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We've tested more than 30 pairs of the best backcountry climbing skins over the past 8 seasons. For this review, we purchased 13 of the top options to test side-by-side. You might have “decision fatigue” after choosing skis, boots, and bindings, but don't let your skin purchase be an afterthought. Our findings are based on our real-world experience covering millions of vertical feet in the backcountry. We also consider the needs of real skiers across the entire spectrum of abilities, goals, and backgrounds. We're big fans of well-balanced, proven designs, but we want you to understand upfront that every single attribute of a climbing skin is balanced by a competing attribute you also want. Optimization, at any price, is impossible; you'll always strike a compromise with skins. So take a deep breath, and let our team of backcountry experts guide you to the best option for your needs.
Editor's Note: We updated this review on December 18, 2023, to retest skins from Black Diamond and Pomoca, add new skins from Kohla, and update our award-winning lineup.
After thorough testing, the Pomoca Climb Pro S Glide wins our highest honor. The best skins are the best compromises of varied attributes, and this Pomoca balances most of them. It grips and glides just right. It sticks and lets go just right. It is just the right size, weight, and sturdiness. The tip and tail kit are optimized and as universal as we can expect. The trim tool that Pomoca includes is excellent.
There aren't many drawbacks to this skin. Of course, they could grip better, glide better, pack smaller, and have glue that requires less care and maintenance. But for good compromises on all those attributes, the minty green Pomoca Climb Pro S Glide is the best thing going. Others come close – notably, the non-awarded but still top-quality Contour Hybrid Mix – but we don't hesitate to put the Pomoca on the top of the list.
The Black Diamond Glidelite Mix skins are affordable, balanced, and widely available. This formulation and basic design have been available for decades – and we've tested them nearly as long as they've been available – but the branding and model names have shifted around. Regardless of what they have been called over the years, these skins are tried and true, and we find ourselves reaching for them for all kinds of ski days.
It is not easy to make strong statements about climbing skins. As we mention over and over again throughout our review, every attribute of a climbing skin is balanced by a competing and equally important attribute. All skins require extensive care and attention to maximize performance, and these BD skins are no exception. However, the soft material tends to fold and expose the glue to snow and ice more easily than others. The similarly priced Pomoca Climb 2.0 is an improvement in this regard, but their glue integrity is less reliable than the Glidelite Mix. As a solid balance of price and performance, we recommend the BD Glidelite Mix to anyone seeking a reliable set of skins that has proven itself worthy for all types of human-powered skiing.
We have tested multiple iterations of these over the years. The primary change over a decade now has been in fabric pattern.
Pomoca's Free Pro 2.0 is their highly regarded mohair blend skin material stuck to a thin, lightweight backing and sold in wider-than-skimo-race-ski widths. The result is a formulation that glides, grips, and sticks with less packed bulk. The size and weight savings are noticeable and valuable. This is a super-fast, reliable skin product with Pomoca's excellent glue and tip and tail kit.
The Free Pro 2.0 won't grip as well as most others, especially in hard or crusty conditions, or during high-volume ski days. We recommend these skins for discerning skiers on big boards in cold, soft snow conditions. If you seek a value, something to learn skinning with, or all-around skins for narrower skis, the Pomoca Climb Pro S Glide is a better bet. The Free Pro 2.0 works fine on narrower skis, but it's worth noting that the weight and bulk savings aren't as significant with skins cut for smaller skis. Think of these as a “Formula 1” sort of product. Save these for your big powder skis on those special, high-volume, cold missions.
High mileage, high altitude, high energy, cold snow. Choose these race-style Pomoca skins for this environment. Choose to go to this environment because it is an awesome environment.
Credit: Jediah Porter
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Epic skiing requires epic skinning. Epic skinning requires just the right skins. You want “just right” sort of performance. All skin choices are a balance.
Credit: Jediah Porter
Why Trust GearLab
We test these skins thoroughly, mainly in “real-life” backcountry skiing. Our first skin review was in 2015, and we have done it every year since. Our longest-serving testers have been logging full, varied backcountry ski seasons since the late '90s. We start each product test with setup and “bench test” comparisons for compatibility and integrity of new glue. Then, we dive into busy, varied winter and spring backcountry skiing. We can get every set of skins on huge powder days, technical ski mountaineering missions, and occasionally a multi-day expedition. We aim for multiple opinions on every product we test. We will directly compare products, often skiing with two different skins for an apples-to-apples comparison. That's the best way we have found to rank both grip and glide.
