Lou Dawson's Backcountry Skiing Blog & Website -- Legacy Pages

By Louis Dawson

Denali, 1973, Muldrow Glacier. All our group of climbing bums, world travelers, and NOLS instructors had in common was lack of experience -- and keen interest in backcountry mountain skiing. The blind would lead the deaf, dumb, and blind.

We didn't have a clue about how to tackle the gigantic Muldrow Glacier. It was downright intimidating, all the talk about icefalls and pulmonary edema, not to mention the "hill of cracks," a square mile of crevasses that bulged from the glacier like a rotten grapefruit. The one thing we had a clear idea about was that we would travel on skis.

In those days the Park Service didn't see eye to eye with skiers, and the ranger we spoke with expressed their position succinctly: "You guys should know", he said, "that the last two guys to ski on the Muldrow had a couple of mountains named for them -- after they skied into a crevasse and died." Okaaaayyyy...

Mount Coven and Mount Carpe aside, ski mountaineering in 1971 was a primitive sport. Nevertheless we were adamant about using skis on the Muldrow. We all skied more than we walked, and enticement is a weak word for the feelings evoked by the thought of the snow blanketed mass of Denali in May (lust is a closer description.)

To keep the Park Service happy we carried a pair of snowshoes for each person, and in case of a broken ski we carried an extra pair. Our loads were heavy. But for every plodding step up the mountain, there was a few more feet of skiing back down. As we proved -- skiing worked.

Since those days, cable randonnee bindings, soft leather boots, and a host of other marginally effective ski equipment has passed by the wayside. Now people are doing astounding things in the mountains with ski equipment that is versatile, lightweight, and reliable. Yet like other tools, ski gear is only as good as the user, and no tool is perfect for every job. Choosing ski mountaineering equipment is a maze of compromise and qualification. The right choices bring great rewards, the wrong, untold misery.

Alpine touring skis, boots and bindings, are covered here. First, a clarification of terms. Alpine touring (also known as AT or randonnee) is backcountry skiing with alpine-width or wider skis (at least about 71 mm at the waist, or the narrowest part of the ski), plastic ski boots, and bindings that allow vertical heel movement for walking and a latched down heel for downhill skiing. Skiing with a heel that is always free to move up and down is called "free heel skiing" or "telemarking." In reality, the definitions aren't so clear cut. You can free heel ski on alpine touring equipment. Conversely, it is possible to secure the heel of your boot on a free heel rigs, and recent telemark gear can be set up with so much cable binding tension it is really closer to fixed heel AT gear than its nordic roots. Indeed, the fact that each year's telemark gear is closer in weight and performance to AT gear should send us a message.

Whatever your choice in gear, go for quality. Einstein said that "relativity is when a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute; but let him sit on a hot stove for a minute -- and it is longer than any hour." If Einstein was a mountaineer, he might have said the same thing about ski gear. Poor equipment can make a day seem like a year -- with good gear a day will never be long enough.

One word describes the price of AT gear: astronomical. In part, this is due to exchange rates, but it also hinges on the small size of the market. You can cut costs by buying at end of season sales, but always buy for quality. Bad boots will ski poorly and wreck your feet, while poor bindings will make your setup heavy or unsafe. The wrong skis will just make you cuss and go home. That said, any good "all mountain all terrain" alpine ski bought with an on-sale price will work fine as a randonee AT ski, just make sure you buy a model that's not too wide, and buy them short. Some pundits claim this is actually the only way to go, as the reason alpine skis have higher retail prices than AT skis is that they are, simply, better skis -- and you get what you pay for. In my opinion this is not always the case, but neither is it total fiction.

AT (randonnee) SKIS

Specialized AT skis save weight, and they carry on your pack without catching your partner in the corner of his mouth or nipping your calves. Today's shaped skis are getting shorter and shorter -- for backcountry AT, use skis 5 to 10 centimeters shorter than you would at the ski resort. Around 180 cm is a common length for the average male backcountry skier, and some skiers are using 170s or shorter. Is a shorter ski a good turn tool? The fact is, they ski fine, given that you adjust your style. On hard snow, driving a turn the way you would with longer skis will make for a hooky hairpin. To prevent this, simply relax and ride the ski, regulating turn radius by varying your forward knee drive and angulation. In other words, with a long ski you work for a shorter turn radius, with a short ski you work for a wider turn -- by working less. But be forewarned, do not try high speed cruising on a pair of 160 cm skis. Do try narrow couloirs and spring corn on your favorite peaks -- you will love it. As for powder, short skis are fine when the terrain is steep, but sometimes on lower angled terrain a short stick will sink so far that you fail to reach turning speed.

