Climbing Skins
 

I was talking to my father about the company he used to run. He owned Ascension Climbing Skins and had mentioned that he had sold a bunch of his product to what I would assume is 10th Group in Fort Carson, CO. My question is is does anyone have any experience with these skins, either in training or on deployment, and whether or not they are still in service. For further reference, they were a fluorescent purple color on the bottoms.

Ian, Before we get into fluorescent purple color on the bottoms

You might want to read this thread first and adjust your MySpace self..

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oops
 

well put sir, i had forgotten that that was still even active. I appreciate the advice and will comply quickly.

I went to Cold Weather Operations School in 92. It was basically an abbreviated version of the course at the Northern Warfare Center... never saw or heard of the skins until a few weeks ago when I was looking thru a catalog. I was hoping the Army might have made some improvements in technology since then...

At that time we were using the skis w/ the spring binding, the snow shoes with the tales and either the black or white mickey mouse (Vapor Barrier) boots. being in the NG at that time we were years behind the regular army in equipment, however the instructors and some of the students were RA.

Obviously my experience is limited, hopefully some of the SF will be able to fill you in more.

In the 80's -
Hanwegs
Ramers - with fish scale bottoms that were supposed to work instead of the skins (never did, trust me)
Black skins or wax if you didn't have skins

Paul Ramer was pretty innovated. There was a plastic type, which when tension was applied the "scales" would stick out. Snake Skins made by Volie'.

I liked sticky skins. I still have the tool for cleaning the glue off. Mohair worked really good. Pros and cons to them. If the glue got cold they did not like to re-stick after they where taken off. Also they were very easy to take off, without getting out of the Ski binding. Mohair had better glide and control when skiing than snake skins. Snake Skins where better if you had to take skins off and put them on a lot.

Forgot those wonderful Ramer bindings...

I had some of those fancy "no glue" skins, black, that had a little metal thing-a-ma-jig in the middle that you twisted side ways and back to "lock" on the ski...

I think its main purpose was storing snow between the ski side of the skin and the ski... Maybe so you didn't have have to look for snow when it came time to melt it for water.

Greetings from Stone Bay...

Anyway, I found that if you changed the glue once a season you had less problems, even in the very cold. They were also a problem if you got snow on the glue. Once they got snowed up you were screwed until you could dry them.

I still use the Mohair (synthetic version), thinner Euro produced skins. Unfortunately I have not found a US manufactured brand that I find as reliable. Clean the glue off after the last tour of the season and reapply at the beginning of the next season.

Silveretta made a really great alpine touring binding. Also with boots like "terminator", cable bindings, Nordic down hill, is much easier.


On the Mohair skins, there was tail clip, that would help hold the skin on, similar to snake skins (they did not work to well on ice or hard pack). I had a belly bag to place the skins in after I took them off, to also keep the warm.

I used the purple skins at Carson. Don't remember who made them, but they worked really well. They were great for training the new guys how to downhill ski. kept them slow enough to get the mechanics down as we graduated them from the bunny hill to steeper slopes. then when they were ready, we took the skins off and let them loose.

Some teams still have them at carson, as for going up hill with skis I would rather just stop and put snow shoes on to walk uphill with a ruck but thats just me :)

thats them
 

its good to hear that they have been put to use, does anyone know if these are still issued?

Skiing with a ruck on can be like trying to ski with a unruly monkey on ones back. I made some loops for going over the ski and hanging up the binding, they where for drag one going down hill. I later bought a sled, and the game changed. Down hill became a much more fun. Also the sled had a drag brake (if needed) I'll need to dig up some Crater Lake winter camping photos.

One other thing I did, depending on run out, just let the back slide down on it's own. This was for a heavy pack.

Not sure any of this would be utilized by the Military.

If you are talking about the Silverettas 10th had, they started with 400s, then 402s and then 404s. They were good bindings. Since I retired I have been using Fritschi, a Swiss binding. Very nice.

I gave up on Nordic a long time ago. I believe ski touring (Randonee) is more efficient. It is also interesting that ski touring gear is getting lighter and Nordic is getting heavier... I don't use lace up moutaineering boots anymore (more modern randonee bindings won't work with them anymore). I used alpine touring boots. Great setup.

Skins don't work well on ice or hard pack and aren't meant to. If the incline isn't too bad you can edge, for worse conditions one should have a good set of harscheisen matched to the binding. Can literally be a life saver.

I did the Haute Route a few years ago on Randonee/Alpine Touring gear. It was one of the best moutaineering trips of my life.

Naughty boys teaching people to ski with skins on... :mad: