Morning all,

I need the hive's thought on ski/snowboard carriers. To be honest I haven't used a carrier since the late 90's early 00's when I had a rooftop one on my WJ (Grand Cherokee) and my XJ (Cherkokee). Since then we've always been lazy and just put them in the vehicle. It was easy with no kids, and still pretty easy the last decade with younger kids, but they are growing and have their own gear now and it's getting crowded. I think it's time we found some sort of external carrier.

I realize a rooftop box would probably offer the most utility, but we don't go often enough in a single season and I don't want to be mounting and unmounting it when we do.

So I'm leaning towards something that mounts to the rear of the vehicle for easier access. But then there's the hatch to consider.

My wife was looking online and the first thing she found was a spare tire mounted unit as opposed to a tow hitch mounted unit. My initial though is I'd prefer something that attaches to the hitch though maybe that's not necessary.

But I've literally never used this style carrier in my life and I don't really have a good starting point to select a good one.

Anyone here have some experience they'd like to share with the rack/carrier newbie?

Thanks in advance.

 

The irony with kids is that you go thru a huge arch of gear. The older they get the more you bring until they suddenly drive themselves and it all disappears. I won't get into the emotional roller coaster of pro's & cons. The point is, if you have "younger kids" you are going to increase the # of skis & snowboards as well as their size. If it was just you and the spouse, I would advocate something that attaches to the tire. Many (me!) will tell you not to put a lot of weight on the spare, but there's a huge difference between two pairs of ski's and a 5 gallon fuel can in terms of weight. However, as I learned a long time ago backpacking: there's a wide difference between weight and bulk. You're going to be increasing the "bulk". Get something that goes on the hitch that you can grow into would by my 2 cents. You can easily strap a pair/board on either side of the tire, but as the numbers increase - I'd vote to go with something on the hitch.

Good luck and post pics of what you come up with!

 

Yes weight was my primary concern. I figure that I have a tow hitch that carries one of the wife's motorcycles from time to time, so it seems dumb not to use THAT strong a mount for the skis.

My kids are 11 and 8 now. Both have seasonal ski rentals, and the older one just got her first snowboard. So we're at a point where we want to take 3 sets of skis and 2 snowboards with us each trip.

 

When there are only 4 of us going, I just put the inside pass through down and I bag the skis and the snowboards so that i don't get gunk in the Defender. The solution works well for us. I'm able to transport 2 sets of Ski and 2 snowboards (plus boots, helmets, etc) without carrying them on the outside.

 

Sure, that's what we did last 2 seasons with 3 sets of skis and 1 board (and everything else for a long weekend or short week). But it's getting tight.

But now with their gear getting bigger and with the addition of another board and set of boots (11 y/o is both skiing and boarding now), I think it's the straw that broke the camel's back it's probably time for a carrier.

 

We live in Breck so have some experience transporting skis. We recently purchased a D90 but have used & intend to continue to use our Lexus GX for trips to the slopes - went this morning & enjoyed 5-6" of fresh snow! The GX would be very similar to the 110 in size.

We really do not like carrying our skis outside due to all of the road gunk. Even carrying the skis from parking lot to the lift is a pain if your skis are covered in road grim - then you are covered in road grim. So we just throw the skis in the back on top of some old blankets. I know on our D90 the center seat in the rear folds down independently of the exterior rear seats. I'm assuming the D110 is the same. I'd say put the skis in some ski bags & head down the road. You could still haul 4 comfortably and essentially have the entiretrunk space of the D110 for gear.

 

Do you think you could fit a coupe of boards in your 90 if you needed to? Maybe diagonally with the rear seats down?

 

Easily. I'd turn them on end and slide through that middle section of the rear seat. Maybe the bindings would be in the way and you'd need to lower at least one of the rear, side seats for the binding.

I haven't taken the Defender skiing yet, but before I bought I made sure my skis would fit inside. The tips have to sit on armrest, but they fit. So I'm certain a board would fit.

 

I measured my D90 before I got it so I could throw the skis inside. I run rather long freestyle skis. Well they fit in the measurements, but in actual practice, they would need to float in the air diagonally as other stuff interfere with them lying flat on the folded down seats. They do fit up the center and I put a small shipping blanket to protect the seats . The problem is then snow drips onto the center console. I have a wonderful rear carrier I made that would have accommodated my skis, boards and such. Here, it would be totally coated in road grime and pulverized raccoon poop (they seem to like to do their business on the road, go figure). I ended up using the Thule crossbar mounts and aero bars. To which I mounted the Yakima Fat Cat 4, they have a Fat Cat 6, but that isn't happening anymore, they can drive themselves (we are only 20 minutes from the lift). I ended up making different feet adaptors for the crossbar feet to lower it and custom mounting blocks for the Yakima, again to lower it. I have a low garage. No real super solution, the D90 is kind of tall, so I have a folding stool to do two things, get me a bit of a step up to put them back up there and someplace to sit while putting on boots. Kind of miss the tailgate from the Range Rover. They ruined the latest version RR with the stubby grocery accessible tailgate for backcountry shoppers.

 

I guess there's no reason for me to at least consider crossbars and a roof rack, at least for the skis. Maybe put the boards in a bag through the pass-through still.

I will say on the road grime thing that would be really hit or miss around here. There are only a limited number of days to worry about that each winter. But yeah it would definitely happen sometimes.