Converted my Made'n AKs to work with the K2 Backside Climbing Skins

[mcgrathchris]

After not being able to find any preferred skin options to work with my Made'n AK skis/Duke bindings, I stumbled upon the K2 Sidestash precut skin. It is exactly the same dimensions as the AKs (except 2mm wider at the tip). The Backside skins have the best tip attachment system I have ever used. Instead of having to deal with a loop over the tip, they attach with less drag and have a great tail attachment too! This is where it gets interesting!!!

I contacted K2 customer service for their advice about drilling holes (yes...) in the ski for the attachment points. K2 really surprised me with their effort to answer my wacko question. She called me back after researching it and advised me their opinion on how it would work best.

Here are the results:
<a href="http://s1136.photobucket.com/albums/n498/mcgrathchris/?action=view&amp;current=2011-12-27_19-19-34_388.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1136.photobucket.com/albums/n498/mcgrathchris/2011-12-27_19-19-34_388.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s1136.photobucket.com/albums/n498/mcgrathchris/?action=view&amp;current=2011-12-27_19-20-42_742.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1136.photobucket.com/albums/n498/mcgrathchris/2011-12-27_19-20-42_742.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

The Skin:


They advised not to remove the rivets and to make sure the inside of the hole was lined in epoxy or something similar.

I used a 1/8 bit to drill a pilot hole and figure out if the interior contained any metal. The tip looks to be only made of composite. Next I clamped a small piece of wood against the front of the ski face to prevent it from splintering. With a 7/32 bit I did my best to center the hole, and drilled the final hole through the ski. The hole was placed about 1/3 in behind the rivet to allow room for the Z-Clip attachment. Exact same process for the rear clip attachment.

The only things I wish I did different:
The holes were ever so slightly off center. Not a huge deal except the skin is an exact match to the shape of the ski and there isn't much room for error.
I would have placed the holes a little closer to the tip rivets. The Z-Clip is at a slight angle and the hole could be about 1/8-1/4 below the rivet and still have enough room.


K2 Backside precut skins with the Z-Clip are worth the hassle. The make several different sizes that may work on other skis like it did for me. Hope this helps.

[iTomahawk]

Has K2 started making their skins with factory waterproofing now? After my experience with last year's blue-ish skins from K2 I'm pretty set against using them again. They absorbed more water than a paper towel and picked up giant glop/ice clusters that shut down a couple days of fine skiing. Edit: Yes, I tried applying nikwax skin waterproofing and using BD glopstopper, still didn't make them perform nearly as well as BD or Dynafit skins.

[3pin]

iTomahawk, yes the new green skins use Pomoca's safer skin waterproofing, and it should be pretty noticeable.

mcgrathchris - enjoy, just make sure to seal the inside of the holes, as CS said, to keep water from getting into the construction. I've done this with some older skis as well, and it worked great.

[::: :::]

I have a pair of the blue K2 skins; i haven't used them yet, and i wish i'd known about the quality mentioned above.

i'm in the PNWet and i'm not interested in frustrating tours because of skin problems

what is the best treatment to make them more water resistant? the nikwax skin waterproofing?

[Bobcat Sig]

This is excellent stuff! I've recently decided that out of budgetary reasons, I'm going to convert my beat-up Made'ns to backcountry use. This idea isn't something I even considered. I had thought about making Black Diamond skins work, but this might be a far easier option.

Here's a question; what did you do for the tip attachments?

[iTomahawk]

iTomahawk, yes the new green skins use Pomoca's safer skin waterproofing, and it should be pretty noticeable.

Thanks for that, good news for an otherwise good product.

acinpdx - you might try the nikwax skin waterproofing in liberal quantities before you ever use the skins. Perhaps my experience would have been better if I had known about the lack of waterproofing before using the skins. Be sure not to miss any spots. Some people also hot wax skins, I haven't tried that, careful not to ruin the glue. Also apply glopstopper before each day when skins are totally dry. The only other issue I had with the blue K2 skins was the difficulty in tearing them apart from themselves... they have aggressive glue.

[::: :::]

acinpdx - you might try the nikwax skin waterproofing in liberal quantities before you ever use the skins. Perhaps my experience would have been better if I had known about the lack of waterproofing before using the skins. Be sure not to miss any spots. Some people also hot wax skins, I haven't tried that, careful not to ruin the glue. Also apply glopstopper before each day when skins are totally dry. The only other issue I had with the blue K2 skins was the difficulty in tearing them apart from themselves... they have aggressive glue.

it gets better, huh? they're on the keeper strips at the moment

i haven't used glopstopper. i do have a block of skin wax from my last pair of skins. it sounds like even after the nikwax, i need to be using the skin wax judiciously in all conditions?

thx for sharing your experience with these

[iTomahawk]

Yeah I would use glopstopper any time there's going to be some warm snow and cold snow mix, which in my neighborhood is every day. Here's some thoughts on these skins from someone that has vastly more experience than I do:

http://www.wildsnow.com/2031/coomback-k2-ski-review/

The skin info is in the comments. I'm also reading that the new green K2 skins solve the overly sticky glue issue.

[::: :::]

itomahawk
i went into my shop last night to see about waterproofing
they were not as harsh on the skins and said glopstopper should be sufficient
i trust them, but i also took note they didn't sell the skin waterproofing (hmmmm)

thx for the link, i will chase down some waterproofing as a precaution

[mcgrathchris]

This is excellent stuff! I've recently decided that out of budgetary reasons, I'm going to convert my beat-up Made'ns to backcountry use. This idea isn't something I even considered. I had thought about making Black Diamond skins work, but this might be a far easier option.

Here's a question; what did you do for the tip attachments?

Check out the picture of the green skin above. The "Z-Clip" is set up to go through the front hole and it secures the tip without any loops, etc. Search K2's youtube video of the Z-Clip demo. My AKs have been an amazing backcountry ski. Now with this option, I have considered giving up resort skiing for the most part.