Category: Tech Tip

Forget A-Frame, Forget Diagonal- Pull Those Skis

Posted by Frank – June 28, 2011

On our recent “day before the wedding” ski of Whiterock Mountain, one of the things I was most excited about was trying a different carrying method for my skis. My friend Jon Johnston has long been using this method, and since he was down from Canada for the wedding, it was the perfect time for him to show me how it’s done. A-Frame has always been my least favorite method, as it is time-consuming to set up and I always seem to hit my calves on the tails. Diagonal is a bit better for me, though it really depends on the backpack and it’s still easy to catch your tips when climbing steep terrain. Pulling the skis avoids both of these problems.
Jon showing the technique:
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Jon gave credit to Peter Ressmann for developing the technique while they were on Mount Saint Elias along with Axel Naglich, filming the movie of the same name. It makes a ton of sense to pull skis on a huge expedition-style ascent like Mount Saint Elias, when you’d already be carrying massive loads from camp to camp. I kept seeing Jon using the method over the past few years, so it looked like it must be a viable method even on a more standard day trip. Conditions in Canada this past winter prevented me from ever trying the technique- we were too busy stepping off the snowmobiles and shredding powder spines- so I was glad Jon joined us on Whiterock for another try.

It’s pretty simple to set up. Drill a hole in each ski- I used a 3/16″ bit. Some epoxy is probably a good idea as well. Grab a few feet of cord, tie a couple of stopper knots in one end, and thread the cord through the skis. Rotate the dynafits so the brakes are up, orleave the Fritchis in the high bar so their brakes don’t drag. Tie a figure 8 into your ice axe loop on your pack and start hiking. Close-up:
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So, how did it work? I’m not 100% sold, but it’s something I’m definitely putting in my bag of tricks. On flatter ground, it works really well- you don’t even know the skis are there. Steeper terrain really works well, too- once the backpack and the skis are more or less parallel, the skis again seem to disappear. It’s on the moderate terrain of say 30-40 degrees that I’d just assume have the skis on my pack. There’s simply something in the angle that makes the skis pull strangely on moderate slopes. One thing I was worried about was how it would pull through mixed ground, or even on the suncups of summer. It’s pretty amazing, actually- the skis simply find their way and you don’t even have to worry about them. All in all, I would recommend the technique, it’s definitely worth a try. A long, steep face climb would be the ultimate proving ground.
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A clip from St Elias. Check it out around :20seconds…

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My Snowmobile Ski Rack

Posted by Frank – November 18, 2010

Accessing ski terrain via snowmobile is pretty much like being given the keys to the candy store. That’s especially true here in Crested Butte, where the heavy snow zones are all miles away from anywhere a car or truck can get. But once you’ve gotten a snowmobile, the next question becomes “How do I attach my skis to the snowmobile?”. The worst way is to attach the skis to your backpack, possibly catching the skis on trees and definitely making for a sore back. The next worst way is to place the skis on top of the running boards and attach them with some bungee cords. I used this method for years, but it tears your seat apart, takes time to set up, and is only good for one pair of skis.

Once skiers get serious about sled skiing, they will often purchase a rack from Cheetah Factory Racing. They’re nice, but they’re very expensive, and they put the weight of the skis right on the tunnel, which has bent the tunnel of a number of my friends’ sleds.

So, I decided to try my own thing. I’ve seen a number of homemade ski racks, and most of them seem pretty marginal at best. Perhaps my system will fall into the same category, but so far I’m very happy with it. I purchased gun racks from Cabela’s (click on the image at the bottom of this post), and then I tried to figure out how best to attach them to my sled. In the end, the only way I wanted to attach the racks would require welding, which I had done by ACD Welders here in Crested Butte. He was able to weld small brackets directly to my sled as well as tap the holes so I could mount the racks right in them. I added a little bit of rubber padding for shock absorption and lock washers, and voila!, I was done. Some pics:

The welded brackets:
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The base of the racks:
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Rear rack:
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Loaded and ready to go:
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I like the location of these mounts a lot. The weight is placed on the running boards and the bumper, both capable of taking some weight. The racks themselves are fairly flexy, so the hope is that both the skis and the snowmobile will be safe and secure with this set-up.

Anyone have an opinion on this set-up? Good, bad, or otherwise? FYI, my total investment is currently $130.

