approach skis and skins

[iceaxe23]

Ok have my sivleretta 404 and some monster 191 BD skis

and just got some skins but they are a bit too short. I can try and get a Black Diamond’s STS Tail Kit (having trouble finding locally) for the rear and cut off the metal tab but how bad would it be to just go tailless on the skins? I will just be using for approach use on cascade volcanos.

 

thanks all

[Dan_Miller]

In the olden days we just wrapped skin tails with some medical tape and called it good. Works surprisingly well in lieu of a tail fix kit. The quality of the skin glue will (as you might guess) be crucial as well to tail adherence.

It should be noted that all my most recent skins have had effective tail fix however.

[mattp]

If you are going to ski uphill then peel the skins off - once in a day - tape on the tails will generally work OK unless it is icy and the tape wears so you will have to replace the tape. Even if it is not icy, and if you are skinning through the woods, up and down at all, or skiing repeated ski runs so that you are putting skins on and off three or four times in a day, you want what I used to call the Canadian top-fix system.

 

Sew a strap on the back of the skin which wraps around the tail of the ski and then connects through a loop of elastic to a D-ring hung on a screw on the top of the ski.

 

Even with failing glue, this system works (not with totally failed glue).

[DPS]

Maybe this is a stupid idea, but have you thought about getting some shorter skis on Craigslist? 191 is really long for an approach setup.

[iceaxe23]

Maybe this is a stupid idea, but have you thought about getting some shorter skis on Craigslist? 191 is really long for an approach setup.

 

No, once I have some extra cash I will. The skis I have now were thrown in with the bindings. Found a bd sts tail kit at back country that should work perfect.