An early start on lightweight gear and heavy packs — Wind Rivers. Photo: Brian Parker
The mantra of light and fast has a chicken and egg problem of sorts. To be fast, light gear helps the cause. Sometimes, though, it’s ok to sacrifice speed (meaning you might be less fast) if you’re concerned with sweet turns. Heavier and slower may make you smile more.
I remember the instance I pivoted toward lighter gear. I was maybe 14 years younger and chasing my friend Tosch, who remains ~24 years younger, when I bent over, maybe dry heaved, and enveloped myself in a big puffy jacket. We were a few hundred feet below the top of Rainier. I stayed put. Tosch went on to tag the summit and return. A smidge shy of the ~9000’ dance up Tahoma via the Fuhrer Finger, I began the conversion to gram counter.
The day began well. I was on K2 Wayback 88s mounted with Dynafit Speed Turns and lugged (even then, I knew they were too heavy) Black Diamond Quantum boots on the feet. The setup, which skied damn great, was matched with undainty (and sluggish) BD nylon carpets. Thankfully, the skis were on my back for at least half the ascent.
“The draft did not last long. And despite it being a windless day, a mighty headwind soon blew and set me straight. I could not keep up with Tosch. I’m sure fitness had something to do with it. It was easier to blame the gear.
I puked 10 feet from the car on the descent. Then we drove home.
I know for sure I got ahead of myself. I recall the purple and creamsicle sky at sun up. I recall sitting in Tosch’s draft and thinking, “No problem sticking with Tosch.” Tosch strode along in wafer light Movement planks. And his bindings, I swear, had I weighed them, would have been at most 50g. Maybe even 30g.
The draft did not last long. And despite it being a windless day, a mighty headwind soon blew and set me straight. I could not keep up with Tosch. I’m sure fitness had something to do with it. It was easier to blame the gear.
I puked 10 feet from the car on the descent. Then we drove home.
Oh So Light
Next November, new glossy Dynafit PDG skimo boots were feathers on my feet. If the boots were feathers, the matching PDG skis were wings. (I had to keep it semi-real and mounted the skis with Speed Turn bindings—I know, it makes a skimo-er gag. But I had a pair lying around.)
I loved skiing firm snow on the setup, and the ski-boot combo was divine on the occasional traverse. My ski partner John had his Tosch moment, too, although he’d been drafting me, making it a somewhat less effective draft, and the pace was more pedestrian. But anyhow, John saw the lightness and promptly lightened his wallet. Some pingy carbon skimo planks from LaSpo/Ski Trab arrived, as did some vintage LaSpo skimo boots.
Brevity works in this case: most of the time, light was right. Unless it was deep powder. Or variable. Or refreeze. You get the point. The setup always jived on the uphills, though.
Aidan Whitelaw: plenty happy about hauling beefier boots and wider skis.
Only a Dalliance
I began a hard pivot away from the skimo setup while on the local Three Sisters Traverse. The skis and boots shone on the first two hills of the day. We botched the timing on the last hill, the South Sister. The once kind corn had refrozen in places. In others, it was ski-grabbing knee-ligament-rupturing mank. A 65mm width ski driven by wimpy ski boots didn’t help my cause. I suffered on the descent.
Fast forward to the next spring, and I locked into a sweet and kind setup. A 1000g boot in the Fischer Travers Carbon (which I could use with the PDG ski and add some oomph) and a wider and slightly longer and heavier ski. Doing the math: Skis+boots+bindings = I was landing around 2400g per foot. This was a low-snow-winter and spring sweet spot set up for years. The increase in weight amounted to better control while descending and a minimal ascent-related weight penalty—a win-win.
Could I keep up with the likes of Tosch on a big day? 100 percent not. But that hypothesis was tough to test as he’d moved on from my shitshow since the dry heaves and vomit at the Paradise parking lot.
A decade plus later, I still own that all PDG setup. I’m more selective about the where, when, and how of those ski tools. But they have their place.
