The Outdoor Retailer Show for Winter 12 began on Wednesday, Jan. 18th. Thankfully Old man Winter chose to return to the mountains that day, but not enough to change conditions much for the on-snow demo. Solitude did an admirable job of making snow, but it was hard and scrappy. Winter’s late return delivered an inch of fresh, allowing snow to build up in patches so you could strategically alternate softer turns with scratchy ones.

In the course of the day I managed to get out on the new Salomon Guardian sidecountry binding, Rottefella’s new NTN Freedom binding, G3’s new Enzo and BD’s O1 with a six-hole mounting plate. Saw that 22 Designs had a non-touring version of the Axl, called The Vice and beheld the new Duke from Marker with an 88mm wide chassis for more power.

Plus there were a few skis enjoyed on the slopes of Solitude resort while running in to old friends in the demo tent city and I did a quick skin glide comparison between a pair of green skins and BD’s new line of Ascension skins with a completely new plush and glue. Within two steps the difference was clear, BD’s new line of Ascension skins glide far better than the brand from Mars.

And the surprise news of the show (so far) is that Height of Land Publications has sold Telemark Skier Magazine to the editor for the publication, Josh Madsen. Josh has some exciting ideas on how to simultaneously increase the frequency and relevance of the mag.

Further details on these products and more in the coming days and weeks.