Backcountry.com fraud manager Jamon Whitehead stripping his skin during a pre-work tour.
You met up at 6:00 in the morning and have been skinning for two hours. Now you’re on the ridge and ready to drop in. Well, almost. You unclip your bindings, take off your skis, and sink into your waist in the two feet of freshies that fell last night. Then you peel your skins one at a time, but you get snow stuck to the bottom since you’re waist deep in it (good luck putting those back on for lap two). Looking around at your friends, you realize that they’re already ready and not-so-patiently waiting for you to finish your yard sale. You still need to stomp out a platform and crawl back to the surface, buckle your boots, stash your skins, and put your skis back on. After that, you better ski your ass off to make sure you get invited back tomorrow.
How did your friends go through all those steps so quickly? They didn’t. They stripped their skins and adjusted their boots without ever taking off their skis. Put a little practice into this simple trick and you won’t be the one that everyone else is waiting for.
If you have your changeovers down, then it should take you no longer than 60 seconds to peel your skins, stash them in your pack, change your bindings and boots to ski mode, and drop in. Here’s how to do it.
Set Up Early: As you make the last couple steps to your changeover place, take off your ski pole straps and remove your pack. Flop it down when you stop and open the top so you can throw in your skins as soon as you strip them.
Twice Down: Bend down to one side and take care of everything. Switch your boots to ski mode, tighten any buckles that need tightening, and lock down your binding’s heel. Now do the same with the other. The idea is that you only reach down to each side once instead of doing a bunch of squats after your just finished skinning a few thousand feet.
Stand and Peel: After you take care of the boots and bindings, all you have left are the skins. Stand up straight and lift one foot. It’s a good idea to keep your helmet / goggles on for this one. Grab the skin’s tail and unclip it. Now rip the whole thing off in one fast back-to-front motion and hold your hand high at the end of the stroke. This keeps the end of the skin from falling into the snow and getting globbed up. Fold your skin in half and stick it together to leave no glue exposed. Now stuff it in your pack and do the other one.
Tip: If your skis are very long or wide and stripping the skins is harder than you can do while standing on one foot, then try crossing your legs. For example, pick up your left leg and move the tail of your ski around your right. Now use your right hand to peel your left skin while you use your left pole for balance. I can strip my Killowatts by simply standing and lifting my foot, but I have to cross my legs to pull the skins off my Megawatts when I bring out the big planks for deep days.
Learn From Others: I’m just an FNG compared to many of the backcountry skiers out there, but this is me ripping my skins a couple days after I learned how to do it:
Take a look at local bad ass Andrew McLean getting the job done.
Or, if you want to see what the Euros look like, check out French rando racer Stéphane Brosse making a lighting fast changeover at the Wasatch Powder Keg.
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Tags: alpine touring, backcountry skiing, climbing skins, telemark skiing
Great stuff, but doesn’t help us Duke / Baron users… still gotta step out of the skis to switch to the binders to shred mode.
If you’re in the same boat, remember to go one at a time so you don’t end up wallowing in the pow, keeping your downhill foot clipped in at all times in any kind of steep or exposed terrain. This lets you work on your other ski on the uphill side and protect a potential runaway with you downhill leg.
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Hey Danno,
Thanks for the tip. I ski on Dynafit bindings for everything, so I don’t have any experience with Dukes or Barons, but you’re correct. If the ski must come off, then keeping the other one on is pretty important unless you like wallowing around in the powder.
Adam
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Good videos – really help…also the clear step by step descriptions….
I have to admit, despite 10+ years touring, I still have trouble with this.
Now – somebody post a video showing how to skin UP without taking off your skis. I see old guys do that here in Garmisch ALL THE TIME! It looks easy – but I can’t even come close to getting it.
Wookie1974
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Good tip for the Duke’s Dannoskis.
This article lists one extra step however…… “take off your ski pole straps”
If your in the backcountry you probably shouldn’t be using pole straps if caught as and avy those poles are going to pull you down and make it a lot harder or impossible to get your hand in front of your face to save some breathing space.
Also if your skiing trees and catch a pole, your shoulder will not appreciate those pole straps. Or put your hand through the strap the wrong way and the pole may not get out of the way in a fall and can have an unfortunate meeting with your thumb (I have friends who have had surgery thanks to this one).
I am definitely not the most coordinated person and I have been going strapless now for the past month both backcountry and at resorts and have managed to keep my poles with me the whole time. Added bonus no messing with pole straps getting on and off of the lift!
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Brett,
You’re completely right. I missed the ski pole strap step because I don’t have my straps on when I get to the top in the first place. They’re off anytime I’m on anything that’s not a flat access road without a slope over it. For a while I even took the straps off my poles because I never used them, but they’re handy for really technical descents that involve rappels, because you need something to clip to.
To everyone else, listen to Brett. Straps are a no-no in the backcountry.
Adam
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