To some extent, the outdoor media world is part of the conspicuous consumption spiral. I’m talking here about the pairing of boots and skis, and it all costs an arm and a leg, and it all can be over the top.* That maybe proves the point. But that’s not the point here. The point is, I pivoted towards lightness and wasn’t exactly shown the light. I had to 180 towards the more mass side of the fulcrum.
*But the ski habit is much cheaper than the road, gravel, mountain bike habit. The two ski quivers work wonders from deep powder to firm steeps and long traverses. Buy skis and bindings in spring, or comb Craigslist, and I bet you can snag a pair of skis/bindings + skins in the 1kg range or cheaper. Call it 2k total for the two ski quiver. How much carbon bike does that get you?
Thoughtful write up. I’m terminally torn between the aesthetic ideal of a one-ski/boot quiver, which seems to cover more types of snow and types of days each model year, and the N+1 approach. Quite a tension to be in… until I’m of course out on the snow and just enjoying… until of course I’m in a ridiculously terrible situation with whatever gear I’m on for the type of snow and type of skiing… but part of that is some of the allure, isn’t it? being in ridiculous situations and dealing with them with what we’ve got at the moment, whether that be material, spiritual, or psycho-emotional.
Anyway, from the N+1 part of me: what’s the width of the ski you mention above for the 2400g/foot setup with the Travers Carbons?
Hey Christian… a lot going on in your comment—which I like. I love this “I’m in a ridiculously terrible situation with whatever gear I’m on for the type of snow and type of skiing… but part of that is some of the allure, isn’t it? being in ridiculous situations and dealing with them with what we’ve got at the moment, whether that be material, spiritual, or psycho-emotional.”
For certain, using the gear you have, in the conditions you are confronted with, is part of the allure. But, I’m weak, and I’m constantly (to a degree) trying to maximize my smile quotient while descending. The ~2400g setup (it could have weighed a smidge more) was with a Movement Alp Track 100, and BD Helio 200 bindings. For another option, a friend in town, (who just organized an awesome ISSW—shout out to Kevin Grove), skis pretty much everything with Dynafit TLT 8s (he doesn’t mind the snub nose), Dynafit Radical bindings, and an older model of Dynastar M 99. He always has a smile on his face.
Now, in typical midwinter conditions, I’m on a boot that runs ~1400g and a ski at ~1650g.
Curious, what is your preferred one boot/ski quiver?
Thanks for the reply! If I had to ditch everything except one ski/boot combo for skiing CO/NM, would keep the BMT 94’s and Skorps, no doubt. Really good tools for everything except the deepest days.
Keep the great content coming! Looking forward to this first full season for you guys.
Echoes of my experience circa 2007… trying to draft my touring partners on their fairly heavy setups, while I was on an even more cumbersome setup: K2 hippy stinx with OG hammerheads and Garmont boots. Orange nylons. I shudder to think what my weight/per/foot was on that setup. I quickly made a hard pivot to BD Aspects, dynafit speed turns, and those snazzy green and yellow Quadrants. And I was still (and still am) pretty darn slow, but a much more enjoyable type of slow 🙂
I agree with Tim:
I am not sure how much faster dropping a few hundred grams makes me, but it certainly makes the uphill much more fun.
And a big part of that is that (at least until recently) low-weight was also a good proxy for uphill performance:
Narrower skis are lighter, but at least part of their higher speed is simply due to the narrower ski+skin.
Lightweight skins are faster, but that’s because they also usually made with faster gliding plush.
Lighter boots are faster because they have less resistance to flexing the ankle. This allows longer strides and better kick, which in turn means you can use faster, less grippy skins.
I think the key is finding the balance that gives you the most fun. Light and efficient enough to make the uphills fun, and supportive and stable enough to make the descents enjoyable.
Of course, where the balance point lies will depend on your skill, endurance, goals for the day and the snow and terrain you encounter.