Thus, if you seek out the puffy stuff, a slightly longer (or fatter) ski might make your grin hurt more. Also, a more "normal" length ski could be better if you seldom ski off the groomed slopes and enjoy speed at the ski resort.

Many find it unpleasant to adjust to a radically different ski on their rare backcountry trips. If this is the case, simply mount AT bindings on your favorite alpine boards, and go. Unlike telemarking, there is no debate that both AT skis and alpine skis are virtually the same thing.

As with your other gear, consider your main use when choosing AT skis. Many people ski nothing in the mountains but spring corn, while others stick to a diet of fluff. Specialists can choose a ski designed for specific snow. By doing so, they can enjoy perfect performance in the right snow, and adjust their technique when it is not so right. Yet many mountaineers who ski varied conditions prefer all condition skis, especially if they can only own one pair. Consider the fact that, while ski design varies, skis all fall under the same design umbrella. Thus, any ski can ace any snow -- with a good pilot. Work on your technique.

CHOOSING ALPINE TOURING SKIS

Alpine Touring ("AT") skis have to do two things: ski up and ski down natural snow. The catch is "natural snow" -- it comes in so many varieties that the Eskimos have 300 names for it. So, your AT skis have to handle varied snow. With space-age materials they ought to be able to build a ski that will do anything. Not so.

Although today's ski technology is capable of working wonders, it hasn't taken the step up to miracles. There are skis that are great for soft snow, and skis that are great for hard snow, and the twain haven't met, yet. A few skis come close to the ideal, but each is still a compromise in some area of performance.

Okay, the choices are many and hard. How do you hack through the P-tex jungle? To begin, form an image of your skiing style, both present and future. Do you want the security and comfort of an AT set up on your next hut trip? Are you planning on mostly lift serviced skiing, but want a setup for the occasional hike to the powder runs on the back side? Or are you doing long winter walks with a bit of skiing thrown in? Or are you going to explore the extreme skiing arena?

Next, identify the season when you do most of your skiing, and the snow conditions you expect. Think about how much you want to spend; you may opt for a budget outfit by purchasing used alpine skis and boots, with new skins and bindings, or you can go whole hog for a state of the art setup. Above all, know the types of snow you'll be skiing, purchase accordingly, and be aware of the fact that any ski will be a compromise in some conditions.

If you're not a ski god you have two choices. The first is easier on the pocketbook: purchase one pair of skis that work best in the conditions you will encounter most often, then learn to get the best out of them in other types of snow. The best way to do this is seek out adverse conditions at a ski area. If you have soft snow boards, seek out the hardest steepest ice you can find. If you've chosen a hard snow ski practice skiing extreme guano snow. The second option is one usually taken by professional skiers and ski fanatics: accumulate a quiver of skis and choose your daily boards the way Tiger Woods picks a club. That can get expensive, but most of the time you'll have the best tool for the job at hand.

Below are some key features of Alpine Touring skis, and how they affect performance. The accompanying chart and descriptions of each ski will give you an idea of what's right for you.

Length: Shorter skis (between 150 centimeters and 180 centimeters in length) weigh less, are easier to carry on a pack, and will turn with ease through the tightest trees and narrowest couloirs. Compact skis are also better for the intermediate skier because mistakes aren't amplified, kick turns are cake, and snowplow and stem turns are easier.

Some folks even contend that shorter skis contribute a degree of safety by applying less leverage in a fall. With the possibility of inconsistent release that many touring bindings have, this could be important. I'm 5'11" in my socks and 150 lbs without a pack. After 30 years of skiing all lengths of backcountry skis I'm quite comfortable on 178s for more aggressive skiing, and sometimes I go as short as a 160 cm ski.

One caveat on ski length: be sure to buy your skis in a size that is compatible with your weight. Today's wider skis are designed to be skied shorter for a given weight and height, but will behave in strange ways when skied shorter then their designers intended. Some ski manufacturers print recommended weights on their skis. That can be useful -- but it's only a guideline.

