What ski touring is
Ski touring is walking uphill on skis, then skiing down. That’s the whole thing. Skins on the bottom of your skis grip the snow so you don’t slide backward. A free heel lets you stride like you’re walking. At the top you pull the skins, lock your heel and make turns.
You’ll hear it called a lot of names. Alpine touring, AT, skinning, uphill skiing, earning your turns. Backcountry skiing is touring outside ski area boundaries. Same motion, different terrain, and that difference matters more than the gear.
The usual advice: buy a second setup
Ask at most shops how to get started and you’ll walk out with a list. Touring skis. Tech bindings. Touring boots with pin inserts. Skins. Then a safety kit, a course and a partner who knows more than you do.
Every item on that list makes sense. Stacked together, it’s roughly $1,750 to $2,900 in new gear before the safety kit, and it’s a second version of everything you already own. No wonder so many skiers have been saying “next year” about touring for four seasons running. It isn’t fear holding them back. It’s cost, and nobody mentioning there’s a simpler way in. Here’s what it really costs to start ski touring.
The simpler answer: your bindings, uphill
A touring adapter sits between your boot and your binding. Your binding stays on the ski, untouched. The adapter clicks into it the way your boot does, and your boot rides on a hinge inside the adapter so your heel lifts with every step.
How a Daymaker lap goes:
- Stick skins on your skis.
- Clip Daymakers onto your boots and click them into your bindings.
- Step in and walk uphill. Flip up the heel risers with your pole when it gets steep.
- At the top, step out, stash the adapters in your pack and pull your skins.
- Click into your bindings and ski down like any other run.
Nothing gets drilled or remounted. One pair moves between every ski you own. On the way down you’re on the same DIN-certified binding you trust at the resort, with its full release and elastic travel. That’s why you can ski tour with alpine bindings and give up nothing on the descent.
The stride matters too. Our 4-Bar Tech linkage rotates under the ball of your foot instead of at your toes, the same way you’d climb a flight of stairs. It’s why walking in a stiff downhill boot feels natural instead of clunky.
Who skis on Daymakers
New Uphill Skiers
Freeriders
| Compare Daymakers | Classic | Tekdapters |
|---|---|---|
| Your boots | Regular downhill boots (ISO 5355) or GripWalk. No inserts needed | Boots with tech toe inserts |
| Your bindings | Any downhill binding | Any downhill binding |
| Boot sole length | 274 to 345 mm | 274 to 345 mm255 to 345 mm |
| Heel risers | Flat (-3°), 7° and 12.5° | Pitch Switch, 3 positions, flat at -2° |
| Price | $319.99 | $299.99 |
| Best For | First-timers and anyone touring in their resort boots | Lighter strides, longer days, freeriders in hybrid boots |
What ski touring is
Boots are the most common question, and whether you need touring boots answers it.
Weighing adapters against a dedicated setup is its own decision, laid out in touring adapters vs tech bindings. Freeriders looking at CAST should read Daymaker vs CAST.
Where to go: start in the frontcountry
Most of touring’s checklist exists because of avalanches. Fair enough. A lot of uphill skiing has nothing to do with avalanche terrain, though.
The groomer at your local hill at six in the morning, before the lifts turn. A lap after closing. Low-angle terrain with nothing steep above it. We call that the frontcountry, and it’s where everybody starts. One lap before work counts. So does a thousand feet and a beer.
More than 140 ski areas in North America let you skin their runs, plenty of them for free. Policies, hours and pass requirements for each one are on the Frontcountry Map. Find the closest one, check its rules and go.
When the terrain can slide, the rules get serious. Take an avalanche course, carry a transceiver, shovel and probe, and go with people who know the area. Daymakers work just as well out there. The order is what matters: frontcountry first, backcountry when you’re ready for the next step.
Your first-lap gear list
- Your downhill skis, boots and bindings
- Daymaker adapters, Classic or Tekdapters
- Climbing skins cut to your skis. We carry Big Sky Mohair Mix skins, 10% off with an adapter
- Your ski poles
- A 20 to 32 liter pack for the adapters, a layer and water
- An uphill pass if your resort requires one, plus a headlamp for dark laps
Heading into avalanche terrain: Add a transceiver, shovel, probe, a course and partners
Prices for every item, both paths, are in how much it costs to start ski touring.
Why we built Daymakers
Giray Dadali grew up skiing in Bristol Valley, New York, which nobody has ever confused with big mountain terrain. He went on to ski professionally and became a mechanical engineer. Chris Trunek is an industrial designer from Cleveland who skis and rides bikes. Both have toured the Utah backcountry since 2008 on just about every system ever made.
The one that got the most people uphill was the Alpine Trekker, a plastic frame you clicked into your bindings. It was heavy, it skinned like a shopping cart and people called it the daywrecker. It also asked nothing of you. No new boots, no new skis. You took what was in the garage and went.
After one too many days wrecked by gear that didn’t hold up, they started over in a Salt Lake City garage. They mapped the linkage with LEGOs, borrowed ideas from mountain bike suspension and hacked the first prototypes out by hand. A few thousand vertical feet later, the idea was proven. It had to be durable, light, easy to use and easy to move between skis. Above all it had to make your day, so that’s what they named it.
Touring Adapters
Common questions
Find answers to common questions below.
Yes. Daymaker adapters click into any downhill binding, including Look, Marker, Salomon, Tyrolia, Atomic and Rossignol. Your binding stays on the ski and you ski down at your own DIN. Full answer.
Not with Daymaker Classic, which works with regular downhill boots and GripWalk soles. Tekdapters need boots with tech toe inserts. More on boots.
A new dedicated touring setup runs about $1,750 to $2,900 before safety gear. Daymaker Adapters and skins for the skis you own come to about $470 to $520. Full breakdown.
Tech bindings are lighter on long climbs. Adapters win on price, on keeping your own binding for the descent and on moving between skis. View Side by side.
Both put you on an alpine binding for the ski down. CAST needs Look Pivot bindings, a plate mounted to the ski and tech-insert boots. Daymaker works with the binding you already own. Daymaker vs CAST.
At ski areas that allow uphill travel on their runs. More than 140 in North America do, and the Frontcountry Map lists their policies.
Not to skin up groomers at a resort that allows uphill. For any terrain that can slide, yes, and take it before you go.
Yes. Nothing mounts to the ski, so the same pair works on every ski you own, as long as your boot sole length is in range.
