The TGR Skinny Ski Ski Tourers' Refuge Thread

[kamtron]

I do think light boots are a bigger performance cost than light skis. But the really light stuff does sort of "pair well"... too much boot and you can overpower a tinny little ski. There is definitely a performance difference between gapless and gapped pin bindings when in my heavy-duty boots, although I haven't tried a stomp pad myself.

[Tjaardbreeuwer]

There is definitely a performance difference between gapless and gapped pin bindings when in my heavy-duty boots, although I haven't tried a stomp pad myself.

Makes sense. Have you experienced the same with lighter boots?
Because theoretically I could imagine both yes or no.
Marshall goes for yes on the heel support.

[riff]

I’m with marshal on this


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[ezgzy]

I have limited experience with light boots, i spend almost all my touring days in a zero g pro. I will say that it consistently overpowered my lightest skis (1.2k) with skimo bindings and that i had to be careful not to blow through the ski by pressuring the front of the boots too much and ski with a more neutral sense. I picked up some lighter boots for this year and transitioned to alpinists on everything which will hopefully make a difference


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[Tjaardbreeuwer]

I’m with marshal on this


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Yeah, that makes total sense to me. The less support you get from the upper of the boot, the more you have to control from your foot

[kamtron]

Makes sense. Have you experienced the same with lighter boots?
Because theoretically I could imagine both yes or no.
Marshall goes for yes on the heel support.

Can't answer that personally...
I put the alpinists on my hyperchargers and honestly never got my backland boots dialed in (looking to replace now), so I never skied them with them. Backlands have always felt soft with some foot movement for me, mostly due to the thin liners that wear quickly, and I can't imagine the binding making much difference with that.

It's probably true that bits of slop in the system (boot + binding) add up to the overall experience. I can certainly feel my heel "moving" in dynafit pins in a way that isn't great for the ski feel.

[ktoor]

Backlands have always felt soft with some foot movement for me, mostly due to the thin liners that wear quickly, and I can't imagine the binding making much difference with that.

fwiw replacing the stock liners with intuitions on my backland carbons was a game changer. highly recommend for anyone in these boots.


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[alpinevibes]

fwiw replacing the stock liners with intuitions on my backland carbons was a game changer. highly recommend for anyone in these boots.


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Very interested; wanting to beef up my Backland Pros a bit without totally killing the ROM.

Did you go Pro Tour? Tour Wrap? Tour Tongue?

[ktoor]

Very interested; wanting to beef up my Backland Pros a bit without totally killing the ROM.

Did you go Pro Tour? Tour Wrap? Tour Tongue?

pro tour lv. i also removed the laces as they sort of interfere with the gaitor and i never found them that useful anyway.


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[Shred Baron]

I happened upon a pair of new pair of pro tour liners at a consignment store for half off, and threw them in my two year old backlands with worn out liners and noticed the performance difference immediately. Didn’t notice much in the way of loss of range of motion though. I ended up getting new carbon backlands and put the intuitions in that, and have been pretty happy. The old backlands are now my hard splitboard boots with the new liners from the carbons.


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[skis_the_trees]

I've got some used but good condition Pro Tours in size 11 or 29 I'm selling for $60 obo, in case that helps anybody above.

I also picked up these vintage skinny touring sticks recently, Volkl Norbert Joos 177cm, 70mm waist. They are now my skinniest touring ski (next in line is 80mm waist, and WOW 80mm that feels skinny after skiing ~116mm inbounds most days and 112-120 for most mid winter touring).

[kamtron]

There's no way I could fit a medium volume Intuition into my backlands, but I think the low volume does sound good.

[alpinevibes]

Yeah I'd be looking for Pro Tour LV sz 27 Intuitions if anyone's holding

[Tjaardbreeuwer]

I use the Palau Power Lt liners in my Backland Pro boots. I have Intuition Tour MV in another boot, and these are definitely thinner, so I assume fairly similar to the Intuition Tour LV.

[altacoup]

Scored a killer deal on some Atomic backland 95s. Might be considered fat skis in this thread, but for me they’re skinny and ridiculously light. Curious if anyone has experience with atomic skins? Since these will be a spring big mission/volcano ski I can see the benefit of skins that use the solid attachment of the tip notch. The Atomic skins are a mohair mix, which I like for midwinter skinning. But I’ve always used a higher grip skin for spring skis, as the added grip is confidence inspiring on firm refrozen snow.


