13.5 miles of hiking • 2500' elevation gain •
Took the Altai Hok skis out for a test ride with the sudden low elevation snow. Had a lot of fun learning to cross country ski with these "skishoes". I'd guess 8 of the miles were spent hiking on skis.
After Road 777 ends, the trail is an asshole. All the branches are weighed down with snow making the 1.25 mile trail down to Tanner Creek a real pain. Once I got to the end, I brewed some mint tea and relaxed a bit before schlepping back.
Comments
Kyle Meyer
January 15, 2012
Now with video!
Eric Peterson
January 16, 2012
Did you go all the way to the original Tanner Creek ford or the newer flagged one that has no logs around? Ski shoes sound fun...
Kyle Meyer
January 16, 2012
The newer flagged one I guess. With so much snow on the ground, I followed the flags.
Eric Peterson
January 18, 2012
How is the traction on those Hok's? Climbing moderate inclines works ok with them? Looking on their web site and I don't see anything that looks grippy on the bottoms...
Kyle Meyer
January 18, 2012
They're extremely grippy on the bottom. Under foot is a climbing skin permanently attached to the base of the ski. Think of it like a one way carpet—it glides moving forward, and catches the snow moving backward.
When people use alpine touring skis to climb mountains, they stick adhesive skins to the bottom of their skis for the climb up and take them off at the top for the descent. Skins are proven to be good enough to climb some steep hills.
Chris
January 18, 2012
10 points for using an em dash!
Kyle Meyer
January 18, 2012
Oh I'm a classy motherfucker; I use em dashes and semicolons.
Chris
January 15, 2012
I'm trying to picture how you ski down that last bit of trail. Sounds unfun—snowshoes please.
Mint tea makes up for it, I suppose.