Gear Review: La Sportiva Mulaz Helmet
Choosing a ski helmet for ski mountaineering presents an interesting challenge. On the one hand, you can go with your standard ski helmet. This choice leaves quite a bit to be desired.
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Reviews – Gear & Other
Fritschi Introduces the Vipec Evo and Tecton AT Bindings
There’s no doubt that the ski industry is making improvements for the “quiver-of-one” skier – those who want just one set up for both touring and skiing at the resort. The Marker Kingpin has been at the pinnacle of this blend for quite some time. Though the Kingpin skis exceptionally well, its transition system with the lever under the foot leaves some things to be desired. I personally have been waiting for a better binding to come along that fits into this “quiver-of-one” niche. Perhaps the Tecton will be the ultimate “quiver-of-one” binding.
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Placemark Designs
If you’re into backcountry skiing, mountain biking, and all the other outdoor sports that we’re into, chances are you love staring at maps just as much as we do. Old maps, new maps, topo maps, road maps- I love them all and can stare at them for hours. How can I connect these two trails? That’s where Placemark Designs comes in.
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Review: Off-Piste Ski Atlas Crested Butte, CO
If you are looking for an in-depth guidebook, this isn’t it. While there are directions to the trailhead, and a general discussion of skintrack locations, that’s it. No hand-holding here. The atlas contains only the most relevant information, such as aspect and location, along with aerial photos of the zone.
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Gear Review: Intuition Liners
Both Frank and I are firm believers that boots are among the most important part of our backcountry skiing kit. We spend countless hours in our AT boots each season and need them to be both comfortable and lightweight for our ascents as well as stiff enough for dependable performance on steep descents. My feet don’t typically fit the normal mold of a stock liner, especially for a boot that I wear more than any other footwear that I own and sweat in incessantly. I’ve relied on Intuition Liners< for several years, over several models of boots to help improve both the comfort and performance of the AT boots I use in the backcountry.
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Dumb Things Done Part 3 of 3
“Dumb things” is probably a little bit of a strong statement for what I hope these blog posts will be. Perhaps “Avalanche mistakes I’ve made and the lessons I’ve learned from them” would have been a more appropriate title, but missing the eye-catching alliterative aspects of this one. Part 1 can be found here, and part 2 is here. It is my hope that these posts will at the very least offer something to the reader to learn from, since near misses are less talked about…
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2016 Holiday Gift Guide for Backcountry Skiers
If you’re looking for gift ideas for backcountry skiers, then you’ve come to the right place. Whether you’re looking for gift ideas for yourself or for someone else, you’ll find a wide range of selection below. Furthermore, all of the products we recommend as gifts are things that we use regularly, and that we love – they’ve passed our harsh tests. So check out the 20 gift ideas in our Holiday Gift Guide for Backcountry Skiers and you’ll likely find something for you or those that you love.
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Gear Review: Black Diamond Helio 116 Skis
Black Diamond hit the money on the Helio 116’s. They are the perfect blend of a lightweight ski that still performs well on the descent in a variety of conditions. Even with this fatter width, the Black Diamond Helio 116 skis are not just a mid-winter powder ski. The increased width improves the dampening and stability of the ski, allowing it to perform exceptionally well in variable spring conditions too. If you’re looking for a one-ski quiver for your backcountry setup, the Black Diamond Helio 116 should be at the top of your list!
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Product Review: WIN Detergent
Recently, we were asked if we wanted to review WIN detergent. As boring as that sounds, WIN claims to be
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