Voile Splitboard Climbing Skins - 2006 BCS

Volie make really nice skins. They were easy to trim, easy to pull, easy to apply. I use them with my burton freebird and they fit like a glove. Only complaint is that they don't pack down very small, which is important because I splitboard out of an 18L pack.

These are excellent skins super sticky and never come off the ski, you can go pretty steep on these. Added the tail clip idea below by Neil and Tyler works great. Easy to put on, super sticky to pull apart and a little hard at first.

Another great Voile product and the only option available for your wide splitboard ski designed and shaped to fit on the board half. Skin hair is super tough and cleans up tree sap, etc well. The glue used to hold the skin to your base is very sticky, and can be tough to seperate. I purchased some rubber/beaded drawer liner material from the hardware store and cut it just over the width of the skin (after you have trimmed it). Cut 2 pieces and place on each skin. Or if you are a ultralight packer, use only one and place inbetween each skin. Make sure to make it a little wider then your skin so you don't have to be so exact in its placement.

Great skin! Attachment works easily. The skins were easy to cut despite magne-traction. I added some Spark RnD tail clips which really help keep the skins in place for a no-nuisance skin up the hill. Grab some of BD's Cheat Sheets to make storage and re-application easy. Great product!

so far so good — i've owned them for one season. they were a little tricky to trim only because of the side cut of the splitboard. but the good news is you don't have to have a super clean cut line for them to work. these things rule for climbing. i only had to wax them one day towards the end of the season that was really wet and slushy.

the glue is super strong. use your knees to help pull them apart when transitioning.

and is it just me, or did the price go up this year — like $50?

There isn't much choice around but luckily these are a good, durable quality. They require a little work with cutting and fitting, but if your looking at these already you used to work with back country snowboarding. I am completely happy with them only used them 5 or so times so far this season, so I cant speak for the longevity of them but so far they still look like I would expect them to look after a few heavy days out in the cold. They are like any other skin though if they get super cold they will want to stick together but mine came with a separator mesh sheet which is fantastic. I assume they all come with that mesh. It kept them from sticking together in ten below out in the badlands of the Dakotas, so I was impressed. The lack of a tail clip hasn't been an issue yet, time will tell on that front as they get used and abused. All in all regardless of little to no other option for us back country boarders, were lucky that this product is more then decent.

They have riveted, pre curved tips! That takes all the hassel out of fitting skins to a split. Spend 2 minutes on trimming and "voile" you have skins. Skins with bomber tip loops.

These used to be the only option for splitboard skins and I haven't tried the G3s. When you slap these things together for descent be cautious going glue on glue at first. If you have time put the skin savers on, 'cause these suckers are sticky! I had to get a buddy help me pull them apart the first time. Now that they have some miles on on them they aren't bad at all, which is good cause putting skin savers on all the time is a pain. Maybe now that splitting is becoming more popular we'll see more brands and Voile will bring their price down.

Do yourself a big favor and score the largest Black Diamond cheat sheets for stowing these mega-wide bad boys and you'll save yourself time and frustration during ski-board conversions. Gotta love the crazy glue-like tack on these aggressive climbers, but the effort and toll taken on the skins (glue transfer, excessive handling with gloves, etc.) just ain't worth it -- in fact, cheat sheets or the equivalent should be included standard by Voile. Otherwise, these skins are more than up to the task of setting or following fairly steep skin tracks when needed.

I've had my voile tractor skins for many seasons and the metal clips eventually gave way to abuse. I called Voile support and they totally hooked me fixing my skins with the new stainless steal tip loops and threw in a new carrying bag and cheat sheet. Love the service and will keep buying from Voile. Keep up the good work. Other companies take notice.

I bought these to replace my old purple 100% Mohair skins that lost there uphill grip. While the new orange skins grip way better than the older style ever did, they don't glide at all! Places where I would typicaly have to traverse I am now just bombing straight up hill! I can't belive the grip these things have! Everyone else I BC can't follow my uphill tracks. However on long slogs out I have to work way harder now. The old purple skins would glide in almost any snow condition, these new ones hardly glide down hill. The stickem is way tackier than the old style... Cheat sheets are a must and I never have had the tail come off my boards, big plus there. Bottom line is these things are the best for climbing, way more durable and longer lasting than the older style skins, but the cost for this is limited glide.

