I was in for a long day, I realized. Does DPS Phantom make a difference with skin adhesion vs more traditional ski waxes? The tail hook / cam worked quite well until the plastic piece that holds it together popped out somehow and made the tail system unusable, though were hoping to find that issue resolved with the current versions well be testing this coming season. This is a very nice guide, although not really relevant to what I ski. After many years on G3 nylon skins I switched to Colltex mohair and have never looked back. But at this point, they are now very manageable in this regard. The past skis I have used are Rossi S3 168cm and DPS Whailer 168cm. Good question thats one of the skins that we will add in the future, since we only just started spending time on it late this spring. Well, turns out many of your favorite pro skiers swear by a particular skin: Pomoca. The fact that the Contour Hybrid adhesive is very easy to clean and renew (Ive done it several times to good effect on various pairs of mine) is a significant aspect that wasnt really discussed here. The branding suggests they'd be sturdy and forgiving. The inherently balanced nature of all climbing skin attributes makes writing reviews of them decidedly vague and difficult. Climbing Skins Easy Tips to Keep 'Em Touring Instead of getting frustrated, I reached into my jacket to pull out my climbing skins and begin the race uphill. Paul: Ill just reveal now that the Pomoca Race Pro 2.0 is currently my favorite skin on the market. I almost always ski down with my skins in an interior jacket pocket or otherwise against my base layers to warm them on the way down and highly recommend this strategy, especially for cold days, to preserve the stickiness of the adhesive. Climbing Skins: 5 Myths and Buying Tips - - The Backcountry Ski Touring While Im personally fully bought in to the mohair skin, higher grip skin might be more suitable to newby tourers who are less confident. I do agree with Paul in that the Race Pro 2.0 is a very impressive skin, and I think thatd be my choice for most of my narrower skis. We havent yet used Black Diamond and Contours tools, but G3 and Pomocas are excellent. I love being able to roll up my skins and shove them into my coat on the descents. Even skins that are only 3-5 years old feel quite big and stiff compared to the ones Ive been using the past few seasons. The tail system features a simple camming system that slides on a piece of strong, rubberized material. Pomoca Free Pro 2.0 Review | Tested by GearLab Cheers. trying to get g3 to address this problem has also been an adventure. Id love to hear if anyone has had experience, good or bad, with skins that dont go right to the tail. Will I struggle to find enough grip with the free pro 2.0 given my weight (225lbs) and beginner touring skills? Ive heard from other folks that this allows more snow to creep under, but I havent noticed that being any worse than normal personally. All of the three sets preformed the same. Any experts here know the difference between the three in terms of the plush and applied coating? But the skin material itself is also just very thin and pliable, and Id love to put a pair on my fatter skis since the packability (and glide) benefits would be much more exaggerated on a larger ski. Drying the skins stuck together in a warm/hot place makes this worse. No cherry-picked units sent by manufacturers. All we really need skins for is traction or grip. Skin failure can ruin your day, or much worse. Conventional wisdom is that nylon skins hold up better over the long term than mohair skins. Water resistance is another important durability variable. My company actually uses this material to make part feeding systems mainly for robotic picking applications. The G3 Minimist Glide, Pomoca Climb Pro S-Glide, and Black Diamond UltraLite Mix are all pretty similar in that Ive experienced almost zero slippage from any of them in any conditions. I really like the tip hook system on the G3 Minimist since its simple, lightweight, seems quite strong, and works well with really wide ski tips. Everyone has different priorities when it comes to skins, but below are the most important characteristics of skins for me. Ive also found that the fatter the skis, the less I wanted really sticky adhesive. Less sunshine means less warming. Icing/glopping occurs when the fabric absorbs liquid water and then picks up cold, dry snow to refreeze. How to Choose the Best Climbing Skins for Your Backcountry Skiing Pomoca Bi Color Wax - Skimo 100% Satisfaction Guarantee The old GlideLite skins were fairly similar to the UltraLite Mix in terms of grip and glide, but not as thin, supple, and packable.]