Would you screw kicker skins directly into the ski base?

[Woodserson]

What's Asnes' rationale for a plate? It seems like more drag and more resistance on where the skin meets the plate. I know these skins do fine on polar expeditions and I haven't read anything about the skin ripping from the plate, but the Fischer system seems a lot more robust.

The Fischer system skin wears relatively fast at the little choke point where it enters the slot. Full on friction right there, and not a lot of width in the skin. And by "wears fast" I mean, faster than a skin that has a protection there to take the blows. The cap on the X-Skin covers the skin and allows the attachment for the snake teeth to bite into the skis.

[trite]

Here's Mike Horn and Borge Ousland on their 2006 North Pole expedition with screwed in skins using the method @bgregoire suggested above. I can't tell if they're using any sort of plate, however.

Anyone have suggestions for best skin material for the conditions of my trip? Debating durability of nylon vs mohair/nylon mix vs glide of race mohair (or just bring all three?).

[bgregoire]

How much weight are you pulling?

If its decent, I’d go for a mohair and nylon mix just like the BD kickers. Ain’t nothing wrong with their skins, it’s the plate that sucks