They work great. I totally recommend them. I build my one splitty with the Split Decision Kit and it turned out amazing! Check out the process on youtube if you are interested in building one yourself...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7vsVFt44Cc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q14Ub7__Htw

They also came with these cool plastic things to stick in between the skins so when you are out shredding you don't have to worry about trying to pry them apart.

For the only skin out there for splitboards...we really have no alternative. THE BACK CLIP needs to be invented! Or splitboarding is not great touring long distances. it great for day trips. but for expeditions i dont recommend splitboarding. Burton came up with a back clip around 7 years ago. they need to tell VOILE!

Still needs improvment... but still new.

they really need to design a tail clip for these. you had better have a back up plan to re-attach these things if the glue gets frozen with snow. (i.e. tape, cord, straps) otherwise you just have to sit there and wait as they thaw in your jacket while your friends ski away.

Got these skins for my first splitboard. I must say they are huge and have excellent hold! As noted in another review get some cheat sheets for these, they will take time off of your transition periods. I was fortunate enough to have mine come with a set from voile, which is nice because other companies cheat sheets weren't wide enough. Overall if you are buying a splitboard these skins are a must have.

well i had purchased at a higher price (silly me)
these things are fat. i got a bd cheat sheet cause i've heard about the bonding of glue on glue, like the others they almost run the length of my 58 split therefore looking to find a tail solution. mabye the plastic ones on the voile site with a metal reinforcement. Yet to use
the setup at all, although its all made in the USA, so you gotta feel good about that. GOOD DEAL this is what these should be selling for.

These skins are great. They grip better then I had expected and I find myself skinning right up slopes where I have noticed other tracks having to side step to clear the section. It was super easy to trim the skins for my split board and the glue is crazy sticky! My skins came with cheat sheets which I highly recommend so you don't work up a sweat just trying to pull them apart.

These skins have always worked well for me. However, I don't have anything to compare them to. I was concerned at first about the tails pulling up and getting snow underneath. So far, that hasn't proven true, but I also haven't used them in heavy wet snow yet. Like others have mentioned, they can be awful to pull apart in very cold temps. I typically put them inside my jacket on the descent to keep the glue more pliable. They are very powerful, the name is spot on, you can ascend very aggressive climbs. Make sure you trim them back from the edge far enough to get a solid hold on icy traverses.

Just finished touring out of Chamonix ( France) on my home built split board and these skins, both worked like a dream. The skins feel grippy, slide and climb well. Take the time to trim them properly - have a good look at the instructions and make sure you leave a reasonable space by the edges of the board. Get 'em and get out there.

These skins are great. They have great climbing ability.
They only real downside is no tail piece. They are fine for one or two laps, but if you are doing multiple climbs the skins do not stay. There is a reason skins for skis have a tail piece. Voile should offer tail piece for these as well.

they are great! easy to trim..weven for a beginner

These split board skins are the way to explore the backcountry. Their grip is incredible, in fact, if I take an aggressive up hill skin track, my ski buddies begin to slip and slide, wasting energy here and there. The grip is very strong, making for a solid, energy saving step. Get your board off your back and get out there.

System was fit well for split board. A little trimming and your ready to go. Could have another attachment method at the rear, but all in all product works well.

I was a little worried the skins did not include a tail clip. Boy was I wrong. They have some of the stickiest glue ever. I never even worried about them coming off my board. They tackled some serious verticle without having to make switchbacks. And even a little wet, they worked without hesitation. Do I recommend them? Of course. Work for your turns. Besides the splitboard, best investment I have made in a long time.

Tractor, an appropriate name. You can climb anything with these. Pulling the adhesive apart is a bit of a challenge.