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[Benneke10]

Black Atomic skins are contour guide mix, some of my favorite skins. Super reliable glue, good grip and decent glide. White atomic skins are contour hybrid pure, love the grip and glide, hybrid is fantastic in some conditions, less so in others

[altacoup]

^^^
Thanks. Looks like the backland 95 skins are the black atomic skins. I think I’ll buy those. Also thanks for reaching out with a good offer on “skinny skis”, I just couldn’t do the short length.

The recommended mount point on all these light skis is so far back, it’s insane. I’m debating between +2 or +3 onthe backland. In my mind the lighter a ski is the more centered it should be to increase control over the very light extremities of the ski. Especially when skiing steep terrain I like the added control of having more tail. I realize a lot of this is to make skinnier skis ski better in soft snow, but I’m beginning to think my previous bad experiences with light narrow skis is due to recommended mount point.


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[Jonathan S.]

For many years I kept using nylon skins for highly abrasive refrozen snow in the late spring and summer, long after I’d switched to momix in winter.
Then I finally ditched the nylon. No regrets. And no apparent disadvantages.

[doebedoe]

Finally breaking down and replacing my decade old Praxis Yetis this season.

Looking for a ski ~95mm, <1400g in 180-185, ~20 turn radius. Prefer something that has a reasonably sized and not insanely stiff shovel for soft snow performance, but ideally a bit longer effective edge and stiffer than my Flex 3 182 Yetis. Prefer a flatter tail than the yetis but ideally something that has some taper/releasability back there for weird snow conditions and poor skiing form.

For refernce my soft snow touring ski is Wildcat 108T in 184. Pretty ideal ski for me on softer snow days.

These will be for low tide midwinter, longer spring adventures and uphill fitness laps. Paired with a Skorpius and Kuluar LT. Most likely reusing Contour Hybrids from Yetis this season.

What should I be looking at? Dynafit Blacklight 95? Dynastar M-Tour 99? Alp-Tracks 95? Volkl Rise 96?

[sruffian]

Heritage lab bc90? https://heritagelabskis.com/products/bc-90

I have an old pair of down lowdown 90s that are pretty excellent for this purpose. Also daily the wildcat 108t in the backcountry


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[waxoff]

What should I be looking at? Dynafit Blacklight 95? Dynastar M-Tour 99? Alp-Tracks 95? Volkl Rise 96?

Add BC Orb Freebird to the list

[ktoor]

welp big thank you to jonathan S who convinced me i needed a boot in the sub 1000g weight class. ended up finding a deal on a pair of dnas!

the stoke is extreeemely high. i immediately bought the palau liners and hope to use the bikini ones for fitness and spring and the palau for adventuring. i have a set of race skis ill be using them on as well as a 1400g 94mm ski for testing some boundries (unfortunately dont have the adjustment on my 112s to see what pow would be like). alrdy looking for a 78-88mm ski for them (atomic 78 ul, blizzard zg 80ul, m-vert 88).

they fit quite tight but not uncomfortable which is surprising given my wide foot (getting some proper boot work done in a couple weeks). the boa presses the whole top of my foot and encourages heel lock and the walking ROM is nuts. all this is from carpet tests only.

ill report back my first timer's experience on this type of boot after a few days on em.


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[Tjaardbreeuwer]

@Ktoor, what was your lightest boot before this?

[Tjaardbreeuwer]

@Altacoup,
I am the opposite of Jonathan, pretty new back country skier, but use mohair/nlyon Pomoca Green on my Backland 88, and Pink pure mohair on my Backland 100, skinned plenty of steep icy spring snow on them both, no big difference with my older mohair/nylon mix skins that I had before these.
I only tried full nylon very briefly.
I have never found either of the mix or pure mohair skins to be an issue for grip.

[random_watcher]

PSA to any European members, Black Diamond are selling both the Cirque 78 and Cirque 84 skis at less than half price and currently have all sizes in stock. I've just taken a punt on a pair of 84s and looking forward to seeing how they go.

Anyone have any time on these that can compare them to anything similar? I was holding out for a pair of Backland 85ULs but couldn't resist the deal on these.