Our testing of climbing skins is based on six different metrics:
Glide (30% of overall score weighting)
Portability (20% weighting)
Glue Integrity (20% weighting)
Grip (15% weighting)
Icing/Glopping Resistance (10% weighting)
Compatibility (5% weighting)
The varied experience of our test team includes full-time human-powered ski guides, passionate users, beginner ski tourers, and a few points in between. Our lead test editor is internationally certified mountain guide Jed Porter. Jed has been backcountry skiing since the mid-'90s and has logged significant ski accomplishments on three continents across most of the world's snowy latitudes. Further, he is a pioneering ski mountaineering guide, with notable and high-volume human-powered ski guiding accomplishments. Most recently, in June of 2022, Jed made history by leading the first modern, ropeless guided ski descent of Alaska's Denali. Jed also taps into the expertise and experience of ski partners, colleagues, and clients to generate skin reviews for all potential users.
A selection of tested climbing skins in one of our dispersed garage labs. In this case, on the powdery side of Wydaho's Tetons.
Mid winter powder hunting. This super long, cold, strenuous day we resupplied water halfway through and removed and applied the Contour skins a dozen times. The skins kept up great.
The material is thin and light, and then we cut them to small skis. The result is featherlight
Analysis and Test Results
Read on for our overview and recommendations of textile products to stick to the bottom of backcountry skis for traction in uphill travel. We rate climbing skins for glide, portability, glue integrity, grip, icing/glopping resistance, and compatibility to help you discern the best skins for your needs.
Value
Shopping for any technical equipment by price is difficult. With skins, it is an especially “sticky” situation. You will rely a great deal on your climbing skins, but they aren't cool and flashy like boots or skis. The “best” are only marginally better than the “worst.” Price is less correlated to performance than in many other technical products. Only very occasionally does a product come on the market that is truly ineffective. Those products, though, are truly heinous. Our first advice to the bargain hunter is that if it seems “too good to be true,” it probably is. Older products and especially used products can work, but you are taking a huge gamble.
Next, let us implore you to be aware that the price range on the products that actually work is smaller than in other categories. With skis, the top of the heap is two times the cost of the bottom. Not so with skins. Differences are in single-digit percentages. A small sale on expensive skins will yield a better price than the retail price of the least expensive options. Further, comparing prices is especially difficult as every size and configuration of a skin model is a different price. In granting our value award, we consider absolute price, durability, availability, and likelihood of a discount.
Early light, firm snow, beautiful setting; this is what we skin for. Choose your skins wisely and these moments will come, unimpeded. Leave the choice to chance and you might not have the best tool for your purposes.
Credit: Jediah Porter
Again, make sure you are comparing prices of like items. Each make and model is sized differently, so you must shop by size – look at length and width, which can vary by company. In shopping by price, narrow your options first by size, then compare prices. Bigger skins of the same model are more expensive than smaller ones.
Discerning value can be tricky, and it is especially fraught with choosing skins. But there are good deals out there. If you are shopping at full retail, you can't go wrong with the affordable, durable Black Diamond Glidelite Mix. (Older versions of this skin are still available with similar but subtly different model names. Older versions also rotate through different graphics, colors, and patterns. In our experience, any of the Black Diamond skin iterations that include “Mix” in the model name are the same fabric and glue, at least over at least the last ten years).
Put a price on this sort of experience? Perhaps. At the same time, skins make or break the deal and prices don't vary that much across the spectrum.
Credit: Jediah Porter
Glide
This is the most important single attribute of climbing skins. It is the biggest determinant of their uphill efficiency. A good skinning technique slides the skis and skins rather than lifts them, so skins that slide easily climb easily. Two things that affect the glide characteristic are fiber selection and the length and geometry of those fibers.
The first and biggest is the type of fiber used. Mohair, made from the shorn hair of the Angora goat, creates the smoothest and least friction in glide. Nylon is slower, and mixes of the two split the difference. Also, differences in glide characteristics depend a little on the nature of the snow. While mohair skins always glide at least a little better, the difference is far more pronounced on dry, wintry snow than it is on wet or melt/freeze snow. On fresh and dry snow, mohair is considerably faster than nylon, while on corn-type snow, the same differential is much less.
