Nordic Backcountry Ski Gear

I. NORDIC BACKCOUNTRY

Ski Touring Point A to Point B

II. CROSS COUNTRY DOWNHILL / XCD

Touring for Turns

Now we get to the kind of skiing I like best of all. This type of gear combines the ability to cross country ski (kick-and-glide) with the ability to make turns going downhill. Of course it's the skier who is making the turns or traversing the snow, but the equipment shouldn't prevent you from going where you want to go. Choose the best setup for the kinds of skiing you intend to do, and for the types of terrain you want to ski. 

• The skis (Fjellski) are typically the size and shape of vintage downhill skis from about 1995, but considerably lighter, and often skied in a shorter length. The classic dimensions for a ski of this type are about 90mm across the tip, 70mm waist, with 80mm across the tail. Some narrower models are more optimized for cross country skiing, while others are wider, optimized more for the downhill. Choose the type of ski best suited to the terrain you intend to ski. If you'll be skiing miles of long flat and rolling stretches then you'll want a longer and narrower (and therefore lighter) ski. If you're into linking turns downhill then you'll want a wider (and therefore heavier) but shorter ski. 

• Bindings - Again, the boots and bindings must be compatible with each other! For this type of setup, I'd say that if the ski you choose is 60mm or narrower in the waist, go ahead and use the popular NNN-BC bindings (Manual version, as discussed above), but choose a bigger, heavier boot that will help you control the bigger ski.  However,  if the skis are up around 70mm in the waist, then you'll definitely want a 3-pin 75mm 'telemark' binding with beefy leather boots to match, or perhaps the brand new Rottefella Xplore binding/boot system. See it in action here or get a deeper look here (with stock, soft bumper) and here (with stiffer bumper installed). If you want to optimize this kind of setup for downhill (telemark) skiing, then you'll want plastic 'light telemark' boots like the Scarpa T4, and a fancy hardwire touring binding like the (absolutely fabulous) Voile Switchback to go with them. The classic setup of this type is the Madshus Panorama M78 ski with Voile Switchback or 3-Pin Hardwire bindings and Scarpa T4 boots. 

• Boots - Again, make sure the boots you choose are comfortable. Don't go for a 'race fit.' For a wilderness ski tour in late March, you may be in your boots and skis for 8 hours or more. It's no fun if your feet are being mangled by boots that don't fit you. If you're going for a lightweight setup that will gobble up the miles, go for a good leather boot that allows for an efficient kick-and-glide. You want torsional rigidity (the sole should be stiff side-to-side) but you want the forward flex to be soft and easy. Solid ankle support helps for hard stops on hardpack or icy snow, or for breaking trail in deep and heavy powder. The Alpina Alaska XP, with a sole for the Rottefella Xplore system, promises to offer good touring flexibility, light weight, and decent torsional stiffness for making downhill turns (requires Xplore bindings on the skis). If you're going for a more specifically downhill-oriented setup, then as previously mentioned, it's hard to beat the Scarpa T4 plastic boots. They don't flex as easily as leather boots, but they're surprisingly flexible in their bellows. They'll even work well with a simple 3-pin 75mm binding like the Voile HD Mountaineer. If you choose a telemark binding with a free-pivot mode like the Voile Switchback you can go bigger and heavier with the boots, to something like the Scarpa T2eco, which is really a downhill-telemark boot (taller, stiff flex) that's on the lighter end of that type. 

• Ski Poles - Hiking poles won't cut it. For this type of skiing, I recommend an adjustable-length backcountry ski pole like the Black Diamond Traverse. You can get ultralight adjustable carbon poles, but don't fall on them. They don't bend far before they snap. (Again, ask me how I know this...)

• Climbing Skins - These are strips of plush material with a sticky backing that you apply to the base of your skis to climb more steeply than is possible with kick wax or fish-scale bases alone. The plush side of the skins have a directional 'nap,' with fibers that stick out into the snow to get a grip for going uphill, but lay back down to make a smoother surface for gliding downhill on the snow. This allows a slow sort of stride with good grip to push off from, but not as much glide as you'll get from the fish-scale base. For lower-angled touring-for-turns, climbing skins are most useful for getting around in deep, untracked powder snow, where kick wax or fish-scale bases don't give you much grip (and wallowing up to your waist in snow is not an option). Climbing skins become mandatory on sustained uphill climbs such as climbing Mount Marcy or many of the mountains in the Catskills. If the trail you're on has a lot of short ups and downs, then it's best to use the fish-scales. But if the trail climbs relentlessly up for a long way, you'll find it's more efficient to 'skin up' (climb up with the skins on your skis).