The lead skinner stacked nicely over the hip, knee, and ankle: skinning below the Middle Sister.
Skinning efficiency on flat and rolling terrain keeps you better rested for bigger ascents and descents later in the day. A how to for onward and upward and across those flats…efficiently.
Allow me a digression into the realm of loop upon loops of kilometers and timed performances. No. Not skimo. Sort of a close relative — the sharp end of the 2018 Olympic women’s 30k classic. Norway’s Marit Bjørgen won. She crushed. Covering the event, I recall standing on a gentle hill rising out of the main stadium. The air drifting in from the Gobi Desert was cold and dry and carrying enough of a bite to incentivize the racers to get it all over with. None were more motivated than Bjørgen. On another level altogether was her pace and technique.
Well into the race, her form was “stacked”. Her torso bent slightly forward. Her hips, knees, and ankles aligned over the kickzone: the portion of a classic ski layered with kick wax (or fish scales if you lean that way). Her momentum and metronomic stride carry her unrelentingly forward. It’s worth noting again: On another level.
Norway’s Marit Bjørgen beginning the kick phase with the knee aligned with the ankle.
In this image of Marit Bjørgen, she has initiated the kick and is now in the power phase with the hip, knee, ankle closely aligned as her foot passes under her center of mass.
While I’m not aspiring to channel her particular strength and aerobic efficiency, I am, years later, trying to mirror her technique.
While we often tour in the mountains in binary terrain, either up or down, it’s not uncommon to encounter sustained flat or flattish rolling terrain. Let’s approach this two ways: proper technique and the gear that helps maximize efficiency skinning in the flats.
Kick and Glide: The Technique
The key to good form is relatively simple but sometimes tough to execute. First, don’t get too far over your skis. The torso is bent slightly at the hips. Second, bend your ankle (drive the shin forward). Notice the knee bends in unison with the ankle. If you have a handy full-length mirror, stand sideways, tilt the torso, and articulate the ankle to ~45 degrees. Your hip, knee, and ankle should be roughly aligned. Dropping a plum line from the hip bisects the middle of the knee and ankle — this is the “stacked” stance — hip, knee, and ankle aligned in the same vertical plane. It is OK if you are off a bit, we’re not here medal-chasing, we’re here to look for some marginal gains in skinning efficiency. As this is a dynamic motion, aiming for the stacked stance as you kick and then drive the ski forward is the goal.
The stacked position allows the skinner (or classic skier) to generate powerful kick with the kicking foot and then sit over the kick zone, waiting for the glide to dissipate, with the glide foot. The glide foot is ready to kick as soon as you sense you’ve milked the glide.
One common skinning and classic ski technique mistake is overdriving the glide ski. By this, we mean the ankle is not aligned with the hip and knee — it is driven way out in front of the hip and knee; the ankle’s angle opens up beyond 90 degrees. (Which in some skimo boots is possible.) We see this a lot in classic skiing when folks are shuffling rather than kicking and gliding. Although not a deal breaker, it simply slows down the turnover rate of driving a ski, allowing it to glide, and then weighting and kicking the opposite ski.
Lastly, to maximize the force on the kicking ski, you want to weight the ski when the hip-ankle-knee are pretty much aligned, not with the ankle in front of the hip-ankle. In this case, you are kicking with less overall force.
Gear on the Flats
If you place a maximum on touring and not the turns, finding a boot with a hefty range of motion (ROM) and minimal cuff friction as you push the shin forward and articulate the ankle helps with skinning efficiency.
Boots
Good technique is manageable on any touring gear. It’s just easier to execute with boots featuring massive ROM. We find this boot attribute in lighter 1kg class boots like the Scarpa F1LT, Dynafit TLT X/Blacklight, Salomon MTN S/Lab Summit, and Technica Zero-G Peak. (And we find it with skimo specific boots.) Don’t underestimate these 1kg class boots; they can also drive wider skis up to 100mm underfoot. We know many stout skiers (and skinners) who use a 1kg class boot as their one-boot-quiver.
However, some beefier boots like the Fischer Transalp Pro and even stiffer Tecnica Zero-G Tour Pro have ample enough ROM and lack of friction to nail the technique. What’s best is to find what you prioritize, the ups or down or something in-between, and find a comfortable boot. Either way, the key is to ensure you can flex the boot/ankle and properly weight (and sense) the ski’s kick zone, which is the zone under your ski boot.
Bindings
A quick nod to bindings. Bindings with a true flat mode will likely feel more natural as you skin in flat and rolling terrain. With boot heel allowed to rest flat (or nearly flat) in the glide phase, it will foster greater power application as you roll onto the ball of your foot to kick. This sensation is more noticeable with high ROM boots.
Skins
If you anticipate lots of flat to rolling terrain, choose skins that place a premium on glide. Mohair and mix skins usually offer the best glide.
There’s no need to go and purchase special skins for flat terrain. But if the piggy bank is full, experiment with different setups. A thin, short, straight-cut skin on a wider ski often provides enough grip, with supreme glide, to make things exceptionally efficient. Of course, if you intend to ascend, which is most of us, the skinny and short skin setup will fail you on even modestly steep slopes.
Unlike Bjørgen’s countless gold medal romps, we are not looking at podiums. We are looking at efficiency over the long haul. And good skinning technique on the flats will save you energy for when it counts; zigging and zagging up the skinner towards the mountain gods.