The Importance of Building an Aerobic Base for Ski Touring

The Importance of Building an Aerobic Base for Ski Touring - Coach Elliott

While most mountain athletes are cycling, trail running and hiking in the summer - they are actually laying the groundwork for their ski season. This aerobic base can be one of the most important components of your uphill fitness on snow. It determines how efficiently you can climb, how long you can sustain your effort and how quickly you recover from big days in the mountains.

Why Aerobic Fitness Matters

Ski touring is an endurance sport. The vast majority of time spent on a tour or skimo race is at low to moderate intensities (relative to your lactate threshold).The stronger and more efficient your aerobic system, the more power you can sustain at those submaximal efforts. This means:

• Climbing with less fatigue and keeping heart rate and breathing under control.

• Recovering faster between long days and descents.

Lactate threshold (LT) is the exercise intensity at which lactate begins to accumulate in the blood faster than your body can clear it.

• Below the threshold: Your body primarily uses aerobic metabolism. Minimal lactate is produced and it’s cleared more quickly, allowing you to sustain the effort for long periods.
  

• At or above the threshold: Your body begins relying more on anaerobic metabolism (using more carbohydrate for energy). Lactate and hydrogen ions build up, which leads to increased fatigue and a decrease in pace or effort. 

For endurance athletes, raising the lactate threshold means you can go faster or climb harder while staying primarily aerobic and improving overall efficiency.

Summer: The Engine-Building Phase

Summer is the ideal time to develop this aerobic foundation and increase your LT. Trail runs, hikes or even zone 2 endurance work on the bike are perfect tools to expand your aerobic engine. This is when you should prioritize volume and consistency over intensity. Focus on spending time around 65–75% of threshold heart rate.

Early Fall: Transition and Specific Preparation

As fall arrives, it’s the perfect time to refine your aerobic base and begin transitioning toward the specific demands of skiing. Think of this phase as “dryland” training - skiing movements and exercises, just without the snow. Start incorporating hiking with poles, weighted uphill work and strength training to engage the muscles and movement patterns you’ll rely on while touring. Keep your training primarily aerobic however it’s ok add short spurts of intensity to prepare your body for the harder efforts that come.

If you’re in Boulder, CO - check out the Boulder Skimo Club’s Vertical Kilometer Series in October. These group runs are a fantastic way to prepare for the uphill season. Depending on your fitness level, each effort lasts about 40 to 60 minutes and includes roughly 2,500 feet of steep vertical running and fast hiking (very similar to many ski touring climbs).

By October, or November at the latest, it’s also a great time to introduce strength training. Building strength now helps improve muscular endurance, power and durability for the downhills. It typically takes 8 to 12 weeks of consistent lifting to see meaningful adaptations so starting in the fall aligns perfectly with the heart of ski season in January. Focus on moderate weights with higher volume (think 3x12 or 4x10 with good rest in between) gradually increasing the load over time. Some of my favorite ski-specific lifts include back squats, weighted step-ups, reverse lunges, lateral lunges and split squats. Adding upper body and core work is also valuable - especially for the demands of carrying a heavy pack in the backcountry. 

Why It Pays Off in Winter

Even if you haven’t been very active this summer, now’s the time to start building consistency and getting in some aerobic work. Start slow and add in activities like uphill hiking, trail running, cycling or strength training. Whether you focus on one of these or mix them all in, a few consistent weeks of effort through the fall will pay off with noticeable gains in endurance, strength and overall enjoyment once ski season arrives. See you on the skintrack very soon!