How to Choose Climbing Skins for Backcountry Skiing

Climbing skins look simple. A fuzzy strip, some glue, clip it on and go uphill. In reality, skins are one of the biggest contributors to how efficient, frustrating, or enjoyable your touring day feels. Glide, grip, glue, durability, packability — every choice shows up with every single step.

There’s no single “best” skin, but there is a best skin for how and where you ski. Here’s how to think about it.

Mohair, Nylon, and Everything In Between

Most climbing skins are made from mohair, nylon, or a blend of the two.

Mohair is a yarn made from the hair of Angora goats. The thicker, coarser hair from older goats is used for skins because it’s durable and resilient. Mohair has naturally low friction, which means excellent glide and a smooth, efficient stride. That’s why all ski mountaineering race skins are 100% mohair; speed and efficiency matter more than anything else in that context.

The trade-off is grip and abrasion resistance. Mohair grips less aggressively than nylon and wears faster if you spend a lot of time on firm, dirty, or abrasive snow.

Nylon is added to skins to increase traction and durability. It grips better, especially for newer skiers or in steep, inconsistent skintracks, and it stands up well to abuse. The downside is higher friction, which means more effort with every step.

Most recreational touring skins land somewhere in the middle, usually with about 30–35% nylon and the rest mohair. This gives a good balance of glide, grip, and lifespan, which is why blended skins are the most common choice for all-around touring.

Why Glide Matters (Even If You Think It Doesn’t)

A lot of skiers say they don’t care about glide and just want grip. The thing is, glide isn’t about racing, it’s about efficiency.

Every time you slide a ski forward on a skintrack, you’re overcoming friction. Lower friction means less energy spent on each step. Multiply that by thousands of steps in a day, and glide suddenly matters a lot. Better glide also makes flat approaches, rolling terrain, and long exits noticeably easier.

Grip, on the other hand, is influenced by far more than just the skin. Weight distribution, technique, riser use, track angle, and snow conditions all play huge roles. Strong, efficient skinners often get excellent traction even on very fast skins, while beginners can struggle on the grippiest skins simply because of technique.

In practice, most people benefit more from better glide than from maximum grip, especially once they start moving efficiently on skins.

Glue: The Quiet Dealbreaker

Glue is the least glamorous part of a skin, and one of the most important.

Every manufacturer uses its own adhesive formula, trying to balance strong adhesion to the ski with skins that are still easy to rip apart and handle in the field. Too little stick and skins fail in cold or wet conditions. Too much stick and transitions become a wrestling match.

Classic hot-melt glue is still the most reliable option overall. It sticks well in cold, dry conditions, handles moisture better, and requires less babysitting over time. For long days, multi-day tours, and harsh winter conditions, traditional glue remains the safest choice.

Hybrid or “glueless” skins have improved a lot, and in some cases they work very well. That said, they can still struggle in extreme cold or very wet snow. Among newer-generation hybrid options, Contour’s system has proven to be one of the more reliable, but classic hot-melt glue is still the benchmark for consistency and reliability.

Choosing glue is less about what’s “best” and more about how often you transition, the temperatures you tour in, and how much fuss you’re willing to tolerate.

So… What Are the Best Skins?

There isn’t a universal answer, and that’s the point.

Just like skis, boots, and bindings, the right skin depends on how you ski, where you ski, and what you value most. That said, European manufacturers have largely dialed this category. Brands like Pomoca, Contour, Kohla and Colltex consistently deliver excellent glide, dependable grip, and well-developed glue systems. When it comes to skins, the Euros really do have it figured out.

Here’s how we think about a few standouts.