Climbing Skins - What's your flavorite favor?

[Dostie]

Love to do a poll on this but there are limits to what this platform can allow (number of answers) and the variations that are possible make it a challenge to anticipate what to focus on. So, if you don't mind, I'll keep it open and if there is some sort of clear categories that emerge I'll start a poll.

So...what are you fave climbing skins? Brand? Plush (Nylon, Mohair, Mo/Ny mix)? Glue (Vacuum aka glueless OR "traditional")? Pros? Cons? Rate the grip. Rate the glide. Temperature limits? Elastic in the tip or tail? Maybe share your least fave skins too for comparison and as a warning to others.

Thx

[PeteMatul]

Forget that synthetic stuff. It's seal skins for me.

[bauerb]

I use both kinds: pink and purple. Pomoco and Colltex. Colltex appear to be the fastest, but they also have the most miles. they are go-fast skins so made from mohair. if I really want to suffer I put my "tele mark down" TMD skins, which are roughly the size of tarp with the nap of a 70's shag carpet on my 106 width tele skis...you can climb a tree with that setup.

[tubbyteleskier]

Which ever used set I can get at the sport recycler for a deal and cut to size. Just so long as the glue isn't too far gone.

[grm]

G3. Whatever is cheapest on sale Boxing Day. Reheat glue till it just won’t take it any more. Renew glue them till the tail strap breaks. Then use the next set. I don’t pay much attention to glide or grip. They all seem to work.

[Quadzilla]

Have used different generations of BD skins for years, some good and some bad. The later generation nylon ones were OK glue wise but the plush had a tendency to get wet and glop. The mohair blend BD skins are thin and hard to handle in a breeze. The nylon skins can be made better by hot waxing the skins. The mohair skins at least the ones I have need hot waxing too. The bottomline for me on BD skins is that they work but heavy and bulky, they are on my older gear.

My favorite skins are the Pomoca Race skins, they are light, have good glide and pretty grippy. They are easy to rip as compared and fold up small. Have used these for two seasons, Lynn too and not one issue so by far our favorites and would recommend........

Forgot to add, The tail system on the Pomoca skins is not as easy as the others but doable.

[jtb]

Most of my skins are Pomoca Pro Glide (or the Dynafit-branded Speedskins), 70/30 molon. I have a pair of nylon Voiles as a backup that I hardly use because I don't feel they grip as well. Fender washers on stretchy cord at the toe and tip notches on all of my skis.

The most interesting skins I own are these Swiss army surplus mohairs from who knows when. They don't use glue, but rather diagonal metal bars that slip over the ski. I put a lot of miles on these with my Tuas before the internet taught me about modern gear.

[bobbytooslow]

Mix: 70/30 mohair/synthetic

Brand: Pomoca (sold under many brand names, Dynafit, K2, etc)

Glue: Traditional

Coating: Whatever (it only lasts so long, and I'm diligent about hot-waxing anyway)

Grip: Gets me to the point where I'd want crampons anyway. I have good pole technique, but Why exhaust yourself?

Glide: Excellent when waxed

Tip: Knotted bungee for notch in ski

Tail: Usually nothing, just an extra dab of glue. If conditions are gloppy, I might use skins with just the simple metal hook.


Question I'd like to see answered:
Has anyone used the tip bungee system, and decided Nah, the wire loop or G3 grabbers are better? (My hunch is no, and I'm adamant that the knotted bungee should become the industry standard, regardless of width.)

[bobbytooslow]

...BD skins is that they work but heavy and bulky...

...Pomoca Race skins...are easy to rip as compared and fold up small.

This is correct and really important.

I believe that skins should always be carried in your shirt/jacket. It relates to the other thread about transitions, and having a routine down. If part of your routine is tucking your skins in the front of your top, it's not a disruption to do it when things get a little hairy.

This is a lot easier (and comfortabl-er) when the skins are light and supple, like most Pomocas. I even carry them in my jacket pockets on lift-serve days when I might be ducking the rope into the sidecountry. It's nice to have that insurance, knowing you can skin back up to something you need to.

