Greenland Ski Touring Equipment List
Just remember, every extra kilo on your back knocks 10% off your enjoyment on the descents – so try and keep the weight down!
Technical Clothing
- Waterproof jacket – preferably lightweight and breathable
- Softshell jacket – mid weight wind/snow resistant jacket
- Softshell trousers/Mountain Pants – ideally designed for ski touring.
- Waterproof overtrousers – preferably lightweight, with long side zips.
- Spare lightweight insulated jacket – lightweight synthetic/down jacket or other warm layer
- Wicking thermal top – merino wool or similar – bring standard weight, NOT super thick exped weight.
- Thermal leggings – base layer ‘long johns’, light or mid weight (ie not exped weight!)
- 3 Pairs of socks – 2 pairs of ski socks, plus an extra pair of warm, dry ‘bed socks’.
- Thin inner gloves
- Warm ski gloves – or mittens, if you suffer from cold hands
- Warm hat
- Down Duvet Jacket ~150-200g of 800 Fill Power down, for cold evenings + travel.
Personal Items
- Water container – at least 1 litre, a proper vacuum flask is particularly useful – bring if you have one.
- Personal medications and blister kit – regular meds, zinc oxide tape, compeed and painkillers etc
- Ski goggles
- Sun glasses – CE rated 3 or 4 with side protection
- Sun and lip cream – factor 30+
- Wallet, passport and insurance docs
Overnight Items
- Small wash kit
- Spare clothes – underwear/base layers etc
- Thermarest sleeping mat – full length 4 season model** – essential for camping on snow; eg Thermarest Neoair All Season, or similar.
- Warm sleeping bag – 6-800g of top quality 800+ FP down required (a >1000g ‘exped bag’ is too much!)**
Technical Equipment
- Rucsac 35/45l – try and avoid ones covered in too many features, just ski and ice axe attachments required
- Ski mountaineering boots – with a good walk mode.
- Skis with touring bindings – lightweight pin bindings would be ideal; eg Fritschi Vipec.
- Velcro ski strap – to keep skis together on your rucksack if we need to carry them
- Ski poles – with good size 5cm+ baskets
- Climbing skins – hot wax them before you leave home. See our website for advice article on how to do this.
- Harscheisen (ski crampons)
- Metal snow shovel – must be a full metal shovel (plastic blades don’t work in real avalanche debris!)
- Avalanche probe
- Avalanche transceiver – must be a modern digital model (older analogue models are now obsolete)
- Harness, with 120cm sling and locking karabiner
- Crampons – lightweight model
- Ice Axe – lightweight model
• Possible Extras: Silk sleeping bag liner, warm mittens or overmitts, wet wipes.
** Thermarest Mattresses and Down Sleeping Bags can be hired locally – please get in touch for details.
Your guide will have all other safety kit, first aid and survival equipment.
Footwear Notes
Ski boots must be dedicated ski mountaineering boots with a good walk mode (eg Scarpa Maestrale or similar). Travel footwear – a pair of lightweight walking boots are a good idea here, as there’s quite a lot of walking and hanging out in the snow – eg around Tasiilaq and at the Glacier Camp.
Recommendations and Advice
Visit the Knowledge Base section of our website, where we publish an annual review of the years best new skis, boots and touring equipment, plus a range of other interesting tips and recommendations. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please get in touch!
Purchasing Equipment
Backcountry UK in Otley offer an excellent ski boot fitting service, one of the best ranges of ski mountaineering equipment in the UK and top notch advice.
Hiring Equipment
If you don’t have your own setup, the following items should be hired at home and taken out (there is no local hire available): skis, bindings, skins and harscheisen (usually come supplied together in a hire package) and touring boots. Other ski safety equipment can be hired from us – please visit our Equipment Hire page for Alpine Guides hire equipment price list.