. The Pomoca Race Pro 2.0 skins I have are cut for the 178cm-long, 91mm-wide Majesty Superwolf, so it comes as little surprise that theyre by far the smallest / most packable skins Ive used. Dont fall for the marketing, that full nylon skins are for extreme grip scenarios. Pomoca glue is notorious for doing this; Ive had four pair that have all done this, and almost everyone I know in UT and WY who uses pomocas and skis a lot has dealt with it, including people who get Pomocas for free. While I initially found this to work quite well, Ive had issues with all 3 pairs of my UltraLite Mix skins. the differences between skins especially those in the same category (e.g., nylon vs. nylon, mix vs mix, mohair vs mohair) tend to be extremely subtle. Skins with a thicker plush also tend to last longer than those with a thinner plush. Both me and Paul have found that most skins with a . I will accept 50% of the problem might be technique, but I have been touring for about 10 years, and have never had a sliding problem on older G3 skins (likely Universal, but not sure) or on BD skins. As mentioned above, the hardware on the Kohla Vertical Mixmohair skins is very similar to Pomoca, with good all-round performance, though I dont think it stays put quite as well on rounded tails. It is all a matter of how much you need. SSL makes the pair of skins about 60-75g lighter while remaining 100% waterproof. I always store my skins in my pack and I find with the plastic extension the skins fold really easy and stuff really easy. The downside to mohair: It tends to get beat up on spring ski tours, since the firm, refrozen snow can chew up the fragile mohair. Lots of explanation behind my questions: is there a length of skin that should extend past the heel point of the boot to provide sufficient grip? Available in two versions: "Race" does not have the special "Glide" treatment (though it probably slides quite well anyway), "Race Pro" has the "Glide" treatment, which in my experience makes a noticeable improvement in skin glide. So, in sum, all of these skins have their place in the market, and we hope that this guide has helped you figure out which ones should be on your list next time youre in the market for a new pair of skins. (Shop for climbing skins at Backcountry.com or Cripple Creek .) Luke: Yep, Pomocas adhesive is pretty great (my impression of the adhesive on the Pomoca Climb 2.0 and Free Pro 2.0 seems in line with Pauls notes about the adhesive on the Race Pro 2.0 and Climb Pro S-Glide). Shop for Pomoca Ski Skins at REI - FREE SHIPPING With $50 minimum purchase. Ive washed the Hybrid glue in the sink with soap and water (as directed) and it really does re-invigorate the adhesive. Ive never had issues with Phantom affect skin adhesion performance. The 22/23 GlideLite Mix, as well as a pure mohair version, the GlideLite Pure, feature Black Diamonds recently revised STS hardware, but we havent tried the latest plush materials. It would seem, then, that "more is better". https://www.climbing-skins.com/information/specialities If anything, they might stick better if you work on your own skis and decide to never wax your phantom-ed skis since you have the extra security of not needing to worry about a super thorough scrape and having left over wax gunk up your glue. Will do mostly lift accessed powdering but also some moderate tours to get me to some nice spots in the Austrian alps. There is basically no glide and I can walk up an icy wall (not really), they dont lack for grip. You can buy skins with more grip, yes, but they dont actually exist because anyone _needs_ that level of grip. The tip pieces seem just about indestructible and are quite simple and robust in design. The only thing that your skins can "do" to prevent icing is to not soak up water in the first place. Some adhesives are super sticky and difficult to remove while others are easy to remove but are more prone to falling off your skis when you dont want them to. If you had a new pair of 4FRNT Ravens would you go straight cut 100mm or wall to wall carpet 120mm Or split the difference and go 110mm? I have wall to wall BD Glidelight Mix skins based on Blisters recommendation. It seems most problematic when the snow is cold and dry. Thanks Luke, great response and very helpful. Unfortunately, they are