Skins might not inspire much trust. They stick to everything (sometimes even themselves), but they’re what get you to the top. Despite being overlooked, they are one of the most essential pieces of ski touring gear. With numerous options available, knowing how to choose the right pair of climbing skins is crucial. At their core, skins are straightforward: one side is coated with a cold-weather adhesive that grips your ski bases, while the other is covered in a tough, textured fabric, often a blend of mohair and nylon, that delivers traction on snow. Add the tip and tail hardware – you’ve got yourself a pair of climbing skins. Simple in concept, yet surprisingly complex in design. Below, I’ve highlighted a few key points to help guide your decision.

Related: How To Choose Touring Skis: Shred On

Be Honest With Yourself

What’s your local playground? How much experience do you have with ski touring in the backcountry? Answering those questions will help you choose the climbing skins that suit your needs.

For instance, I’d weigh in favour of energy-efficient mohair or hybrid skins for multi-day ski tours on mellow terrain since they provide the best glide and the least weight. For beginners, I wouldn’t bother with those, as you’ll be wasting far more energy trying to gain traction on steep sections or worse, you’ll rip them apart on rocky terrain. Simply put, be honest with yourself, answer the two key questions, and only then, start shelling out the big bucks.

Pick A Base Material (Plush)

The skin’s base material or “plush” completely changes how the skin behaves on snow, as it determines the balance between traction and glide. You’ll find below four materials currently available on the market.

Nylon: Nylon provides the best traction. It’s also the most durable at the cost of being heavier and less packable. I usually recommend nylon climbing skins to beginners as the top-tier traction will more than make up for poor uphill technique. Alternatively, nylon skins are worth picking up if your local playground is riddled with steep, bushy uptracks just like my locale, Rogers Pass.

Mohair: Mohair provides the best glide at the expense of traction. It’s less durable than nylon but is lightweight and packable. They are awesome for multi-day ski traverses on alpine terrain, where you will mostly tour up low grades. With good pathfinding and some touring experience, you can make full mohair skin work for you on steeper terrain.

Hybrid: Hybrid skins offer a blend of nylon and mohair, striking a good balance between traction and glide. I usually look for a material incorporating a 60-30 mohair/nylon blend. They are the jack-of-all-trades climbing skins, such as the Pomoca Tour Pro, my favourite due to its overall performance on snow. Not too heavy nor too light, with the perfect balance between glide and traction.

Verify The Tip & Tail Hardware Compatibility

How annoying is it to have your tail clip sliding off your skis after each stride? First world problem, right? Climbing skins come with a variety of tip loops and tail straps that secure them to your touring skis. Some hardcore alpinists even cut off the tail strap to reduce weight and bulk. While modern tip & tail hardware works well with a wide range of skis, I recommend going to your local gear store to check the fit. For instance, Black Diamond sells an assortment of tip loops compatible with a specific range of ski tips.

Some skins are designed with an attachment system that’s only compatible with skis of the same brand. Dynafit is a good example: their tip attachment is fitted to narrow slots in the ski’s tip. While lightweight, the feature makes reselling much more complicated. I prefer universal models for that reason.

Size Your Climbing Skins Accordingly

The width of the fabric before trimming is an important factor to consider if you were to choose some climbing skins. They are generally offered in 10-cm increments. I recommend buying skins as wide as the widest point along your ski (usually located at the shovel). Then, trim the extra material by following the manufacturer’s instructions, usually achieved by leaving a 2mm gap around the edge of your ski. Select a skin length that’s longer than the length of your skis. With clever sizing, you might be able to use the same skins on skis of varying lengths. Careful! The width may not match up. A skin that’s too narrow for the ski’s base makes touring on hard snow extremely difficult since the plush won’t contact the snow.

Store Your Climbing Skins Like A Pro

Climbing skins are a durable product, but like any outdoor gear, they don’t last forever. Proper storage will extend their lifetime. On the slopes, store them in your backpack, folded glue-on-glue. I personally don’t bother with the skin savers in the backcountry. Those flimsy storage sheets will flap around in the wind and fly away at a moment’s notice. I’m talking from experience here.

After skiing, I stretch them out on a drying rack. Keep them away from serious heat sources – that includes wood stoves, dryers or electric baseboards. When dry, I lay the plastic storage film over the adhesive, fold the plush in quarters, and slide the pair into its storage bag. Ideally, the adhesive never comes in contact with itself, except in the field. In the off-season, I shelve them in a cool, dry environment in an airtight storage bin with skin savers applied. True believers chuck them in the freezer to preserve the glue, but I’m quite skeptical of this practice.

Maintain Your Climbing Skins

For the most part, climbing skins are pretty much maintenance-free, unlike your ski bases. Stitches work wonders if you ever tear them, which is very easy when bushwhacking below treeline. In truly bone-chilling weather, the glue loses some of its adhesive properties. If that’s the case, you’ve got two options:

• Stuff the skins in your jacket to warm them up.
• Secure them with multiple ski straps along the length of your skis if they’re beyond repair.

Just like us, skin adhesive has a life expectancy. There comes a point where the glue won’t adhere to your bases. Fortunately, G3 and Black Diamond both sell kits to rejuvenate the glue, albeit with varying degrees of success. It’s a messy, time-consuming process. At the risk of offending the anti-consumerists out there, it’s almost cheaper to buy a fresh set of skins than attempting a re-glue when considering the opportunity cost of your labour.

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