Mohair vs nylon climbing skins
Nylon skins grip harder, forgive a badly set skin track and last longer, which makes them the right first purchase. Mohair glides substantially better, saving real energy on rolling terrain, and grips less on steep or icy tracks. A mohair and nylon mix is where most experienced tourers end up, and it is the sensible second pair.
A climbing skin is a strip of plush stuck to the base of a ski, and the fibre in that plush is the entire argument. Nylon grips more and glides less. Mohair glides more and grips less. Neither is better, and the correct answer depends on how steep your skin tracks are, how much rolling terrain you cover, and how much you are willing to spend on a consumable.
The comparison in one table
| Nylon | Mohair mix | Mohair | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grip | Highest. Forgives a steep track | Good. Adequate for most tracks | Lowest of the three |
| Glide | Lowest. You lift the ski more | Good. The honest compromise | Highest. You slide the ski forward |
| Durability | Best. Survives abrasion and rocks | Middling | Shortest. A finer fibre wears faster |
| Glopping in wet snow | More prone. Coarser pile holds meltwater | Middling | Least prone, and dries faster |
| Price | Lowest | Highest, usually | High |
| Right for | A first pair, steep tracks, learning | Almost everyone, second pair onward | Long rolling days, fast and light |
Why glide matters more than it sounds
Skinning is not walking. On a well-set track, the efficient stride slides the ski forward along the snow rather than lifting it, so the leg swings a weight forward rather than lifting it against gravity. A skin that glides well makes that stride possible on more terrain, including the flats and the gentle rollers where a grippy nylon skin drags enough that you start picking the ski up out of frustration.
Over a three thousand foot day, the accumulated difference between sliding and lifting is substantial. That is why fast-and-light tourers care about it out of proportion to how it sounds on paper, and why mohair persists as a premium product despite being a natural fibre that wears out faster and costs more.
Why grip matters more for a beginner
The other side is simpler. A new tourer sets skin tracks that are too steep, because a steep track feels like progress and because it is the intuitive way to go up a hill. Too steep and the skins slip, which costs energy, breaks rhythm and on a firm traverse can put you sliding somewhere you did not intend to go.
Nylon buys you a margin against that error while your track setting improves. The skinning guide covers what a good track angle actually is, which is considerably shallower than most people guess, and why technique saves more energy than any fibre choice does.
The picks
The ladder is green circle, blue square, black diamond, the same three tiers used across this site: nylon for the first pair, a mix for the second, and mohair for people who have decided glide is what they are optimising.
Climbing skin picks
Black Diamond Ascension Nylon Climbing Skins, 163 cm
- Plush:
- 100 percent nylon
- Grip:
- Highest
- Glide:
- Lowest
Nylon grips better than anything else and forgives a badly set skin track, which is exactly what a new tourer needs while they are still learning to set one. Grip is the specification that keeps you upright on a steep traverse.
Best for: A first pair of skins, and steep or icy skin tracks.
What it costs you: Slow. Nylon glides poorly, absorbs more water and packs bulkier than mohair.
POMOCA Climb 2.0 Ready2Climb Skins, 100 mm
- Plush:
- Mohair and nylon mix
- Fit:
- Pre-cut Ready2Climb
- Glide:
- Good
A mohair and nylon mix is the honest compromise, and it is the one most experienced tourers land on. Pre-cut means the trimming is already done, which removes the single most-botched job in touring.
Best for: Most tourers, most of the time.
What it costs you: A mixed plush grips less than pure nylon on ice and glides less than pure mohair on the flat.
POMOCA Climb Pro Mohair Ready2Climb Skins, 100 mm
- Plush:
- Mohair
- Glide:
- Highest
- Grip:
- Lower than nylon
Mohair glides so much better than nylon that on rolling terrain you stop lifting your skis and start sliding them, and over a long day that is a genuine energy saving rather than a marginal one.
Best for: Long days, rolling approaches, and tourers who set a sensible skin track.
What it costs you: Wears faster, grips less on ice, and costs more per season. A poorly angled skin track will slip.
POMOCA Tour Pro Ready2Climb Skins, 100 mm x 180 to 189 cm
- Plush:
- Mohair mix
- Length:
- 180 to 189 cm
- Width:
- 100 mm
Sized for a long, wide freeride touring ski, which is where most skin buying goes wrong: a skin narrower than the ski tip leaves the shovel bare and the ski washes out on a firm sidehill.
Best for: Long wide skis, from about 180 cm up.
What it costs you: Expensive, and more skin means more weight and more bulk to fold.
Specifications are the manufacturer's published figures, not measurements we took. Sizes, prices and stock change constantly, so confirm on the retailer page before buying. We earn commissions from Backcountry and from qualifying Amazon purchases, and every link on this page is one or the other. Where a Backcountry button reads "shop the category" it opens a search for that category rather than that exact model, so it finds comparable gear alongside it.
Sizing and trimming, which is where most money is wasted
Skin width is set by the widest part of the ski that needs covering, which is the tip rather than the waist. A skin sized from the waist measurement leaves the shovel bare, and the shovel is exactly where you need grip on a firm angled traverse. That is the most common sizing error and it produces a ski that washes out downhill in the one situation where slipping is worst.
Trimming leaves a few millimetres of steel edge exposed along each side on purpose. The edge is what bites on a hard traverse, and a skin that covers it completely converts your ski into a plank with no lateral hold at all. The skin size calculator works from tip width, gives the cut length and explains the trim.
Pre-cut skins remove the job entirely for ski models that offer them, which is why the Ready2Climb options above exist. They arrive shaped for a specific ski with the tip and tail hardware already matched. The trade is that they are tied to that ski.
