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AT Skins

Original Post
munge · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2006 · Points: 26

What are ya'll using for AT skins? BD? G3?

I've got the notches in the tips.

Jon H · · PC, UT · Joined Nov 2009 · Points: 118

BD and G3 are the most commonly used and the burliest. Pomoca and Contour make excellent skins that are lighter and have better glide. You won't go wrong with any of them. Choose the attributes you prefer.

After buying my first pair of Dynafit skis with the tip notch, I've been dremeling a notch in all my skis and modifying the skins to use that style tip attachment. It's great being able to rip skins without taking your skis off.

Morgan Patterson · · NH · Joined Oct 2009 · Points: 8,945

BD

Dave Bn · · Boise, ID · Joined Jul 2011 · Points: 10

BD. All the way. The glue on G3 is either OK or a sloppy mess - they seem to have some QC issues.

Anyways, this is my first year on the BD glidelite mohair mix after years-and-years of the nylon skins. I will never go back to nylon. Glidelites glide better, have no noticeable decrease in grip and, while not much lighter than nylon, compress to half the size and aren't rigid obstructions in your pack.

Nick Drake · · Kent, WA · Joined Jan 2015 · Points: 651
powhound84 wrote:I like my climbingskinsdirect skins and they are cheap. The glue seems way better than my buddy's BDs.
I had CSD, the rumor mill says the owner was the designer of the original purple BD skins. The glue on them lasted two seasons for me, after that I reglued with BD. I find the BD glue to keep tacky while a tad colder, but the CSD glue was not bad by any means.

I have also had BD orange and G3 high traction. G3 glue was absolute shit. It started to come off the skin in globs and had no tack after a whopping 70 days. Again I did the BD transfer sheet of glue, they're going strong for 3 seasons now.

My impressions of the 3:

Most grip to most glide:
BD
G3 (nearly a tie)
CSD (couldn't make the occasional TOO STEEPLY SET iced up skin track)

Most packable to bulkiest:
CSD
G3
BD

Best glue to worst:
BD
CSD
G3 (wouldn't wish it upon anyone)
csproul · · Pittsboro...sort of, NC · Joined Dec 2009 · Points: 330

I really like the glide and low bulk of my mohair mix skins, but it seems like they take on water and ice up more easily than my nylon skins, even when I wax them. We have a lot of heavy wet snow here in CA. Is this a common problem with mohair?

Nick Drake · · Kent, WA · Joined Jan 2015 · Points: 651
powhound84 wrote: I dont have much experience with the BDs but my buddy had a brand new set of STS that wouldn't stay on his skis on a big snow day in Feb. He has super tight tail clips and they were still coming off while my CSD skins without tail clips were doing awesome. Seems like the slightest bit of falling snow on the BD's made them lose all tackiness. Maybe he just got a bad batch of glue.
That's really strange, do you think he might have just glanced a skin in pow transitioning? I've had that happen when transitioning in deep pow with wind. A quick scrape across the board edge will clear off most of it before storing.

Among all the discussions I've seen on Turns All Year and our local splitboard group everyone has great feedback on BD glue. I can't say I'm a fan of their tail clips for skis though.
Dave Deming · · Grand Junction CO · Joined Jul 2009 · Points: 25

I've got the G3 Alpinist on my touring skis that have been used consistently for the last five years. About the middle of this season, the delamination got so bad I heated them up and scraped off the glue and re-applied with BD's Gold Label Adhesive. So far, so good. My wife uses BD's and I like their wire loop tip connector more, and are easier to fit to a ski that doesn't have pre-existing notches.

ClimbLikeAGirl · · Keene Valley · Joined Jun 2015 · Points: 15
Jon H wrote:I've been dremeling a notch in all my skis and modifying the skins to use that style tip attachment. It's great being able to rip skins without taking your skis off.
Not really sure why you'd need to take your skis off otherwise, but I always leave mine on to take off skins...

I've only ever owned BD skins, but I've demoed a pair of Voile skis with their skins. I found they had just as much grip with SO much more glide than the BD's but at the time they didn't have a tail clip, which was a total deal breaker. Now they're making them with a clip and have a kit to add it on to an older pair... Could be a swap for me in the future!

At least where I live, BD is kind of the standard, but I see lots of people getting around just fine with G3 or otherwise.
Getoutside · · Golden, CO · Joined Apr 2014 · Points: 0

Being in North America, BD is probably the standard. I have used the nylon and the mix. Love the glide and compactness of the mix (65/35) but I got a really bad batch of glue on them. Disappointing because I do think that BD glue is usually very good. I would choose based on your location and intended use. As a general rule though, while Nylon was king, I do think that there has been a shift towards a mix, and probably for the best.

Now if people would stop making such steep skin tracks... so stupid, get out of high riser - but that's a whole different matter.

DavisMeschke Guillotine · · Pinedale, WY · Joined Oct 2013 · Points: 225

I've been pretty happy with my BCA Magic Carpet skins.

munge · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2006 · Points: 26

Thx all, appreciated

Leaning to BD

Cali spring skiing primarily. Chipmunk Flat,Emigrant

Some winter pow at higher elevations in Cali

Ty Falk · · Huntington, VT · Joined Nov 2011 · Points: 280

Black diamond makes essentially 3 types of skin fabrics. Pure molehair, a Mix style and synthetic. I use the mix skins for the Wasatch and Tetons. Skin tracks are steep but also may have long flat approaches where you want more glide. Durability is the main tradeoff between the mix skin and the synthetic or ascension skin in tail clip style. The tip loops on black diamond skins are easier to use than anything I have found and works with many different types of ski tips. Some types like the g3's are harder to rip from the tail with the skins on since they have little clips on the tip which get hung up. I have had bad luck with dynafit glue. Its hard to beat the Black Diamond skins .

Lee Green · · Edmonton, Alberta · Joined Nov 2011 · Points: 51

My wife's and my BD skins are in their fourth winter of fairly hard use in the Canadian Rockies and they've held up pretty well. Can't complain.

munge · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2006 · Points: 26

trigger pulled on BDs +got them at a discount.

thx all

munge · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2006 · Points: 26

new question - trimming your manscape, or how best to trim the skins?

Dave Deming · · Grand Junction CO · Joined Jul 2009 · Points: 25

If you can find, the shops in my area all swear by G3's trimmer, it's more user friendly and ergonomic than BD's credit card sized cutter. Just my .02, durable and costs about $3.

DavisMeschke Guillotine · · Pinedale, WY · Joined Oct 2013 · Points: 225

What Dave said. We use the G3 cutter in our shop and it's by far the easiest and fastest.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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