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2023-03-14 at 17:07 - comment by Mike W
I didn't have any snow sticking to my skins. The problem was the film of water that forms between the gliding surface of the skis and the smooth track when the snow is wet. It creates what's commonly called a suction or vacuum effect that slows you down. Similar to trying to separate 2 plates of wet glass. The same thing happens with downhill skis.
It can be reduced by using high-fluoro wax that repels the water (not environmentally friendly), or applying an aggressive structure to the ski base (not practical unless you have a pair of skis just for those conditions). Skiing over the rough surface of the walking trail has the same effect as an aggressive base structure. Either one breaks up the suction/vacuum between the 2 surfaces. Glop Stopper on the glide surface of the skis might also work if you leave the surface rough instead of smoothing it out.
Snow sticking to the skins is a different problem, at its worst when skiing during a wet snowfall. The grip zone of fishscale and waxable skis have the same problem. Sometimes the entire ski surface if it hasn't been properly glide waxed.
Glop Stopper and similar products applied to the skins will help in those conditions. Unfortunately none of them work well if the skins are already wet. It's best to treat them ahead of time. Even if snow sticking to the skin isn't an issue, these products improve skin glide during the glide phase of your stride. The best product I've tried so far is Vauhti Skin Ski Care Blue (link below), available at Norseman. But for my Alpine Touring skins I use Nikwax Ski Skin Proof (link below), available at Abom Ski & Board. It's a lot cheaper and I'm not concerned about getting maximum glide.
Vauhti Skin Ski Care Blue
Nikwax Ski Skin Proof
2023-03-14 at 15:31 - comment by MaSid
Somebody posted a comment a week or so ago about a specific product for waterproofing skinny skin skis. If they are the same basic nylon hair construction as AT skins, should work fine.
2023-03-14 at 12:57 - comment by aqua toque
Would this stuff prevent catch and release on them there skin-type skinny skis? (Asking for a friend who might buy a pair).
Tour de WBC
Report Submitted by Mike W
(trip) Date: Monday Mar 13, 2023
Submitted: Monday Mar 13, 2023 at 22:01
Participants:
Me
Discussion:
Last night when I saw that Telephone Loop had been groomed that afternoon, and seeing that I had yet to ski it this year, my plans for today were set. Looks like Helen and SteveR had the same idea. I took my skin skis to handle the forecast temperature range from -12C to +8C. It was -10C at 1015 when I set out, and I ran into Helen at the start, who had parked next to me. After a quick chat, I eventually caught up with SteveR who had started about 15 minutes earlier. The trackset was shallow but serviceable. More details in Helen's and SteveR's reports. After Telephone, I continued on to Moose, Mountain View West, Mountain View, Loggers, Elbow N & S to the Fullerton parking area, back via Iron Springs, Iron Creek, and Crystal Line E for a full perimeter tour.
By the time I started on Mountain View the temperature was above 0C and the snow was getting sticky in the sun. Mainly just "catch" rather than "catch and release". Best progress was to keep crossing to whatever side had tracks in the shade. Elbow and Iron Springs/Creek hadn't been trackset in a while, but the trackset was still deep and clean. Overall better than Telephone. There was even good trackset on most of Elbow S to Fullerton parking. But by this time the temperature was well above freezing and there was so much suction in the tracks that it was faster to ski on the hiking part of the trail where the bootprints broke up the suction. +9C when I got back to the car, for a total temperature change of 19C!
Total distance: 43.00 Km
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