Glue is the part that actually fails
Almost nobody wears out a plush before they wear out a glue. Skin glue picks up dirt, snow crystals and pine needles, is degraded by heat and by being packed away wet, and loses tack gradually until a skin peels mid-climb, which is a genuinely miserable way to discover the problem.
- Dry them before storage. Glue side out, at room temperature, not on a heater.
- Never leave them in a hot car. Heat is what turns tack into a mess.
- Store on the mesh or folded glue to glue. Whichever the manufacturer specifies.
- Keep them warm on the hill. Inside a jacket between laps, not in a cold pack pocket.
- Carry a field fix. A ski strap around ski and skin gets you home when the glue quits.
When the glue finally goes, reglueing is a home job with a sheet of glue or a tube and an iron, and it costs a fraction of new skins. The skin care and glue repair guide covers the whole process including the field fix.
Glopping, and the bar of wax that solves it
Glopping is a thick pad of snow building up under the skin, and it happens when meltwater in the plush refreezes, usually in spring snow near freezing or when you move from cold shade into sun. It can add real weight to each ski and it destroys glide completely.
Skin wax rubbed onto the plush is the fix, it costs a few dollars, and it belongs in the lid of a touring pack all season. Mohair gloops less than nylon because the finer smoother pile holds less water, which is one more reason spring tourers favour it.
What to buy, in order
Buy nylon first if you are new, buy a mix if you are replacing them and your track setting is decent, and buy mohair only if you know that long rolling days are your terrain. Whichever you choose, buy them sized from the tip of your specific ski, and budget for glue as a recurring cost rather than treating a peeling skin as a defect.
Skins are one line in a much longer list, and it is not the line that decides whether a tour goes well. Avalanche gear only works alongside formal training and never substitutes for an avalanche course, and the regional forecast has to be read before every tour. Start with the avalanche safety basics and the tour planning guide, then price the whole kit on the touring ladder.
The skis that decide your skin width
Plush material is the second decision and width is the first, because skins are sized from the widest point of the ski rather than the waist. A Blizzard Zero G 96 and a Salomon QST 100 sit close enough to share a size band, while a Zero G 105 pushes you into a genuinely more expensive skin, which is an ownership cost people underestimate when they buy the wider ski. A splitboard such as the K2 Freeloader needs its own skins cut to the split shape, and those skins are usually the first part of the setup you replace.
Frequently asked questions
What is the actual difference between mohair and nylon skins?
The plush, meaning the fibre pile on the underside that grips going forward and slides going back. Nylon is a synthetic fibre with a coarser, more aggressive pile: it grips harder, forgives a steep or badly set skin track, and lasts longer under abrasion. Mohair is angora goat hair with a finer, smoother pile that glides substantially better, so on rolling terrain you slide the ski forward instead of lifting it, and over a long day that is a real energy saving. The cost is less grip on steep or icy skin tracks and a shorter service life. Most experienced tourers end up on a mix of both.
Which should a beginner buy?
Nylon, without much hesitation. A new tourer is still learning to set a skin track, which mostly means learning not to set it too steeply, and nylon forgives that error where mohair does not. Slipping backwards on a steep traverse is unnerving, tiring and occasionally dangerous, and it is the failure mode that puts people off touring. Nylon is also the cheapest option and the most durable, so it survives the learning period where skins get dragged over rocks and stepped on. Move to a mix once your track setting is good enough that grip is no longer the limiting factor.
Does the glue wear out?
Yes. Skin glue is a consumable, not a permanent feature, and it is the part of a skin that fails first in almost every case. It picks up snow crystals, dirt and pine needles, it is degraded by heat and by being stored wet, and it gradually loses tack until the skin peels off mid-climb. Good storage habits extend its life a lot: dry the skins before storing, keep them off hot radiators and out of hot cars, and store them on the supplied mesh or folded glue to glue rather than stuck to something. When it does go, reglueing is a straightforward home job and much cheaper than new skins.
How do I stop skins icing up?
Keep them warm and dry between climbs, and use skin wax. The mechanism behind glopping, where a thick layer of snow builds up under the skin, is meltwater refreezing in the plush, which happens most in spring snow around freezing and when you transition from cold shade into sun. Storing skins inside a jacket rather than in a cold pack pocket between laps keeps the glue warm and pliable, which also stops it failing. A bar of skin wax rubbed onto the plush costs almost nothing and is the single most effective fix, and it lives in the lid of a touring pack all season.
How wide should my skins be?
Measure the ski tip, not the waist. Skin width is quoted at the widest point that has to be covered, and a skin sized from the waist leaves the shovel of the ski bare, which is where a firm sidehill traverse loses its grip and the ski washes out downhill. Trim so a few millimetres of steel edge remains exposed along each side, because the edge is what holds on a hard traverse and a skin covering it completely turns your ski into a plank. The skin size calculator on this site works from tip width and gives the cut length.
Are pre-cut skins worth it?
For a ski model the manufacturer offers them for, yes, and they remove the most commonly botched job in touring. Trimming a skin freehand with the supplied cutter is a task with no undo: cut too much and you have exposed base with no grip, cut too little and the skin covers the edge. Pre-cut skins arrive shaped for a specific ski model and length with tip and tail hardware already matched. The trade is that you are locked to that ski, so if you sell the skis the skins go with them, and pre-cut options do not exist for every model.
How we choose: we compare published manufacturer specifications, published certification standards and verified owner reviews across retailers. We do not test equipment in person, and every figure quoted here is the manufacturer's published number unless we say otherwise. This is researched buying guidance and not professional instruction: binding release values are set by a certified technician on a calibrated jig, and avalanche terrain requires formal training and a current regional forecast that no article can replace.
