Spring skiing at Nipika

I haven’t got anything new to report, so I’m grateful for all the Trip Reports. I haven’t skied since we returned from Nipika on Friday. It was very warm at Nipika with daytime highs between plus 4 to plus 8, so, all our skiing there was on waxless skis. 

The whole family enjoyed a few days at Nipika Mountain Resort

It looks like we’re well into spring skiing mode now, and I’m disappointed that this extremely warm weather will require most skiing to be on waxless skis or klister. On the other hand, I’m thankful for my new Atomic Skintec skis. They performed very well on the wet snow at Nipika and I’m looking forward to enjoying my spring skiing on them.

The Atomic Skintec skis have a skin insert in the grip zone. It’s held in place by magnets.

The Skintecs glide a little better than traditional fishscale waxless skis and the grip was excellent. Although I haven’t tried them when wet snow is falling, I’m expecting they will not ice up. I am also anxious to see how they will grip on icy tracks.

The Skintecs, as the name implies, utilize an insert in the grip zone which is the same as a “skin” which you’d use on a backcountry ski. The skis cone with two inserts depending on how much grip or glide you require.

The downside? They are very expensive.

The weather forecast shows cooler temps for Lake Louise, and I hope it gets cold enough at night to allow grooming to occur in PLPP.

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