jsickman100139813

I'm a big fan of the old purple Ascension skins. I believe that Black Diamond bought out Ascension, thus the word Ascension in name Black Diamond Ascension Nylon Clipfix Skins. However, the Clipfix skins do not have the same holding power and resistance to water of the older Ascension skins. Pros of the Clipfix skins: The trimming tool and instructions are very easy. The skins glide better than older skins. The uphill grip on the snow is excellent. Cons: Skins are supposed to stick to the bottom of the skis, period. The Clipfix stick well if they are perfectly dry, but any moisture presents a major problem. I did a 4 day tour in April in the Sierra Nevada. Most days I had my skins on in the morning on long climbs and had them off coming downhill in the afternoon. One day we took a short downhill run without skins and then attempted to skin up again for more climbing. It was a no go. Not even liberal duct tape could keep them one - there was no residual stickiness at all. The old purple skins would have restuck though. Part of the problem with the Clipfix skins is the center of the skin has no glue. While this makes it easier to remove them, I'd argue that the ease of removal does not make up for the lack of stickiness when wet. I plan to reapply skin glue to the entire skin before heading out next winter. Side stepping for a few miles taught me to not trust the Clipfix skin's holding power.

I installed the climbing heals in conjunction with the G3 Targa bindings (which are excellent). The Targas have a plastic cap that goes over the heal plate - the plastic keeps the plates from icing up. However, the plastic plate does note allow you to install both the long and short climbing wires. G3 should fix this problem. If you just install the climbing heals without the plastic plate, but wires can be used, but you give up the anti-icing plate. Other than that the heals are sturdy and fairly easy to deploy and stow, although you can't deploy them with the end of your pole.