G3 Alpinist Plus Glide and Alpinist Plus Pow Skins

In this review, we’re going to look at the G3 Alpinist Plus Glide and Alpinist Plus Pow Skins, their features and how they compare to each other. Both skins have a Poly Urethane tip to help reduce the migration of snow between the skin and ski base, however, the tip on the Pow Ski is much longer and not convex in shape like that on the Glide skin. This additional length of the PU plastic tip helps reduce friction when breaking trail in deep snow. Because of these plastic tips, the Alpinist Plus Skins are folded end-over-end and not glue on glue like traditional skins. This allows you to easily store them in a pack or jacket pocket.

G3 has also improved upon their tail cam design to make it even easier to use and has also lengthened the adjustable tail strap so that less skin material is required, thus saving weight. The self aligning tip connectors remain the same because, well, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

For the split boarders out there G3 will be releasing three new Alpinist Plus skins designed to work with split boards, the Universal, Grip and Glide.These will have all the same attributes of the regular skins mentioned above but obviously mad specifically for split boards.

• Self-aligning connectors.
• New minimalist tail clip
• Plastic tip to reduce snow creep between the skin and ski.
• Longer tail connector for reduced skin weight.
• Innovative trim tool included.
• Skin savers included.
• Updated non-toxic adhesive.

When the pow is light, dry and super deep there is still some snow migration under the PU tips on both skins.

Below you can see the difference between the Glide PU tip and the Pow, notice not only the difference in length but also shape as the Glide is convex while the Pow is flat.

I have to tip my hat to G3 for continuing to try new things and innovate while other brands simply play it safe and continue to produce status quo. This new line of Alpinist Plus Skins is very unique and builds upon the innovation in their earlier Scala skins that we previously reviewed here. The naming convention of the individual skins in the Alpinist line up has to be one of the best features of this new line. It makes selecting the proper climbing skin easy for those who don’t know the difference between mohair and nylon plush and who don’t care to. Pow, Glide, Grip, Universal and Speed really spell it out for consumers and this takes the guesswork out of which climbing skin to buy. 

In addition to the simplified naming, the new non-toxic glue is a win for mother nature. Overall, I found the glue worked well, not too tacky that you can’t easily separate the skins and still sticky enough that there were not any issues with the glue failing. I did notice though that on colder days (I’m talking -15°C and colder) the glue lost quite a bit of its adhesive qualities, however, this is true for any climbing skins and therefore the Alpinist Pro skins should be stored in your jacket to keep them warm between laps.

The PU plastic tips on both the Pow and Glide skins worked well but since we get copious amounts of pow here in the Kootenays, I did find that the Pow tips had some snow creep under the skins. I blame this on their flat design as the glide skins seemed to repel more snow given that the plastic tips were convex in shape. To test this I ski toured several weeks with one skin on each ski and compared traction, glide and snow creep over the course of each day. While the Glide skins performed better at preventing snow creep between the skin tips and ski, the Pow skins provided much more grip when the snow was cold and dry. This can be attributed to the universal nylon used in the Pow plush compared to the 70% mohair used in the Glide plush.

I found that folding the skins was easy and fast and eliminated any of the hassle you encounter on windy days folding traditional skins glue on glue. I do question the longevity of the glue however as folding the glue side to the plush side means that mohair/nylon fibres contaminate the glue where they come in contact. I anticipate this will only worsen as time goes on.

The tip and tail connectors are flawless, easy to use and simple in design, the best on the market by far.

Overall, I liked the grip of the Pow skin but the plastic tip of the Glide skin so if I had to purchase just one pair it would have to be the Alpinist Plus Grip skins as they seem to combine the best of both worlds, or perhaps the Universal as these skins shave some weight off that of the Grip Skins.