Descending on skishoes

One of the most common questions we get about Trackers Skishoes is how do you take them down hills. Can you turn them? Generally, no; most descents are done in straight-ahead fashion without making turns - in fact, we've dubbed it straight-line skiing. In almost all conditions, the width of the skishoes combined with the gliding crampons will slow you on descents and give you more stability as compared with cross-country skiing. This is especially true with crusty snow and powder. Generally, the harder the snow, the more the crampons will slow you, as they actually saw through ice and crust. Powder is inherently slow, so you'll float through that. Many of us dream of skiing in knee-deep powder at downhill ski resorts and live for powder days. Straight-line skiing through powder on skishoes gives you a similar thrill, so now you can dream of that.

Five different scenarios exist, depending on the steepness of the terrain and snow conditions. For moderate conditions, which usually covers most of the terrain, you can continue with the standard kick-and-glide technique you use on level ground. When it gets a little steeper, you can just keep the skishoes parallel and even with each other and coast straight down the slope. If it gets even steeper, and you feel a little out of control with this, you can shift the skishoes back and forth in a scissors maneuver like telemark skiers use. Combined with the width of the skishoes, the broader base gives you more stability, and shifting them back and forth slows you. Sitting back and flexing your knees to stay low as you do this makes you even more stable. For even steeper slopes, you can use some of the same techniques you would for cross-country skiing, such as snowplowing and step turns. You can also drag and plant your poles to control speed. Lastly, for long, steep descents, you can attach our removable crampons to the bottoms of your skishoes, effectively turning them into snowshoes.


Tom Gibson
The Skishoe Guy
Trackers Skishoes
www.TrackerSkishoes.com

Comments

  1. PowderqueenNovember 18, 2019 at 7:15 AM

    How do you turn if there is a curve in the hill you are descending? I have trails with sharp turns that are really fun on xc skis but you must know how to edge to do this. Can you edge with these?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New Winter Sport That Really Isn’t So New

Image
Over the past several years, a seemingly new winter sport has emerged that combines skiing and snowshoeing. It has gained traction (literally) as snowshoes have become more popular and high tech over the last 20 years. It has no official name, so many of us just call it skishoeing. Some of us label the instruments sliding snowshoes or hybrids. But skishoeing is actually not that new, as a search through patents reveals that inventors have been coming up with myriad designs for many decades. Independent souls have tried to commercialize them along with a few major players. No trade group for skishoeing exists, maybe because no standard design exists like with skis or snowshoes. Indeed, all skishoes currently out there are different. Some are more like skis, while others are more like snowshoes. They all basically grip while climbing, then glide on flats and coming downhill with varying amounts of turning ability. With a wide platform, they have more flotation for handling p
Read more

How Do You Make a Skishoe?

Image
We advertise that our skishoes are handcrafted in central Pennsylvania. But what does that mean? How do we do it? It may sound simple in theory, but it gets complicated. I must confess that not every part or component of a skishoe is made here, or even in this country, but we do our best to keep things local, or at least made in the United States. The main component of our skishoe is the ski, actually a hunk of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic, the same #2 material you see in common plastic jugs. For small quantities, we have the ski machined from 4’x8’ sheets of material by MPC Industries, a machine shop in Lancaster, PA. Machining doesn’t lend itself to offering different colors. The material comes in black and red, and black is cheaper, so we go with that to keep our costs down. The skis are machined straight, so once we get them in house, we form the tip on the front end. We do this by heating it with a torch and then bending and holding it in a fixture
Read more

Preparing for your Skishoeing Adventure

Image
Skishoeing is an exciting activity that many look forward to all year round. Enjoying the crisp outdoor air and taking in the beautiful snowy landscapes is the perfect way to spend a winter day. However, being ill-prepared can make this experience a little less enjoyable. We are providing a few things to remember before heading out in the snow! Staying Physically Equipped One way to make skishoeing more enjoyable is by increasing your overall fitness. While general physical ability is beneficial for all sports, snow sports can be a little more challenging due to the higher elevation and colder, thinner air. When conditioning yourself for this sport, make sure you are doing a lot of aerobic exercise to keep yourself from getting winded too quickly. Ensure that you have strengthened your arms, legs, and back to help with endurance, motion, and carrying a backpack. If you want to learn about the health benefits of skishoeing, check out our previous blog post. Choosing the Right
Read more