no longer available in ~100mm-wide rolls, which limits their applicability to narrower skis. Skin Skis | Everything you need to know 2021 - Enjoy Winter I will restate something I have been hammering down the last few years regarding skins for splitboarding. (120mm x 180cm) Materials: 70% mohair, 30% nylon Widths: 100, 110, 120, 130, 140mm What we like: An optimal balance of glide, grip, adhesion, and packability. Here are the skins were comparing for now: Paul Forward: First, all of the skins listed have sufficient grip for any of the skin tracks I frequent. And good call just added a note about the plush type next to each skin in the list. One very important variable that affects glide, grip, and glue (and maybe durability?) Its worth noting that most skins seem to offer slightly worse glide when brand new, but this tends to get better after a few runs / days. Contours Hybrid adhesive is even easier to rip than Pomocas, and in most scenarios, I dont have issues with it failing to stay stuck to the bottom of skis while skinning. I love the efficiency of smoothly gliding skins. On the flip side, wider skis also seem to generate more friction, consequently decreasing glide efficiency. . Paul: Most people have concluded that nylon plush tends to be more durable than mohair plush. Were fans of the new hardware, since it offers a slightly more streamlined and secure attachment at the tip, and is more easily replaceable. Visit any busy backcountry ski trailhead and you will surely see multiple pairs of these yellow skins. I would even go so far as to say that, aside from boot fit, skin choice is the single most important gear factor affecting the efficiency and comfort of the ascent portion of ski touring. Subsequent cycles of this can aggregate more and more ice/snow into and onto your skins. Sadly, I am having big issues with sliding backwards. The big caveat with the Race Pro 2.0 is that, as the name implies, it is intended for narrow, short skimo race skis. I have had the two most well-used pairs of the Black Diamond UltraLite Mix fall off my skis during cold winter days, but they were salvageable. None of the skins listed here have caused any issues with leaving glue residue on my skis, something I experienced a lot with some older Black Diamond and G3 skins in particular. But in our experience, most nylon skins are pretty similar overall in terms of grip, and the BD Ascension and BSMP Nylon also glide a tiny bit better than some other nylon skins. I currently run 2 pairs of Pro S-Glide, and 1 pair each of Pomoca Race Pro 2.0, BD ultralight mix, BD glidelite mix, and some older G3 Alpinists and BD Ascensions, and Id rank them in that order with the Pro S-GLide a strong favorite. I promise. written by Doug Stenclik October 29, 2019 A little climbing skin TLC goes a long way to ensuring happy days in the mountains. You can still buy long hair skins material plush from MONTANA skins. Most modern skins have attachment points at the tip and tail of the ski to keep them in place on your skis. Synthetic Nylon has much more friction which translates to less glide and more energy expended on the skin All trademarks property of their respective owners This measures how much weight a square cm can support. The tip and tail hardware is one characteristic of skins that tends to differ the most across different brands almost every brand uses a different style of hardware, with each having upsides and downsides. On wide skis, that may not be the way to go with grippy skins. The plastic becomes brittle eventually and on a cold enough day it will crack. The Black Diamond UltraLite system also works quite well. We definitely recommend these (relatively) affordable climbing skins. Of all the skins Ive used, Ive never used an adhesive that I liked better than the adhesive on the Pomoca Race Pro 2.0 & Climb Pro S-Glide Ive recently been using. I do tend to favor lower-angle skin tracks but still encounter steep, icy tracks on occasion. Pomoca skin attachments are available separately for your skin-fixing pleasure. Best Climbing Skins of 2023 for Backcountry Skiing. I've tested the Pomoca skins out with 4Frnt skis and they are really excellent. Denali expedition, June 2022, executed with these Best Buy climbing skins. Their glue is still definitely on the stickier end, but with some practice, Im able to rip their skins with my skis on. While Im not disputing that, I think its also worth trying to quantify what that actually means for the average skier. