I completed my first ever skin up and ski down run earlier today and I learned a few things. I didn't go anywhere "epic" I simply went to my local not-quite-open ski area and went up and down it under my own power. The normal season policy for uphill traffic is that it is not allowed, however, I had asked the owner the day prior if it was ok to skin up the runs prior to opening day and was granted permission. So I parked outside the gate at about 9:30am as the sun is just beginning to rise somewhere behind the cloud cover, it's about 15*f and a very tiny bit of wind. I've got about quarter of a mile of flat across a very long and skinny parking lot before I get to the base of the runs and then it's all up hill from there with no cat track or access road, just the runs going up. I got about 1400ft of vertical and about 1.5 miles planned for the UP portion.
I have brand new Solomon S/Lab MTN boots that I've never skied in, brand new Solomon Shift bindings, new poles, new Black Diamond skins that I cut myself (while sweating bullets I might add). I'm a total newb to this whole going up hill on skis thing. I've actively avoided it since I stopped XC skiing back in middle school 18 years ago. But somehow I got it into my mind last spring when I bought the boots that I wanted to try going up hill.. anyways lets get this bad idea going.
- I forgot to bring my camping pad that I can stand on while getting boots on and off at my car. Oops. It was the very first time out skiing this year, so I'll forgive myself.
- Brand new boots.. Well this should be interesting. I learned that the couple hundred I spent on foot beds and getting the liner heat molded actually paid off! No blisters and the discomfort in my feet I attributed to never ever doing this before.
- Wow, skins actually have a lot of grip.
- Shift bindings are slick! and easy to use! Stoke levels rising.
- Not even 10 steps in my calves and hips were protesting and I was having doubts that I was even going to make it across the parking lot. Moral fell a lot
- The pain went away a couple hundred yards later, I should have done some stretches or warm up. Moral back up again
- Risers.. not as scary as it seems, they help a TON. The 10* on the shift felt perfectly fine for the entire trip up the blue square run I was climbing. (we don't actually have any greens on the main area)
- Oh my god walking up a hill on skis is a LOT of work. By the time I was maybe 10 minutes in I was down to my tshirt, the hat, shell, and insulation layer was all stuffed in my backpack.
- Those youtube videos on how to skin were actually useful. I practiced the various kinds of turns on the way up and actually felt like I accomplished something!
- Should have left the headband on to catch all the sweat.
- Keep reminding myself that this isn't a race and to go slow as my body has never ever done this sort of thing before and has no idea whats going on.
- Mid way up snack time! talk about the best idea I've had all morning. Just like my dog, I'm pretty food motivated so a mid way snack break was perfect to get my brain back on track and keep telling myself that I could do this and that falling down the hill and dieing in a sweaty pile of brand new gear wasn't going to happen
- That snack break was a game changer, the remaining half of the skin up was actually kind of fun! Kinda like riding a road bike.. it's gotta hurt before it feels better.
- I should have brought more than 16oz of water.
I got to the top and the transition goes well, I get all my warm stuff back on and ski down on 6 inches of drag packed powder on top of 3 inches of grass, sticks, and rocks. It's my first run of the season after walking up the hill, there was nothing special or amazing about the actual skiing down except that I had actually worked for it. It was fun and I'll do it again but with more water and snacks.
I took a picture of one of my kick turn tracks, that's how proud of myself I was on the way up!
I have brand new Solomon S/Lab MTN boots that I've never skied in, brand new Solomon Shift bindings, new poles, new Black Diamond skins that I cut myself (while sweating bullets I might add). I'm a total newb to this whole going up hill on skis thing. I've actively avoided it since I stopped XC skiing back in middle school 18 years ago. But somehow I got it into my mind last spring when I bought the boots that I wanted to try going up hill.. anyways lets get this bad idea going.
- I forgot to bring my camping pad that I can stand on while getting boots on and off at my car. Oops. It was the very first time out skiing this year, so I'll forgive myself.
- Brand new boots.. Well this should be interesting. I learned that the couple hundred I spent on foot beds and getting the liner heat molded actually paid off! No blisters and the discomfort in my feet I attributed to never ever doing this before.
- Wow, skins actually have a lot of grip.
- Shift bindings are slick! and easy to use! Stoke levels rising.
- Not even 10 steps in my calves and hips were protesting and I was having doubts that I was even going to make it across the parking lot. Moral fell a lot
- The pain went away a couple hundred yards later, I should have done some stretches or warm up. Moral back up again
- Risers.. not as scary as it seems, they help a TON. The 10* on the shift felt perfectly fine for the entire trip up the blue square run I was climbing. (we don't actually have any greens on the main area)
- Oh my god walking up a hill on skis is a LOT of work. By the time I was maybe 10 minutes in I was down to my tshirt, the hat, shell, and insulation layer was all stuffed in my backpack.
- Those youtube videos on how to skin were actually useful. I practiced the various kinds of turns on the way up and actually felt like I accomplished something!
- Should have left the headband on to catch all the sweat.
- Keep reminding myself that this isn't a race and to go slow as my body has never ever done this sort of thing before and has no idea whats going on.
- Mid way up snack time! talk about the best idea I've had all morning. Just like my dog, I'm pretty food motivated so a mid way snack break was perfect to get my brain back on track and keep telling myself that I could do this and that falling down the hill and dieing in a sweaty pile of brand new gear wasn't going to happen
- That snack break was a game changer, the remaining half of the skin up was actually kind of fun! Kinda like riding a road bike.. it's gotta hurt before it feels better.
- I should have brought more than 16oz of water.
I got to the top and the transition goes well, I get all my warm stuff back on and ski down on 6 inches of drag packed powder on top of 3 inches of grass, sticks, and rocks. It's my first run of the season after walking up the hill, there was nothing special or amazing about the actual skiing down except that I had actually worked for it. It was fun and I'll do it again but with more water and snacks.
I took a picture of one of my kick turn tracks, that's how proud of myself I was on the way up!