It is easy to see the importance of skin glide in gentle terrain like this. It is less intuitive, but just as important, when the skinning gets steeper. Don't overlook the value of easy gliding skins!
Credit: Jediah Porter
Secondly, the length and geometry of the hairs that protrude on the fabric side affect glide. Those skins that glide better have hairs that are lower profile and more closely shorn. It is logical that the angle at which the fibers protrude from the backing fabric would affect glide characteristics. Quantifying both length and geometry has proven to be beyond our testing capabilities. Differences in fiber geometry explain differences in performance between products that otherwise seem like they should be the same.
The Pomoca Climb Pro Mohair skins glide better than any other tested option. The Contour Hybrid Mohair is right in the mix with these green gliders. The next echelon of gliding performance holds the remainder of our favorites and a few others. The blended skins, like the Pomoca Climb Pro S Glide and Free Pro 2.0, Contour Hybrid Mix, and Kohla Alpinist all have virtually indistinguishable glide characteristics.
The blended construction of the G3 Alpinist+ Glide is closer to the all-nylon Black Diamond Ascension than to the other blended skins. Also, we were surprised by the high friction coefficient of the blended formulation in the Kohla Freeride skins. Choose these slower-gliding options with skepticism.
Nearing ridge top, spectacular descent to come. You want big boots and skis for the downhill, but extra resistance from your skins gives you nothing for the downhill. Compromise on efficiency of your skis and boots, but don't cut corners with skin glide.
Credit: Jediah Porter
Portability
We have a wide range of mass and sizes in our tested skins. As with grip and glide, packability and weight correlate to the material. Because we test skis, and therefore skins, of different widths, we cannot directly compare the mass of our tested skins to each other.
However, as a rule, nylon skins are heavier and bulkier, while mohair skins are lighter and less bulky. Some light and packable skins include the BD Glidelite Mix and all the Pomoca skins. The Pomoca Climb Pro S Glide are similar in packability to the Glidelite Mix, and the Pomoca Climb Pro Mohair and Free Pro 2.0 are roughly tied as the smallest and lightest. The CollTex Mohair Mix is similar in packability to the Pomoca Mohair.
We hope that the value of light and compact skins is self evident. What isn't so self evident might be the difficulty in making direct comparisons of weight and bulk when we test on many different skis and ski widths. For the most part, we have good data on skins cut for skis around 100mm in width and 180cm in length.
Credit: Jediah Porter
Both of Contour's entries are on the bulky side. The Hybrid Mohair and Hybrid Mix skins are not as svelte as others, but their performance makes up for it. G3 skins have bulky tip and tail kits that really earn their keep. The attachments of the G3 Alpinist+ Glide take up more room in a pocket or pack but are well worth it.
You don't need your skins to go all the way to your tails. You get very little grip back there. That skin material would just be unnecessary weight. Even more exposed tail than this, we have found, is acceptable to desirable.
Credit: Jediah Porter
The Pomoca Free Pro 2.0 is more compact than any of the other currently tested skins. You will suffer some durability but will pack smaller and lighter. The Kohla Freeride and Alpinist are almost as compact and light as the pink Pomoca. We love how small and light the Freeride is; we just wish that it glided better. The Kohla Alpinist strikes a better balance than the Freeride.
You are always moving your skins up the mountain. Whether on your feet or on your back. Therefore, weight and bulk definitely matter.
Credit: Jediah Porter
Glue Integrity
Your skins must stay on your skis. Mainly, but not exclusively, it is the glue's job to do that. Considering the demands placed on skin glue (wet conditions, high shear forces, poor care, repeated use), all products work marvelously. With very few exceptions in recent years, none of the skins we tested suffered complete, unexplainable glue failure. If it is cold enough or wet enough, all skins will fail to some degree, but some stay put better than others.