Width Skis are made with a dizzying array of widths. Rule of thumb is the wider the ski, the easier it is to ride -- especially in soft snow. Nonetheless, skis wider than around 79 cm at the waist are usually overkill for backcountry skiing. Too wide, and your skis will weigh a ton, and weigh even more when they pick up piles of snow on top as you walk. Too wide, and you'll be using wide climbing skins that add even more weight, and cost more money. Too wide, and you'll have problems with binding brakes. Etc. Etc. Some ski technicians have acknowledged there is a close to ideal sidecut dimension for a ski mountaineering ski: around 112/79/102 (tip/waist/tail). A wide waist can make the ski much more stable and forgiving in difficult snow. Look for such dimensions (known as a "mid-fat" ski) when you shop, and above all make sure the waist dimension is no smaller than the mid to high 70s.

Remember other factors, such as type of boot and ski construction, influence your perception of a skis quickness and predictability. Consequently, using dimensions alone to choose a ski can be next to useless. On the other hand, if you've narrowed your choice to several skis and demo skiing isn't helping your indecision, a look at the sidecut may give you the extra oomph you need to get decisive.

Flex is a valid criterion of performance, but is really only a small part of the design. As a rule of thumb, a softer flex may be better in soft snow because the ski takes less effort to flex into a turn arc, and a stiffer flex will frequently give better edge hold on hard snow. Skis have gotten softer over the years, as manufacturers have learned ways of building in torsional (twist) rigidity without lengthwise rigidity. This has made flex less of a consideration than it used to be. What's more, today's skis are manufactured with much tighter duplication of parameters from pair to pair, so flex testing skis won't necessarily help you find a softer or stiffer pair within a model and size run -- but it's perhaps worth trying.

If you want to have your own "flex session" make sure you have plenty of skis to look at side-by-side. The less you weigh, the softer you may want the ski in a given length. After you pick a pair for softness, look for an even curve. Do this by placing the tip of the ski at eye level, with the base downwards and tail on the floor. Sight along the bottom of one edge while weighting the ski with your foot. If you see any ripples or flat spots the pair should be sold as seconds. They'll cut a decent turn in soft snow, but they'll keep you guessing on boilerplate.

Some skis have a built in "hinge" in the flex pattern, usually in the shovel and sometimes in the tail. Don't mistake this for a defect. A knowledgeable shop employee may be helpful if you decide to perform a little "flex session." Just make sure you're willing to be thorough and systematic in your approach. Otherwise you'll be doing no better than kicking tires in a used car lot, with a smirking salesman looking on.

Tail Notch for skins This is a useful feature. Most skin attachment systems assume you have a notch in your ski tails to prevent sideways slippage. If the skis you choose don't have a notch it's easy to file one into the soft aluminum or plastic of the tail protector.

Safety Color This may sound like a gimmick, but bright reflective colors make your skis easy to find if you leave them at the base of a winter climb -- or when your amigos are searching for you after an avalanche. In the event of an avalanche burial the victim might be found by that bright ski that's still attached to their foot. A minor point about ski color, yet one to consider, is that dark colored skis are more likely to form ice on top and base from solar heating. This can add pounds of weight to your modern "lightweight" set up. So, even though earth tones are it these days, a ski with bright base or top is more practical.

Weight It's nice to shave some weight off by using lighter skis, but a ski that's too light may perform poorly because it gets thrown around by chunks of crust and junk. Lightweight boots may not give the aggressive skier the control they want because of thinner plastic that lacks support. Compromise rears its ugly head.

My own tours tend to cover a lot of miles and vertical - that's made weight my main consideration. But I have friends who use their AT setups while lift skiing, or for short jaunts off the top of the lift served ski mountain. For those folks, downhill performance is the most important criterion, and they compromise in that direction.

Many people have found that AT equipment gives them a fun, safe, and reliable way to enjoy mountain skiing. Yet remember one thing: equipment is no better than its operator. If you are a novice, learn AT skiing on a ladder of graduating difficulty. Gear is fun and important, but the crucial piece of gear is your brain. Use it.

[ 10 tips about AT randonnee gear] [article about AT bindings and history]