Skiing stops, but ski touring continues
Friday May 22, 2009 - Email this article to a friend

There was a fresh snowfall earlier this month so we thought we’d walk up on skins and make our last turns of the season.

It might well be May but we weren’t the only ones. So, was it worth the effort?

The short answer is yes; in fact the long answer is yes too.

To the uninitiated walking uphill on skis seems nothing short of lunacy with a touch of masochism thrown in for good measure.

On the upBut if the lifts are closed then, to us, it seems a perfectly natural thing to do.  It is, after all, just like going for a walk except you have skis on.

What you do is atttach special skins to the bottom of the ski. This allows you to walk uphill without sliding backwards and then simply take them off and put them in a rucksack for when you are coming down.

We were also helped by having a friend in a high place.

The main lift from our base resort of Verbier up to the mid-station at Ruinettes runs a few times of day at this time of year specifically for people doing the Haute Route between Chamonix and Zermatt.

Only people doing the Haute Route are allowed on it but after a quick call to a friend in the lift company (the boss actually!) we had permission to go up which meant we wouldn’t have to walk up the first section from the village.

We planned to go all the way up to the Col de la Chaux – it was about 3 hours walking uphill from Ruinettes.

Check out the video below to see what it was like.

It gives you a flavour of what skinning is like - sometimes you wonder why on earth you are doing it and other times there's nothing in the world like it.

See this related story James Cove wrote for the BBC about ski touring.

Check out the photos below and there's also a special 'Photos of the week'  on the PlanetSKI home page of some stunning pictures from our recent skinning expeditions. Quite breathtaking!

For the Spirit of the Mountains

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