Walking uphill on skins: slide the ski instead of lifting it, shift weight onto the push-off leg, swing poles opposite. Save energy on the climb.
The honest answer: skinning is not hiking on skis but calm, rhythmic gliding – similar to the diagonal stride in cross-country skiing. You slide the unweighted ski forward instead of lifting it and clearly shift your weight onto the leg that is pushing off [1]. If you can do this, you save energy and still have something in the tank for the summit slope.
The German Alpine Club describes the technique in its alpine curriculum “Ski Mountaineering Freeriding”: legs hip-width apart, foot loaded evenly across the whole sole, poles swung opposite to the legs [1]. It sounds trivial. On your first tour you will notice how much energy is lost to bad habits.
How hard is it? The movement itself is quite manageable for a confident piste skier – that is why this is a beginner skill. What is hard is everything around it: track, terrain, decisions. How many tours you need until the rhythm feels relaxed, no study can tell you.
Stand on level ground with your legs hip-width apart. That stabilises your lateral balance [1]. Load the foot across the whole sole, not just heel or toes [1]. Milestone: you stand calmly without a ski sliding away.
The unweighted ski is pushed forward, not lifted [1]. Only when breaking trail in deep snow do you raise the tip slightly [2]. On tour this means: shuffle, don’t stomp. Milestone: 50 metres of flat track, and you hear an even skin sound instead of knocking.
Clearly shift your centre of mass onto the leg that is pushing off [1]. This is exactly what prevents slipping backwards, even in an icy track [2]. Think of a walking step: weight across, ski forward, weight across.
Swing the poles opposite to the skis, as in normal walking. As the track gets steeper, the poles increasingly support the leg’s push-off [1]. Milestone: ten minutes of climbing in rhythm without stumbling.
Start slowly and only raise the pace after about ten minutes. Stay aerobic – meaning you can still hold a conversation [2]. A constant pace saves energy; constant stop-and-go burns it [2]. In a steep track: shorter steps and not too high a climbing aid [2].
On flat ground you use arc walking: angle the tail of the outer ski slightly outward and place the inner ski parallel. A bit steeper, arc stepping helps: the tip of the inner ski goes outward and the outer ski follows in parallel – your walking rhythm stays intact [1]. Kick turns need their own training: the DAV mentions them from about 30 degrees of slope or in deep snow, and the kick and timing must be practised intensively [1][2].
Lay the track, don’t gamble your energy. When the terrain gets steeper, you angle the skis less uphill so the track keeps the same incline; on flat ground more [2]. Whoever tracks like this needs fewer kick turns and climbs higher with less effort.
And before you spend money on lighter bindings: in a lab study with 16 recreational skiers on a treadmill, joint angles differed only minimally between pin and freeride bindings; the authors consider the differences of little practical relevance [4]. Technique beats grams.
Slide the unweighted ski forward without lifting it and clearly shift your weight onto the leg that is pushing off. Swing the poles opposite to the legs, keep your legs hip-width apart and load the foot across the whole sole. This way you walk calmly, rhythmically and economically [1].
Normally no: you slide the ski forward, which saves energy and prevents tripping over the tips. Only when breaking trail in deep snow or when using ski crampons do you lift the ski slightly so you don’t catch. The steps then get a bit shorter, because lifting costs extra energy [1][2].
When the terrain is too steep for an arc. The DAV names about 30 degrees of slope or deep snow as the limit, and the kick and timing must be practised intensively. From this steepness avalanche danger also matters – so learn the kick turn in a course and not alone [1][2][3].
Whenever you expect hard or icy snow and the climbing skins no longer grip sufficiently. Ski crampons prevent slipping and falls. Decide early, not only on the ice slope: the walking technique stays the same, except the ski is lifted slightly when moving forward and the step length gets a little shorter [1].
The FIS rule requires that you look up and down the slope before moving uphill so that you do not endanger anyone. Whether and when it is allowed is up to the resort; according to the DAV, piste tours are an entry because they are avalanche-safe during operating hours. So ask beforehand and keep to the edge [3][5].
The Tuck: Get Small, Stay in Control