StraightChuter.com - Backcountry Skiing & Beyond » uphill

Skinning in the Sandbox

Andrew — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:00:57 +0000

While skinning up Argenta today I was reminded of the term “skinning in a sandbox.” About the only silver lining on this condition is the apt and funny mental imagery of actually skinning uphill in a sandbox, but aside from that, it is a very frustrating experience. What makes it so annoying is that it is not the skins that are slipping (although it feels like it), but the snow sheering on itself. This condition often happens when surface hoar crystals start to get as big as potato chips (as is happening now in the Wasatch), or when the top layer in the snowpack becomes very faceted and rotten, which is also happening.

Julia Niles chillin' on the skinner. Don't worry, be happy.

There are three things that can be done to alleviate the misery;

Cut your skin angle down. I love my high pegs as much as the next skinner, but you can’t sink the spurs into the track angle if the snow itself is sheering.
Concentrate on establishing your uphill, inside edge with each step. Skinning is just the opposite of skiing and your uphill, inside edge is your “control” edge.
Be patient. Mellow out. Relax. Hum a little tune. You aren’t going anywhere fast.

There is also a popular forth option, which is to blame it on someone, like the Finns or Norwegians. :)
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Skinning Outside the Box

Andrew — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:00:54 +0000

A common skinning malady is to turf face-first just as you are committing to an uphill kickturn on a steep, greasy switchback. This can be fun the first few times it happens, but gets old quickly and can be easily remedied.

A minty-fresh uphill kickturn, or switchback. They don't stay like this for long.

Over time, skin tracks get beat-out for a variety of reasons. One of the main culprits is when subsequent skinners come up a few inches short of the turning point and instead of taking a six-inch baby step, they rush the turn, which essentially makes it steeper than it already is. Another common problem with switchbacks (especially steep ones), is that people stomp their skins to help set them before starting the turn, which further steepens the track by creating divots that have to be climbed out of. But, none of this matters as there is a way around this turf-fest.

An exaggerated view of a beat-out switchback.

The solution involves two simple steps. The first is to go deeper into the kickturn “box” (an unofficial term) such that you are overshooting the switchback to the point that your lower boot is now even with the upper track (#1 below). After this, with your new leading foot, step DOWN across the skin track (#2 below) instead of stepping directly into the skin track. This gives you a nice solid platform so that now, as you bring your new ski around, you can step back into the track and be on your greasy way.

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Death by a Thousand Missteps

Andrew — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:00:15 +0000

I’m always tormented when I see ragged skin tracks as I feel compelled to say something, yet at the same time it’s hard not to come across as being rude. “Excuse me my friend, but do you know your skinning technique is all phucked up?” It’s kind of like seeing someone with an open fly – maybe they like it that way and it is none of my business. ?? In any case, having an efficient stride is way more important than owning the lightest, sexiest gear as an inefficient stride burns up far more energy than just gliding along.

Exhibit A - Lift & Separate works well for somethings, but not skinning.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Slide & Glide is ideal. Slide & Stomp is, uhmmm, not so good. Romp & Stomp should be left to the Rec Room.

Two friends go skinning... the one on the left is working much harder than the one on the right.

There are many potential reasons for ragged skinning technique including mis-mounted bindings, blown boot cant adjustment or just natural physiology. The first thing to do is just be cognizant of it, which usually fixes the problem and then with enough thought and practice, an efficient stride becomes habit. Think of two pointy arrows sliding in parallel over the snow.

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It’s All About the Up

Andrew — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:00:14 +0000

Coming from an alpine skiing background, it took me a few years to warm up to the idea of backcountry skiing. It didn’t help that the guy I learned how to backcountry ski from was wicked-fast, which meant my early outings were exhausting efforts of trying to keep up where all I could think was “I’m cooked. We only made five runs today and I could have done five times that at Solitude.” I kept a season’s pass in reserve until one day we skied Lisa Falls in thigh-deep sub 5% powder, which set the backcountry hook for once and all. Since then I’ve done way more backcountry skiing than riding the wire, and like any addictive substance, the further you get from it, the less you miss it. As cyclist Greg LeMond said “It doesn’t get any easier, you just get faster.”

Mona Lisa Falls Overdrive. You can't get there by helicopter, sled or chairlift. Alex Lowe points the way towards 5,000' of pure fluff.

