Why have my skins stopped sticking?

Cold, dirt, water, age — in that order. Three of the four are reversible, and the fourth is what the maker’s glue is sold for.

Cold

Adhesive stiffens as the temperature drops, and below a certain point it simply will not grab a cold base. This is not a failure; it is physics, and it is why skins are put on in the car park rather than at the col.

Fix: warm the glue inside a jacket before applying, and apply to a base that is not covered in snow.

Dirt

Pine needles, grit from a car park, sand from a spring track. Each one is a spot where the glue is no longer touching the ski, and they accumulate.

Fix: pick the visible debris off; for the rest, the maker’s cleaning method — which differs between traditional glue and the tacky backings, and is printed on the packaging.

Water

A wet base is the commonest cause of a skin letting go mid-climb. So is a skin that went away damp and came out damp.

Fix: wipe the base before applying, and dry the skins at room temperature after every tour rather than leaving them folded in a pack.

Age

Glue eventually thins and stops holding. Traditional glue is renewable: re-melted with an iron, and topped up with the maker’s own glue, at the temperature the maker states. The newer adhesive-free tacky backings are not re-glued; they are cleaned, and eventually replaced.

Which one you own is on the packaging, and the two are treated differently.

The mid-tour repair

A skin that lets go on the climb is dried against a jacket, pressed back on, and finished with a strap over the ski if it keeps peeling. That is a way down, not a fix.

How this site prints it

Skin pages state the adhesive type as the maker names it, report whether the maker describes the glue as renewable, and print the maker’s own care instructions as the maker’s. Nothing here is described as a glue that cannot fail.