Ski touring for wallies

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Thanks yes, so do I. I'm planning (and it's looking relatively likely but who knows) to spend a few days skiing various places in the Valais with Tim followed by a week round your way with a guide in early Jan.

My worst injuries skiing were on flat bits when I wasn't thinking; I feel your pain.

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Family ski touring snowHead

Straight up the wall

Celebrating

Could be the last one as the 11yo now has the same show size as the missus and has already made a claim on the boots!

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@mountainaddict, very nice! I will ski there one day…

Scottish conditions in Verbier the last couple of days. Good for testing out the weather proofing of the touring gear

http://youtube.com/v/QSdbQKEEir8

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

I did only my 3rd tour a few days ago from the Pre La Joux carpark to the Col de Bessachaux following a well maintained green cat-track which happens to be my local cycling climb in summer. It took me 1:37h while I can do the same section on the bike at around same mid-range heart rate in 30 mins. I am still learning and definitely not as efficient as I should be. I have since read that I should be dry waxing skins which I did before a subsequent tour and could immediately feel the benefit.

Couple of Wally questions:
- My toes start hurting after about an hour with no rest, is that common? (I have no issues Downhill skiing in same boots)
- What is the most efficient way of using the heel risers, it it better to have less and use the steeper riser sparsely?
- At what height should i set my poles? I use 120cms for downhill skiing.

After all it is free

Dry waxing - this applies to all type of skins?

Off to a small IT resort just after the NY and will try shifts and the new boots that were sitting idle since last year. Never tried touring equipment before Skullie

small area, small crowds, so hopefully not many people to lough at my first attempt

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@Ozboy,
I’ll try and answer.
1) I’ve never had toe problems going up. How loose are your boots in the climb? I tend to tighten mine so that there’s no heel lift (to avoid blisters) and that is enough to keep my toes from the end of my boot. Maybe yours are too loose?

2) Heel risers are personal taste and depends on the binding. I used to go as flat as possible for as long as possible. I now have Marker Alpinist that have an easy halfway setting that I now use for everything. When you are using ski crampons, as flat as possible is better.

3) Again personal preference. Many people go longer for the ascent, normally by about 5cm. I used to, but now can’t be bothered with the faff.

On a general note. It seems a lot of people over complicate things, particularly on this forum!! Ramp angles, delta, boot straps, complicated bindings etc etc etc. If you get into touring, you’ll find yourself in the middle of nowhere more and more often. IMO the most important thing is to have simple and reliable equipment that just works and some handy kit in your rucksack if it doesn’t, or if conditions aren’t as expected.

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Crossed with @Weathercam,

There you go. Two regular ski tourers, both with generally different opinions Very Happy

Whatever works best for you.

.pdouble post

You know it makes sense.

@mountainaddict, nice!! did you go over the back of Cairngorm at all or stick to the frontside? Seem some decent pics on the British backcountry page in the past week over the back....

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A snowHead

@zzz, @Weathercam, thanks re boots i have them quite loose with toe buckle in “open” position. My boots are hybrid Tecnica Cochise and were custom fitted for downhill skiing. Might take them
back to see he they can expand the toe box.

@coddlesangers, I did a subsequent tour to Le Monclan and managed c. 420 VAM for 1:38h (inc fast drink stop) but the first 20 mins or so was slow going through south facing untracked mashed potato going up from back garden. Cycling is nowhere near pro level Embarassed

- i have attached the comparative cycling ride for the Col de Bessachaux route posted earlier with VAM at 800.

Le Morclan Climb

Col de Bessachaux (bike)

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@BobinCH, yup I touring have poles with the foam beneath the main grips. Okay you have clarified the impact of risers on stride - thanks.

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Get long poles, foam grips and hold wherever is comfortable: Les batons d’Alain - do the job (with little tabs to flick your risers)

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@BobinCH, here's the latest toy for your cupboard Laughing

THE ULTIMATE TOOL FOR BACKCOUNTRY RIDING. Our redesigned Scepter backcountry poles are made for high-performance touring and snow safety. The Scraper Grip provides easy snow/ice scraping from top sheets and climbing skins on the fly. Releasable straps separate you from your poles if you snag a tree, or worse, get caught in a slide. Utility hooks on the grip and pole basket enable flipping your heel risers and boot levers without bending over. EVA foam wrap allows you to choke up on steep traverses without losing your grip.

https://backcountryaccess.com/en-fr/c/tools-accessories/scepter-poles/

And they're not expensive, I bought them for the snow scraping as I often suffer from that when breaking trail, and they were one of the OH's Xmas pressies, for her that is.

And like all BCA products, they're very well made, can even withstand me driving over them, though now have one bent pole Laughing

I don't use the straps when skiing, but as I've said on here before, on gnarly icy traverses with long drops below, where I've seen people loose poles, that's when I use the straps!

