steep skinning as you put a lot more sheering force on your skins than when you are just scooting along on the flats.
LG setting a 40 degree track in AK.
Undo your top boot buckles so you have maximum ankle flex. I usually keep my forefoot buckle fairly tight (as tight as I’d have it for skiing), the ankle buckle semi tight and totally undo the top buckle. I don’t use the Velcro powerstrap, but if I did, I’d loosen that all the way as well. Of course, make sure your boots are in tour, not ski, mode. Like friction climbing, steep skinning requires a subtle feel and you want control without restriction from your boots.
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Spring is here and the time is right for skinning in your top pegs. I don’t go out of my way to always pick the steepest skin line possible, but there are times, actually, a lot of times, where a steep skin track angle is much safer, faster and more efficient.
Few things in backcountry skiing piss people off more than a steep skin track, but that is probably because they don’t know how to ascend it properly. Once you get the hang of it (details to follow in this week’s postings), setting a steep track can be way faster than wandering all over the hillside at the prescribed 12-degree perfect angle.
Lorne Glick busting out a steep one on Thunder Mountain, Alaska. This direct line hit 40 degrees in places and kept us out of avalanche starting zones.
A few steep skinning myths:
A lower angle skin track is more efficient.
Not so. Walking up a low angle handicap access ramp is technically easier step-by-step, but no more efficient than going straight up a flight of stairs. It takes a set amount of energy to climb a mountain and the variables are time and distance traveled.
The fastest racers in world all use lower angle skin tracks.
True, but that has as much to do with using bindings which only have one elevation setting and skins which glide better than they climb. The top guys/girls are also plenty speedy on steep tracks as well.
Steep tracks are set my macho jerks with something to prove.
Perhaps. Then again, maybe they are setting a steep track as an ability barrier to keep a powder stash from being overrun once the track is in. If people can’t get up, they can’t ski down. See the “no friends on a powder day” rule for further clarification.
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Efficient ascents are a blend of pacing, route finding, technique and equipment. Like rolling a ball uphill, your approach to skinning should vary according to conditions and terrain, but the underlying idea is to find the most expedient way possible, while not losing any ground.
- Skinning isn’t always about mellow 12 degree shuffling. The fastest way to the top is to use whatever method works best.
Sometimes this means using brute force and sometimes it requires endless finesse. There is no one method of ascent which is always the best, instead it is a constantly shifting selection and the fastest skiers are those who adapt to whatever it takes.
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continued from yesterday…
A good way to learn is to follow in the footsteps (or more likely, skin tracks) of more experienced skiers. Try to match their stride, look where they plant their poles, get a feel for the all day ascent angle, mimic their posture, and generally try to absorb what they are doing, while of course maintaining a safe distance from their tails. It is kind of like uphill osmosis. If you don’t have someone to learn from, see if you can pick out clues from a pre-broken trail. Ascending is only boring if you make it that way. Instead, be active and involved — think about improving and getting more efficient, not just plodding along.
- If you can stay focused and engaged, skinning is fun in the same way as friction climbing. Armond, Weedy and Lorne punching it out up Thunder Mountain.
I had the misfortune of learning how to skin from Alex Lowe. Like most people who went out with him, I was overwhelmed just trying to keep up, let alone do any trail breaking. Among our small group, we’d try to figure out strategies to keep from getting dusted by Alex, like carrying less weight, starting out with less clothing on, getting plenty of sleep, strapping water bottles to our waistbelts, always climbing with one heel lifter setting and many other futile tricks that never seemed to help. What finally did help was when Alex won an international alpine speed climbing championship, as it made me realize it was pointless to try and keep up with him, so I slowed down and started developing my own pace, which over time has increased. Skinning is one of those activities where you get faster by starting out slow, both in the long and short term. The real (and only) secret to speedy climbing it is to do it a lot.
tomorrow – part III________________________________
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Struggling uphill is an acquired taste that doesn’t come naturally to most people. It’s hard, slow, sweaty, frustrating and at times monotonous, but if you can get over this, it is your ticket to backcountry bliss. The effort involved with earning your turns is the basic barrier that keeps the backcountry, being what it is – uncrowded. With time and practice, it not only gets easier, but often can be even more enjoyable than the downhill. Really.
- Julia Niles smiling through the pain.
Ascending is a mindset. When you stop fighting it and learn to love it, everything just starts to flow uphill. For many skiers, including myself, this is the magic moment when you suddenly “get” backcountry skiing, as it becomes much less work and a lot more fun. How soon you reach this point depends on how hard you work at it, and the more you do it, the easier it gets. Before long, the only high speed quads you’ll need will be your thighs, not the chairlift. Embrace the burn, seek purification through perspiration and learn the true meaning behind “that which does not kill you, makes you stronger.” Skinning is fun.
On a more practical note, eighty percent of your time in the backcountry will be spent ascending, so it is worth coming to terms with it. Think of the uphill as the skiing and the downhill as the icing on the cake. When the going gets really grim, remember, the harder it is going up, the better it is going down.
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