Can somebody give me some tips on A-Framing skis on a regular pack (ie not a ski pack). I've done it once before but I very much winged it. I can figure it out but it's always better to start with something that's already been tried.

I'm also very interested in this hauling technique, I'm just not wild about drilling a hole in my skis:
http://14erskiers.com/franksblog/2011/0 ... hose-skis/

Do you have compression straps on the sides of your pack?

Pictures of the pack(s) in question might help, or at least a model if it's a production pack.

To be honest I'm really leaning towards the hauling technique - I just need to figure a good way to clamp/strap the tips together as opposed to drilling them.

That said, if that doesn't work out, I'll most likely use my older Kelty Redcloud 6650. From what I've seen of a good a-frame setup (and from playing around last weekend), the key seems to be that the pack needs to be stiff laterally. Since there's no way I'm filling up a 6650 cu. in. pack for a day trip. I'm thinking I might stick one or two styrofoam blocks in it to fill it out.

The other problem with the Kelty is it's weight. When I'm playing "family truckster" it carries 70lbs great. But with a lighter load, it's an extra 4 lbs over my camelbak "peak bagger'. I just don't think the camelback is big enough to carry skis comfortably (although I think it might have two sets of compression straps).

How big is the Camelbak Peak Bagger pack? I have a 22L BD pack that I use for Spring skiing daytrips that carries my splitboard just fine A-frame, so is the Peak Bagger smaller?

Drilling holes in your ski tips should be harmless, especially if you seal the hole. There's no core material up there in the tip. I don't think you'll get a clamp to hold the skis well.

That said I suspect hauling your skis is a relatively specialized technique best suited to steep bootpacking. IME a key to A-framing skis is to have a relatively full pack so the structure is more rigid and the skis don't slop around a lot. A small pack that is stuffed full of your puffy and equipment etc may do better than a big pack with a frame but a lot of empty space.

Diagonal or vertical carry can sometimes be improvised with straps at top and bottom of pack, and it has some advantages, but if you don't get the straps to pull the skis in tight to pack and body, they flop around and it's really annoying.

96avs01 wrote:How big is the Camelbak Peak Bagger pack? I have a 22L BD pack that I use for Spring skiing daytrips that carries my splitboard just fine A-frame, so is the Peak Bagger smaller?

Peak Bagger is 34L. I've never tried hauling skis with it.

I made simple carrying straps for my skis.

Basically the skis fit through the compression straps on the sides of the pack.

Then, in order to regulate how far the tails hung from the bottom of my pack, I made two straps, one for each ski, that went around the tail of the ski and attached to the lower compression strap on my pack. This strap was adjustable with a slider. I made a little cup out of duct tape to form a holder for the tail of each ski.

The tips of the skis were attached together overhead with a simple velcro strap.

This way I could raise the tails of the skis really high if I was walking downhill (so I wouldn't hit the tails of my skis on the ground behind me), or I could lower the tips if I was walking bush-whacking with skis.

My harness cost about $3 to make, 2 Fastex buckles, about 8 feet of 1-inch strap webbing, and a few feet of silver duct tape.

Here's a photo. You can see the silver duct tape "cups" below the pack.


Here's another photo with the rig on a regular backpack. If you make the straps with buckles, you can move the suspension straps to any pack.

Thank you all for the responses. In the end I ended up making an aluminum clamp (thanks to my father). Sorry about the crummy pic - i'll try to post an update when I can - but you get the idea.



It's just two chunks of bar stock, 3 rubber pieces and some bolts and some nobs to hold it together in a tool-less manner. This had the advantage of actually holding the skis semi ridged - which was necessary since I'm also hauling my alpine boots. With the boots, the center of gravity is obviously much higher and the skis tipped over individually. The bracket along with some buckles and webbing to tie the boots together made one rigid system. I put some blocks of foam between the boots, not only to space the tails out a little more but to add a bit of camber.

It would be hard to say if it was more efficient. But to carry such a light pack was magical. And I know because at one point we decided the decent was way too tight thru the trees so I quickly worked up an a frame. It worked with the camelback, but with no suspension and minimal waist belt, it was pretty brutal on the shoulders/traps.