C Dostie

Author's posts

How well do you fiddle?

  Every product has a feature or two that becomes the basis by which they are promoted, and sometimes derided. Dynafit has certainly come of age in the backcountry because of its light weight, efficient touring, and bombproof durability. If you’re serious about backcountry skiing, this is a brand of binding that deserves serious consideration. …

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Ski news from Summer OR 2014

The annual Summer Outdoor Retailer show was held last week in Salt Lake City. The focus is summer adventure, so lots of camping, running, climbing, and paddling stuff. Companies with winter product were there, but not with their winter specific stuff. Aside from outdoor accessories that are used both winter and summer there was noticeably …

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Sierra Club to add Ward Hut near Truckee

  The last time the USFS and the Sierra Club agreed to allow man’s footprint to become established far from the road in California was in 1993. At that time the 35-year-old Bradley Hut was being removed because Congress created the Granite Chief Wilderness area and the hut was inside the new boundary. Never mind …

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Climbing Skin buyers guide

  Now that the Sun is heading for the horizon, and with it the excitement of getting out in the snow, thoughts that tend toward getting ready for those coming days lead to gear. One of the three basic BC essentials are climbing skins. Experienced skinners know that good skins can make a difference in …

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Technique: Range set up for testing avy beacons

  How do I test avy beacons, more properly known as avalanche transceivers? What follows is my range set up, some notes and illustrations for newbies to understand basic terminology and concepts, and my general procedures. From an overall perspective, I’m just going through some predefined motions to test limits. In terms of the real …

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Technique: Dealing with bouncing avy beacons

Anyone who has practiced even a smidgen with their digital avalanche transceiver has noticed a bit of digital bounce. What is meant by this term is the error in the distance reading of an avalanche beacon. It shows up as the distance reading changing with each update, up and down around a number that, at …

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Is the NTN’s butt too big?

There is a fly in the ointment, brewing in the background with the New Telemark Norm system. It hasn’t gained much recognition because there aren’t that many people telemarking anymore, and of those who still are, not that many have switched to NTN. Depending on what size boot you have, and the binding you pair …

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