Hey folks, first post after lurking on NS for 10+ years...hello! xD
Question for the touring/ski mountaineering crowd - I've got a setup with Solomon Guardians, which have been great for skiing but pretty heavy for skinning so I've been thinking of getting tech bindings to keep up with my friends better.
This weekend I went ski mountaineering for the first time, and during the beginning of the summit push, I was going up zig zagging on my skis with ski crampons while my buddy went up with boot crampons. It was maybe a 25 degree slope and very hard snow since it was night. I was sticking to it just fine but my buddy was having a much easier time than me, and I finally put my skis on my pack and switched to boot crampons. Even though I had thought boot crampons would only better for the really steep stuff, it was actually way easier to go up on them, even carrying my skis on my back!
My question is, was going up on skis only so rough for me because I was doing it on frame bindings and with pretty heavy skis and boots? (~20lbs for skis+boots+bindings) Or, is it actually just easier to go up on boot crampons once things get above a certain angle?
Maybe it's finally time to drop the $$ on the Kingpins I've had my eye on...