Great to hear about your experience with light gear, Chris -- and some good
lessons, like keeping skins on for some of the downhills in mushy snow.

Yes, I remember some photos of the Kings Peak, Utah trip -- and they're
still up on the web at
www.biochem.utah.edu/~heidi/WMCKingsTour.htm

I imagine some racers put climbing skins on their skate skis for the Wasatch
Overland -- though the idea of going down Thaynes Canyon early in the
morning without metal edges still astonished me.

. . . skate skis are generally poor in the downhill turning department . .
..

Except when compared with classic skis designed for groomed set tracks.
I've heard some people put grip wax on their skate skis for backcountry
tours that have hills -- just to avoid the horrible turning performance of
classic track skis.

Ken