The glue on all the Black Diamond options seems remarkably robust. The Pomoca Climb Pro Mohair, Climb Pro S Glide, Free Pro 2.0, Climb 2.0, and Dynafit Speedskin all appear to have the same glue. Its stickiness is among the least of all we tested, but its overall performance is more than adequate. We've heard that Pomoca has different glue formulations for different skin models, but across the models mentioned above, often across multiple iterations, we couldn't tell any difference. The Contour Hybrid Mix and Hybrid Mohair offer the least sticky initial performance in recent comparisons. Contour's “Hybrid” glue is carefully tuned and requires periodic cleaning to maintain its excellent performance. Neglect the Contour glue, and you could be stranded. But if you keep them clean with Contour cleaner, you won't find better glue performance.
This is a common sort of glue failure. Cold conditions, deep snow, multiple laps. Over the course of your day snow slowly creeps in between glue and ski base, starting at the tip. These skins will work just fine after thawing and drying indoors. They won't fully recover in the field. This sort of “failure” is to be expected in many circumstances.
Credit: Jediah Porter
A few years ago, G3 adjusted its glue formulation. Most recently, we tested their G3 Alpinist+ Glide. The Alpinist skin glue is robust, if not a little too strong. As with the CollTex Mohair Mix, the G3 glue requires more strength than the others to pull from itself and from your skis.
Skin Glue Isn't Foolproof
All skin glue will fail in certain conditions. Snow, water, regular skinning forces, and gravity will disrupt the glue-ski base bond. Don't dispose of your skins because the skins came off. Clean them off, dry them out, and stick them back on. If they fail when they are dry and clean and being pressed onto clean and dry skis, consider regluing them — or, in the case of the Contour Hybrid, cleaning them.
Augmenting a glue's characteristics are a couple of other factors. All skins must attach to the tip of your ski so that forward sliding doesn't peel the skin back or push snow between the skin and the ski. Different products accomplish this in a variety of ways. Some use a simple cable or wire loop, while others employ toggles in holes or hooks over edges. Some skins are cut to stay full width all the way to the tip, while others taper gently back to their full width. The tapered strategy seems to work better. Some skins' backing material is stiffer than others. Soft skins peel back more readily than stiffer ones. While the glue on the mohair mix BD skins is the same as on the full nylon ones, the soft, flexible mohair mix fabric allows far more rolling action. As a result, the skin glue fails more often on the blends than the full nylon. Pomoca's different options all seem to have similar backing stiffness. As a result, their glue integrity is more consistent across their product lines.
This sort of skin failure is not normal or acceptable. These skins are now unusable. Another bad failure mode (not pictured here) is lumps of glue coming off the fabric and remaining stuck to the ski base.
Credit: Jediah Porter
The most secure tip attachment we used was the rubbery dongle on the Dynafit Speedskin. This arrangement, combined with a long, gentle taper of the skin width and fairly rigid construction, made for an overall more secure skin fit than the otherwise less tacky glue would suggest. Among the universally compatible skins, the G3 models have a better tip attachment than the Black Diamond, Pomoca, Kohla, and CollTex. The stiffened plastic tip of the G3 Alpinist is brilliant and serves to virtually eliminate skin roll at the tip.
Finally, most skins are equipped with a tail clip, ostensibly to help the skins stay glued on. In certain (relatively warm and dry) conditions, we found little to no difference in glue integrity with or without the tail kit. However, cold and wet skins work better with a tail kit. Most skiing is done in cold or wet conditions. In wetter, stormier, and colder climates, especially on huge, multi-transition days, tail clips and careful glue care are advised.
You have a little bit of control and power over the tip profile of your purchased skins. When you are initially trimming them to your skins aim for smooth lines and long taper from tip to the meaningful, center portion of the skin.
Credit: Jediah Porter
Grip
Skins are made to grip. That is their only purpose: to make your skis grippier than they would be otherwise. One would assume, then, that the grippiest skins are the best. This isn't true. Further, skins differ less dramatically in this regard than they do with respect to glide. Finally, physiological efficiency limits your angle of ascent more than skin grip. Technique, not skin material or construction, is the biggest determinant of one's skinning security when it gets steeper than your body prefers. A good skinner can climb more steeply on the most slippery skins than a new skinner can on the grippiest. Good skinning is a magic art of balance, trust, and reading terrain, with just a little bit of the overall grip equation tied to skin construction. All that said, skins do differ. We found noticeable differences in the grip characteristics, generally inversely proportional to the product's glide. Better gliding skins grip less, while the slower gliders grip better. Some products hedge their bets better.
