Voile Objective BC - I think I .......

[Stephen]

Those are frustrating conditions because it looks good but it isn't.

That’s about it — so much beautiful looking untracked snow and so little ability to ski it!

Thanks for all the moral support and thoughts!
My fragile ego feels a little better.

For me, I don’t like problems without solutions.
@jyw5’s idea about running skins downhill, while not ideal, might at least be a better-than-before sort of solution.
I bet skins would add some tracking to the ski.

[lowangle al]

Stephen, when you know you're beat you can always traverse across the slope until you come to a stop and do a kick turn and head back the other way to get down the slope.

[joeatomictoad]

...that kind of crappy grabby snow.

As a child; I remember my German, geriatric, ski instructor, ski buddy, named Hans, used to call these snow snakes:

• "Snow snakes come out in the warm weather to bask in the sun, and if you're not careful they'll come out and BITE you!!"

[Stephen]

Stephen, when you know you're beat you can always traverse across the slope until you come to a stop and do a kick turn and head back the other way to get down the slope.

No, that’s the thing. Like I said, I could barely ski a straight traverse on VERY gentle terrain without great difficulty.
I’ve never experienced anything like it in years of skiing.
Just that combination of snow texture, skis, bindings, and boots.

[jyw5]

I just got back. It was full on hard packed snow on the narrow trail, and breakable crust off trail and hard sustrugi variable crust at the top. Steep descent to the treeline, then tree skiing offtrail to almost the bottom. And the light was flat. didnt take any photos today.

172mm FT62 with 60mm Pomoca mohair race pro 2 skins from tip to tail, NNN BC, Alfa Quest Core boots.

I had to hike/scramble about 1/2 mile out of the 5.33 miles. Kept the skins on the whole time. notice the zigzagging -- thats the kick turns on the descent. I frequently use skins when skiing down free heel. conditions in Alaska are challenging 90%+ of the time.

I'm not sure if any other ski would have done any better today. A short Skog or Nansen or Ingstad perhaps... hard to say. Don't think using the Alfa Guard boots would have made any difference either. Honestly, the conditions were so tough that I think an AT setup wouldnt have been much better either.

[jyw5]

Stephen, when you know you're beat you can always traverse across the slope until you come to a stop and do a kick turn and head back the other way to get down the slope.

No, that’s the thing. Like I said, I could barely ski a straight traverse on VERY gentle terrain without great difficulty.
I’ve never experienced anything like it in years of skiing.
Just that combination of snow texture, skis, bindings, and boots.

The point of my post above is to show you that skins are underutilized by alot of skiiers on the down...as they are generally introduced to skiiers as a tool for uphill travel. Also, p-turns and tele doesnt always work. There are other turns that must be used...kick, step, open, jump...I made every turn today except the tele turn.