I love my Mustah Ata (right) set up. It works pretty well on both piste and off piste, and is lighter than many other ski mountaineering set ups. Moreover, my TLT5 boots work quite well for ice climbing.
However, if there is rolling terrain on the approach to your peak or ice climb (say skiing into the Cilley-Barber route on Katahdin), they feel quite heavy, and your full length skins are certainly overkill. Or, if you happen to want to dabble in some rando races, that setup is not going to be competitive. Or, if you top out on the North Face of Tour Ronde in Chamonix, you wouldn't want to carry the Mustaha Ata skis up the route, just so you could ski the Vallée Blanche when you are done.
Thanks to Brian at High Peaks Cyclery I am spending the next few days skiing possible solutions. Both the Voile (middle ski) and the Dynafit PDG (left) are lighter than the Mustah Ata skis, the PDG setup being quite a bit lighter. So, maybe you do carry the PDG skis up the Tour Ronde or closer to home, the Trap Dike so you can enjoy a classic ski out. The Voile skis are fatter and will do better in powder or a day on the piste. However, the Voile skis have fish scales, and so the rolling terrain does not require the full skin, you keep those in your pack until after you reach Marcy Dam, and are heading for the summit. I am told you will also be thankful for those fish scales on the long stretches of rolling terrain on the Grand Traverse race from Crested Butte to Aspen.
I will let you know how my various test drives go.
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