How heavy is your touring rig?

[zion zig zag]

Off the top of my head weights for my two set ups:

184 V-Werks Katana + Salomon MTN + Maestrale RS = 3780 per foot
177 Atomic Backland 95's + Salomon MTN + Fischer Travers = 2680 per foot

[DGamms]

Atomic BC 120 184cm with toe inserts for Tectons and Xenic brakeless: 2500 gm vs 2250 gm

Line Vision 98 179cm with Xenic brakeless: 1750 gm

Atomic Hawx XTD 130 26.5 with 27 Tour Wraps, Booster strap, and green Superfeet: 1430 gm

Very happy with these setups thus far. The BC with Tectons skis well enough that I can use it in resort on pow days and sneak out the gates for sidecountry laps. If it’s a pure touring day, I’ll usually opt for the Xenics. Long days with lots of vert and/or more firm snow than soft snow, the Vision 98s get the call.

Could probably drop to a 1000gm boot in good snow too... those XTD 130s with the Tour Wraps are plenty of boot everywhere outside of the resort for me.

[dfinn]

Currently only have 1 setup but looking at getting something skinnier for spring.

So far this is the best combo I've had as far as being light but still being fun on the down.

189 Line Vision 108 - 1700g
Dynafit Superlite 2.0 - 180g
Technica ZGTP - 1300g

[XXX-er]

I have 7 setups that will tour, somehow they just acumulate

the lightest Tech setup is a Denali with Verts the heavier is a Lotus !20 with Verts, I tried going no brakes but I like brakes

also got a few frame binding setups which get used depending on snow pack or on piste

Vulcan fits well & will drive anything

[Lord Thomas]

By actual weight on a lab scale, my daily setup is:
186cm BMT 109 = 1,657
Zed = 440
sz 27.5 XTD 130 = 1,520
Colltex skin = 240
Per foot total = 3,857

As a heavier dude I've found the biggest difference in skiability came when I got the XTD's. Huge difference compared to the "110" flex boots that folded when the snow got just a little funky. Found that I could save about 100gm/foot by just going to the euro skins while gaining noticeably better glide. Wouldn't mind going with a heavier ski (tried it) but found that in my old and decroded physical condition that my vert suffers noticeably if I go much heavier than above. The BMT's are hands down the best compromise I've found for solving the [fun+capable+exceeds expectations in shitty conditions+light weight] equation. Have a pair of 94's for spring that are also top of the heap in that category.

I'm fortunate in that I get to go to the WWSRA demos every year. One item that's always on my radar is DD touring skis. There are more good, capable skis showing up every year. One ski that should be on everyone's radar is the new Blaze series from Volkl. Know several people who have demoed them in hard, refrozen inbounds conditions and everyone has loved them. Surprisingly capable but have not had them in anything deeper. I put a pair of 106's (186cm) on my scale and they came in at 1,828 flat....and they'll retail for $600 for the 106 and $550 for the 94. If they actually start to produce 94's in a 186 I will try to get my hands on some to use as my spring ski this year and report back. Both use the rocker profile of the new Mantra/Katana, but the 106 has a little more tip splay than the others.

[smooth operator]

I feel that weight (or savings thereof) should be made across the board, rather than on one element alone. For example, I saw a guy with zeroG 95's with marker tour's on them. Makes no sense to me. Similarly, skiing a LP105 with a 1kg boot is stupid. There should be balance.

My main touring rig is the VW Katana 184 with ATK freraider 14, and a zeroG boot. Awesome setup, charges hard.
For skimo days I also have a zerog 95 that I like but is abit of a niche product (too stiff for pow, to light for inconsistent snow, but otherwise cool). New one should be more balanced tho,.

I've also toured a few seasons on OG cochise with beasts, Gunsmokes wiht beasts. Wouldnt do that again except for very unfit partners.

