Skiblades/Skiboards for mountaineering?

Has anyone tried the Yupi snowshoe?

http://www.yupisnowshoes.com/

It seems like a snowshoe/ski hybrid that could be useable in a wide
range of conditions. Its probably not too good on icy conditions I
bet.

Phil

On 30-11-04 02:28, in article
, "Phil Lussier"
wrote:

Has anyone tried the Yupi snowshoe?

http://www.yupisnowshoes.com/

It seems like a snowshoe/ski hybrid that could be useable in a wide
range of conditions. Its probably not too good on icy conditions I
bet.

Phil

Looks like the toy-skies I used as a young boy...
Maybe good for powder-conditions outside the tracks.

"Duncan"

Has anyone tried using the new "skiblades" for mountaineering?

Sure. I first tried a pair of Solomon 99's as well as a pair of 90's.
Pretty fun. Ended up buying a pair of Alpina's - maybe 70 cm, though don't
recall exactly. The 70's are much more difficult to control. 99 was a
better length for a lot of little reasons.

Some observations:

1) 99cm is pretty long for the pack. If you are going ice climbing, perhaps
snowshoeing in, you end up with way too much crap strapped to the back of
your pack. Even the 70's are about 4-5 lbs and a bit clunky.

2) You end up basically snowplowing and scraping trails below treeline. Go
straight and you will generally gain too much speed and scare others on the
trail. The shorter length is an advantage for making quick stops.

3) Backcountry snow conditions above treeline are way, way different than
tooling around a groomed and packed-out resort. The lack of ankle support
in those mountaineering boots combined with a squirrelly short ski and an
alpine pack on your back generally equals a lot of wipeouts and unpleasant
skiing.

Summary: If you want to ski, get some real skis. If you want to ice climb
and bag peaks, I think snowshoes are better. Snowshoes are generally
superior on the uphill and work well in a wider variety of conditions, snow
coverage and slope angles. Even in ideal conditions, I've found the short
skis to save maybe 10 - 15 mins tops per hour of descent time. Usually it's
less. I sit on my ass all day as it is, so I generally don't mind a little
extra exercise and time out in the mountains. I may keep mine, but I'm
leaning toward dumping them on e-bay. Let me know if interested.


- Nate

"Phil Lussier" wrote in message
m...
Has anyone tried the Yupi snowshoe?

http://www.yupisnowshoes.com/

It seems like a snowshoe/ski hybrid that could be useable in a wide
range of conditions. Its probably not too good on icy conditions I
bet.

I too was struck by the lack of snowshoe crampons.