HitchSki

I purchased this last week used it once on a weekend trip to Vermont. It was mounted on a Yakima Full Swing Bike Rack with the zip strips. It was an easy install, able to load two snowboards (bottom to bottom) on each side (4 total capacity). Ski's were loaded side by side for total of 4 ski (2 pairs) on each side (4 pair total load capacity). I think the advertised 6 ski pair load capacity is a stretch (maybe with kids skis). Realistically who is traveling with 6 people in a vehicle with luggage / ski gear. It shook a little bit but nothing out of the ordinary. I think some reviewers worry more than others and experience may be different if installed on a non-Yakima rack. Overall a great accessory if you already have a Yakima bike rack.
Collected on Yakima.com

The short answer on this rack is that there is only 15 inches between the lower and upper rails that hold the skis, which is no where near enough space to have the skis sit with both bindings between the rails. As a result, you need to position the skis so that the toe binding is above the top rail, and that's (a) hard to do, while trying to load several pairs of skis at the same time; and (b) not even always do-able, and for us, just impossible!!! Because of how thick our skis are between the bindings (or, "under-boot", if you like), we were NOT ABLE TO CLOSE THE UPPER RAIL (the one with the lock), even with the screws fully extended... Also, the thumb-screws that come w/ the rack, for the lower rail, are only 4 inches long, and they weren't long enough for us to spread those rails out wide enough to get our skis in when paired up... We had to put one ski in at a time, else, because of the shaped tails, the didn't fit between the inner and outer rubber holders... In the end, I "pimped out" the rack by (a) replacing the 4" screws w/ 5" screws (required cutting the factory screws off w/ a hack saw); and (b) welding on 4 vertical extensions to the "legs" of the brackets, so that there is now 24 inches between the rails... [I also painted it the new extensions with like 6 coats of rust-proof spray paint, so it actually looks pretty darn good... ] WITH these two modifications, the rack actually works GREAT! BUT, if you aren't ready to tackle a couple of significant mods, don't count on this rack carrying more than 3 - 4 pairs of skis. AND, depending on how thick your skis are under-boot, they may not carry ANY...
Collected on Yakima.com

Not sure why other users are having so much issues with this solution. I've used this hitchski with a Yakima Kingpin 4-bike Rack Hitch for the last 10 years. It's a great solution and a great value. Maybe the other reviewers didn't have the correct/recommended bike hitch as a base for this hitchski. Let me address some of the issues from the other reviews. 1. "Compared to the simplicity and stability of a roof rack". Yes, roof rack is a bit more stable (not much) but you have to deal with the wind noise and reaching up the door jam to mount and dismount especially if you have a SUV. 2. Design of the lower arms will not allow skis base-to-base mount (gap too narrow). To load the skis or snowboard, you have to slide in the base-to-base one at a time. Once loaded, you still have to turn the lower arm knobs to tighten. 3. "easy to steal the whole thing, skis and all". I am not sure how you can take the whole thing if you use the bike rack lock to lock the hitchski and use the hitchski upper arm locks to lock the skis/snowboards. 4. "Even at the widest setting on the top rails, I could not get it closed (over the thinnest part" - There are 2 upper arm adjustments. One for the hinge side (narrow and wide) and one for the latch side (turning the latch). I have no issues locking down the thickest part of the skis (between the bindings). I can mount 6 skis or 4 snowboards and still have to turn the adjustments to tighten. Great solution especially if you want to free up your top rack for other attachments like a cargo box for your winter vacation. I really like the easy-accessibility without having to climb up to the top rack. The only drawback is having to remove the long skis before you can tilt the bike hitch to open the rear car hatch door.
Collected on Yakima.com