[mall walker]

I guess I'll give my breakdowns (the ski/binding splits are approximate on the first 2 pairs, just going by the combined weight on my scale)

177 Movement Response-X 1200g
Ski Trab Gara Titan w/plates 200g
Fischer Carbon Travers 1100g

177 Down LD90 1300g
Plum 150 150g
Fischer Carbon Travers 1100g

179 Praxis Wootest 1650g
ATK Trofeo w/plates 180g
Tecnica ZGTP 1300g

Soon up...

180 Black Crows Solis 1950g
ATK Trofeo w/plates 180g
Tecnica ZGTP 1300g

For example, I saw a guy with zeroG 95's with marker tour's on them. Makes no sense to me. Similarly, skiing a LP105 with a 1kg boot is stupid. There should be balance.

Mostly agree... there is no point skiing/murdering a 1300g ski with a 130 flex boot imho, nor is it particularly fun to ski big heavy skis on a 1kg boot. I would reiterate I don't think it applies to bindings, unless the weight comes with some feature you need. The skiing difference between 2 identical featured tech bindings that weigh different is nil IME.

[Dee Hubbs]

Skis weight individual. (weight as pair)
3065 Atomic 186 Automatic 117 w Salomon Shifts (6130g)
2720g Atomic 182 Automatic 109 w Dynafit TLT Rad 2.0 with brakes. (5440g)
2418g Atomic 186 Charter 100 w Dynafit Speed Turns w no brakes. (4836g)

Boots: weight individual. (weight as pair)
1900g Lange 130 XT Free (3800g ish)
1150g Dynafit TLT Speedfit (2300g ish)

[auvgeek]

Currently, I've been rocking the Vulcans and 185 Zero G 108 with Speed Rad toe and SSL heel. Total comes out to 4155g per side plus BD Ascention skins.
For spring, it's the Vulcans and 177 LD90 + SSL. Total comes to 2930g per side plus Pomoca climb pro skins.

I'm looking at going lighter in both the boot and the ski cuz my fitness is usually the limiting factor rather than my skiing ability compared to my partners. If my partners were mostly slower than me, I'd be very happy with my current setups. But I'm almost always the slowest and I'm rarely the worst skier, so I'm looking at the Skorpius boot and 180 Zero G 105 -- the total would be about 2850g per side. The advantage being that I'd have a ski I like a lot more in pow than the LD90 and a boot that walks a lot better than the Vulcan.

Since other people are stating their typical tour: lately I've been skinning 4-5 times a week, mostly 1-3k vert for exercise with maybe 1-2 "real" tours per week.

[ryan b]

I think i read on here a few years ago about a stiff ski being better with dynafits since it reduced the need for heel elasticity. Maybe in the thread about someone reporting second hand info from a clinic with Eric Hjorleifson. I've found it to be true and especially for powder touring. I think a good case can be made for a stiff rockered ski and minimal bindings even with lighter boots, maybe not a stiff cambered ski that requires more input. (See also the unicorn touring ski thread.)

I've mostly skied on synapse 109s (full rocker) with speed radicals for a couple of years and added helio 116 with trofeo pluses both around 1800-1900g per foot for ski and binding. Don't have much time on the helios yet but they have a fair amount of camber and are great in the wide open but aren't quite as pivot as the synapse in tight trees and variable snow. Both are light enough get thrown around a bit when you drop bellow the powder line. Might pick up a pair of full rocker/slightly heavier dynafit beast 108s or similar to ski with trofeos.

Skied with tlt6ps and now f1s. Also have older/heavier/more elastic setups but mostly just use them in bounds.

[Eluder]

Eluder, it doesn't matter what setup you go with, you're realistically going to ski it 3 times, decide there's something better out there, sell it, and buy something else that's slightly different. The cycle will then repeat. That answer is the same regardless of the weight of the setup, and regardless of how much you fret about it on the internet.

So you’re suggesting I take up Bowling?