The key to enjoying the hiking/touring aspect of backcountry skiing is to do it enough that you find your own rhythm and stop fighting the pain. I think of it like mountain biking, trail running or rock climbing – the uphill exertion part is a fun challenge and the downhill is the icing on the cake. Human powered ascent gets easier the more you do it and at some point it becomes fun in itself. Beyond that, when you start to mix in route finding, team work, trail breaking and avalanche assessment, the ascent becomes an intricate challenge with the final skin track becoming a piece of backcountry artwork. Skin tracks are a reflection of the people who put them up, and like reading a good book, a tight skin track makes you want to meet its author. “Hmmm, three people swapping leads with no breaks, full heel pegs, tight switchbacks around the rocks, nice cornice stomping and they avoided that fat pillow – must be Derek and Co. Very nice.”

Tight tracks up Tanners. Skinning and photographic artists unknown.

I love the up.

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Pick Your Poison – Methods of Ascent (part II)

Andrew — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 11:00:35 +0000

Learning to skin is like learning the alphabet-something you have to do before you start spelling words or linking tours together. It’s a lot like walking, but a bit different. Booting is walking, but unless you are on firm snow, your range will be severely limited as nothing saps your energy like post-holing in deep snow. Snowshoes can be learned via The Twelve Step Program (take twelve steps – now you are an expert), but they lack any sort of glide and don’t climb very well, or if they do, then they don’t float very well. Snowshoes are popular with snowboarders, but eventually, if the boarder is serious about getting deep into the backcountry, she’ll switch over to approach skis or split boards.

: Skin if you can… boot if you must. Greg “GVD” VonDoersten punching out the final feet to the summit of Mt. Damavand, Iran.

Skinning is the most complicated method of the three, as it requires not only the skins, but a touring binding as well and a tad of technique. Still, these are very small prices to pay if you are planning on touring more than once or twice.

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Pick Your Poison – Methods of Ascent

Andrew — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:00:00 +0000

For ski mountaineering, there are three main methods of traveling over snow; skinning, booting or snowshoeing. Of these three, skinning is by far and away the most efficient and versatile. Booting works well when there is an existing boot track, or when the going gets steep. Snowshoes are better than crawling, but not by much. Regardless of which method you choose, a critical factor is that everyone in your group uses the same system as the pace and route selection is radically different with each one. A skin track will wander much more than a boot track and snowshoes will be somewhere in-between. If you find yourself in a mixed group, the first discussion you should have is where, or if, you will regroup when your party gets separated, because they soon will.

: Birds of a skinning feather… stay together. Sol Mountain Lodge, Monashees, BC

Continued tomorrow…

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Winning the Uphill Battle – Part III

Andrew — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:00:14 +0000

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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Winning the Uphill Battle – Part II

Andrew — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:00:10 +0000

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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Winning the Uphill Battle – Part I

Andrew — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:59:30 +0000

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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2008 Hans Saari Memorial Fund Ski Mountaineering Camp

Andrew — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 21:12:47 +0000

The second annual Hans Saari Memorial Fund Ski Mountaineering Camp took place June 9-13 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The camp is a unique program put together by the Hans Fund to teach kids how to go ski mountaineering. Organized through Exum guides, the camp features two days of background training, then a trip into the Grand Teton National Park for three days of skiing, camping and climbing in the shadow of The Grand. This year ten students were picked from 25 applicants and about half of those picked were awarded full scholarships to cover the tuition costs. Not a bad deal!
The first two days of the backcountry portion of the camp had heavy snow – a surprise for everyone, since it was June 11th.

The purpose of the camp is to teach kids ski mountaineering basics. The first part of the course was taught by Bean Bowers and Nat Patridge, with Hans Johnstone and myself joining in for the second half. Nat, Bean and Hans have vast amounts of experience in the Tetons and were able to direct us to the Sliver Couloir on the second day…

… and then the Hourglass Couloir on Nez Perce on the last day.

This was my first time being involved with the camp and I was impressed with how much fun it was for all involved, and also how legit it was. The kids carried their own packs, booted up steep chutes and cranked turns down some classic Teton lines. It was an excellent introduction to ski mountaineering and will make all of the kids future trips seem easy!

Photo Gallery

HSMF Teton Ski Camp - 2008

26 Photos