Wandering on Hoks – A World of Tracks Written on Snow.

One of my favorite things about Hoks is how they disappear when I take them out in the snow. Disappear? Let me explain. The Hoks are easy to ski on, so do not require a lot of attention during a good winter wander. Many types of skiing demand almost constant attention. Ski technique can require […]

Boulder Pass Backcountry Hok and Ski Festival

Saturday, February 15th On Boulder Deer Creek Pass near Curlew, NE WA. We have recently had to cancel the Sitzmark Ski Festival do to lack of snow. We had been talking to the Forest Service about doing a Backcountry Ski Day/Festival on Boulder Pass prior to this and we now have the date set.  The 15th […]

Late season in the Kettle Range

    This time of year things start to slow down a bit at Altai Skis and I can sneak away for more skiing …. testing, I mean. This last week has seen an abundance of new snow and I got out for some skiing on Tuesday (4/17) and again on Thursday (4/19) to confirm […]

A January Tour – Nils and family skiing in the Kettle Range.

In mid January, my daughter and her husband to be came up for the Hoks Festival at Sitzmark, and on a free day after the festival they joined Lisa and I for a day of touring in the Kettle Range. The weather was cool and snowy the whole day, and the snow finally had a […]

Altai Skis Hoks Festival at Sitzmark

2018 Altai Ski Festival January 20th 2018 is the 3rd annual Altai Skis Hoks and ski festival at Sitzmark Ski Area in NE Washington, Okanogan Highlands.   Nils’ Map of the Highlands Area with some skier points of interest   The Okanogan Highlands are a high mountainous area in the far north central  part of […]

About This Site

Skishoeing.com is the companion site to our Altai Skis.com site. We thought it would be good to have a informational site dedicated to using skishoes in the many ways people do. You will find some posts on field work being done on Hoks, kids using them (the Hokstars!), schools, and some user posts as well. We […]

Tiaks (single poles) Part 1

Tiak [tīăk] means stick in the local languages in the Altai Mountains of North Central Asia. Tiak is also the name for the single pole used in all the traditional skiing in that region. Prior to 1900, the single pole was used by pretty much all skiers in the world!

Great Video from Ontario!

Andrew Morrisey and his friends really captured the backyard backcountry aspect of skishoes. They are having lots of fun close to home. A big thanks to these guys as this is a lot of time involved in making a video like this.