Splitboard.com Forums

Mine don't. haven't seen any in any pics, either.

Yeah, they don't have the rip strip. This makes no sense. Images of the climbing skins for skis show the rip strip very clearly. This is important as a fail safe measure in the event your skins lose all stickiness, you always have the ability to rip the strip off and have enough glue to finish your tour. Not sure what the company was thinking.

Hit them up. I have heard they are quite open to comments and suggestions on their gear and they try to take that into account with their ski gear that my friends have run. Someone actually brought it up in the comments on the product page already, but perhaps a more suggestive question would be more beneficial?

http://www.genuineguidegear.com/gear/skins/alpinist-splitboard-climbing-skins

Run a strip of hockey tape down the middle? Then if you need to rip it off, you also have some tape to do a few wraps of the skin to the board.

Edit: And to add, my Voile Tractors/BD Acension skins never came with a strip down the middle, nor have I felt it necessary to have one (or tail clips for that matter). I guess each to their own....



....geography, climate & snow conditions.

There are entire generations of tractor skins without the tape. Just put a strip in yourself if it's such a game breaker, but to me, it's never been an issue. If my skins are losing grip I reglue them or just resurface the old glue with some parchment paper and a carefully warmed iron (too hot and you'll fry the glue...but warm it just enough to smooth out the surface. I'm sure they're open to your suggestions, but I don't see the lack of a strip as some big oversight.

Certainly if the glue is getting stale, a reglue, or using the iron and parchment paper is the way to go to extend the life of your skins a bit.

But if you realize for whatever reason that the glue is weak while you are actually in the field and still need to finish your tour, having the ability to get that little bit of fresh glue really helps. This saved a day for me this year.

I can obviously put something on there myself, but I don't know exactly what kind of strip this is. I would want to ensure that if I choose a substitute material, that it will come off in the field when and if I need to expose some of the fresh glue.

I have now used these and they are awesome skins. This is not a deal breaker, but I am just saying that there really isn't any justification for providing the strip on the Alpinist ski skins, and not on the splitboard skins. The addition would make this a better product.