Backcountry Snow
Skinning efficiently: the technique that saves hours
Uphill travel on skis rewards technique far more than fitness. Two people of equal fitness can differ by a factor of two in how tired they are at the top.
Ski touring is mostly uphill. On a typical day you will spend three or four hours going up for twenty minutes of coming down, so the uphill technique is where the day is won or lost.
Most self-taught skinners are working considerably harder than they need to.
Slide, do not step
The most common fault. People walk uphill on skis, lifting each ski and placing it forward. That lifts the weight of ski, binding and boot with every stride, thousands of times a day.
The skin grips backwards and glides forwards. Use that. Keep the ski on the snow and push it forward, transferring weight smoothly onto it. It is closer to a shuffle than a walk, and it is dramatically less tiring.
The tell is noise. A skinner who is stepping is loud. One who is sliding is quiet.
Weight over the middle of the ski
Stand upright, weight centred, and let the whole skin contact the snow. Leaning forward at the waist — the instinctive posture for going uphill — lifts the tail and reduces the contact area, so you get less grip and slip more.
When you slip, the instinct is to lean further forward, which makes it worse. Stand up straighter and push down through the whole foot instead.
Set a track at a sensible angle
The most efficient skin track climbs at a moderate, consistent gradient — steep enough to make progress, gentle enough that you are not fighting for grip. Somewhere in the region of ten to fifteen degrees feels right for most people, and steeper tracks are almost always slower overall.
A track that is too steep forces high heel lifts, causes slipping, burns calves, and makes kick turns harder. A track that zigzags gently up a face costs a little more distance and much less energy.
If you are following someone else's track and it is too steep, set your own alongside. There is no obligation to use a bad track.
Use the heel lifters correctly
Flat for gentle terrain, low riser for moderate, high riser for steep. The point is to keep your ankle in a comfortable range and your calf out of a permanent stretch.
Most people use too much riser. A high riser on moderate ground puts you on your toes, reduces skin contact and makes it harder to weight the ski properly. Use the lowest setting that keeps you comfortable.
Kick turns
The technique that separates comfortable tourers from frustrated ones. On a steep switchback, a clean kick turn takes two seconds; a bad one takes thirty and burns significant energy.
The essentials: plant both poles for a stable base, on the uphill side. Lift the uphill ski and place it pointing in the new direction, roughly across the slope or slightly up. Transfer your weight onto it fully — this is the part people rush — then bring the other ski round.
Practise on flat ground, then gentle slopes, then steep ones. It is a skill with a clear learning curve and it is worth an afternoon.
Pace and breathing
Find a rhythm you can hold for hours without stopping. The classic beginner pattern is fast bursts followed by stops, which is far less efficient than a slow steady pace — and stopping repeatedly means cooling down and sweating through layers.
The right pace is one where you can hold a conversation. If you cannot, you are going too fast for a long day, however good it feels in the first hour.
Manage temperature while moving
Covered elsewhere, and it belongs here too: start cold, vent before you sweat, and do not stop to remove layers if you can open a zip instead. Sweat-soaked layers at the top of a climb are the reason people get cold on the descent.
Skin care, briefly
Keep the glue clean and dry. Snow on the glue kills adhesion, and a skin that peels off mid-climb costs ten minutes and a lot of frustration. Fold them glue-to-glue or use the mesh sheets.
Glopping — snow balling up under the skin — happens in wet spring conditions and adds enormous weight. Skin wax applied before the day prevents most of it, and it takes thirty seconds.
Carry a spare tip attachment and some tape. A failed skin far from the road is a long walk.
Transitions
Every switch between uphill and downhill costs time and heat loss. Practise it until it is a fixed sequence you do without thinking: skins off, boots locked, bindings switched, layer on, pack shut.
A group where each person takes eight minutes to transition, four times a day, has lost a great deal of daylight to something entirely within their control.
