Skimo skins

With the plethora of information and variables related to climbing skins, materials used for the plush, glue types and fixing hardware, we elected to use an approach that starts from the basics—one that considers usage cases and the user. We don’t claim that our suggestions will be infallible choices, but they are however the result of years of experience in the field and careful observation of market trends. But we’ll kick off with a couple of assumptions. First: your skins are the last decision you’ll make, after after deciding on skis, boots and bindings. Yet they should be the first, as we spend most of our tours skinning, and the wrong skin choice will make skinning more tiring and mean shorter ascents. Second, little has changed in the world of skins in recent decades. Exaggerating a little, we could say that we’re all basically using the same products. Over the years, skins have come out that offer better glide and improved durability. We've seen models with plastic scales, and ones that use silicone to attach to ski bases. But essentially, we always return to the same materials—mohair or synthetic plush—and hot or hybrid glue+gel adhesives. We eagerly await the results of extended use of the new Pomoca Tour Pro Explore with its dual-textured plush, which is different on the edges to increase grip and offers maximum glide in the center. This could be an interesting development.

We’ll consider five different usage cases. The classic ski tourer, who sits squarely in our Tour category and uses skis with a waist of between 90 and 100 mm. They’ll opt almost exclusively for mixed-plush products, regardless of the percentage of mohair and nylon, and mainly on traditional hot glues. Skins will exclusively use a tip-and-tail hook system. This solution offers the best compromise between grip, glide and durability. In particular, that nylon in the mix protects the skins’ edges, which are the areas that suffer the most wear on skis of this width.

The weight-conscious tourer will look for easy-to-use skins with elastic attachments, and will rarely want tip-and-tail hooks. There’s a little more freedom of choice regarding the material. They prefer pure mohair, which offers good glide and provides that added sensitivity skiers of super-skinny, super-light matchsticks love. Plus, the more structured skis compensate for the lack of grip when compared to mixed-plush skins, which shouldn’t in any case just be dismissed out of hand. Here, too, hot glue dominates.

Those who love fat skis and Shift or step-in style bindings have clear ideas: they don't spend much time skinning or fork out too much cash. Their skins need to be durable, have strong glue, a wear-resistant plush and, bearing in mind the heft and size of their skis, maybe offer decent grip for when the skin track steepens. Tip-and-tail hooks are a must. For the plush, nylon is probably the best bet: lots of grip—no bad thing if you’re not expecting to have to tackle long flat sections—durable, easy to maintain, and well-priced. Take a look also at mixed-fiber skins, which are always the best compromise. And riders of wide but not overly structured skis with a pin binding, like the ATK Freeraider 15? They’ll easily crank up major vert, will most likely be an advanced user, and will happily break trail even on steep sections. Mohair paired with traditional glue.

We’ve deliberately left the skimo racer to last, as this is the user who has the least difficulty in choosing: full mohair (what all race-specific skins use) and traditional glue, and obviously reduced lengths and widths and fast elastic attachment systems.

These user types hide some truths. In Italy at least, the market is dominated by mixed fibers and hot glue. It’s a combination that provides a good compromise between grip, glide and durability. And unless you’re super nerdy, all of this will make your life easier. The percentage of mohair is always higher—usually 70%-65%—which guarantees excellent glide, but that third of nylon increases grip and especially wear resistance. Plus, they perform optimally straight from the box, unlike mohair, which requires some breaking in. Mohair skins still offer the best glide, but this comes at the expense of grip, meaning it’s more suitable for advanced users. They’re also less durable. So what about full nylon skins? Well, they’re durable, cheap, offer good grip (and correspondingly less glide), and tend to glop up more. We should add that even when they start to wear and become a bit threadbare, they’re still usable.