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Small Backpack for Skinning Inbounds

Thread Starter
TS
L&AirC

L&AirC

PSIA Instructor and USSA Coach
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Aug 29, 2017
Posts
356
Location
Southern NH
Wait. You don't already have the skis and boots for this?

Didn't you say you'd be on telemark gear?

Yes I have telemark gear and is what I'll be using. I have had it for a couple seasons but across two seasons might have a dozen times out. I don't have many opportunities to telemark and is why I continue to suck. Maybe this event will change things. If I had to do it again, I would get AT gear instead.
 

Mothertucker

Sweep Dodger
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Desolation Row
If you don’t like wearing a pack skiing, consider the Dakine Heli 12L. It’s wider and longer than many other packs of the same volume, so its a decent amount thinner. This disperses the weight and awkwardness of a pack across your entire back. I generally don’t have much of an issue with packs skiing, but I’m a lot pickier snowboarding...this is one of the few packs I’ve used that I don’t even notice while riding.
I use the Dakine Heli 12 daily as a liftrider and as a summit bag, works well, tougher than their gloves. My only quibble is the hang loop, hard to operate zips when weighted.
IMG_20190426_181309999.jpg
IMG_20190426_133005497.jpg
 
Thread Starter
TS
L&AirC

L&AirC

PSIA Instructor and USSA Coach
Skier
Joined
Aug 29, 2017
Posts
356
Location
Southern NH
I, and most every guide I've had, would *not* recommend using a camelback while skinning. Unless you can be certain that conditions will be above freezing, camelbacks have a nasty habit of freezing while skinning leaving you without water. Not a big deal when you're just one ski away, but annoying. Hydrating at each transition will be enough if done regularly.

As for the micropack -- a bunch of external straps like that make me nervous while riding lifts. No matter how low profile, straps can get tangled. This was beaten into our heads during lift evac practice and lecture last week. One common cause for people failing to unload probably is gear snagged on a chair. There is a reason why in-bounds focused packs typically havea very smooth back. Example:

BLSEA.jpg

Guess what Santa brought me!!!!! Going to get a test run this weekend. :yahoo:

As an update to all of this, I'm ridiculously behind in working out BUT, I'm not changing the plans or at least yet. I've also found out is is almost exactly 1 mile up. There is a slightly longer trail (1.23) but is on the other side and not where I work out of. I've also started getting some coaching on my tele skiing from one of the other Race Coaches that used to compete in tele; racing and moguls, and he is helping tremendously. I might actually get good enough at tele to enjoy it.:crossfingers::Teleb:
 

LiquidFeet

instructor
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New England
I was wondering when you'd give an update to this thread.
Remind us, when's the date? That's your birthday, right?
 
Thread Starter
TS
L&AirC

L&AirC

PSIA Instructor and USSA Coach
Skier
Joined
Aug 29, 2017
Posts
356
Location
Southern NH
I was wondering when you'd give an update to this thread.
Remind us, when's the date? That's your birthday, right?

It's still almost two months away. I'm shooting for midweek mid February (between the 17th and 21st). I might nudge it a bit either way based on conditions and my work schedule. Optimal will be the 18th as it is by B'day. Will see.
 

Slim

Making fresh tracks
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@L&AirC , fun! Get some pics for us. Sounds like this is a fun project that has already encouraged you to broaden your skill set!
 

Joel

Having fun
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Colorado
Another vote for the Osprey Kamber. Comes in several volumes. I have the Kamber 32, don't even notice it when I'm out pretending to ski.
 
Thread Starter
TS
L&AirC

L&AirC

PSIA Instructor and USSA Coach
Skier
Joined
Aug 29, 2017
Posts
356
Location
Southern NH
@L&AirC - how did it go?

It hasn't yet. When I first decided when to do this I didn't take into account school vacations and how busy it would be. My concern is that one of the trails is narrow and I'd rather not deal with out of control kids coming at me doing over 20mph. I'm pushing it out a couple weeks. It will probably be the first or second week of March.

I'm feeling pretty good about it though. I still haven't skinned up more than once in a row, but I've done a few other things that required a bit of cardio and leg strength for an extended period. I was a a 2 day mogul clinic and each day registered on my watch as 6 and 7 hours of exercise based on my elevated heart rate. There were a couple of days of playing taxi for BNet too toting it up and down the mountain. That can be exhausting as well.

I'll keep you posted.
 

cantunamunch

Meh
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Do you have a long session planned between now and then?

Don't forget that long-term muscle activation is not the same thing as elevated HR. Put another way, mogul clinics won't stave off cramps...or low blood sugar in the second and third hours.
 
Thread Starter
TS
L&AirC

L&AirC

PSIA Instructor and USSA Coach
Skier
Joined
Aug 29, 2017
Posts
356
Location
Southern NH
While at it, I figure I should post an date on the Ortovox backpack I got. All in all I like it. It works well for skinning up when you only need the bare essentials and should work well when we have a race not at the home mountain so I don’t have to load up my pockets with all the extra crap we need.

The ONLY issue I’ve had with it to date is when skinning up yesterday, my helmet fell out of the sling and rolled downhill and went in the trees. It wasn’t a big deal and easy to retrieve but made me reconsider a few things.

First off, I’m comfortable saying I didn’t check thoroughly that I connected it correctly. The fact that the strap came undone could all be on me, so going forward I will make sure to check. Also, my ”fix” to this s to pull out the loop strap for carrying skis and clipping the helmet strap to it so even if it does fall again, it won’t roll downhill into the trees.

if I were to change anything, it would be nice if the front zippered pocket was expandable, BUT that might encourage me to carry more than I really need to. My only reason for this is when I roll up the skins, the fit is pretty snug. The back pocket I keep dry gear in so I don’t want to put them there.

I wouldn’t mind if the little pocket on the waist strap was a smidge bigger and there was another one on the other side (two instead of one). My iPhone is a 7 and just barely fits in the pocket (no way will an iPhone 10 go in there) and I would like to carry my multi-tool in a pocket that doesn’t require taking the pack off. Yes I can carry it in my pants pocket but I don’t like things in my front pants pocket when skiing and don’t have side cargo pockets on my ski pants.

So far I’ve been very happy with the pack. I remember someone saying you need to be careful of straps getting caught on the lift. This happened on the chair in front of me last weekend and an unbuckled strap got caught on the back of the seat and pulled the snowboarder back into the chair as he was exiting. All was fine but they had to stop the lift so he could free it and reset the safety bar.
 

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