May 12 2014

BCTalk: Colorado is STILL skiing

Photo by James. Coloradoooooooooh!

Photo by James. Coloradoooooooooh!

Colorado is reaping its just deserts lately. After several years of meager conditions, in spite of man’s meddling, God is sending a thrilling end to a solid season. Even in the parched Sierra, the storms continue to dust the land, but those same storms seem to be saving their full strength for Colorado. Witness a recent avalanche, the benign kind where one got caught but nobody was hurt; lucky that day. Great skiing and avalanche danger go hand in hand. To think otherwise can be a deadly self deception.
Keep making backcountry turns

May 05 2014

Review: Devilish details of Fritschi’s Vipec

 

Meet the new fiddler in town - Diamir's Vipec 12

Meet the new fiddler in town – Diamir’s Vipec 12

First year products usually need a bit of refinement before they are solid. The devil is in the details they say, and some of those don’t reveal themselves until you add ignorance to the picture; something only a customer can provide. Fritschi Diamir’s new Vipec is no different. By and large it works well, but requires education, or re-education for the experienced 2-pinner, and some tweaking. Even though it is a tech binding, it is a not a Dynafit, so it acts the same, but only sorta. (2015 Fixes to Vipec )

Vipec is the first 2-pin tech binding to offer lateral release at the toe. Inherent in that feature is the sort of elasticity in-bounds alpine skiers tend to insist on. Not only does this mean a safety release alpine skiers are familiar with, it also means a connection that isn’t quite as bone-rattling tight as tech bindings tend to be. In terms of downhill performance it gets two thumbs up, as long as you adjust the toe pins correctly.
Keep making backcountry turns

Apr 30 2014

Review: OMG’s TTS toe – beta, not better

 

TTS for 2014. Better cable posts and the first American 2-pin tech toe.

TTS for 2014 with better cable posts, optimized heel lever, and their own OMG 2-pin tech toe.

It has been a season now since Olympus Mountain Gear has introduced their own 2-pin tele toe to make a complete binding package. The looming question, is it ready for prime time, or is it still a beta binding? Sadly, the OMG’s toe piece confirms beta status, albiet with good performance if you’re willing to accept a few operating caveats.
Keep making backcountry turns

Apr 29 2014

Review: G3’s Zenoxide Carbon skis

 
As a touring ski in almost any variety of soft snow, even with some zipper crust thrown in for texture, G3’s Zenoxide Carbon 93 is a great ski to ride. It has a smooth even flex to deliver nice round turns. Thanks to a little carbon fiber thrown into the layup mix, it’s not a noodle, and has a nice rebound to it with a surprising amount of strength for its weight.

G3's Zenoxide C3 93. Carbon fiber for strength without weight.

G3’s Zenoxide C3 93. Carbon fiber for strength without weight.


Even in mank and crud it holds it’s own, only getting kicked around in frozen chickenheads or sastrugi where every BC ski gets kicked around. Some might say that 93mm at the waist isn’t wide enough to be a powder ski, but that only depends on whether you like to enjoy the depth of powder, or the surface. For surface skimmers it comes up shy, but for when it’s steeper and deeper, 93mm is just fine. Not buying anything under 100mm at the waist? G3 knew that, consider their C3 105 instead.
Keep making backcountry turns

Apr 27 2014

Dave Beck: Architect of the Sierra High Route

 

Dave Beck — Architect and veteran of the Sierra High Route.

Dave Beck — Architect and veteran of the Sierra High Route.

I’m schlepping a 65-pound pack up Symmes Creek Gorge, playing Sherman to David Beck’s Mr. Peabody, helping him escort seven clients on a ski tour of California’s Sierra High Route. We’re just an hour into the first day’s climb of 4,000 feet, and I’m stressed, spent, and wondering why I agreed to be Beck’s Sherpa boy. The nervous energy bottled up in this small but potent group of overachievers could power the Eastern Sierra town of Independence, and I’m feeling the heat of it; I’ve already chastised a Brentwood gynecologist about pissing in Symmes Creek (“But urine is sterile!”), and discouraged an eager but overfed Silicon Valley exec from trying to outpace a lithe anesthesiologist from Carson City. At this rate, I’ll be ostracized from the group before we reach the Sierra Crest.
Keep making backcountry turns

Apr 22 2014

Review: Petzl Tikka R+ headlamp

 

Petzl's Tikka R+ with reactive light.

Petzl’s Tikka R+ with reactive light.

Petzl’s new incarnation of the Tikka headlamp, the R+, keeps the same low profile and light weight, with a powerful 170 lumen high beam and a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. It’s great for use around the house, walking the dog, camping, or dawn patrols.

Gone is the ability to flip a fresnel lens over the beam to diffuse it optically. Instead, a default lens provides a high beam center with a wide spillover. You can select a reactive setting where the intensity of light reflected back is sensed and the output adjusted on the fly to approximate a constant level of illumination. Thus, if you’re in tight quarters aimed at a white wall, the light will dim, down to 7 lumens if you’re close and the white wall is actually a mirror. When you point away, where the closest surface is yards away, or a darker surface, the light intensity will increase, depending on the mode it is in, up to 120 lumens. It’s cool bit of technology but frankly my brain makes those adaptions faster and if I need more or less light I’d rather make the switch manually. YMMV.
Keep making backcountry turns

Apr 21 2014

TR: North side of Mt. Lassen

 

Mt. Lassen's north side from treeline.

Mt. Lassen’s north side from treeline.

Meeting people through the internet has always seemed a bit weird. The concept isn’t what is weird. Meeting strangers at a party, in a bar, through a dating service, or a notice on a kiosk is always a bit of an adventure with the unknown. The internet is just the electronic version of how strangers rub virtual elbows before actually meeting.

What is weird is the perverse perspective that results when you see the side of a persons personality they chose to project on the internet before meeting them. That face may or may not sync with their actual personage. To be sure half of that is due to what is lost in translation. The other half is due to what leaks through between the lines. It was the latter half that had me a bit nervous to join an ad hoc meeting of BCTalk regulars for a ski tour on Mt. Lassen.
Keep making backcountry turns