Jan 08 2015

PSA: Mammut Airbag Service Bulletin jan2015

 

Check your connections if you have a Mammut or SnowPulse airbag pack.

Check your connections if you have a Mammut or SnowPulse airbag pack.

In January of 2014 Mammut issued a service bulletin for certain models of avalanche airbags — this is new information that may affect your airbag whether or not yours was included in the previous service bulletin. In certain rare cases Mammut discovered that the metal tube connecting the trigger mechanism to the airbag itself could come unscrewed. This is easily identifiable and should be a part of everyone’s routine equipment check every time they use their airbag. For the model-year 2014/2015 a manufacturing change prevents this from happening. Now, Mammut has produced a special custom-fitted clip that is specifically designed to prevent any of the pre-2014 model-year airbags from ever coming unscrewed. The clips are small and very lightweight, and are easy to snap into place yourself on all affected airbag models and are available free of charge at the link below.
Keep making backcountry turns

Jan 05 2015

First Look: Meidjo – merging Tech w/NTN

Meidjo updates -17jan15

“Ask and you shall receive,” goes the saying. We all know that isn’t always true, but it is often enough to keep the quip alive. In this case, it is true. For years tech savvy telemarkers have dreamed of a lightweight binding with Dynafit touring efficiency and a powerful NTN connection to the boot. With the delivery of Meidjo, the first design from French manufacturer the M-Equipment, the brainchild of Pierre Mouyade, that day has arrived.

Meidjo: < 1 lb./binding, free-pivot, NTN compatible, step-in, releasable, and powerful.

Meidjo: < 1 lb./binding, free-pivot, NTN compatible, step-in, releasable, and powerful.
Requires 1) Faith in the 2-pin tech toe and 2) an early adopter license.


Last spring a video of a prototype telemark binding began circulating on the internet showing a binding with a low-tech toe and a spring-loaded plate that attached to the 2nd heel of a Scarpa TX-Pro. Skepticism ran as high as optimism for two reasons. First, that it would make it to market as early as claimed, by late 2014, and two, that it would ski very well. The first production bindings were delivered in December 2014, fulfilling the delivery claim. After a mere two short tours I can verify, it skis as well as promised, both uphill and downhill.
Keep making backcountry turns

Dec 30 2014

Bruce Tremper on Deaf-to-Danger Newbies

We just don’t have the resources to combat all the extreme videos that are out there…all these movies that are encouraging people to go out there and just rage.
— Bruce Tremper

Bruce Tremper, Director of Utah's Avalanche Center

Bruce Tremper, Director of Utah’s Avalanche Center

Last January 2014, at the annual Outdoor Retailer Winter show Verde PR teamed up with Emerald Expo to convene a panel of industry leaders to talk about the Business of the Backcountry. The questions posed were important and I felt it was important that this seminar be shared beyond the floor of the trade show. The subject of today’s question has come up several times recently in conversations with guides and other Tahoe locals as everyone wonders why so few people seem to understand the danger posed in the backcountry. Therefore, it seemed appropriate to begin sharing the questions and answers posed last year with this one.

What are the main messages the industry needs to convey to the growing segment of backcountry enthusiasts?
Keep making backcountry turns

Dec 24 2014

PR: Voile expands athlete roster

 

Noah Howell, the public face of PowderWhores, joins Voile as team athlete manager.

Noah Howell, the public face of PowderWhores, joins Voile as team athlete manager.

Voile keeps quietly moving forward with strategic moves that continue to give them a solid hold on where the sport of backcountry skiing is headed, and by skiing I mean glisse, the art of schussing downhill whether you’re wearing one or two boards on your feet. Their latest move has less to do with hardware is it does with the people who are to become the face of the technology behind the Voile brand.

Addition of Noah Howell pretty much guarantees that contrary to Powder Whore’s hints that last year’s flick will be the last, the saga will continue and Voile will be an obvious beneficiary. This also means Howell adds the persuasive power of video to Voile’s appropriately targeted marketing program.
Keep making backcountry turns

Dec 21 2014

22 Designs announces Outlaw beta program

 

22D's NTN baby has emerged from gestation an Outlaw.

22D’s NTN baby has emerged from gestation an Outlaw.

The Outlaw, the first American made NTN binding is ready for pummeling by the public. In the world of telemark bindings, that’s not a joke. The very nature of telemarking creates forces that test the limits of every part of the system and when a new combination of ingredients comes together as a new product the question always lurks, what is the weak link in this rat trap?
Keep making backcountry turns

Dec 16 2014

Review: BCA Float 32 Airbag Pack

 

Float 32 - big enough for a day trip, or hut-to-hut.

Float 32 – big enough for a day trip, or hut-to-hut.

Okay, so you’re ready to plunk down for an airbag pack, but you need to do it for less than a thousand bucks. In that case one of the models you should be considering seriously is BCA’s Float 32.

It uses compressed air, so that means you can practice blowing up the airbag for half or less the cost of a cartridge of compressed nitrogen. Your cost will be dependent on finding a local ski, scuba, or paintball shop to do the refilling. It also means that if you travel overseas you will have a hard time finding a place that will refill your cartridge, but stateside you just need to search on the web a bit for a nearby shop if you’re traveling.
Keep making backcountry turns

Dec 08 2014

Review: BD’s Carbon Convert (2015)

What is it about skis that is so danged exciting? As much as I like to think they are just another utilitarian piece of gear to get me to the goods, the fact is, the sensation of skiing comes primarily from the ski. Everything else is just connecting you to it, although, with tele, the connection system adds to the sensation. Regardless of that petty distinction, the reason skis are such an endearing subject is their contribution to skiing is integral, nay, essential to the experience.

Viva le Carbon Convert - in white. Don't let it out of your sight!

Viva le Carbon Convert – in white. Don’t let it out of your sight!


So even though I like to discount the importance of skis, since any skier worth their salt can and will adapt and elicit a smile from any ski, some skis just do it with a whole lot less effort. They tickle the meter without even trying and you can’t help but giggle in delight after taking ’em for a spin. Such is how I might describe Black Diamond’s Carbon Convert. In a single word, I’d say, “playful.”
Keep making backcountry turns