Anti hairball skin savers.
After weeks of sunny skies, a large storm is raging outside. It’s been snowing since last night and should drop 10-24 inches of fluff in our backcountry mountains. With a week of storms forecasted ahead we’ll have a lovely white Christmas here at WildSnow HQ.
New snow on top of a weak layer causes avalanche conditions to be high so we’re spending the day inside. What to do when we can’t ski? Modify gear of course!
Louie left behind fabric scraps after his yoga pant hacks. His goal was to fashion backcountry gear with nothing more than scissors. I’m not such a purist.
The skin savers he made for me work well but I still stuffed them into a skin bag in order to keep my skins as clean as possible. Would it be possible to streamline this? Childhood memories helping my mom fold socks gave me an idea. I pulled out my sewing machine.
I went to our local fabric store and bought swimsuit spandex, on sale from last summer. Here are my directions to make your own Hairball Eliminator Skin Saver: Cut a piece 12×24 inches and fold over so it’s 6×24 inches. Sew along the 24 inch side so you have a tube 6 inches wide. This will make one skin saver for one climbing skin. You’ll need to repeat these instructions for your other climbing skin.
Cut another piece 12×10 inches. Fold over so it’s 6×10 inches and sew along the 10 inch length, making a tube that is open on each 6 inch side. Lay the 10 inch tube on top of the 24 inch tube. At one end, sew both thickness of the 10 inch tube to one thickness of the 24 inch tube, leaving the 24 inch tube open at both ends.
Turn the 24 inch tube inside out and insert your arm with the 10 inch tube hanging by your elbow. Grab the tail of the skin, glue side up.
Pull 24 inch tube over skin.
Fold other end of skin, glue side down over the spandex skin saver.
Roll up skin toward 10 inch sack. Pull sack over the roll. Climbing skin is now compact and protected. Repeat these instructions for your other climbing skin.
G3 introduced me to skin savers with their Love Glove. G3 Love Glove is made with slightly heavier spandex than my swimsuit version, but if you’d rather ski than sew, we highly recommend G3 Love Gloves for keeping your climbing skins clean and organized. G3 Love Glove on sale here.
Recap of WildSnow posts: December 15 to December 19, 2014:
Black Diamond Coefficient Hoody — Review
Training for the New Alpinism — Book Review
Cajon del Maipo in the Summer — Chile
Dakine Concourse Double Ski Bag — The Quiver Carrier
Dynafit Beast 14 Retail Version Blasts Our Workbench
Cold Feet at 4,000 meters — or 8,000? Here’s a Solution
Scott Alpride Airbag Rucksack — Experiments in Mass Reduction
WildSnow Girl, Lisa Dawson, is the luckiest girl in the world. Also known as Mrs. WildSnow.com, she tests whatever gear she wants. She gives the WildSnow family of websites the feminine voice.
10 comments
Awesome! Can’t wait to try it, thanks!
Great stocking stuffer. Merry Christmas.
My wife has a super sewing machine and talent to go with it. Perhaps she could sew me some. My new skins deserve it.
Wow, whether made into skin savers or a swimsuit, that fabric is crazy! Nice idea Lisa!
Sorry, this is an off- topic post. I searched this site, but couldn’t find anything relevant, so…Does anybody have any experience improvising a backcountry litter, especially to be built and pulled by just one person? I know there are some skis that covert to litters, and some lightweight commercial litters. But any ideas on improvisation? Maybe somehow with a tarp…or something? I’ve thought about it a lot. I teach wilderness medicine, including litter improvisation, but have not come up with anything really worthwhile for backcountry skiing. Just one of many things I worry about.
Hi Wayne, that’s an old topic that’s been covered to one degree or another here and elsewhere for years. I know we’ve got some content, sorry the search function can’t find it. Best bet is Brooks Range, they’ve been making transport devices for years. Also, K2 sells a conversion kit for skis.
https://www.wildsnow.com/5855/k2-rescue-shovel-review/
Lou
Thanks Lou for that info. I’m going to go ahead and purchase that Brooks Range litter. The cost isn’t bad, the weight is negligible, and it’s more functional than anything I could fabricate.
Wayne
You should first look at the Rescue Bubble or Alpine Threadworks ski guide tarp, before you decide on the Brooks Range kit.
Thanks Dale. More to think about. I like that the Threadworks system can do triple duty as a sled, a bivvy, or a shelter. But I like the skis incorporated into the Brooks Range system. And trying to find a video on the Rescue Bubble. Thanks again. I’ve abandoned the idea of fabricating my own make-shift system. Better to have one that absolutely works.
Hmmmm….someone commented somewhere – but I can’t find it now – that it seemed reasonable to just go to your local thrift store and buy some spandex pants and cut the legs off and use them. That’s what I did. Hand sewed one end. Works fine. Now I’m buying more pants and making these for my ski partners. The G3 Love Glove site, above, has a good video to show how this all works.
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