Equipment

Ski Touring Kit

This is an extensive list of the recommended clothing and equipment you will need for ski touring. When skiing you only need to carry a small day pack, which contains your safety equipment and any personal items you may need.

Clothes & Accessories

• Headwear - to include warm hat and sun-cap or wide-brim hat for extra protection from the sun. Although we do recommend helmets for off-piste skiing, for ski touring they are not essential and actually can be a hindrance – they are hot, heavy and you can’t hear very well when wearing it.
• Roll-neck ‘Buff’ - a light, stretchable microfibre tube. Excellent, despite the name!
• An outer shell jacket - made of breathable material (Gore-tex or equivalent) with an excellent hood. The lighter the better and so a shell is recommended rather than an insulated jacket and you supplement this with some good quality thermal base and mid layer tops following the principle of layering – i.e. allowing you to easily add/remove layers depending on the temperature and the activity
• Ski trousers - Possible characteristics might include bib-style front with braces (to keep the snow out), side-openings (useful for when you get hot), breathable fabric (Gore-Tex or similar), stretch knee pads, integral snow gaiters. (NB: Bib-style trousers can be too warm in spring in which case waist-cut trousers would be better.)
• Top and bottom underwear made of a synthetic, wicking material. Very popular at the moment are the wool based layers from companies such as Icebreaker and Smartwool. They are comfy, breathable and warm when needed and can be worn for days without your friends catching a whiff!
• Mid-Layers - 1-2 thin fleeces rather than fewer thick layers between your skin and the outer shell an approach which gives better heat retention and good flexibility
• Gloves - good quality Goretex gloves or mitts and a thin pair of soft-shell gloves for when it is hot and for skinning in
• Silk inner gloves - if you feel the cold
• Ski Goggles - good quality with a lens for low light is essential in the event of snow and poor visibility
• Sunglasses - good quality with 100% UV protection
• Rucksack - 20-30 litre with straps for carrying skis
• 1 – 1.5 litre water bottle - we don’t recommend hydration systems (e.g. Camelbak) in winter as they have a tendency to freeze
• Hill nibbles (chocolate, energy bars
• Suncream and lip salve

Safety Equipment:

• Avalanche Transceiver
• Snow shovel
• Avalanche probe

Skis & Boots

For Ski Touring trips it is essential that you ski with 'freeride' type skis, ski touring boots and ski touring bindings. If you have your own skis but they do not have ski touring bindings then you will need to rent skis. The same applies if you have downhill ski boots, you will need to rent ski touring boots. There are many ‘all-mountain freeride’ skis to choose from and we highly recommend Scott, Movement and Dynastar’s ranges of skis. Look for a ski that is the right size for your height, typically now the tip of the ski should be somewhere around your nose height. As for the width of the ski or side cut a mid-fat ski is the perfect all-rounder, the ski should also not be too heavy.

It is essential that you have ski touring boots for these trips as walking up hill is much more comfortable in these types of boots with a walk mode and great flex.

If you are going to be getting into off-piste and ski touring, then rather than having a pair of downhill boots and a pair of ski touring boots, we strongly suggest that you opt for a good pair of ski touring boots. It just makes more sense; not only are they much more comfortable to walk in compared to ordinary ski boots, they are great to ski in too and you are not sacrificing any appreciable performance.

Almost all boot manufactures are producing some kind of ski touring boot these days, Scott, Scarpa, Dynafit and Black Diamond are the market leaders in touring boots. You can get boots more suitable for downhill ski performance with a walk mode to very lightweight boots all about the uphill.

These days many manufacturers offer ‘thermo-fit' liners as standard equipment. You may also want to consider a custom liner. Heated and moulded to your foot and boot for a perfect fit, they can make all the difference especially if you have trouble finding really comfortable ‘off-the-shelf¹ boots. Zipfit liners are a great option for anyone seeking total customisation in fit and comfort. They will replace the original liner.

For bindings, Fritschi have their well known Diamir bindings, Marker offer touring bindings in the form of the Baron and the F12 & 10 which work very well. Many more people are seeing the advantage of the Dynafit “pin” binding system; they are very light, offer excellent security despite their minimalist looks! Other manufactures are also producing this style of binding now and for the keen ski tourer it is highly recommended

Standard ski poles or adjustable poles are suitable for all our ski tours. They must have wide powder baskets (4-5 inches/100-120mm diameter) otherwise you’ll be up to your armpits on the ascents. Go for an alloy rather than carbon poles which are lighter but have a nasty habit of snapping near the basket due to ski edge nicks.

Other equipment

• Ski Skins - these are skins which, now made of artificial fabric, stick to the bottom of your skis and allow you to walk up hill. They must be cut to fit your skis exactly.
• Ice Axe - general lightweight mountaineering / alpine pick, keep it short (50cm)
• Boot Crampons - ideally lightweight aluminium ones although steel crampons are required for more demanding tours
• Ski Crampons (aka Couteaux) - most ski touring bindings have ski crampons specifically designed for the binding. We always carry these just in case
• Climbing Harness - a simple lightweight harness. The key feature should be that it has fully adjustable leg loops for putting on over ski boots and crampons

On some tours in non-glaciated terrain an ice-axe, boot crampons and climbing harness may not always be required. However as conditions and itineraries can change we do generally recommend that you bring these items with you. If you do not own these items they can be rented to you by our guides or via one of the local sports shops.