[SkiersLeft]

Everybody except LordT magically floats uphill without skins it appears. That is another interesting place to drop weight. Trying out Colltex Claridens this year, while the glue is complete dogshit, they are super light and glide fairly well. Something like 230g/skin.


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[mall walker]

^ having tried a bunch of skins, (numerous varieties of G3, BD, Colltext, Contour, etc etc etc) I am only buying the Pomoca Climb Pro S-Glide from now on. That is the best skin I've ever used in absolutely every way, and it's worth the extra $. ymmv. they're light and packable too.

[auvgeek]

^ having tried a bunch of skins, (numerous varieties of G3, BD, Colltext, Contour, etc etc etc) I am only buying the Pomoca Climb Pro S-Glide from now on. That is the best skin I've ever used in absolutely every way, and it's worth the extra $. ymmv. they're light and packable too.

Same. It's a nice skin. and the best combo of grip and glide I've found. However, I did shatter the plastic on the tip loop on like day 3 when I accidentally knocked the tips together while skinning. So stupid. I'd replace the Pomoca tip connectors with the BD ones.

[Meadow Skipper]

I don’t often nerd out like this but I went and weighed my two setups - 176 BD Drifts (100 wide) with Dynafit Vertical ST and BD Ascensions, and 178 Blizzard Zero G 108 with G3 Ion 10s and BD Glidelights. I’m using brakes and Salomon Explore boots. Interesting (to me) results.

Drifts + Dynafit bindings - 2210g/foot
Ascension skins - 359g/foot
Total - 2569g/foot

Zero G 108s + G3 bindings - 2260g/foot
Glidelight skins - 292g/foot
Total - 2552g/foot

Salomon Explore boots - 1480g/foot

The skins really make a difference - 67g/foot. The Drifts would be lighter overall if I put lighter skins on, as it is they’re a touch heavier (17g). So, both sets are just a hair over 4000g/ft uphill. Not really that much difference, but the BDs are nice on corn and mellow days.

All that said, I like somewhat lighter skis...and brakes.

[XXX-er]

the thing to consider with super light skins and chi chi tip treatments IS you might want something that will fit >one setup,

that you are gona walk on these things sometimes on rocks, trees, at least thru pine needles and dog hair so by definition its got to take a shit kicking so when is light ... too light?

as for glue less skins what are you gona do when non glue skins quit sticking ?

IME the dynafit pomoca's strike an ok balance

[toast2266]

So you’re suggesting I take up Bowling?

Then you're just gonna be posting in bowling forums asking what weight ball to use.

[L82thegate]

Heaviest to light:
Blizzard ZeroG 108, 177cm/ Switches / Back Diamond Glide mix = 6lb 5 oz (2828 gr.)a foot
DPS 120 spoons 178cm/ ATK Raider 12 / Pomoca Pro skins = 5lb 8 1/4 oz (2464gr.) a foot
Dynastar Mythic 97 177cm/ ATK 2.0 / Black Diamond glide mix= 4lb 11 oz (2100gr.) a foot
Dynastar Vertical Eagle 170cm/ Kreuzspitse EL / BD Glide lights = 3lb 3 3/4 oz (1440gr.) a foot

For the vertical eagles, Scarpa F1 boots. Next two can interchange between F1's and ZeroG guide pro's depending on day / objectives. The ZG 108 & Switches play with Lange XT130's, Side-country days only.
Something for everything. If I walked for my turns, I make a lot of them so a burly, fast ski doesn't buy me anything.

[Boissal]

Heavy skis always ski better but what’s the cut off when it comes to lugging them up hill?

Size of your thighs and left ventricle!

