Ski touring is an expensive activity. In order to acquire all the kit necessary, you may well want to spread your expenditure over time and to put off buying equipment until you are clear what type of ski touring suits you. You may already have equipment from other activities which will be adequate to get you started.
Advice on all forms of equipment can be obtained informally. Most club members will happily talk about their gear. There are various web sites and forums where enthusiasts the world over discuss technical issues.
The basic kit list for a winter weekend identifies what clothing you will need. Basically, if it will keep you warm and dry in potentially fairly extreme conditions. Cotton clothing is not advised as it retains no warmth when wet.
Winter mountaineers should generally have clothing suitable for ski touring in Scotland. Piste skiers taking up touring should be aware that the level of activity required in ascent may cause overheating when wearing insulated jackets.
The one you have got will probably do, although ideally you need a sack without side pockets and with side straps. This will allow you to fix your skis to the sack for those inevitable occasions when you have to walk to or from the snow line. A small summer sack will probably not have the capacity to hold the spare clothing and other essentials for a winter day out. There is a surprisingly large range of specialist ski touring rucksacks available.
Until you have found your feet and decided exactly what type of ski touring equipment suits you it is sensible to hire your gear. The Club has a ski hire scheme designed especially to help new members. Equipment includes Alpine touring, telemark and traditional Nordic skis. In Scotland braemarmountainsports.com is the starting point for hiring equipment, from the shop or by carrier from Braemar. Mountain Spirit in Aviemore is another specialist supplier who hires out touring equipment. Cross country skis can be hired from the shop at Loch Morlich, opposite the Youth Hostel on the road to the Cairngorm Ski station.
Your choice of equipment will reflect what you want to do. In general there is a choice to make between turning and downhill control and ease in the kick and glide used to cover rolling hills and plateaus. A weeklong tour in the Swiss Jura would demand different equipment than a trip to the Alps nearby. Generally speaking the heavier the equipment, the greater the ease of downhill skiing. Lighter gear is faster uphill and on the level but is compromised on descent.
Ski behaviour is determined by a number of design parameters but the key ones are:
Wide skis with waists (pronounced sidecuts), single cambered and waxed for performance, in shorter lengths and stiffer construction enhance downhill and powder performance. The emphasis is on turning performance in descent, not kick and glide in touring. Narrower skis with less pronounced sidecut, double camber, greater flexibility and lighter construction, with or without fishscale bottoms, emphasise touring performance and kick and glide.
There is a tremendous range from light footwear used on prepared tracks to plastic boots with Vibram soles used for Alpine touring. Boots are key to your enjoyment: nothing takes the edge off a day like bad boots. Whatever the activity, it is important to have properly fitted boots. Badly fitted boots can lead to more than general discomfort with trip ending blisters and even frost bite being possible results.
Neither waxes nor fishscales are adequate when the hills get steep. You may be able to zigzag but in the end you need skins to increase friction and hence climbing power. Skins reflect the history of the sport, now made in plastic or mohair, they were originally made from seal skin. A natural skin has a direction, when stroked one way it becomes smooth and silky, when stroked the other it becomes rough and ruffled. Modern skins attach to the tips of the skis with buckles and are glued to the base with a permanent sticky layer. More sophisticated systems may have a special elastic tail fittings.
Steeper icy and exposed slopes with limited snow cover require more specialist equipment. You will need this if you go on a Tour in the Alps or Pyrenees and they may save you detours in the Scottish mountains. The club hires ski crampons but not boot crampons.
The club hires specialist avalanche rescue equipment. Some members ski with a transceiver, probe and shovel virtually all the time. Others make a judgment according to conditions.
Last updated 01/02/2001 by Brent. © Copyright Edinburgh Ski Touring Club 2011. e-mail: webmaster@estc.org.uk