Backcountry Skiing Blisters and Touring Foot Care
Backcountry touring · Skin is gear

Five thousand feet of skin track. Your heels felt every one.

Touring is a long walk uphill in a stiff boot, then a cold ride down with sweat freezing in the liners. Heels blister, feet soak, hands crack, and the sun off the snow burns you twice. Here is the touring kit, from the trailhead to the hut.

Pack the touring pack Find your way in
Skin is gear
Why the uphill blisters

A downhill boot, walking uphill.

Every stride on the skin track lifts the heel inside a boot built to hold it still. Hours of that, with feet sweating into the liner, and the skin on the back of the heel shears and lifts. At the top the sweat goes cold, and the feet ride down wet. The sun bounces off the snow onto the face and lips from below, and the hands crack in the wind at every transition.

The fix starts before the trailhead. Dry feet the night before. Tape the heels before the first step, not at the first hot spot. Cover the face and lips. Close what opened at the hut. The Cascades start an hour from our door. The crew tours them all winter.

A tour, hour by hour

From the trailhead to the hut.

Where touring skin goes wrong over a long day, and what goes on at each stop.

The night before · 9 PMDry feet start dry.

Performance on the soles, heels and between the toes. Liners stay drier, heels stay firmer.

Performance
Trailhead · 6 AMTape the heels now.

Tape the backs of the heels before the first step. Repair on the face, zinc on the lips for the sun off the snow.

Rhinos' Own Adhesive tapeRepairReef Safe SPF 15 Zinc Lip Balm – Gentle Vanilla Scent
The skin track · 9 AMThe hot spot.

Stop at the first rub. Dry the heel, tape again. Split stick on anything already open.

SplitRhinos' Own Adhesive tape
Transition · 11 AMCold, wet hands.

Repair on cracked knuckles before the gloves go back on. Pocket Water for the next climb.

RepairPocket Water
The hut · 5 PMClose it up.

Split+ whipped balm on heel blisters and cracked fingers. Massage Cream on the calves and quads.

Split+Massage Cream
Find your way in

Tell us what happens. We'll point.

No score and no wrong answers. Pick what sounds like you, and every answer opens another door: a fix, a page, a longer read.

The pack

What's in the touring pack.

Ounces count. Travel sizes for the pack, full sizes at the hut.

Powder Day
All of it, one boxPowder Day

The cold-weather set in one box. Feet, hands, legs, lips.

The whole routinePowder Day$102.95$85.00
9 items · pick a size, hit Add
Feet, the night beforePerformance$8.95
Heels, before the first stepRhinos' Own Adhesive tape$3.95
Hot spots that openedSplit$4.95
Whipped balm, at the hutSplit+$8.95
Face and knucklesRepair$8.95
Lips, sun off the snowReef Safe SPF 15 Zinc Lip Balm – Gentle Vanilla Scent$4.95
Calves and quadsMassage Cream$8.95
Chest pocket on the climbPocket Water$12.95
Windburn at the hutHydrate$8.95
The crew

The people who test this on the skin track.

Ski mountaineers, hut trippers, dawn-patrol tourers. They tell us what blistered.

Tour a lot, use Rhino, want in? Tap to apply.

Seen in the backcountry

Show us the skin track.

The transition, the line, the taped heels. This wall is yours.

Backcountry skier touring the Wasatch mountains — Rhino skin care for winter sports.@rhinoskinsolutionsSkier descending a steep snow chute — Rhino skin care for winter athletes.@rhinoskinsolutionsSkier carving through fresh snow — Rhino skin care protects hands in cold, dry conditions.@rhinoskinsolutionsSnowboarder in fresh snow — Rhino skin care for winter sports.@rhinoskinsolutionsA woman wearing winter gear, including a pink and purple jacket and a beanie, sprays Rhino Dry onto her arm. She is sitting at the back of a vehicle with skiing equipment beside her, including skis and poles. The spray creates a fine mist over her arm, showcasing its use as a non-aluminum anti-perspirant designed for active individuals, particularly in cold, outdoor settings like skiing. The scene captures the product's practicality and effectiveness for maintaining dry hands and feet during winter sports.@rhinoskinsolutionsSix white Rhino ski and snowboard care bottles and sprays are lined up in the snow, with a skier carving through powder in the background on a mountain slope.@rhinoskinsolutionsBackcountry skier touring uphill — Rhino skin care for winter sports.@rhinoskinsolutionsSkier in deep powder — Rhino skin care for winter sports.@rhinoskinsolutionsRhino Powder Day winter bundle for skiers@rhinoskinsolutionsTag us
#SkinIsGear

Post it, tag @rhinoskinsolutions and #SkinIsGear. We pull the best ones onto this wall every week.

Field reports

From the comments.

Skier reviews land here as they come in.
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Made in
Redmond
Oregon

We make everything in our own facility in Redmond, Oregon, on 100% on-site solar, an hour from the Cascade backcountry.

Made in Redmond

Where it comes from.

How Rhino started
Made in Redmond
Want to tour with us?

Join the Rhino crew.

Tourers, ski mountaineers, guides. If you are putting in the vert, apply.

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Touring kitPack the touring pack

The Rhino Deep Dive

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What is in each bottle, what it does, and when to reach for it. Ingredient by ingredient, sport by sport, in one book you can flip through.

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