"Oh Dixieland, I hope you understand... I can't see this world unless I go... outside my southern comfort zone." - Brad Paisley
Monday, February 4, 2013
Skinning
Allow me to explain skinning for anyone who hasn't heard of it.
Skinning = a method of climbing uphill in backcountry skiing
Basically, you place these long strips of sticky nylon (called "skins") on the bottom of your skis and on the side touching the snow surface, there is a fur-like material. So... it works like this: as you move uphill, the fur-like surface flattens allowing your ski to glide through the snow, but when you put your body weight onto that ski, the fur catches the snow and keeps you from sliding backward. Think of it like velvet. You know how when you rub velvet in the direction of the material... it's soft and smooth... but if you rub against the material... it doesn't feel as good? Skinning basically works like that.
So, Mike insisted that I have alpine touring bindings for my skis (his hand-me-down skis) and that I buy skins. He talked about how fun it is... and what good exercise it is... and he totally convinced me that I HAD to have this equipment.
I went skinning for my first time ever yesterday and IT. WAS. AWESOME. It is seriously hard work though. We skinned up an area just down the street from our house, called Genoa Peak. It's a good mix of flat areas and inclines. We climbed to the top of the peak where we had amazing lake views COMPLETELY to ourselves. I felt like I was on top of the world... literally.
Hope you enjoy these pictures and videos from our adventure...
Not quite at the top... but taking a break from the trek up
Nothing to do but rest... and stare at the ridiculously beautiful landscape
We were truly on the top of the ridge... one side was Lake Tahoe... and to the other side was Carson Valley... totally different landscapes
I was slightly excited to be at the top!
South Lake Tahoe
Such a happy mountain dog... who was COMPLETELY exhausted for the rest of the day
Heavenly Ski Resort
If you look closely, you can see lots of tracks in the snow... some are our skin tracks... some are snowmobile tracks... ski tracks... etc.
Not a bad location for a picnic lunch and a little relaxation.
360 degree view (sorry for the shaky picture... but it's really hard to turn 360 degrees wearing ski boots in soft snow).
Recently brought to my attention:
ReplyDelete1) skins are made of mole skin? or mole fur? whatever.
2) my loving husband actually bought me my skins.
Sorry for any confusion! :)
Mohair. It lets you go up so you can get down.... I'll let you set the skin track in the next big storm.
ReplyDeleteAlso the ridge top that we ate lunch at is at 8800 feet in elevation.
Quick facts. That's 2600' above lake level or 4,250 feet above the bottom of the lake. Which is actually higher in elevation than the Carson valley
Oh yea. 1 More You could put the Empire state building in lake Tahoe standing up and the top of it would be almost 200' below the surface.
ReplyDelete