Backcountry Ski Length Calculator

A touring ski is bought for two sports: the climb and the descent. This calculator starts from your resort size on the published chart and shortens it for the skin track — and it sizes telemark skis too, with the extra trim the free-heel turn asks for.

Backcountry & Touring Ski Length Calculator

Touring sizing starts from the resort figure — your height and weight on the published chart — then shortens it: the ski has to climb, kick-turn and fit through trees as well as descend. A telemark section is below the calculator; the numbers include the telemark adjustment when you select it. Resort-only skiers want the main calculator.

1 Your height and weight

2 How you ski the backcountry

Result

Recommended touring length—
——
Good range to shop—
Typical touring waist—
How this was sized—

Add your pack honestly. Touring weight includes the pack, water and safety kit you actually climb with — if that is 8 kg over your bathroom weight, run the calculator at the loaded figure; the ski carries all of it.

How it's calculated

The base is the published adult chart read exactly as the homepage calculator reads it (your height in evo's grid, ability column, the ±2/±4 cm weight adjustment). Then the backcountry adjustments: touring −3 cm, telemark −5 cm. The direction is standard practice — touring skis are chosen a touch shorter than the same skier's resort ski, because the descent is only half the day and the shorter ski kick-turns easier, fits tighter trees and weighs less on the shoulder — and telemark skiers go a step further still.

The waist band shown (88–105 mm) is the published touring category range: narrower than freeride because every gram climbs with you, wider than a carving ski because the snow out there is not groomed. Skiers whose tours are mostly lift-served sidecountry should take the range's top; ski mountaineers counting grams, the bottom.

Touring sizing: the descent is half the day

Every gram and every centimetre of a touring ski is carried uphill by its owner. That single fact bends the sizing: where a resort skier at the top of a range takes the longer ski for stability, a tourer takes the shorter one for the kick turns at the col and the hop turns in the couloir — and notices the missing stability for perhaps ten minutes of the day. The calculator's −3 cm is the industry-typical expression of that trade.

The width story rhymes: freeride width (110 mm+) floats beautifully and climbs miserably, so touring waists settle at 88–105 mm, with the day's snow forecast moving you inside the band more than any rule does.

Telemark sizing

Telemark sizing starts where alpine touring sizing starts — your height and weight on the chart — and trims a little further (−5 cm in the calculator). The free-heel turn loads the ski differently: the trailing ski is steered by a flexed boot rather than a locked heel, and telemark is disproportionately skied in the terrain that rewards a shorter ski — trees, bumps, and the rolling descents of low-angle touring. Plenty of telemark skiers ignore the trim and ski their alpine length; none of them ski longer than it. If in doubt, the calculator's range contains both answers, and your terrain should pick.

Worked example

A 178 cm, 80 kg advanced skier sizes at 181 cm for the resort on all-mountain skis. The backcountry tool starts from the same chart figure, then takes 3 cm off for the touring version — 178 cm — and 5 cm off for telemark. The downhill performance given up is small; the kick turns, tight trees and tired-leg descents gained are not. Weight matters twice out there: a shorter ski is also a lighter ski on the climb.

One quiver or two

If one ski must do resort and backcountry both, size it by this page and mount it with a hybrid binding: the 3 cm you surrender at the resort is invisible, and the 3 cm you save on a 1,200-metre climb is not. The reverse compromise — a resort ski taken touring — is the one that teaches skiers why the dedicated answer exists.

Related calculators

Resort days covered too: the main ski length calculator sizes alpine skis before the touring adjustment comes off.

Frequently asked questions

How much shorter should touring skis be than resort skis?

Usually a few centimetres — this calculator takes 3 cm off the resort figure, and 5 cm for telemark. The descent gives up very little; the gains are on the skin track (kick turns, switchbacks), in tight trees, and in carried weight. Skiers whose 'backcountry' is mostly lift-accessed sidecountry often keep their full resort length, and the range's top end covers them.

How are telemark skis sized?

Telemark skiers size off the same chart, then shorten a touch more than tourers (the calculator uses −5 cm): the free-heel turn puts different loads through the ski, the skiing is often in tighter terrain, and tele skiers have historically traded a little stability for manoeuvrability. Within that, your height, weight and ability work exactly as they do for alpine sizing.

What waist width for touring skis?

The touring band runs 88-105 mm underfoot: wide enough to float in the ungroomed, narrow enough to climb and to hold an edge on a firm traverse. Genuinely deep-snow touring pushes toward the top of it; spring ski mountaineering, where the day is mostly up and the snow mostly firm, toward the bottom.

Does pack weight change my touring ski size?

The resort figure also sizes the ski's workload — but touring adds a pack. Run the calculator with your loaded weight (body + typical pack) if your pack is heavy; the difference can move you a full weight tier. Length itself still keys off the chart: climbing doesn't change your height.

Sources

Last verified: 27 October 2026

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