I have dozens of 10+ k days on the old 190 cm Lotus 120 (Pure 3, from when DPS still made skis that were worth skiing) and they were mounted with Vertical STs. The total weight per foot was definitely > 2500 grams without counting skins. They didn't even suck that bad to haul uphill and they were a real dream on the down, worth every drop of sweat!
My heavy setup now is Down CD114L with Speed Turns, about 1900 + 370 grams. I ski it over 70% of the time in the Wasatch and very rarely wish for something lighter. Next year i'll be throwing a super light binding on the 2020 version of the ski to try and get closer to 2000 grams.
I don't find big days to be significantly easier when I downsize to the CD104L with Plums which are about a pound lighter per foot. They ski well but not as well as their big brothers. I've only been on my UL setup once this year, it's almost 800 grams lighter per foot, and I was scared shitless the whole time and skiing 50% slower.

[auvgeek]

I don't find big days to be significantly easier when I downsize to the CD104L with Plums which are about a pound lighter per foot.

For me, going lighter doesn't really make the day that much easier, but it allows me move faster while staying below my aerobic threshold so I can keep up with my touring partners a little easier. But maybe I'm in a unique situation where my skiing ability and leg strength far exceeds my aerobic fitness.

[Mofro261]

Size of your thighs and left ventricle!

I have dozens of 10+ k days on the old 190 cm Lotus 120 (Pure 3, from when DPS still made skis that were worth skiing) and they were mounted with Vertical STs. The total weight per foot was definitely > 2500 grams without counting skins. They didn't even suck that bad to haul uphill and they were a real dream on the down, worth every drop of sweat!
.

12yrs+ on L120 F3 / pure3 and ft12's or vipecs, I was thinking 2500-2600 g/foot w/o skins. Many bigly days on that set up, still what I want to be on everytime it's fresh and soft.

Sticking swap plates on Legend Pros with ft12's was not the best set up for rando racing.

[IanCH]

The big brain move I just pulled off is to get my in-better-shape touring partners to buy heavier skis and bindings while I go lighter.

[El Chupacabra]

My light pow ski for touring is the old Lotus 120, 190cm, with Vertical STs.

The heavy one is the Dynafit Hokkaido with Beast 16...

[nickwm21]

If the setup is fully focused on touring; IE you spend significantly more time walking uphill in the gear than you do skiing down then my opinion is that you should be on a simple pin binding (~300g) and touring specific boot (~1300g) but can be on a slightly heavier ski (no more than 2000g, but better to be ~1700g). I run Speed Turns on Ravens with ONEs.

I don't have a 50:50 setup but I see the use of going to a 50:50 binding and boot; IE Shift and Cochise, to ride a resort where mixing sidecountry laps and inbounds laps is a thing. I would still try to keep the ski weight down to close to 2000g. I wouldn't want that type of setup for a full touring day.

[gramboh]

I moved down to one do-it-all ski setup this season because I get limited days with a young kid, Mon-Fri work etc.

2020 4FRNT Hoji 187cm 1900g
Salomon Shift 865g
27.5 Atomic Hawx XTD 130 with Intuition TourWrap 1415g
Total = 4180g / 2090g per foot

This setup skis the resort (Whistler) well enough, especially pow days, but the boots are a bit undergunned for long/back to back resort days. I weigh 210lbs so that could be part of it... but for the amount I ski this setup is perfect. Tours well enough that I'm comfortable with this for a 3-4 day hut trip next season. The Shifts really blow me away in terms of ski performance compared to tech bindings, it's really night and day. I would not go lighter than these Hojis, they ski everything pretty well and 1500-1700g skis do not feel substantial enough to me.

Previous setup was:

2013 Hoji 187cm (2200g) + Radical ST 1.0 (566g) + Maestrale RS 1.0 27.5 (1780g) = 4546g/2273g
so I acutally dropped weight from this AND improved skiing significantly. Hard to say if the 2200g Hojis skied better than 1900g because the Shifts and Hawx are light years ahead of the Radical 1.0 and RS 1.0. Of course the Radical toured better than the Shift but I'll accept that trade-off.

I also had several iterations of Renegades with Guardians, and toured with those in both alpine boots and the Maestrales, but that was pure misery.