And you both forgot yet another method: one ski per side, attached
vertically to the backpack, not tied together at tips. My Arc Teryx
carries skis very comfortably this way, and as a result it's my
preferred ski pack (of four or five) whenever I'm expecting to carry.
The comfort of this system involves the positioning of the skis on the
pack and the method of attachment more than anything else. Ski tails
are slanted away from backs of the legs, for example. Attachment to
the backpack is by very secure, dedicated hypalon clamps, and center
of gravity is minimally affected. Shovel and probe are also given
dedicated carriers. Lots of bells and whistles on this pack, which
some apreciate and others find foolish.
I seldom carry skis in thick brush. With this pack, I'd use the
horizontal a-frame battering ram if bushwhacking. Good photos of
both techniques are at Lowell Skoog's hilarious sub-alpinism site:
http://www.alpenglow.org/themes/subalpine/gallery.html
bbense+rec.skiing.backcountry.Nov.04.03@telemark. slac.stanford.edu wrote in message ...
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In article ,
Craig wrote:
Hi,
I have noticed 3 different ways that are used to carry skis with a
backpack (there may be a few others as well):
1. Diagonal carry - Skis are lashed together and then tied to
backpack extending from lower left to upper right (or vice versa).
_ Works very well until you have to get through trees or brush.
Requires that the pack be either full or tightly compressed.
Probably the best solution for open terrain.
2. Straight horizontal - Guide I was with in Austria used this
method, as above but skis tied to top of pack and lie horizontal.
_ Never tried it, seems even worse in the trees and the potential
for wacking your partners in the back of the head seems pretty
high.
3. What I call "A frame" - Skis individually attached vertically to
sides of pack, and tied together at the tips.
_ This can work pretty well with the right pack, the problem is
that things often slide and you get wacked in the back of the
knees or head. Depending on how high you carry the skis, can
do weird things to center of gravity.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of these methods, as
I want to purchase a new pack that is designed for the optimal
carrying method.
_ You forgot two.
4. Skis flat together, but strapped vertically to the back of the
pack.
_ This works pretty well with a fully loaded pack but does move
the center of gravity back. It won't work at all with a lightly
loaded pack.
5. Horizontal A-Frame, skis tied at the tip and carried
horizontally like a snow plow in front of you.
_ I've only seen pictures of this, but it seems like the
best solution for heavy brush. Exactly how you attach
the skis to your waist belt so they stay pointed up is
left as an exercise to the reader.
_ I don't think there is one superior solution to this
problem. I've certainly never found one that compelled me to stop
trying other solutions. I generally stick with the A-Frame with
the skis fairly high unless I need to get through a lot of low
hanging trees. For me, there are two things that seem to make a
big difference in how often I get whacked in the knee or the
head.
1. The pack cannot be "floppy" at all. You need some tension
in the fabric. Packs with some kind of internal frame carry
skis better, but make skiing down a little harder.
2. Use Voile straps[1]. Nylon straps don't stay tight over
the long haul when used on skis. If I had a fastex buckle
handy I could explain why this happens in about 20 seconds,
but roughly the fastex friction adjuster requires that the
strap lie on a roughly flat surface thats at least 2 or
3 inches longer than the buckle. If your skis aren't
significantly wider than the adjuster/quick release buckle,
then the strap will loosen over time.
_ So my recommendation is to ignore any "ski carry" features and
by the pack that fits you the best and has the other features you
want. Then just buy 2 wide strap reinforcement patches to sew on
and a few Voile straps.
_ Booker C. Bense
[1]- Velcro straps don't have this slipping problem, but they
don't stand up to ski edges very well. If you're into saving
grams, the do work well for keeping tips together.
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