How to Size Climbing Skins: Width and Length Explained

Sizing climbing skins isn’t complicated, but getting it wrong is surprisingly easy. Too narrow and you lose grip. Too short and the tail lets go when it matters. Too wide or too long and you’re trimming forever for no reason.

The goal is simple: full base coverage where it matters, without excess material you don’t need. Here’s how to get there.

Skin Width: Grip, Glide and Where Traction Actually Comes From

Choosing the correct skin width isn’t just about matching your ski’s widest point. It’s a balance between grip and glide, and how much plush you put on the snow directly affects both.

More skin material means more contact with the snow, which increases grip but also increases friction. Less skin material reduces friction and improves glide, but at the cost of traction. Neither approach is inherently right or wrong. It depends on your goals, terrain, and technique.

And it’s worth saying clearly: good technique is good technique. Skins matter, but the skier matters just as much. Weight distribution, stride, cadence, and track choice all influence grip more than people often realize.

To understand skin width, it helps to understand camber. Camber is the slight arch in a ski that flattens when you weight it, concentrating pressure primarily underfoot and just behind the binding. That’s where most traction is generated while skinning.

Because of this, covering the entire cambered section of the ski is what matters most for grip. Coverage at the very front of the shovel contributes little, and in most cases there’s no need to fully skin the tip. Traction comes mainly from underfoot and behind the foot, so coverage from the binding back is more important than coverage at the front.

The sweet spot

For maximum grip, especially on steep tracks or side-hilling, edge-to-edge coverage across the cambered section provides the most traction and lateral stability.

For better glide and efficiency, reducing skin material lowers friction and makes movement easier on low-angle terrain and long approaches. As long as the cambered zone remains covered, you can prioritize glide without giving up all traction.

As a general rule, choose a skin that’s 10–15 mm wider than your ski’s waist.

In practical terms:

• Skis up to 105 mm underfoot pair well with 120 mm Pomoca skins or 115 mm Contour skins
  

• Skis wider than 105 mm underfoot achieve better coverage with 135 mm or 140 mm skins. 

• 120 mm skins can often work on skis up to 108–110 mm underfoot, depending on sidecut. 

Most modern skins are designed to be trimmed, so starting wider than the ski is expected. If your ski width sits between sizes, choosing the wider skin is the safer option, as long as the skin length falls comfortably within the manufacturer’s range.

Skin Length: Brand-Specific Fit Notes

Pomoca Length Sizing

Pomoca skins tend to run short compared to the brand’s recommended size ranges. Because of this, we size them based on real-world fit rather than the factory chart.

Use the following sizing instead:

• X-Small: 145–156 cm

• Small: 157–166 cm

• Medium: 167–176 cm

• Large: 177–184 cm

• X-Large: 185–195 cm

If you size Pomoca skins strictly by the manufacturer’s chart, they often end up near the end of the adjustment range or slightly too short. Using this breakdown results in better tail tension and a cleaner install.

Contour Length Sizing

Contour skins tend to run a bit long.

If your ski length falls between two Contour sizes, or if your ski is only 1 cm longer than a size break, we recommend sizing down. This keeps the tail hardware in a usable adjustment range and avoids excess material at the tail.