All blended skins, including the Contour Hybrid Mix, and Pomoca S Glide and Free Pro 2.0, grip well enough for intermediate to expert skinners to follow even the steepest, iciest skin tracks. The G3 Alpinist+ Glide grab slightly better than the other blends, often enough better to make up for less developed technique. The Kohla Freeride skins grip much like the G3 Alpinist+ Glide, a little better than average.
Skin grip is a function of materials and technique. But also of the proportion of your ski base covered. You want all of the base plastic covered in the middle half of your ski. Anything less than that and you will suffer, regardless of ski width.
Credit: Jediah Porter
The least grippy skins are also the best gliders. The Pomoca Climb Pro Mohair grips well enough that expert skinners might use these exclusively, even for the gnarliest of missions.
The all-synthetic Black Diamond Ascension STS grips the best of all we have tested. But, after reading above, do you really feel you need the most grip possible, given the tradeoffs therein?
Steep skin tracks, straight up and well traveled/polished like this one demand optimized technique, regardless of your skin material. That said, grippy skins can help cushion the learning curve.
Credit: Jediah Porter
Icing/Glopping Resistance
All skins ice up. When the fabric gets wet from the liquid water present in warmer snow (or, rarely, from immersion in a creek or the like) and is then subject to cold, dry snow, ice forms within the fabric. This, depending on exact snow conditions, can result in anything from mere annoyance to a full-on shutdown.
The worst “glopping” conditions lead to tens of pounds of snow stuck to each ski and require extensive scraping and waxing before progress can be made. Further and painfully, it could just happen again within a few steps. All the skins we tested are treated from the factory with water-resistant coatings that work well but wear off eventually. None seemed to last noticeably longer than the others. Nylon fiber initially absorbs marginally less water than mohair. Once wet, however, all fibers ice up. Again, differences were marginal, and all skins require waxing so they won't ice up in warmer, fresh snow conditions. Good technique (waxing and sliding your skins forward with each step) is a greater equalizer than any difference in materials. All materials will ice up in the worst conditions, and a little prevention and technique will prevent icing on all materials in all but those worst conditions.
Skinning in and out of sun-warmed snow is the “best” way to get ice build up on your skis. Prevention is a combination of technique, waxing, with slight input from skin material.
Credit: Jediah Porter
Compatibility
Not all the skins we tested are compatible with all skis on the market. Dynafit skins, like the Speedskins, are compatible only with Dynafit skis.
The remainder of the skis we tested are ostensibly universal in compatibility. Flexible cable tip loops are tougher to use on fat and rounded ski tips. Thankfully, more and more manufacturers are moving away from them. Black Diamond finally abandoned their cable tip loops. With that move, none of our tested skins have wire tip loops. Not every “universal” skin comes in sizes large or small enough for outlier ski sizes. Generally, though, most of the skins we tested are universal in fit.
Make sure your skins are fully compatible with your skis well before a predawn, insanely cold ski tour like this one from Christmas in the Tetons recently.
Credit: Jediah Porter
Among those universal in fit, tip attachments vary. The best and most versatile are the pivoting metal hooks of the G3 skins. Next, the offset and rigid wire slots of the Pomoca, Contour, Colltex, Kohla, and the newest Black Diamond options are quite secure and adaptable to different tip profiles. The cable tip loops still on the market in places are the least secure tip loop options we assessed.
We really wish we could use stronger and more authoritative language with our skin reviews. We give nebulous, “nuanced” recommendations because skinning performance is nebulous and nuanced. Every attribute is balanced by a directly competing attribute. There's absolutely no benefit to optimizing any one attribute of skins; in doing so you will always take on major compromise in another way.
Credit: Jediah Porter
Conclusion
Do not let your climbing skin purchase be an afterthought. To counter that tendency, we tested dozens of skins over the years and have identified the best for your purposes. Sure, skins aren't as flashy a choice as your boots, bindings, or skis. However, their subtle differences add up. You can move the needle on your experience with a skin choice that is careful and intentional. We researched every product on the market and chose only the best for our comparison testing. Each product saw double-digit hours of action before we drew any conclusions. For some models, we wore out 2-3 sets to pursue authority on this subject. This results in the most thoroughly tested, comprehensive review of backcountry skins available.