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Should the skin extend almost to the back of the ski? A primary secret to Pomoca's skin success is the Safer Skin Light membrane, an uber thin rubber layer between the plush and the sticky side that prevents water logging, cuts weight, and allows the skin to pack down for easy carrying. I have found the Pomoca skins to be the most reliable all round. I would ideally like one set of skins to cover the whole season in the Canadian Rockies. Material and waterproof treatment choices are the "levers" that a manufacturer can pull to enhance icing resistance. You can buy the Pomoca Cimb 2.0 in many different sizes. Others might be even more represented, but only because of lingering brand loyalty from a time in which Pomoca skins were harder to acquire. Personally, Id rather buy a new pair of skins slightly more frequently and have a much nicer time each day Im on a skin track. [Editors Note: For the 22/23 season, Black Diamond discontinued the UltraLite Mix and tweaked the GlideLite Mix. Best Climbing Skins for Skis of 2023 Treeline Review These flashy yellow skins pack down pretty darn small and, in our rudimentary weight comparison, come out near the top of the charts. Neither have any major flaws in my experience, and theyre a bit cheaper than some of the fancier models mentioned here. Hi Dan, just saw your comment here. Ill get into the actual hardware functionality and ease of use below, but here Ill address how well the different hardware has held up during my use. The chaos and terror of sliding backwards can ruin a fine day for someone new to the sport. Nylon Nylon skins are the grippiest and most durable, if not the heaviest and bulkiest skins out there. I.e., it glides quite well, is very packable, and doesnt quite match very fast-gliding mohair skins like the Race Pro 2.0 but offers slightly better grip. Contours hardware is pretty similar to Pomocas, with a simple tip bar and large, plastic clip at the tail. I also liked the Pomoca Climb Pro S-Glide but, to me, any small gains in durability and grip of the Climb Pro are usurped by the lower weight and better glide of the Race Pro 2.0. As a general rule, nylon fibers (which are often shorter) tend to be grippier than mohair fibers (which are often longer), though there are differences across different skins that well get into below. I am now starting to wonder if length of the skin is the issue. I bought their last 400 yard x 60 roll. BCA now re-badges and distributes the Contour Hybrid (65% Mo, 35% nylon) skins in the USA. You gotta get up to get down, right? This technology is just about as old as the ski itself (the first skins were just animal hides strapped to wooden planks) and it still works pretty much the same as it always has. Peel the protective film from the adhesive side of the climbing skin. 3: Sustainability, Beer, & the Bigger Picture (Ep.10), https://www.hybridskins.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/hybrid-cleaning-spray-4250-Deutsch.pdf, https://echa.europa.eu/registration-dossier/-/registered-dossier/14975, https://www.climbing-skins.com/information/specialities, Blister Brand Guides: Mountain Bike Lineups, Black Diamond UltraLite Mix (mohair / nylon mix), Pomoca Climb Pro S-Glide (mohair / nylon mix), Kohla Vertical Mixmohair (mohair / nylon mix). I think one aspect was missed in this review: the choice to fit skins to the widest or narrowest part of the ski. Click Lock Tip Kits - Swappable tip attachment system that is screwed onto your skin and allows the interchange of various sizes of bent buckles. cheers for your help! Pomoca Climb Pro S-Glide ($210-$240) Weight: 1 lb. The Climb 2.0 is widely compatible. Pomoca's nylon/mohair blend is legendary for well balanced performance. But they still seem to be the stickiest of the skins Ive used. Thanks :-). In 2020, the EVER DRY 3.0 will be used to treat all POMOCA skins, making this the first PFC-Free skins brand! For best practices on that, we recommend asking the manufacturer of the skins you use, since best storage practices vary between brands. For the Long Haul Pomoca Climb 2.0 Climbing Skin Review While I find that most mohair / nylon mix skins grip quite similarly to full-nylon skins in most conditions, I think the difference in glide is much more noticeable. of vertical feet on this exact fabric, all the while appreciating the easy sliding nature during each stride. And again, dont focus too much on skins that are right next to each other in this