Madshus Intelligrip XC Ski Skins Sz 185cm

These are not 185cm mohair skins. Both the manufacturer and seller descriptions are a little deceiving when it comes to the description. They state its a mohair skin for a 185 cm ski, but it's really a kicker skin with a plastic leader and ski tip attachment. The plastic leader, while treated with something like skin glue did not stay attached to the ski for the 2 mile climb. The mohair section stayed attached, but it didn't do much good. They're kicker skins with the typical ski tip attachment and a length of plastic going back to the kicker skin. On backcountry skis with kicker skins I can climb green runs and some blues if I pole, but these narrow kicker skins are no better than a backcountry waxless ski when it comes to grip.

I use these on my waxable nordic backcountry skis when conditions do not favor waxing. After break in, they glide and grip a little better than an average waxless/fishscale pattern. Some waxless skis grip better, some glide better, but I don't know of any that do both as well. You still need real skins for climbing steeper slopes. Compared to Black Diamond kicker skins, these get maybe half the grip at best, but glide at least twice as fast and fit on narrower skis. These save me from having to use klister on backpacking trips where most(but not all) of the snow will be kick wax friendly. They also work great on skate skis in late spring. Skate out on bomber crust, kick and glide back when it softens up. I haven't had any issues with the glue not adhering, and I don't scrape my hardwax before putting the skins on. My only grip is the width of the tip loop. I would like it to be 5-10mm wider to accommodate a broader range of skis. I realize this would limit their usefulness on 44mm or narrower race skis, but I think touring, and backcountry touring are the best application for this product. You will wear them out really quickly on very hard, abrasive snow, like solidly frozen snowmachine trails. By really quickly, I mean 20 km.