Three models Minimist, for nearly any style.
G3 Minimist: Smooth glide with glue as sticky as Spiderman’s spit
I’m on two sets of G3 Minimist Speed climbing skins — the new G3 lightweight glidy skin that began retailing this fall. I’ve got one set powering my skinny uphilling planks; another on my ZeroG 105s. In a word these are wonderful carpets. Excellent glide, in same weight class as other pliable “race” type skins, with tip and tail hooks that work like tip and tail hooks should.
How is the glue? As sticky as Spiderman’s spit. Honestly, while pulling these off a ski, it feels like they’ll yank the Ptex right off the ski bottom. That’s a mostly good thing as I am not at all concerned about G3 skins sticking though the worst conditions. (Though I do hope they come off a little easier after aging a bit.) The other “tack” criteria: how do they stick glue-to-glue? Surprisingly good formulation in that respect, as they come apart quite easily. So, don’t worry about the glue on these things.
Note that G3 sells three versions of the Minimist: Universal is claimed by G3 to be “The lightest, most packable fully-featured nylon skin in the world.” The Minimist Glide is a 27/30 mohair to nylon mix. The Speed, covered below, is their 100% mohair (natural goat hair) offering. I don’t *sniff with nose in air* use anything but wall-to-wall mohair. So with thanks to Sir Goat, on we go.
Minimist retail packaging is a nice box inside the skin bag. I like the red, anything but black that gets lost in my backpack. The stickers peel off. Included trimming knife is one of the best in the business, but we still advise caution. Have a pro trim your skins unless you’re an adept do-it-yourselfer.
I nearly missed this feature on my first take. Ever had your skin tip edges curl up while you’re breaking trail through dense snow? To mitigate this nefarious occurance, G3 molds a thin layer of carbon fibers into the tip area (as shown by the red circle), so the skin here is less “fabric like” and tends to stay flat. The stiff area is short enough so as not to interfere with packing and folding, probably adds a tenth of a gram.
Carbon fiber stiffening layer in the tip area prevents snow creep from peeling up your skin edges — one of the more annoying skin fubars you can encounter. The black carbon layer is visible in the right hand image.
Only con I have is the skin bag is too small if used with the full-width skin liners, and made of coated fabric (I like a breathable skin bag, to help release moisture when the party scene at the Heidelberger Hut causes me to forget deploying my skins in the drying room.)
Setting up for the A-B testing. Minimist gets an A+.
Glide
Dear loyal readers, after making mistakes in the past with excessive subjectivity, the only way I now test skin glide is A/B. As G3 Minimist are supposed to be glidy and light, appropriate comparo was a major brand’s mohair “race” skins. I am delighted to report the two skins, Minimist and the “other,” were indistinguishable in terms of glide, and so close in weight I can’t state a meaningful difference, as the race skins had a straighter cut and lighter hardware. I did do some estimating, and am confident saying that if normalized (same hardware and cut) the Minimist would probably weigh about 20 grams more than the race skin (that’s on my uphilling rig, 164 cm x 79mm). Okay with me.
Minimist review conclusions
What might be the stickiest glue in the business. In fact, I wish the rip-strip in the tip area, that eliminates glue surface area, extended to the tail. Excellent glide. As light as just about anything else out there, I’d think only skimo racers would quibble it — and unless you’re vying for the podium you would be babbling. My only gripe is the included storage bag is too small if you’re using the included storage strips. If any of you guys hear reports of ski bases being pulled off during skin removal, please let us know (joking).
Shop maximally for the Minimist.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
8 comments
The tip hooks look like the same G3 as ever but how did you find the tail leash ? One guy in the group sez they stretch/need to be readjusted the other guy in front of me had one constantly unclipping from the ski.
Any idea how you replace a broken leash ?
I’ve had no problems with the tail clip, I adjusted them pretty tight from the start. They’re not exactly simple, could be mis-configured I suppose, though they come in the box correctly set up aside from adjusting length. As they were a non-issue I didn’t mention in the review. Flip-clip tail clips of this sort can be easily knocked off by the opposite ski’s tail.
A broken tail clip/strap would be difficult to fix. I prefer, for all brands/models, the type of fixation with a stretchy replaceable part at the tip and a non-adjustable steel hook at the tail. For some reason the industry is mostly stuck on having the adjustable part at the tail.
Next time I’m out on them I’ll torture test the tail clips a bit.
Lou
Yeah I looked at that clip for 3hrs and it just kept falling off eh
The big question for ultra light anything is will it holdup, so with skins you are walking on them running over clips ect so when is too light to hold up and when (not if ) it fails how do you fix it ? Yeah the lazer cut Pomoca for Dynafit work great IME and are easily fixable, I like the skin folded over a simple tip ring/ adjustbale tail leash cuz it gives user adjustment options front & rear and is pretty bomber, I have some G3 I cut those hooks off so I can use with a tip ring to fit 160 or a 190
I picked up a pair of the Alpinist skins for my big fatties and have been super happy with them. I have always been pretty loyal to Black Diamond due to perception of better grip. However these new skins are so easy to setup and the tip and tail connectors are great. Latest version tail clip grabs on nicely. Skins easier to pull apart with the plastic tip connector. I am totally over setting up the tip loops on BD skins. What a pain in the arse. Nice to get skins with the tip already installed and only needing a quick side trim with their, best in market, skin trimming tool.
I bought BD Ultralite skins a year ago and love how light and packable they are, but you are correct, the thin material tends to fold over and collect snow at the widest part of the ski. My other criticism is they are not nearly as durable as standard skins. While skinning up a ridge, I glided down a short low spot on the ridge and snagged a hidden rock which nearly tore the skin in half. I’ve had similar experiences with BD Ascension skins and they didn’t show any damage, not even a shaved spot on the fabric. Have you seen any signs poor durability with the lightweight G3’s?
Just wanted to add in case not clarified in review, grip of the mohair Minimist Speed skin is similar to any other mohair skin. If you like going straight up stuff, you’ll want a nylon mix or full nylon. Lou
Lou, any experience with the other Minimist models? (I know, using non full mohair is so,,, common (said with proper “nose in air”))
The weight difference between the whole line is minimal (no pun intended). Approximately 15 grams separate the heaviest (Universal) from the lightest (Speed).
Any chance you could get G3 to toss in the other models for a head to head glide/grip comparison?
I have a probably 10 year old pair of Alpinist skins, the tip attachment on them is similar but probably a bit different than these. Its pretty slick, but almost holds on too tightly. I don’t like to take my skis off when I pull skins off, and those tip attachments kinda hang on so much they’re actually kinda hard to just flip off the skis like you can with more traditional tip attachments. Yes, this is a nitpick… How are these?? Then again, if the glue on these is that strong, maybe they’re pretty tough to take off like that anyways??
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