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Skin Glopping: Helpful Tips and Techniques

Posted by Frank – March 31, 2010

We’ve entered that time of year when the dreaded “skin glop” begins to make its appearance. Frozen snow sticking to your skins can make for an incredibly tiring and frustrating day. For the past couple of seasons, I’ve been able to largely avoid skin glopping, even when my partners have been having trouble, which I can partly attribute to some hard work refining my skin technique. (Having said that, Murphy’s Law states that I’ll be suffering through glopping of epic proportions the next time I head out.) For those of you who have never experienced the joys of glopped up skins, it looks something like this (photo found off the internet):

Glopping occurs when skins go from a warmer, moist environment to a colder and drier one. Glopping is often a problem in the springtime because a skintrack may go from a sunny slushy slope to a shaded powdery slope (such as in the shade of a tree or on a more northerly aspect). Other ways glopping may become a problem include getting skins wet while crossing a creek, which is easy to avoid, and downhill skinning, which may warm the skins enough due to friction to cause glopping as well. To avoid glopping after a downhill skin section, simply keep moving, which will let your skins gradually readjust to a colder temperature and thereby avoid glopping.

Avoiding glopping in the sunny/shady springtime snowpack is the hardest glop scenario to avoid, but there are still a few things to do that make it less likely.

1- Stride and Glide. Like many skiers, I learned how to skin using Alpine Trekkers. Trekkers are both heavy and awkward, and they promote poor skinning technique more suited to snowshoeing than skinning. The correct skin technique leaves the skis on the snow surface, shuffling your way up the hill. Bad skin technique involves picking the ski up every step, more like walking than skinning. Leaving the ski on the snow not only takes much less energy because you don’t pick up the weight of your skis/boots/bindings/skins with every step, but it also helps avoid glopping. Every stride on the snow surface acts like a squeegee- the snow tries to stick to your skins, but it gets wiped off with every stride. Like I said, proper skin technique takes a lot less energy anyway, so it’s not a bad thing to constantly work on.

2- Don’t. Stop. Until you reach the top. [Sing it Fleetwood Mac style] This is similar to the first tip, Stride and Glide. Stopping allows time for cold snow to bond to your skins and glop up. If you continue moving, the snow simply may not have time to freeze up on your skins. If you want to talk to your partner or eat something, consider slowing to a crawl rather than coming to a complete stop. If you must take a break, choose your spot carefully- stopping right after a sunny slope enters a shady one is a near guarantee of major gloppage. Think of it as nature’s cruel personal trainer, much like the flies and mosquitos of summertime hiking and biking.

3- Choose your skintrack wisely. As I mentioned before, glopping occurs when you skin from warm areas to cool ones. If you can stay entirely in either shaded snow or sunny snow, you can avoid glopping problems. Sometimes, there simply isn’t a route choice that doesn’t go from shade to sun to shade again, as in a dense forest. However, in a sparsely treed area you might want to stay on sunny snow the entire time, putting in the occasional extra switchback to avoid the shade of a tree and the powdery snow that may lie in wait there, ready to glop up on your skins. Of course, other considerations, like choosing an avalanche-safe route, take precedence over choosing a glop-friendly route, but it’s still something to keep in mind while skinning in the springtime.

4- Use Glop Stopper. This product from Black Diamond will help stop glopping from starting, just as the name implies. It is best applied at the start of the day, rather than after glopping has started, although it is still beneficial even after glopping has started. It’s basically just wax for your skins. This product stays in my pack year-round, you never know when you’ll need it, and it also increases the glide of your skins. Weight weenies split the block in half in order to save a few grams. Here it is:

Finally, it may be time for new skins. We recommend Black Diamond skins, and would also recommend staying away from G3 skins which have been problem-prone over the years. They’re on sale right now, so springtime might be a good time to buy a new set.


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Anyone else have some helpful hints to avoid glopping up in the springtime? Let’s hear them…

Pikes Peak ‘Y’ Couloir 5.13.07

Posted by Frank – October 29, 2009

Yet another transferred old TR…

Partners: Joe Brannen, Andy dimmen, Jordan White

We all had the early morning Mother’s day hall pass, so we headed to the Pikes Peak road at nine and drove to the top, to ski our line and then climb back out of it. Pike’s is tough in that way, since an earlier start would be preferable, but you have to wait for the road to open. Thankfully, the Y and Railroad couloirs face North, making the late start feasible.