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

Anyone tried the Scarpa F1 LT’s and can compare with the old Alien RS?

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You know it makes sense.

Caught this guy out of the corner of my eye this morning, and could not quite believe it, there he was skinning along the flat cross country piste as it then ran through the kids Jardin de Neige using his heel risers Laughing

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@Weathercam, could well be a complete beginner on his first ever trial skin.

A snowHead

Anything is possible. I was on a dedicated powder touring trip on Hokkaido in 2018, so we had all flown half way around the world, and we were all supposed to be ski tourers. One of the participants was on rental gear. On the first transition, they put the skins on backwards (tip to tails), which is difficult to understand if they had any experience of putting skins on. This was then compounded when we set off and they didn’t immediately realise their error, but struggled until the slope increased and they fell behind. When the guide investigated, they complained the skins didn’t grip and then realised what they had done.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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@PowderAdict, ok this is absolutely no BS !!!!

Our first trip to Japan and we were a group of mixed abilities, to say the least!

Whilst the majority of the group stayed skiing in Niseko, four us with a very experienced guide headed off towards Mount Yotei.

It was the OH and I and a father and son, the father was not too bad, but the son was a real "Kevin" the teenager. As the guide picked us up he reiterated that we should be dressed for very cold temps even though we were touring.

At the parking area Kevin could not get into his boots that they had hired the night before, in the end, the Guide swapped boots with him as they were, apart from too cold to put on, a size too small.

Climbing was not too bad initially and Kevin started showing signs of frustration and was not too long before the questions started as to how far do we have to go and how long etc

We eventually decided to call it a day after a 1,000m as it was windy, very cold and snow was wind affected.

Kevin just sat down and we thought nothing of it, and the transition along with refreshments was certainly longer than I would have liked. It then dawned on us that Kevin was doing nothing and the Guide started to get concerned as he was showing signs of hyperthermia.

His Dad then went to his aid, and had a load of Kevin type abuse, that he was ok and just wanted to wait where he was etc etc

Dad took the sons skins off and had to pack everything away for him, and the sons' hands were so bad it was a real job to get his gloves on.

We then prepared to ski and I was backmarker, the son, although a good skier was being a complete Cock and was holding both skis in one hand as "he could not hold the poles as his hands were so cold".

As we did the first pitch the Dad was skiing really bad, and the Guide shouted up at me to make sure he's put his boots into downhill mode, which he had.

The second pitch he still skied it really badly, and was only when we were all together that my OH looked at the Dad's skis and noticed that he still had one skin on!

In all the panic of the realisation of the onset of hyperthermia, he'd gone to his son's aid midway through his own transition!

Pics and blog here but OH did not mention Kevin, though in the pic you can see him sitting down.

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Little sortie today to take advantage of the 20cm+ that fell over the weekend, as 4/5 and windy, opted for a safe forest tour.

It was our first tour for quite a while as conditions have not been good, and going up the snow was first class, however, there were an inordinate amount of boulders showing that are usually covered by at least another meter + of snow.

We opted for our usual route and there had been a lot of avalanche activity after the rain and warm temps and there wasn't a lot more to slide off from above.

Trouble was that a lot of the debris was covered by the fresh snow, so although we could see some big lumps of frozen snow poking through the surface it was the ones just underneath that made it like a feckin mine-field Laughing

That said we managed some nice turns and was great to be back up away from the resort.

http://youtube.com/v/fetJdrIqiaY

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Love the photo from@Weathercam, it's something you see quite often.
It took me back many years to an incident I saw over in Grindelwald. An elegant young lady was striding purposefully towards us on skins. Naturally she was on full "stiletto" but something else caught my eye! Her skis were "floating" above the piste. The skins had picked up snow and it had built up to an impressive 5 or 6cms thick block. Her balance must have been incredible to control such an unstable set up.
I've always regretted not taking a photo of her!!

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Alien RS and the missus Speed Guide 80 / Crest 10 a joy on the up! Cracked the 1000m/hour pace on the local track. The down was a different story… Would have made @Weathercam look like a FWT athlete Very Happy

After all it is free

@BobinCH, what's the weak point in the setup?

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Real world weight comparisons:
Scott Speed Guide 80 with ATK Crest 10 w brakes

Movement Alp Track 106 + Alpinist 12 w leashes

DPS Pagoda tour 112 + ATK FR14 w freeride spacers, toe shims and brakes

Speed guide precut skins

Pomoca Pro Free 2.0

Pomoca Pro Climb 2.0

Tecnica Zero-G with Sidas CRT liners + mods, footbed and booster straps

Scarpa Alien RS + footbeds

Help!!

Ski touring for wallies

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