To purchase climbing skins you need to answer the following questions:
What are the dimensions of your skis (tip, waist and tail)?
What length are your skis?
Choose skins based on the width of the widest part of your ski, the tip. You want the width of the skin to be just slightly narrower than the tip of your ski by about 5-6 mm. If you can't locate the perfect size, it's usually fine to go slightly narrower. You will then trim the sides of the skin to match the shape of your skis. Some skins come in pre-cut lengths, while others must be trimmed to the correct length.
Example: You have the Black Diamond Verdict (134-102-121) in a 180 cm length, and you want to buy some Black Diamond Ascension Nylon STS skins. You'd choose the 173-180 cm length and the 125 mm width - after trimming them to match the sidecut of your skis, you'll have skins that cover all of the P-Tex base material on your skis except for a tiny 2 mm sliver at the tip.
Some companies make skins that are pre-cut to fit a certain model and length of ski exactly and require no trimming. To purchase pre-cut skins make sure that they exactly match the model and size of your ski. Look for pre-cut skins from K2 and Dynafit.
Example: You have the 167 K2 GotBack skis. You buy the 167 K2 GotBack pre-cut skins and head for the hills. Alternately, K2 offers a 167 Trim-to-Fit skin that will also work, but you will need to trim the sides of the skins to match your skis' profile.
Shop Ski Climbing Skins
For more information check out How to Buy Backcountry Climbing Skins
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Still have questions? Please give our customer care team a call at 866-386-1590, Customer Care Hours. They can help you find the right outerwear to fit your needs.
