Comments on: Five Days of Black Diamond – Day 3 – Climbing Skins

By: Ben Tibbetts

Ben Tibbetts — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 01:23:42 +0000

Hi lou,
I have been searching for a bit of info that maybe you could enlighten me on:
where I work at the moment (on a research station in the Antarctic) we have lots of sets of black diamond sts skins with the tyre tread black and white pattern. Were these always nylon or did a mix or mohair skin have the same plush pattern? … did the Glidelite Nylon become called the Ascension recently to differentiate the Nylon from Mohair and Mohair mix? is the old (2005) nylon much different from the current plush?
Also, and i wrote to the BD customer services (via their website form) about this and got zip all response – many of our skins that have been stored with cheat sheets at room temperature have had some of the black plastic compound of the cheat sheet left on the skin. It is as if the glue solvent has dissolved the cheat sheet plastic and now has left a black grill pattern on the base… not ideal eh..! .. have you come across this before?

many thanks,
Ben
(pictures of crazy white places on my site if that interests you!…however i have just overwintered and all i am dreaming of is Alpine powder!)

By: Kim

Kim — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 07:15:17 +0000

Lou, thanks for that advice.

I prefer to reduce the number of transitions and like to “glide” down smaller downhill sections rather than removing and replacing skins. That being the case, it sounds like the Speedskin may be better for me if I am careful and avoid those rocks that are all too common in our spring snowpack.

By: Lou

Lou — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 01:32:56 +0000

Kim, yeah, just store with the cheat sheets in a cool place. No reason to strip and re-glue if they work.

Speedskin is a mohair/nylon mix optimized for glide. G3 is straight nylon that glides well when new but you’ll notice less glide as they wear. Opposite for Speedskin. If you climb steep and tend to walk over rocks and such, get the G3. If you go for lower angled skin tracks etc., go for Speedskin. Oh, and the G3 glue is quite a bit more sticky, which can be nice but is also a pain sometimes.

By: Kim

Kim — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 00:32:48 +0000

It is late September and in Australia we are just finishing our season – perhaps one or two more backcountry trips if the sun is not too brutal on the snow.

I have had my skins for 2 seasons (Colorado and Aus) and never done anything to them in the way of end-of-season maintenance other than putting the cheat sheets on and storing in a breathable bag. Is there anything special I should do? For the glue, the hair, the attachments? Do they need to be cleaned? How?

On another, related, issue. I am purchasing the Dynafit Stoke. Any comments on the Dynafit speedskin versus the G3 Alpinist?

By: Euro Rob

Euro Rob — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:09:40 +0000

Heh fun, actually I was more looking at what rando racers do, just sticking them into their suit — obviously doesn’t work as well with jackets When being out light and fast we’ve also put the skins into our race-ish pants that are tight around the thighs, works well with the narrow skins for race skis. Anyhow for my BD Kilowatt skins I need something better, also lycra isn’t the fabric of choice at -20C.

For added functionality and style I’m considering doing the skin pockets at the side of my jacket, should be a warm spot just below the pits and doesn’t make you look so chubby in the pics