Choose Your Tools: Skiing light, fast, and far.

This is Part 5 of the Choose Your Tools series. Also check out Part 4: Universal Gear Truths.

Going Light

Going fast and light is, among a small but growing crowd, all the rage these days. This makes a lot of sense considering the currently plummeting gear weights and the growing popularity of backcountry touring. In small, speedy enclaves throughout the Mountain West, folks are experimenting with the low-end of the weight spectrum, stealing techniques and technology from mountain-racing disciplines to push the limits of minimalist weight and maximum vert.

Going Light is defined here as seeking to use the minimum gear possible to achieve the greatest amount of mountain travel. Lightening your pack, clothing, boots and skis frees the energy that would be used to tow those pounds around, and that energy can be applied to traveling farther or faster in the hills. Just as fast-packing and distance trail running are coming to dominate classic backpacking routes, so too is lightweight skiing turning previously multi-day traverses and enchainments into impressive day trips.

The Benefits

Going light isn’t just for endurance freaks in spandex setting world records. Even if your resting heart rate isn’t in the 40s, lightening your pack and your gear is a liberating experience for several reasons.

The first is the most obvious: weight. No one but macho marine corps survivalist types get off on carrying more weight than is necessary. The problem is, most people have a skewed view of what really is necessary. The lightweight approach uses well-designed products made of newer, lighter materials, which are multifunctional and allow for lighter and fewer pieces of gear. It is not uncommon for a committed lightweight nut to have a pack weight under 5 pounds (w/o water), including the pack. That’s likely twenty pounds that you’re carrying, and she’s not. Add to that the significant differences in ski, binding, and boot weights, and weight differences become huge. That’s a lot of extra energy wasted on carrying yourself around.

The second is simplicity; carrying less means dealing with less. When you have less gear to worry about, a smaller pack to sort through, fewer layer options, etc., your day is simplified. With less gear, there’s attention spared that can be redirected towards your friends and your environment. If classic ski touring were a form of literature, it would be a short story, whereas fast and light touring is like a poem: it is as wonderful for what isn’t there as what is.

The third is a product of the first: when you go light, you can go far, and you can go fast. When you come to own the mentality that underlies the fast and light approach, it becomes clear that much more is possible than you had previously considered.

The Limitations

The easily-anticipated and tolerable limitations of fast and light skiing are functionality, cost, and durability.

While lightweight gear has improved radically over the last five years and continues to do so, lightweight skis, carbon fiber boots, and race bindings will never ski as well as beefy alpine equipment. Understand before you go down this path that skiing on lighter gear requires you to be a better skier, and to learn to ski differently. While huge, rockered skis make everyone look like a good skier, lightweight skis deflect easily, don’t float as much in soft snow, and generally reveal your weaknesses as a skier. It is very enjoyable to learn to use such tools, but if you expect to ski the same as you do on your alpine skis, you’ll be disappointed.

Lightweight gear is also, unfortunately, expensive. This is because the lightweight gear scene is a small and specialized market, and because the materials and processes required to make lightweight gear are inherently more expensive. Expect to spend, for new equipment, in the neighborhood of $600 for skis, $900 for boots, and $350 for bindings. Those dollars, though, they’re freedom! Plus, you can pay half this or less for barely used equipment with a little bit of snooping about.

The third limitation is durability. Lightweight gear tends to break when used for purposes for which it wasn’t designed. When using lightweight gear, it’s simply important to recognize the limitations of your gear.

Selecting Gear

The following breakdown is not exhaustive. Necessarily, you’ll have to play around with different systems and feel out what you like. Use the information below not as gospel, but to guide you on your own path to enlightenment.

Clothing

A lightweight clothing system should provide breathability on the uphill and adequate protection on the down, with minimal need for layer changes. One basic and widely used system is that of a base layer + wind layer, which provides good heat-shedding for skinning and good protection from the elements when descending.

The upper-body base layer (1) depends on your environment, the time of year, and how warm you run. I prefer a zip layer with a hood because the zipper allows me to vent off heat, and the hood doubles as hat. The wind layer (2) is light enough that it’s not significantly insulating, but it blocks wind and also dries quickly.

On the lower body is a lightweight base layer (3) which again depends on your personal heat and environment, and can vary from a lightweight fleece on the very warm end, to capilene boxer shorts. Over that, wear a lightweight softshell pant (4). Legs make a lot of heat when you skin uphill, but don’t readily become cold.

For periods of slower travel, belaying, harder precipitation, heavy winds, etc, a lightweight insulating layer (5) is nice to have. Down and Polartec Primaloft 1 are standard for their extreme warmth to weight ratios. The nanopuff packs down to the size of a baseball, stays warm when wet, and weighs almost nothing.

For most of the day on a tour, a lightweight glove (6) is perfect. Good characteristics include a grippy palm and wind-blocking qualities. Waterproofness is not needed or desired, as sweaty hands are cold hands. Finally, a medium weight waterproof glove (7) for when it gets western out there.