spectrum, as the differences between them are likely quite subtle. Cheers Stan. Therefore its icy on the way up, and all I ever want is more grip. In my experience, really wide skis with edge-to-edge skins generally grip better than a narrower ski with the same skins. is the width of the ski being used with your skins. It can ruin a ski day. Unfortunately, its possible to spend upwards of $2000 (or much more) on a fancy new ski / boot / binding combo and still have a mediocre gear experience because of bad skins. Re: the Race Pro 2.0 width, it seems that the available widths are a bit inconsistent across retailers. I have three pairs of the now-discontinued Black Diamond UltraLite Mix skins and at least 100 days combined between them. (I never did get to try Fischers fish-scale skins though!). And then theres a good deal of variance when it comes to the long-term durability of tip / tail hardware and adhesives, which varies between brands and which well discuss a bit below in the comparison section. The Kohla Vertical Mixmohair skins are pretty similar to the Pomoca Climb 2.0 in terms of suppleness and packability better than average, but not exceptionally supple or packable. Its actually a tiny bit lighter than the Race Pro 2.0 (by surface area), but is designed to be used with wider skis. One thing that Ive observed is that people new to ski touring often have difficulty with proper form, keeping the weight on the heel and end up sliding backwards on steep uptracks. What is difference between this and POMOCA 140mm Free Pro 2.0 My new pomoca pro s glide skins are not gliding very well. The only skins that I had slipping issues with were the Pomoca Race Pro 2.0 but I blame a lot of that on the fact that I was using 100mm-wide, straight-cut skins on a pair of the 105mm-wide Blizzard Zero G 105, which equated to quite a bit of base exposed at the tips and tails. Glaciated, sunset ski touring in Alaska on the Pomoca Climb 2.0. READ DIGITAL VERSION: 22/23 Winter Buyers Guide, Ted Hesser on Chains of Habit & Destigmatizing the Conversation Around Mental Health (Ep.142), The Alchemist, Pt. Perhaps I might swap out the tail clip for a G3 or BD clip. How to Choose the Best Climbing Skins for Your Backcountry Skiing I suspect some of them would be able to break this habit with better-gliding skins, and consequently find themselves moving more efficiently through the backcountry. Thanks to the thinner layers, POMOCA has succeeded in making its classical SAFER SKIN membrane lighter. Inferior product (no glide) but lower price. Compare Pomoca Race Pro 2.0 Skins From $159.95 Compare Pomoca Race Pro 2.0 Per CM From $0.45 Compare Pomoca Climb Pro S-Glide Skins $209.95 From $179.95 Compare Pomoca Climb 2.0 Skins $189.95 From $159.95 Compare Pomoca Race Pro Grip Per CM $0.36 Compare Pomoca Climb Pro S-Glide Per CM $0.52 Compare Pomoca Back Fix Easy Set $49.95 the only way to avoid this is to roll the skin, skin side to glue side. They claim a proprietary water resistant coating and we know that the fabric is a blend of mohair (good gliding, more water absorption) and nylon (less water absorption). The adhesive is perfect and easy to pull apart, the skins are light-weight, and do not take on much water, given the warm summer condition and water content of the slushy corn snow. Great review! My old skins on my Rossi S3s definitely had longer coverage, as did the BDs on the DPS skis). You help support OutdoorGearLab's product testing and reviews by purchasing from our retail partners. the world's most carefully tested and objective gear reviews, All around performance, huge size range available, Light, fast gliding, enough grip, optimized glue, universal tip and tail, Well-balanced in all attributes, great glue, Compromised glide when new, limited availability at times and places, Mohair blend will wear out faster than all nylon, harder to find than other brands, Expensive, require ongoing periodic maintenance, The best climbing skins on the market, they strike all the right balances, Fast gliding skins for cold snow and accomplished skinners, the super compact, light form makes your huge skis more manageable, These walk a tightrope, yielding a productthat is fully balanced right at the performance point that our experience suggests is ideal, On the balance sheet of climbing skins, they lean in the fast and light direction, with associated compromises in grip and durability, 558g for Salomon MTN Explore 95.
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