They Rule! Very easy to trim to size with handy trim tool supplied with skins. They make climbing almost as fun as descending.

They work great. They make ascent on a "Split Decision" a breeze, easily outperforming snow-shoes in fresh, virgin snow (the only use I've had from the skins so far). The extremely sticky glue makes them tricky to handle when changing between board and ski mode (and pulled the excess epoxy (that I should have sanded away) right off the bottom of the home-built split board I made using the Voile Split Kit.

Just finished an epic three day assault on numerous unopened ski trails in North Central Vermont after receiving 30+ inches of super low density snow last weekend. Trailbreaking was absurdly difficult for many skiers, even w/ super fat skis and skins, but splitboard and tractor skins floated best by far. Got nominated to break trail most of the time. Nonetheless, have toured w/ these in Utah, Alaska and much of New England, and work extremely well in powder and variable conditions. New riveted tip clip much better than old stitching and fabric. Adding a tail clip would be nice, but no huge problem. Being 110mm wide, they are wicked sticky but seem to be more manageable the more you use them. Carry some extra glue and get out there.

Yeah, the others will make you break trail, but be careful; some of the "skinnier" members of your party will blow out if you go too steep. BD "cheat sheets" are a MUST to get these things apart in anything but the coldest temperatures. My wife loves me again after I got her a set.

The "Cheat Sheets" by black diamond are a must for skins. I skinned to the summit of James Peak (13,249 ft). The splitboard is absolutely great, but the hardest workout of the day was pulling the skins apart. Once I bought the cheat sheets, it made pulling them apart a ton easier and I became envy of all my skier friends.

These skins are great, they're huge and climb pretty much anything I've thrown at them!

Well I opened the package and said, "What? All this money for some carpet with glue?" But on the snow they grip very well, very impressed. The trimming tool is much more useful than it looks.

This is only my second pair of skins, so I'm hardly an expert. And, since both pairs are Tractor Skins, I've nothing to compare them to. However, and it's a big however, it is worth noting that there appears to a substantial difference the two, otherwise almost-identical, sets of skins: Grippiness (Sorry. As a backcountry knuckle dragger, my vocabulary is embarrassingly void of ski-centric technological terminology).
In short, these new skins appear to grip MUCH better than the old ones—“old" being a relative term, since the old ones have been used maybe a dozen times, and most of those have been in brand-spanking-new Wasatch backcountry powder.
So, anyway, I'm not sure if this "review" makes much of a difference, except to the two or three other split-boarders out there (if there are indeed any other split boarders out there). Since we already have skins and probably can't afford new ones—and if we can, we're probably on the verge of divorce and one more "discretionary" (toy) purchase will be that last straw—we probably won't be purchasing anything new, anytime soon, anyhow.
But I digress. Seriously, these puppies appear to have some sort of anti-gravity stick-to-it-iveness about them; because it really seems I have to make a conscious effort—on anything but solid ice—to use the worst form I can possibly manage (leaning WAY forward, poles willy nilly, etc.) in order to get these skins to let go. Meanwhile my poor son is extricating his twisted limbs from his split boards and the tree limbs after his last slip/slide/tumble...on my old skins.
So, there you have it, albeit from a relative newcomer to the world of skinning.
Two thumbs up.

Jeff
from Sloppy Slushy So Cal

Killer skins brought me up some steep and deep in the Turnagain Pass Area, AK for some epic runs with great friends. Super sticky glue will give you a workout.

These work surprisingly well except for a couple of shortcomings that I can see. They are truly a bastard to pull apart (as are most skins). But that comes with the territory. I wish they were made for each size of split board, instead of just two sizes that are too short on purpose. Also a clippable tail would be a cool addition, too. Other than that they work really well.

Things needed to make these awesome. Tail clips/voile straps to keep the tail on. Cheat sheets from Black Diamond. Just remember when trimming to leave some space so your edges are still useful.

The Voile Tractor Skin for the Split decision makes it simple to fit to your split board. These were much easier to do than the Black Diamond ones that I was using. Good quality and work well.