The idea is to pick a skin width that’s a few millimeters less than or any amount more than the widest part of your ski (generally near the tip). If the widest part of your ski is 130mm you could pick a 130mm or wider climbing skin.

Pomoca Climb Pro S Glide Top-performing climbing skins are decidedly unexciting. The trim tool that Pomoca includes is excellent. There aren’t many actualactionable drawbacks of this skin model. Of course, they could grip better, glide better, pack smaller, and have glue that requires less care and maintenance.

Every ski touring enthusiast needs to understand that consumable goods and will wear out over time. If you care for your skins well, they will work for you for a long time. If premium quality skins are treated properly, they can last for at least 150,000 meters of vert, often times it can be significantly longer.

Climbing Skin Material: Nylon vs. Generally, nylon skins are heavier, more durable, better gripping, and less packable than mohair skins. Mohair skins offer excellent glide, a lighter weight, and more packability, but tend to wear out faster and may not grip quite as well in icy or wet snow conditions.

Never leave your climbing skins stuck to your skis. You will ruin the ski bases and the skin glue.

Revolutionary glueless technology manufactured by Pomoca, the leading skin manufacturer. Revolutionary glueless technology manufactured by Pomoca, the leading skin manufacturer.

If this is the case, you’ll want to choose skins based on the width of the widest part of your ski, the tip. Ideally, you want the width of the skin to be narrower than the tip of your ski by about 5-6 mm. If you can’t locate the perfect size, it’s usually fine to go slightly narrower.

Keep them in a cool dry spot. Keep them away from heat that might melt the glue. Keep them out of the sun. Don’t leave skins on your skis overnight.

In cross-country skiing, the synthetic skins are firmly attached under the grip area of the skis: The hairs form a barrier and thus provide a stop on the ascent, while on the descent they flow smoothly in one direction, allowing for a quick race down into the valley.

Black Diamond is one of the biggest and most respected names in climbing and skiing, and their backcountry skins live up to that reputation. The GlideLite Mohair Mix is currently our favorite model in their lineup.

Generally, the better the grip, the worse the glide, and vice versa. All other things equal, mohair skins tend to glide a bit better than nylon.

Mohair is made from the hair of Angora goats, and in addition to being used in climbing skins, it’s also used in a lot of high-end apparel. The synthetic fiber nylon is used for a bazillion different things, climbing skins being just one of them. Mohair and nylon each have their upsides and downsides, which we’ll get into below. (1) Grip

Reviewers Drew Kelly & Jonathan Ellsworth skinning Schuylkill Ridge, Crested Butte, Colorado. Most modern skins have attachment points at the tip and tail of the ski to keep them in place on your skis. I’ve had some great skins with good glue and very nice plush that ruined ski tours because of poor tip and tail hardware.