[chamonix]

I like the Kohla Vacuum skins. Incredibly easy to "rip skins", or pull skins apart. . I did have an adhesion failure on one ski, last winter, but now that I've cleaned the vacuum surface with special cleaning pads, adhesion seems to be ok again.
Also Contour make a vacuum skin, Contour Hybrid construction, sold by BCA now. I have one set of those, haven't used them yet.
https://backcountryaccess.com/en-us/...climbing-skins

So at the top of a skin up, I lock down my AT heels, then lift the tail of one ski at a time, grab the skin tail, and rip the skin. Easy to do with these hybrid skins. Much safer IMHO to keep skis on, saves time, and you don't end up post-holing (or falling over) in deep snow.
I'm not flexible enough to put skins on again, with skis on.

[cesare]

Pomoca Climb 2.0. The thing nobody talks about is what I think makes them superior. The backing is waterproof. That means water does not soak through from the plush to the underside of the glue, contaminating it. They dry much faster and they don't tear easily like the BD mix skins. Also, having re-glued them I can say that the Pomoca glue is far better than Gold Label. It goes on smooth and is just the right tackiness. Easy to pull apart and to rip and at the same time stick to my bases. I have grown to like the Pomoca tail cam for its low profile but at first I found them difficult to flip over the tail. Now I've got it down. The Pomoca tips are another story; chintzy, light wire. I was thinking of replacing them with some G3 tips because I love the way the hands articulate to adapt to just about any tip shape. And the universe provided when the tips were stolen off them in the drying room at a backcountry onsen the first day I used them. I had to use Voile straps the rest of that tour but when I got home I cut the tips off a newish pair of G3 skins that I didn't like all that much and speedy stitchered them onto the Pomocas using black dental floss (great stuff). I trimmed them to fit my Atomic Backland 102FRs and they fit the 107s as well. Perfect now.

I still have a huge collection of BD Nylon skins for the rest of my quiver, all with G3 tips and tapered radically on the rockered sections to save weight. I like the indestructable nature of the nylons but have been frustrated forever by the Gold Label glue, which I think is wildly inconsistent but never great. I hot wax all my skins a couple times a season and never have glopping problems. The videos with industry celebrities talking about their kit and carrying glopstopper wax in their repair kits and even demonstrating applying it in the field make me laugh. I can't believe they're pros. I'm so much sicker than they are. If you are putting glopstopper on in the field you have already failed and your skins are not going to recover completely until they are completely dry. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Ha!

[dschane]

I currently have Pomoca Free 2.0 (orange), Climb Pro S-Glide (mint), BD Ascension, and G3 Alpinist. They all work well. I think Pomoca's Pro S-Glide offers the best grip/glide balance. So far, the glue on the Pomoca has been the easiest to work with (easy to pull apart). If managed well, none of these bindings crap out in the field. BD's have better grip than G3, but G3 has better glide.

If Pomoca had G3's tip/tail system, they'd be the best all around. I still prefer them, but their tips/tails are a bit chintzy (though they're holding up just fine).

[djhutch]

Question I'd like to see answered:
Has anyone used the tip bungee system, and decided Nah, the wire loop or G3 grabbers are better? (My hunch is no, and I'm adamant that the knotted bungee should become the industry standard, regardless of width.)

Raises hand 🙋

I prefer the traditional loop-over-tip/tail clip attachment style for two reasons:

1. It's much easier for me to kick the tails up and grab the tail clip than to lean forward and grab the tip dongle on Dynafit style skins (I'm inflexible AF)

2. When putting skins on the ski, I find it much easier to stick the tails in the snow and put the skin on from the tip first (traditional style)

I have two pairs with Dynafit style skins and don't hate them (love the Pomoca skin), I just don't prefer that attachment system.

Which way is the right way to put the toilet paper on the roll again? 🙃

[bobbytooslow]

Which way is the right way to put the toilet paper on the roll again? 🙃

Beards not mullets (i.e. paper down in the front), unless you have a cat or a toddler. Then it's Ricky Skaggs 1986 time.

[jtb]

1. It's much easier for me to kick the tails up and grab the tail clip than to lean forward and grab the tip dongle on Dynafit style skins (I'm inflexible AF)

Interesting... I find tip notches to require far less flexibility than tail clips. Because you're already in touring mode when your skins are on, you can kick the ski tip right to your hand... not the case with the tails, or at least not without a bit of twisting.