Mountain Skills: Get the Most Out of the Uphill

While backcountry skiing or riding, we tend to spend more time going up than down. And, simply put, skinning done poorly is not fun. There are three primary ingredients to a good day of touring: establishing a proper pace, setting an appropriate skintrack angle and avoiding kick turns whenever possible. The reality of earning your turns is that more than half of your time in the backcountry will be spent going uphill. If you race through the up, the day will end sooner and with fewer turns. Taking short cuts will just cut the day short. You’ve likely come into the backcountry to escape the rat race, so learn to enjoy the climb up and the whole experience will get a lot better. Here’s how.