Working Up and Out
The hottest trend in winter sports? Skiing uphill. It’s a workout that rewards you with miles of fresh tracks. Here’s how to get ready, from fitness to gear, and the mountains to ascend.
CALL IT SKINNING, skimo, or uphilling—whatever the term, it’s a doozy of a workout. It’s skiing’s latest, perhaps greatest, fad: alpine touring, a backcountry offshoot that employs new boot and binding technology to access remote stashes of endless powder.
“You’re essentially skiing uphill as well as down,” says Dan Sherman of the travel site Ski.com. This feat of antigravity is accomplished with removable climbing “skins” that have bristles which allow skis to glide up the hill and bite back into the snow to keep you from slipping down. The sport has exploded in the last few years as the boots have gotten more comfortable and the gear lighter.
Skinning’s big draw is unfettered access to backcountry. But these days it’s not just on uncontrolled terrain, where avalanche danger is high. It’s become a staple at big mountain resorts. Those who uphill do it for the first run of the day, then use the lifts after that.
And it’s an intense workout, like crosscountry turned up to 11. Consider that the average black diamond run has a 40-degree (or greater) slope. Add to that fresh powder, 15 pounds of gear, and the stress that lungs undergo at a few thousand feet of elevation. “It’s an intense, full-body activity that places high demands on both your strength and endurance,” says Miles Havlick, head nordicski coach at the University of Utah.
Havlick designed a simple, effective workout (on the next page) to strengthen your core and lower body for skinning (or any wintertime activity), while acclimating your lungs to the work. Plus, we’ve got essential gear, premier mountain destinations, and expert recommendations to ensure you’re ready to traipse up the slopes all season long.