Twin Tip Ski Climbing Skin Tips
Add to Del.icio.usThis Month's Gear Guru Question:
by Backcountry BobQ. I recently bought a pair of K2 AK Enemy skis. While I love every blissful minute on the ride down, I have found that on the hike up my G3 skins slip off the curved edges of the twin tip tails. I am not sure how to get those darn skins from sliding around the edges and falling off, therefore rendering them helpless and floppy. Any advice would be terrific.
A. Twin tip skis definitely have thrown a monkey wrench into the tail attachment systems for skins, but there are solutions. The first is just to go with no tail attachments at all. Just cut the skins (round off the ends) so they do not come up past the contact point of the ski. I have been using standard skins (no tail deal) for years with no skin failure whatsoever. This requires a little more attention to skin care but works well – see my article in this issue about this subject. I just make sure they never touch the snow, and take a little time each season to apply extra glue to the skin tails. Gold Label by Ascension is excellent and easy to apply. The other alternative is to take a file or dremel tool to the tail of your ski, and make a shallow notch for the clip on your tail assembly. It has to be just enough to catch the clip – you’d be surprised how little you have to alter the ski to accomplish this. You can also do this on the ski tip with two small notches to keep the skin tip wire secure. Good luck and happy skinning!
Last month’s Gear Guru question was won by Brent Morvay from Bellingham Washington. Brent will receive a BackcountryStore.com Nalgene bottle for his question. Enjoy Brent!