G3 Alpinist Climbing Skins

By AT-Eve Ranked #141 - Telemark Skiing March 17, 2008

Comparison with 2006/2007 orange BD/Ascension skins.

Pros:

The glide is much better than with Black Diamond skins. They are also 3 oz./skin
lighter than the Black Diamond skins. Mostly because of the improved glide, I estimate that I am able to climb about 300 ft./hr. faster than with the BD skins.
In dry powder, the G3 skins grip as well as the Black Diamond skins. The G3 skins fold up much more compactly.

Cons:

In wet snow or glazed tracks, the G3 skins don't grip as well as the Black Diamond skins. The G3 skins seem to ice up a bit more and have more problems with snow getting between the skins and the ski.
Once the G3 glue has snow on it, it is more difficult to scrape clean than
the Black Diamond glue and seems to lose more of its stick. The skins are more floppy and harder to handle, especially in the wind, and it is also more difficult to rip the skins off without taking the skis off. Both of these problems can be dealt with by taking the skis off before removing the
skins and folding the skins in quarters as you take them off instead of
removing them completely and folding in half.
The skins are showing some
signs of fraying around the edges after 10 days of skiing. Finally, the tail
hooks fall off the skis a lot if you aren't careful
about tightening them fully.

All-in-all, the pros seem to outweigh the cons, at least when one is skiing primarily dry powder snow.

View Details: G3 Alpinist Climbing Skin

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