The American Mountain Guides Association and Outdoor Research recently teamed up to put together a video on heel lifters for skiing. Jeff Ward and Margaret Wheeler, two AMGA Instructor Team members, demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of heel lifters in the following video:
In review, the pros for no lifter are:
–Longer Stride
The cons for no lifter are:
–Strains the calf muscle on steep terrain.
–Can cause you to lean too far forward, which may lead to slipping backward.
Pros for the mid-lifter are:
–Eases calf stress as the terrain steepens.
Cons for the mid-lifter are:
–Shortens stride
–Lose some ski precision
Pros for the high-lifters are:
–Trail breaking in deeper snow is easier.
Cons for the high-lifters are:
–Harder to balance
–Short/too forward to stride
–Stressful on quads
It should also be noted that ski crampons don’t work well with high lifters. Most brands won’t bite well when your heel is highly raised. There are a few that remain fixed to the ski, but most don’t…
–Jason D. Martin