Pictured: 1) Patagonia R1 Hoodie, 2) Patagonia Houdini Jacket, 3) Patagonia Merino 2 bottoms, 4) Patagonia Alpine Guide pants, 5) Patagonia Nanopuff, 6) Black Diamond Windweight Glove, 7) Black Diamond Punisher Glove.

Conspicuously absent from the above list are anything GoreTex, and anything extra, superfluous, or spare.

For keeping your head warm, a helmet is likely all you’ll need if using a hooded baselayer and a wind jacket with a hood. Helmets have grown extremely light and well-vented in the last 3 years, and most consider it foolish not to use one, especially on technical objectives. I ski in a Petzl Meteor 3+ (235g), because it’s also my climbing helmet.

Boots

Lightweight touring boots should be, without exception, tech compatible. This means that they have metal toe and heel fittings to make them compatible with Dynafit-style bindings. No other binding will do– any step-in style binding is far too heavy for this weight class. These boots all walk amazingly well, generally have a 1-buckle flip to change from touring to downhill. Generally, they also use some kind of carbon fiber, because it’s extremely stiff for its weight. Dynafit and Scarpa are the industry leaders.

The Dynafit PDG (1) is a poor-man’s adaptation of the D.N.A Evo race boot. The Scarpa Alien 1.0 (2) is said to feel like a running shoe on your feet. The Dynafit TLT5P (3) is perhaps the most versatile, and it’s the boot that I ski in. More durable and skiable than the prior options. Finally, the Scarpa F1 Race (4) is a classic choice, though a bit old-school.

Bindings

As I mentioned above, there’s no point in using anything but a tech-style binding if you want to lighten up your world. They walk better than alpine-style clampers, and they’re worlds lighter.

These bindings exist along a spectrum from pure race-style bindings (pictured) to heavier models with more features. What race models lack is a flat walk mode and normal release characteristics. Race caliber tech bindings also automatically lock in the toe, and have limited lateral release characteristics in the heel. They are, frankly, less safe for your knees than an alpine binding.

What your bindings shouldn’t have are brakes, which are heavy and unnecessary. Leashes are preferred. Also consider buying bindings with a crampon slot, to allow the use of ski crampons.

Skis

Skis for going fast and light are tools, not toys. They need to be light, hold an edge, carry well, and they need to be skiable in a variety of snow conditions (technique required). They range in width from 65 mm underfoot in race style skis to about 88 mm in superlight all-mountain platforms. Length is a matter of preference. As a general rule, size these skis 10-15 cm shorter than your big alpine skis.

Within lightweight skis there is a spectrum of available qualities. Try to demo on-snow if you can, or if you’re buying blind, subtract ~12 cm from the length that you ski now and look for a ski about 75mm underfoot. From there, your dollars will determine how light you can go.

Skins

Little has changed in skin technology in the last 20 years. There are essentially 3 types of skins: Nylon, Mohair, and Blend. Nylon skins are heavier, thicker, more durable, and have better traction. Mohair skins are favored by racers for their enhanced glide, easier fold, and lighter weight. They also afford less traction. Skin blends are exactly what they sound like– some combination of nylon and mohair that tries to find a compromise between weight and traction.

Skiers in Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado can get away with using mohair skins because the dry snowpack allows for steep skin tracks and good traction. These same skins would be misery on a volcano in the Cascades as they slipped and slid all over the icy snowpack. If you live in California, Washington, or Oregon, or in a similarly wet/heavy/icy snowpack, try the blend.

Skins can also be cut to the full length of the ski, the full width, or less than these. If you can only afford one pair of skins, then cut them wall-to-wall, leaving only the edge showing.

Pro Tip: All skins break in with use, improving their glide with time. If you’re impatient, take them to your local ski hill and ski them downhill on icy groomers a few times. Just be careful not to eat it too hard.

Packs

How many people have you seen touring with the pack on the left, or something similar? Cordura Nylon, buckles, pouches, clips, 6-way carry, airbag compatible, built-in harness. 3 lbs.

Now consider the pack on the right. It carries all that you need, has a pocket which can be accessed without removing the pack, and a ski carry system that can be loaded and unloaded while you wear it. It weighs 1 lb.

Race-style packs like the Camp Rapid 260 and Dynafit RC 20 come in easily under 1 lb. They still carry loads well, especially because you don’t need to carry much weight if you’re going light. One nice thing about packs is that unlike other sections of this article, these are relatively cheap. You can spend $150 and get a great pack.

Closing Thoughts

Jumping into the lightweight game wholesale and new would cost several thousand dollars and I can’t advise it. You won’t know what you like until you try it out. But you can start to lighten up now.

First, carry less. Then, priority two, get on the tech binding train if you aren’t already. Hunt around on TGR Forums, CascadeClimbers, and similar gear outlets for dynafit-style bindings. You can buy Dynafit TLT Speeds for about $350 new, and they don’t get worse with age. Start now.