Category: Technique

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Some boots incompatible with Dynafit Beast

  Dynafit sent out a notice recently announcing a few models of boots that are known to be incompatible with their Beast binding, both the 16 and 14 DIN models. The Beast features a rotating toe unit and the heel unit requires a special after market Power Insert that covers the top of the boot …

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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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Technique: Getting the right volume boot

  One of the issues with getting the right size boot for skiing is knowing what a good fitting boot is supposed to feel like. It should be obvious, ideally it will feel snug like a tall, worn, leather hiking boot, only stiffer. Except ski boots never feel like that. Ever. Because of the inherent …

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Technique: Stealth glading & construction

  Let’s just call him Joe, for the sake of obscurity. Joseph Robertson if you must know his full name. Friends call him Joe Bob for short. He’s a trouble maker from way back. One time he managed to rally over a 100 snowboarders to the top of some peaklet in the Cascades and the …

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Technique: Meanderthal Mind Games

  More than anything, making and taking a low angle skin track is a mind game. The natural tendency is to go steeper, afterall that is the shortest line and the shortest line should be the fastest, right? Indeed it can be, for a short pitch or a single ascent with a small group. However …

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Awesome April is here

  This is the time of year when the wannabes fall away. Spring – when the snow alternates within hours from cold smoke to mashed potatoes. It’s the time of year when it’s icy in the morning, velvet corn in the afternoon. With the right conditions the weather warms for the day while the sun …

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