GUIDED BY GOODLAD
Put a spring in your step…
Get your ski touring season off to a smooth start with Bruce Goodland’s tips for finding that elusive, but oh-so worth it, spring snow
Spring skiing means ski touring and the key to success is being in the right place at the right time
When thinking about spring skiing my mind is always on ski touring. At this time of year, as the window for great skiing when using the lifts becomes smaller, timing becomes crucial to get the snow at just the right moment when the hard frozen crust of the night before turns into perfect smooth corn. When touring, we have much more control over the timing of the day to make sure we’re ready to ski at the perfect moment. The key with spring ski touring is being able to move efficiently to be in the right place at the right time to harvest the corn (corn snow being the North American vernacular for spring snow). So, arriving at the top of your descent just as the top few centimetres of snow soften, but before the bottom of your slope has turned to mush. Here are some tips to get you touring smoothly:
SKINS
Let’s think about our movement first. In spring we are generally skinning on hard snow in the morning to get us into position. Worn skins that do not come to the edge of the ski (you should only be able to see your metal edges in the middle section of the ski) will not grip on hard snow. So invest in some new skins if you need to, and be sure they fi t your skis correctly.
Even with good skins you need good technique. For example, if your skins are slipping you need to roll your ankles out the way (down slope). This is counterintuitive for most skiers, as we ordinarily use our edges to grip. However, rolling the skis downhill will give you more skin-to-snow contact and stop you from slipping.
CRAMPONS
If the above doesn’t solve your slipping problem it’s time for ski crampons (‘couteaux’ in French, ‘harscheisen’ in German, and, sorry I have no idea what it is in Italian). It is the international law of ski crampons that you don’t put them on early enough, meaning you end up on a steep icy slope with what feels like death staring you in the eye. You know the decision-making process: ‘It will be fine, there is a track.’ Then, once you are committed, it’s too icy and there's no place to stop and put them on.
Try this instead: look at the terrain ahead of you. If there are skiers there, how are they coping with the terrain? This isn’t an absolute, but it will give you an idea of what it's like up there. If you have the tiniest thought in your head that you may need ski crampons then stop and put them on. They are easy to take off but horrendous to put on if you leave it too late. If I think I might need them, I have them at the top of my pack or even clipped onto the side of my rucksack.
SNOW TEMPERATURES
One of the other issues you may come across in spring conditions is the differing temperature of the snow. It can start off damp low down, causing your skins to get wet, before changing to colder, drier snow as you change aspect or move higher. The cold snow then sticks to moisture on your skins in big clumps, something known as balling up (damp snow sticking to boot crampons in clumps is also referred to as ‘balling up’).
There are two ways to address this. First, at the start of any touring week, treat your skins with silicone ‘skin proof’, which is available from several manufacturers and works really well. Just spread it on your skins and let it dry. Second, take some wax with you, just ordinary ski wax or a small block of the wax sold with the purpose of stopping this balling up from occuring.
If you still have a problem, scrape the snow off with a scraper and rub the wax into the skin. Some people advocate rubbing the wax into a dry skin before running a lukewarm iron over the skin, but I have always been too scared to try it.
KICK TURNS
One of the techniques people have most difficulty with, particularly in spring, is the uphill kick turn. Hard snow makes everything feels more exposed; terrain that you would skip up in powder suddenly feels steep and scary. The most common mistake I have seen people make time and time again is not practising their kick turn on easier angled terrain, then wondering why they can’t do it when things are suddenly steep and exposed. People also often rush the whole turn, so they never really have stability and put themselves in danger.
Let’s break the kick turn down and think about the key elements.
Platform: if you don’t start with a good platform everything else you do will be compromised. Start with the downhill ski horizontal (at a right angle to the fall-line). Stamp a good platform – as a guide I will often cut a good platform with an ice axe if one doesn’t already exist.
Poles: the downhill pole is positioned just in front of the foot, with the uphill pole at the back of the ski, so it does not get in the way.
Uphill ski: lift the uphill ski, cock your leg back, then in one fluid movement bring it forward using the momentum of the ski to carry the ski round the corner into the new position. Do not try to steer the ski until it is in front of the downhill foot.
Uphill platform: you may need to shimmy your foot about until you are happy with it, but it should rest as close to parallel with the downhill ski (obviously facing in the opposite direction). When you are happy, stamp a good platform.
New pole position: now move the downhill pole on to the uphill side of your body – you can position this to really lean on it for support.
The kick: when you are stable and comfortable, lift your downhill leg of the snow, pause a second and find your balance. With many bindings you won’t even need a flick, as the balance point ensures the ski tip will rise up out of the snow. If not, a little flick with the toe or the heel will ensure it pops up out of the snow, then steer it round so it is parallel with the other ski.
It sounds simple, but there is a lot going on and if you don’t practise it, you won’t be very good at it. If you feel yourself constantly in the reverse snow plough position, go back to point one (and maybe consider some yoga before the following ski season!).
Mastering the uphill kick turn is something of an art