UPHILL!

PHOTO: Uphill skiing has been gaining in popularity for years and New Hampshire resorts offer routes for uphill skinning, splitboarding and snowshoeing. Here at Bretton Woods the uphill route often has a line of uphill skiers headed up the Range View slope. Uphill skiers attach skins to their bases to glide on snow up the mountain and they rip the skins off at the top and stuff them in their pack for a fast ski back down.

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

People ski and snowboard uphill at ski resorts. While the vast majority of people enjoy riding the lifts to the summit, there are growing numbers that are enjoying getting up the mountain using their own power. It’s fun and it is great exercise to earn your turns.
I know first hand that skiers and snowboarders are interested in uphill skiing because they often stop and ask what I am doing. The sport is growing rapidly due to word of mouth and more ski shops are stocking uphill equipment for sale.
How do you ski or snowboard uphill? Skins are attached to the base of the ski to stop the ski from sliding back. Think of petting a dog, one direction your hand slides easily but pet a dog against its fur’s grain and your hand comes to a stop (and dogs don’t like it). That’s how ski skins work; they slide going forward and brake as the ski tries to slide back on the snow. Real animal skins such as seal skin are no longer used and have been replaced with synthetic skins.

Snowboarders use splitboards. These are snowboards that split down the middle vertically tom make two halves and the snowboard bindings are spun around to make two awkward skis. I dare say awkward skis because they are meant for going uphill only. Skiing down with them split is quite tricky and not what they were designed to do.
Most uphill skiers are using Alpine Touring equipment. Either using their downhill skis equipped with bindings that allow the ski boot heel to lift up or specialized Alpine Touring equipment which is lightweight and has special bindings that the heels can be released when going up and then locked down for the descent. The boots are lightweight too. Telemark equipment is still popular because it is lightweight and allows the heel to lift.
Ten years ago I knew only a couple people like me that had telemark equipment and skins to access the backcountry and occasionally skin up our favorite ski area’s trails, often before or after the lifts closed and especially in the spring after the resorts had closed for the season. I confess, back then many of us practiced “it is better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission” before we went up the resort’s slopes. No one seemed to mind there were so few of us then going uphill.

Today every resort has an Uphill Policy and every resort’s policy seems to be different. Most charge money for an uphill travel pass and the prices vary a lot. Most have a designated skinning route. Few allow it anytime: some only when they are open and others only when they are closed and still a couple that don’t allow it period. They all have their reasons–safety, crowds and protecting the flow of the downhill skiers and riders.
If you’re interested in trying uphill, call around to your local ski shops and ask if they have rentals but most don’t. The good news is that many are now selling uphill gear.
The White Mountain Ski Company (formerly known as Ski the Whites) in Jackson and Village Ski and Sport in Lincoln have been renting and selling uphill equipment for years. The Dartmouth Skiway has added Uphill rental gear this season.
I was skinning up Bretton Woods’ Range View Trail and I was passed by another skier and I asked if she could slow up a second so I could take her photo. She said sure and we chatted a minute and she encouraged me to check out Uphill New England. Her equipment was lightweight and I asked her if she raced. (Yes they have uphill and then back downhill races– ski mountaineering racing, aka Skimo.) She said she raced and I asked her how many laps she had done so far. “Five” she answered as she took off up the hill. Checkout UphillNewEngland.org.
Learning to ski uphill at a resort is nice for all the same reasons that it is nice to go skiing or snowboarding at a resort–excellent snowmaking, snowgrooming, plowed parking lots and nice warm lodges with food services and bathrooms. Learning at a ski resort is less stressful and a safe place to learn the skills needed before venturing off into the backcountry. Plus, you’re likely to meet others that like going uphill too.
For more experienced backcountry skiers we sure do appreciate being able to skin up and ski down when the snow is thin in the woods.
Have Fun.