Descending Narrow Trails--Skeats?

[Capercaillie]

I do a lot of skiing on local hiking trails and mountain bike single-track, most of which go through thick brush in whatever little boreal forest (all new growth, too...) remains. Trail skiing can be a lot of fun.

The nice thing about packed down hiking/fat bike trails is that the trench guides your skis. Like Krummholz said, most of the time the best thing to do is make friends with speed and ski the rut. A narrow snowplow helps the rut guide your skis and ensures that your tips don't catch on bushes or saplings (if the tails of your snowplowed skis brush against vegetation on the side of the trail, that actually helps steer you in the right direction). My technique for turns in the trail is skiing one ski at a time (the outside ski) and pressuring that ski into the outside bank of the rut. You can stem check with the inside ski before the turn if there is a bit of space.

I skied off trail, zig zagging back and forth through the trees

This is the right answer, and the great thing about skis, when the vegetation allows for it.

I resort to dragging one ski along the side of the trench

That works to slow down a bit. If there is fresh snow outside of the trench, you can put your ski in there, and that slows you down more. If you stem the ski that you were dragging, that will slow you down even more.

shooting off the trail and uphill at switchbacks,

That is a really good technique. You can then do a kick-turn. It's really like doing uphill switchbacks, downhill. On a straight run, if there is a clearing on the uphill side of the trail, turn uphill into the clearing (you might need to jump-turn), or use the space for a hockey stop.

grasping desperately at overhanging branches

I thought people were joking when I first read mention of this on the forum. Don't grab onto trees or branches! You are either going to dislocate something or get poked by a sharp stick. (It's ok to wedge your ski or shoulder against a tree, when going UPHILL). Wear eye protection, even if it's clear safety glasses.

I have found that slightly shorter skis have made me feel a little better, on narrow trails.

IMO the biggest advantage of shorter skis on hiking trails is climbing, but they make descending easier as well. The narrow snowplow becomes more effective (the longer your skis, the less angle between their tips for a given width stance). You can "diagonal sideslip" them on narrower trails than you can with longer skis: point the tips to the uphill side and alternate between checking/sideslipping and pointing them more downhill, kind of twisting your way down the trail. Downhill pole plants help with that technique (they also work if you can start in a wide snowplow from a stop). Diagonal side-stepping downhill on off-camber trails is also a valid technique.

That being said, my 205cm Fischer TN66 are a lot more fun on hiking/mountain bike trail downhills than either of my 195cm classic touring skis. The longer TN66 glide faster and turn better. I don't know whether it is the sidecut, the soft rockered tip, or the steel edges. Completely different story going uphill.

[JohnSKepler]

At least please someone tell me I am not alone in this.

I feel your pain! This is really my first year learning to ski more ambitious XC/BC stuff. The previous two years it was just groomed roads with a track to one side. I was skiing Rossi BC65 and BC80 on NNNBC which don't turn very well. I've since moved to Gamme 54 and Falketind 62 on Xplore.

The Falketind really lets me turn and skid a lot easier than the straighter skis, even in that narrow track. That really helps shed speed using a tele turn to skid. I can also push the rear outside of the skis into the sides of the trench as I work to drive the front outside into the snow in a wedge (pizza). Descending with a skin slows things down a little but makes control harder; something about the skin and the edges just doesn't play nice. (I think you'll find skeats will affect control even more.) Depending on the snow I'll also go into the trees. I actually prefer that if there's some decent powder. That is actually what I'm looking for. With some kickwax I can maintain speed even if things kind of level out.

The biggest thing for me, though, was realizing I wasn't going very fast. With my limited speed control techniques - which ain't great - I'm really not going very fast. It feels fast because I'm not used to it, but I've watched other skiers and they're not going very fast and I see no reason that I'd be going faster than they are. I could hit a tree and be okay. I don't want to hit a tree, it'd still hurt, and I don't want to stick something in my eye, but I'm really going pretty slow. I generally just wear a hat on most trails but, since I am getting faster, I'll probably start wearing a helmet. I could even wear a motocross chest protector!

I'm not advocating you ski faster than you're comfortable with and often, when I'm descending on a tight trail, it feels pretty harrowing. The instant it starts to feel that way your brain starts getting too many signals to really sort them out and all of a sudden a modest pace seems like interstate speeds. A lot of it is just slowing down your mind, assessing the risk realistically, and remembering this is why you're out there! Easier said than done, right?

[Chisana]

While I try to avoid these types of situations at this stage of my life, I used to ski these conditions often. (There are bold skiers and old skiers, but there are no old bold skiers) .
I am with krummholz on this one. When I did encounter these marginal conditions, I found that keeping skis in slight snowplow, squatting down in as low a position as I could , angling poles backwards over my thighs and using my forearms on the poles to exert as much drag force as possible. And if things still seemed out of hand, just dropping my ass and side down on one side would bring things to a stop.
Keep in mind,I am not nearly as proficient a skier as most on this forum, but sometimes lack of skill forces one to learn survival skills that skiers with greater ability don't need.

[greatgt]

Use the trail for the up and find another way down. TM

[randoskier]

Use the trail for the up and find another way down. TM

Good advice! You don't want to Bono!

[turnfarmer]

You could use what the skimo racers called Witch riding before it was outlawed for races. They would put their poles between their legs and dig the poles in like a witch riding a broom stick. In Nils videos of Altai skiers they use the same technique with a Tiak(lurk.) The Altai dudes make it look quite elegant.

Learning technique would also help, but takes a long time. For now the above may help you get through until your technique catches up.

[turnfarmer]

I’m guessing the bots they have are probably sorel like so it’s pretty impressive what they do!

[MichiganNathaniel]

Interesting! And what a great video, thanks. From that, previous comments, and my own experience, I'm thinking I should just work on perfecting my crashes. Getting low and back sort of transitions to just sitting down without killing yourself...

[DG99]

The Altai method could work. Don’t break your poles…. Altai don’t have baskets….

Sit down uphill bailout to the side, controlled crash, is a good skill.

I think I drag the uphill ski, to the side, angled and only lightly weighted, to scrub speed off.

The skeats look cool for walking on ice but I wouldn’t use as brakes. Skins too. Inelegant, also could be grabby and uneven drag.

[turnfarmer]

Another good technique is to run one ski with most of your weight on it in the track and the other ski in the loose snow. When you get going to fast pressure the ski in the soft snow by varying amounts to control you speed.