How to sew a detachable fur ruff to jacket hood

 

We often find ourselves skiing and running at sub-zero temperatures. Over the years, we've figured out our gear systems to keep our bodies, hands, and feet warm, but our faces have been a little trickier. After seeing a friend's solution---a fur ruff---we knew we had the solution. Fur ruffs aren't new, but we wanted to attach ours to a lightweight active layer that could be worn while skiing or running. This presented one obvious obstacle---what happens to the ruff when we wanted to wash the jacket? The solution was just as obvious, make a detachable ruff. A detachable system also allows the jacket to be interchangeable between multiple jackets.

After finding very little in the way of direction online, we came up with our own method (documented below).

The first "test" jacket was a Patagonia Nanopuff Hoody. This jacket lacks a bungee at the back of the head to adjust the hood fit, so we found the ruff placement needed to be very precise. Later iterations used a Sierra designs puffy (unknown model), Arc'teryx Proton LT, and Arc'teryx Atom LT, all of which have an adjustable hood. We found these types of hoods allowed for more forgiveness in the ruff placement and were generally preferable for adjust-ability.

Materials

Fur ruff (we used 2"x24" coyote fur with grosgrain attached)

Snap tape (we used 1/2" polyester with plastic snaps spaced ~1")

Sewing machine (or need/thread if hand sewing)

Thread (optional coordinating colors)

Scissors

Tailors chalk (or pencil, soluble marker)

Pins

 

Step 1: Sew the ruff into a tube.

Fold the ruff in half length-ways and pin the grosgrain together to form a tube. Pin and sew. The fur will need to be smoothed back and kept out of the way of the walking foot. Go slowly and try to avoid sewing over the fur as much as possible.

 

Step 2: Attach the snap tape.

Pin one side of the snap tape to the sewn grosgrain. We sewed the male side to the ruff (make sure to be consistent about which side is sewn onto the hood if you intend to switch between multiple jackets). Sew the snap tape down on both sides with a coordinating thread.

 

Step 3. Estimate position of ruff on hood and pin.

This is the trickiest step and worth spending time on the get right. Preferably the jacket would be worn in this step so you can see how it will sit around the face. A good place to start is pinning the ruff ~2" from the hood and adjusting from there. (The sewn grosgrain faces the back of the hood so the fur faces out).

Once you find the desired position of the ruff use tailors chalk, a pencil, or soluble marker to mark the location on the hood (shows on green jacket below). Unpin the ruff and pin the remaining side of the snap tape in alignment with your chalk line. Make any slight adjustments to make sure it is even on both sides.

 

Step 4: Sew snap tape to hood. Once you have the position of the snap tape determined pin and sew on both sides of the snaps with coordinating thread. We recommend pinning between each snap to keep the snap tape in exact place. Remove the pins as you sew the first side, then reattach them to sew the second side (and unpin as you go). This snap tape we used had a tendency to slide around and this kept the placement correct.

Step 5: Wear and be the envy of all your friends while out on the trails!

Adapting an SNS-XADV backcountry ski boot for mountaineering

Background

The more mountains I climb in Alaska the more I realize that there is often a gray area between the end of the approach and the beginning of the climb. So many objectives lie five to ten or twenty plus miles away from the highway and are not always accessible by snow-machine or ski plane. Besides, the approach is part of the experience! However, the wrong gear can often make that experience a nightmare.

Thus, my attempts to meld mountaineering and Nordic back-country skiing continue. Adding comfort, cutting weight, and improving the entire experience from approach to summit is what I'm most passionate about. Why should we be forced to shuffle along in heavy, cumbersome AT skis and skins on nominally flat terrain in boots that don't even allow you to flex your toes? If you're like me, you've thought "there's got to be a better way."

Climbers, meet the Salomon XADV-6 boot. Though not designed for climbing or mountaineering, it is used by back-country skiers who cover long distances on Nordic skis.  You can skate ski, classic ski, or boot pack with these bad boys. They are also tantalizingly comfortable, especially compared to an alpine touring boot. However, the flexible toe, which is the key feature that makes this boot so satisfying to ski in, makes for substandard mountaineering performance. Not to worry!

The Prototype

Modern mountaineering boots are equipped with a built-in steel shank, which extends the length of the boot sole and allows for front-pointing without flex on steep terrain. Take a quick look at the sole of the XADV-6 boot and tell me when you see...

...a relief cut into the sole accommodates the SNS-XA binding, which is ultimately used for power transfer through the heel when turning. Why not reinforce the boot with a removable shank? This would allow for optimal touring performance while giving the climber an option for better climb-ability when the going gets steep. Ta da!

With the help of my favorite machinist, Eric Johansen (sorry Tom Tobin), I came up with the above design. They are made of 6061 aluminum and slip nicely into the reliefs on the bottom of the XADV-6 boots. A drilled slot in the front engages with the binding pin to keep it from slipping forward or backward.

Thankfully, the designers of the XADV-6 boot included a crampon ledge in the back of the boot. When the shank is installed under the crampon and the heel throw is locked down, the whole boot becomes rigid and the crampon is locked on. It really feels like you're wearing a mountaineering boot!

Since these boots do not accept a wire bale in the front, you're limited to crampons with a rubber toe strap. The Petzl Vasak fits nicely.

Results

Now for the fun part! I took the setup out onto the Augustana glacier (eastern Alaska range) for a 20-mile ski loop with the Alaska Alpine Club (a fine organization, if I do say so myself). The skis are Madshus Glittertinds with SNS-XA manual bindings and kicker skins. (Photo credit Kristen Hendricks)

Our first camp was made below Halcyon peak--just a hill dwarfed by the massive Hayes peaks to the north. After a quick run up (no, not ALL the way to the TOP) on Halcyon, it was clear that these boots climbed quite well. There were never any issues with the crampon coming undone, or even loose. French technique and front-pointing were pretty darn good, with just a tiny bit of slop in the boot. Kicking steps was great.

It is worth noting that, though the boots climbed better than I had expected, the ski setup itself was all wrong for the trip. First off, kicker skins were not enough to keep me moving in the skin track--I kept slipping back. These skis are also not much for downhill shredding. However, when we finally hit the creek, it was ALL worth it--the poling was effortless and the skating was divine.

Modifying the La Sportiva Spantik mountaineering boot for Tech Binding Compatibility

Background

There has been a lot of discussion in the ski mountaineering community regarding tech (Dynafit) compatibility for climbing boots. Such functionality would be of high value in Alaska, where long ski approaches are common. Typical ski setups for this application currently include Silvretta bindings, which work quite well, but are rather heavy and are now obsolete. Alternatively, some folks have modified alpine touring (AT) boots to improve their climb-ability (i.e. ankle mobility), but these often fall short of modern mountaineering boots.

Having exhausted many options and doing an extensive amount of research on the web, I took it upon myself to attempt modifications to my La Sportiva Spantiks. My intent is to establish a few procedures and guidelines for these modifications and report on the performance of my own prototype. First, let me show what I've done and how I've done it.