Mountain a Fresh Cut Pair of MONTANA Montamix Adrenaline Splitboard Skins Before a Tour in the Tetons | Photo Connor Burkesmith Mountain Weekly News
Best Splitboard Skins 2022
Black Diamond Glitelite Splitboard Skins
Forgoing fast and light the Black Diamond Glidelite Skins are hard to beat. You may hear some chatter about people complaining about the skin bag shedding material? Well here’s a pro tip: stop putting your skins in the damn skin bag, the best place is folded up inside your internal jacket pockets. Or simply folded inside your pack as the Black Diamond Glidelite Splitboard Skins have a very small footprint when folded flat. These are the faster version of the new brand Black Diamond Splitboard Skins line currently available.
Perhaps my favorite tail clips of any splitboard skins out there goes to Black Diamond for their STS system. Skiers love the STS clips and splitboards now get an opportunity to enjoy them too.
Price: $189.95
Jones Nomad Splitboard Skins
Skins cut to match your splitboard from the factory. That’s what you get when you pair Jones Splitboards with Pomoca Skins. The best part about the Jones Pomoca interface is the notches cut into the tail of the splitboards that corresponds with the Quick Tension connector pieces on the skins. The future is really being able to lock your skins into place, Pomoca nailed it with these. The Jones crew spends lots of time on snow, these are the skins they rely on, enough said? These are the best skins for Jones boards. Jones Splitboard Skins are also available in universal models without the Quick Tensioner piece.
Price: $249.95
Black Diamond Ascension Splitboard Skins
With traction like studded snow tires, just enough glide for splitskiing, glue that hits the perfect balance between sticky and not, and bomber tail clips, the Black Diamond Ascension 140mm is one of the best splitboard skins on the market.
The Black Diamond Ascension Splitboard Skins and their STS tail clip gives you security unmatched by most rival split tail clips. If you can only get one pair of skins, rest assured BD’s nailed it. Need to go even faster on the skin track? If so check out the Black Diamond Glitelite Splitboard Skins instead, either way, Black Diamond is making a mark on the splitboard industry.
Price: $174.95
G3 Grip Splitboard Skins
Snap, crackle, and pop. When you first latch down the G3 Splitboard Skin tail clip be careful these thing means business. For reliability in the splitboard skin world, G3 has you dialed with 3 models to choose from. I opted for the Grip as it’s the most important part of safely making it up a mountain, and boy do these nylon skins grip. With the added grip the skins get a bit heavier and of course, slower, Glide and Universal materials are also available if you’re looking for more speed. The G3 Grip Splitboard Skins stay stuck to your board when you need it most, plus they actually aren’t the hardest to pull apart, go figure.
Price: $199.00
Montana Mix Splitboard Skins
Swiss splitboard skins that share the name of a state in the United States. Montana Splitboard Skins have been one of my favorite go-to pair of skins for years. The Montana MONTAMIX skin combines mohair / nylon for a skin that has tacky grip and nice glide, the do it all sort of skin. The skins take some effort to get as you need to order them direct, available with tail clips or without. Go with the tail clips as they slide on and off nicely and are the same design as the nose clips. One of the top rated splitboard skins on this list for 2020.
Price: $299.99
Colltex Splitboard Skins
These are the best splitboard skins that you will have a hard time finding if you live in North America. It’s been this way for the past 4-5 years since we first started reviewing these skins. Colltex is another Swiss skin manufacture. The Colltex Splitboard Skins are a blend of 65% Mohair/ 35% synthetic materials that offer that nice sweet spot of grip and glide. The glue is hotmelt which really cuts down on the overall weight. And the skins are able to fold up really small taking up very little space inside your backpack or better yet against your chest on the way down. With the hotmelt glue, it’s best these skins stay dry, ideally for single-day tours.
Price: $199.99
Union Splitboard Skins
Union teamed up with Kohla to make a pair of splitboard skins, smart move as these skins are epic. These are my favorite skins to use when it’s cold like single digits and below. Thanks to a nice mix of mohair / nylon the Union Climbing Skins offer nice grip on the way up and good glide on the flats. I reviewed a pair of these skins a few years back without the Union branding, they worked so well that even when on backward, they allowed me to climb uphill… For real though. The Union Climbing Skins use a traditional nose piece and are easily adjustable in length via the tail clip.
Price: $199.99
Hey Mike, great review, thanks. I was wondering if you’d recommend the G3 Universal or Pomoca Freeride Pro 2.0 for east coast skinning (usually firm/icy, often steep). Also wondering which of those skins has a better tail clip for a blunted swallowtail shape splitboard. Thanks!
Matt,
Thanks for the question, both are great skins. I like tail connector on the Pomoca’s a little better. I saw someone had posted a picture with a bat tail splitboard they opted to put the left tail connector on the right ski and right tail connector on the left ski. In theory makes sense. Both tour really well, the g3s are going to be a little heavier but with that comes more durability.
Mike
You gotta check out the big sky mountain products skins. They are cheaper, and better than any skin I’ve tried. Give em a go!
Kyle,
Thanks man, I am hearing really really good things about those skins here in Jackson. I will reach out to them to get some skins going for review.
Mike
Whats up Mike, i just ordered an orca 153 split, kinda wish i went with a jones split but hey next time lol. Was wondering what a good set of skins would be for the orca? They say its a wierd shape
Hey Frank,
Great choice, that board is built for shredding powder. Jones is fun too. I would look at the following skins.
G3’s – S/M
Pomocas – S
Most of the skins are 70/30 blend of mohair and synthetic.
You could also look into Rossignol Sushi Skins
Mike
Insightful article Mike! I’ve been using skins from these brands for quite some time now so I wanted to switch it up a bit this time and find something unique. I came across Telos Snowboards for my splitboard touring skins and found it just how I like them. I would recommend you to try them out and add it to the list. Kudos!
Terrica,
Thanks I will be updating this article again in the next few weeks. The Telos skins are made by Khola one of the best out there. In the future all board companies will have private label skins. Makes way more sense to get them from the factory.
As always, great write up Mike! I have a Jones 152 Hovercraft and was wondering if the BD tailclip would fit? Looks like they fit a traditional board shape but not sure about the Hovercraft’s swallowtail. Cheers!
Brian,
I haven’t tried the clips on the Hovercraft. It was one of the tougher boards I do remember for clips though. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.
I can’t dissuade strongly enough of not getting G3 skins. I’ve a had a pair for a couple of years and so has a friend (his for skis). The glue is horrendous!! It just seems to be falling apart. It gets everywhere, on your hands, all over the skins bag and worse over parts of the board (seems mainly at the extemities). This causes snow build up on these tacky spots which those that have experienced it is like riding with an anchor behind you in powder.
I don’t buy into the fact that they have not been stored correctly as they are stored next to a pair of Burton AK skins from about 15 years ago that are still just fine.
Just my opinion but I’m now going for glueless skins.
Jon,
Thanks for the feedback. I just had Jeremy Jones on my podcast and we talked skins. Be sure to take a listen. They are great when they work, shit when they don’t. And its honestly a guess as to when they will fail, keyword when.
Even the Montana Skins I love, I have had brand new pairs fail on day 1, while others can last a season then fail on some random day.