‘Y’:

Jordan:

Joe:

Frank: (The snow was really tough (frozen chickenheads), I guess that’s why I’m jumping so high to get away from it)

Andy:

Andy chose to downclimb this section. Normally, any of us would have billygoated through it, but with the tough conditions we all did what we had to do.

Meanwhile, the rest of us tried to find another way, and found a narrow slot that also would have been fine with better snow, but not this day. I was about to tell Jordan about the joys of tailstabbing, but he figured out the technique on his own. It works great- just stab your tails into the snow and walk down the slope.

Look ma, no hands ;)

Joe:

We skied until the slope started to get less steep near treeline and then switched to crampons and ice axes for the climb back up. Pike’s is certainly unique since the easiest way of doing it is to ski first and climb later. We made short work of the rapidly thawing snow climb and topped out with enough time to drink a quick summit beer and still make it back in time for mother’s day festivities.

Light Skis: Worthless Descenders June 20 2008

Posted by Frank – June 20, 2008

I’ll probably do a few blog entries this summer, about ski gear that I think is silly and/or misguided, and I’ll start with this one: light skis.

The lightest pair of skis I own is a pair of Black Diamond Verdicts (the older black and orange ones, I hear the new ones are better). From what I understand, they are very light for their width (98mm underfoot- the skinniest ski I own as well). What I do know about this ski is that they ski more poorly than any of my other skis. Their shape isn’t all that bad, so what I have come to realize is that their biggest drawback is their weight. Light skis sound great in theory- less to carry up all those fourteeners, right? The only problem is that you then have to ski down…

What is it that makes light skis ski so poorly? In a word (more accurately, two): tip deflection. The smallest inconsistency in the snow will knock a light ski all over the place, whereas a heavy one will keep on truckin’. As a former racer, my ski technique is simple- I just roll onto my edges and expect my skis and body position to do the work. That doesn’t work with light skis- I have to use a lot of foot steering to keep a light ski on the track I want it to be on. Without question, I feel my lower legs getting fatigued due to all the foot steering I do when I ski the Verdicts.

The moral of the story? The next time you’re shopping for skis, don’t worry about each and every gram. It might be a little more work on the way up, but it’s so worth it on the way down. At least that’s the way I see it.

Anyone care to agree or disagree? Comments…

Really Advanced Switchback Technique

Posted by Frank – February 14, 2008

Sometimes doing the splits as I showed in my previous blog post is a little uncomfortable, not to mention difficult to balance. For those occasions, it’s a good thing if you don’t have twin-tips and know the tail-stab technique. Step one is to go as far as possible past the point where you want to turn. In this case, I’m setting up to turn to my right.

Next, turn your inside ski, but instead of being all spread out in the splits, angle the ski tail downwards and sink it into the snow under your stationary ski. It should look like this:

My right ski is under my left ski. It cannot slide down the mountain, and with my feet fairly close together, it’s a fairly comfortable stance, not to mention balanced. The next step is to kick the other leg up and around to be parallel with the other ski in the new direction. This can be a little difficult, as the ski tip of the second ski will try to hang up on the snow as you swing it around. A subtle kick with the heel will position the ski tip upwards, and then you just turn your leg.

This technique feels utterly and completely awkward at first, but with practice comes as naturally as walking in a straight line.

A special thanks to my friends Jon and Jack for showing me this one. Word on the street is that they learned the technique from a splitboarder. I’m not sure if that’s cool, or sad ;)

Tech Tip: Steep Skinning and Switchbacks.

Posted by Frank – February 13, 2008

I’ve taken so much from skiing, I thought I should try to do something to give a little back. So, from time to time I will try to pass on some of the things that I have learned over the years.

Skinning up steep switchbacks can be a frustrating experience, and can be really energy-intensive without using good technique. First, let’s look at how most people do it (thanks for the demonstration):


The “baby steps” technique has a few problems. For one, there are lots and lots of steps. For another, it’s difficult to maintain balance and keep from sliding backwards in the middle of the turn when both skis are facing directly up the fall line.

A better method is to make a big turn in just a couple of steps:

This way feels awkward at first, but with practice it turns out to be much easier.

On a steep skintrack like heart attack ridge where these photos were taken, there may be roughly 50 switchbacks. Good technique may result in 5 less steps being taken per switchback, for a savings of 250 steps over the course of the climb. There is a pretty substantial energy savings there, one which can be used for the skiing :)

Tomorrow I’ll pass on a really good trick for even steeper ascents.