Pro Guiding Service - Summer Soul

The wimps of summer are long gone. Some are walking manicured greens in double-knit pants and tasseled shoes. Others are using mowers and fertilizer to convert their own patch of green into the envy of those who think double-knit pants and tasseled shoes are maarvaalous.

But what about true skiers--the ones who realize that the slap of wind across the face and the G's from steel biting into ice has infinite more appeal than spanking a little white ball. What do they do during the hot months?

Ski of course. With leg power rather than lift power.

Summer ski trips are among the very best in my memory. During a weekend in late June, I remember completing the Ptarmigan Traverse, a classic, 40-mile long, high-route through the North Cascades, in a T-shirt and with a rucksack holding little more than a day pack. I remember carving high-speed GS turns down long slopes of corn. I remember sleeping amid spires and stars cocooned in a bivvy sack. Later that same summer, I skied a vertical mile down a 35-degree snow finger falling off the false summit of Mt. Adams, Washington's second highest volcano. The last 1000 feet of snow sported a black patina of volcanic dust which was scraped with each wipering of the skis. At snow's end we lay by a stream, let a gentle wind cool our shirtless torsos, and admired the negative image of our white tracks snaking through black snow. We concluded that skiing the high peaks in August was equal to skiing deep powder in January. No joke.

To get started summer skiing you need nothing more than what I've recommended for resort-oriented backcountry skiing (see my stories). Try it. If you like it, consider purchasing specialized gear to pare weight and make life easier on your legs.

Hiking experts say that each pound added to the foot is equivalent to five pounds added to the shoulders. Because your legs are in constant motion and weight on the end of a long limb has a leverage advantage over muscles, the experts are probably on the mark--although skiing is different because you're dragging rather than lifting the foot. Anyway, if you're smitten by this summer avocation, you'll enjoy it more by shedding shod weight.

SKIS

Many lightweight specialty skis are sold to the ski-touring market but Martin Volken, a certified Swiss mountain guide and owner of Pro Ski Service, a performance ski shop in Seattle, says most of these pricey boards are poor performers. "The professional guides in Europe just mount touring (randonnee) bindings on a good all-terrain, all-mountain ski sold to the downhill crowd."

If a truly lightweight ski the actually skis well is the goal, Volken recommends looking at the Dynastar Big Max 1. With its low-density wood core and absence of a metal top sheet, the Big Max is easily the lightest board among the new breed of moderately shaped skis. It carves handsomely on groomed slopes, floats nicely through untracked snow, tracks through crud, and climbs easily when it's time to don skins. Which is about everything you want a good backcountry ski to do.

Because its performance characteristic is so much better than most specialty touring skis, and because it is as light or lighter than many skis sold as touring skis, Dynastar would be wise to market this ski to the wilderness crowd.

BINDINGS

Pick up a ski with a normal binding and it elicits a grunt when you think of dragging it miles through the wilds. Pick up the same ski mounted with Dynafit's Tourlite-Tech binding (weighing 1_ pounds per pair) and it elicits an "ahhh."

It also elicits some doubts. "No way this flimsy Lego is gonna keep me anchored to my ski," you think. But it does. And it does a pretty darn good job of it. In Europe where the binding has more than a five-year track record, it's reliability and unwillingness to break down in the field has been stellar. And it's releasability characteristics are good.

The binding's maximum settings (DIN values of 10) are lower than what gonzo skiers might like. That's no problem for me--my philosophy is to ratchet the gonzo index way back in remote areas where little problems can become big ones and big problems can be lethal. But if cliff jumping or 60-degree chutes is what defines skiing for you, then gear this light is probably not right for you.

Some users are also put off by getting the Tourlite-Tech binding on. It takes practice to quickly line up the boot so that the binding's front pinchers slip into place, and if you take a digger on a steep slope, getting a ski back on is a bit irksome. It's an acquired skill you will get good at. But even with practice these guys will never go on as quickly as skis mounted with bindings like the Silvretta 404 or the Fritschi Diamir. Still, I'm happy to fiddle with my bindings a few extra minutes over the course of a day if they keep my legs fresh enough to ski a few extra miles. The Dynafit Tourlite-Techs do just that.

DAS BOOT

The other disadvantage/advantage of the Tourlite-Tech binding: It must be used with a special boot (like Dynafit's Tourlite 3) which has the appropriate inserts added to mate with the binding. Disadvantage: The retail cost of the boot will set you back about $400. Advantage: They're light--my pair of Tourlite 3 boots (Mondo size 28.5) tip the scales at 7 1/4 pounds, which is two pounds lighter than most other Vibram-soled, plastic-shelled randonnee boots.

Performance skiers may also complain that these boots are soft. That too has disadvantages and advantages. Disadvantage: sloppier downhill performance. Advantage: better mobility and comfort when climbing (90% of a ski tour is spent going up).

Skiers who decide the boots are too soft can stiffen them (with no weight penalty) by replacing the inner boot with the liner from a downhill boot with a higher, stiffer cuff. Gluing plastic stiffeners to the boot's tongue will also solidify its forward flex with minimal weight gain.

Although you may end up fiddling with it, the Dynafit boot-binding system gives you a reliable system that frees your heel when you want to tour, locks down your heel when you want to rip, and releases your heel when you accidentally auger in. And it does it all with a system that feels like you're lifting an aluminum pot rather than a cast-iron skillet. Interestingly this boot-binding systems is even lighter than the gear most telemarkers drag into the wilderness these days. You get more control and more safety with less weight.

Hmmm. Makes you wonder why anyone would bother telemarking.