Telemark binding

Ski touring is an all-round sport practised in the great outdoors, away from the ski resorts. This alpine sport allows you to enjoy magnificent landscapes and experience thrilling sensations. Ekosport has all the equipment you need for ski touring: ski touring skis, ski touring boots, poles, bindings, sealskins, knives, etc. When choosing your ski touring equipment, it's essential to take into account your level and type of activity (multi-purpose ski touring, free-touring, freeride, ski touring race).

Ski touring: a varied and fast-growing discipline

Ski touring has become increasingly popular over the last few decades. Away from the crowds, hikers set off to discover the mountains. It's a demanding endurance sport, with 80% of the outing time spent climbing. Today's ski touring brands (Atomic, Rossignol, Fischer, Ski Trab, Black Diamond, Movement, Salomon, Dynafit and many others) offer increasingly lightweight, high-performance equipment that allows all tourers to enjoy themselves. Speed-tourers, or ski touring racers, need very light equipment to perform well on climbs. Free-touring skiers, on the other hand, are looking for maximum safety and reliability on descents. Skis are therefore wider. Finally, the brands offer multi-purpose ski touring equipment that performs equally well both uphill and downhill.

Ski touring equipment

For ski touring, you need the following equipment:

• ski touring skis, to be chosen according to your level of ability;
• lightweight ski touring boots with a walking mode and a downhill mode;
• ski touring bindings: ski touring bindings come in a wide range of models. For speed-touring, you can opt for bindings with inserts, while free- touring skiers prefer hydride bindings;
• single-piece or telescopic ski touring poles;
• self-adhesive skins or skins with tensioners for ascents;
• ski touring knives to ensure good grip on slopes or frozen snow;
• an avalanche safety pack, consisting of a shovel, probe and avalanche transceiver;
• appropriate clothing: light and breathable for ascents, warm and windproof for descents.

Choosing your ski touring equipment

When choosing your ski touring equipment, there are a number of criteria to take into account, not least your level of fitness and the type of skiing you do. For mountaineering tours and multi-day outings, the main criterion to consider is the weight of your equipment. You can opt for a pack of race touring skis or multi-purpose touring skis. Choose bindings with inserts and lightweight ski touring boots. If you're looking for equipment that'll get you through the powder, opt for free-touring equipment. Heavier, it's also safer going downhill thanks to wider skis, boots with a high flex and hybrid touring ski bindings. Finally, beginners and those who enjoy both uphill and downhill skiing will benefit from choosing versatile equipment that offers a good compromise in terms of performance. The advantage is that this type of ski touring equipment can be used for both touring and on the slopes.