Reporting back after a massive season. So first of all, this was year 3 of touring for me, the previous two years I got out about 20 days, this year I did 77 (…and counting!). I toured over 250 miles and over 113,000ft of elevation gain.
What I learned was actually, I just sucked at skinning. I watched a bunch of videos on how to skin by male guides and TBH there is a big difference between someone who is 6ft tall and someone who is 5.5ft tall in terms of technique. I started taking smaller steps, sometimes tiny steps, and that helped a ton in not burning out my legs. I also made a rule: if I slip twice I do something different. Either cut a lower angle track or put on ski crampons or switch to booting. But mostly cut a lower angle track. I have excelled at kick turns and I actually find them enjoyable and a way to rest, so I do them often. Also, I’ve stopped using heel risers 90% of the time. Ive discovered its actually far more efficient to be on flat skis. Basically the only time I use them now is when traversing across a steeper slope where one foot is lower than the other, I’ll use one heel riser to make my hips flat. I did also buy a lighter pair of skis (volie hyper manti) but those don’t seem to help as much as all the other things I just listed, they dont hurt, but my times didnt sky rocket faster.
By March of this season, my uphill skinning speed converged on my uphill “running” speed (read: power hiking), so now it’s time to incorporate speed work into my summer running plans.
Anyways, if anyone else is trying to get faster skinning, I would seriously consider looking at your technique.