Jan 06 2014

First Look: Ion – G3’s take 2 on Tech

 

ION - losing the fiddle while staying truly tech.

ION – losing the fiddle while staying truly tech.

G3 unveiled their new tech binding to the world today, Ion, to be available next autumn, 2014. More than just a follow up act to the Onyx, their much dismissed first foray in the tech binding world, the Ion addresses shortcomings in the tech binding world that clearly needed a fresh engineering perspective.

Until this year, most of the knock-off tech bindings to Dynafit’s revolutionary AT binding system have been just copies with material changes and marginal improvements measured as a reduction in weight, not functional improvements. With G3’s Ion, and Diamir’s Vipec, that basis for comparison ends because now there are alternative solutions to ease of entry and elasticity worth considering.
Keep making backcountry turns

Jan 02 2014

BCTalk: BC Photos, let’s see ’em

Somewhere in CO from freeheelskier

Somewhere in CO from freeheelskier

While this season’s various regional threads ramp up (some more so than others), MattB’s BC Photos, let’s see ’em has become a growing repository of miscellaneous backcountry stoke, new and old, from many contributors.

I take a lot of photos as some of you may know.

Keep making backcountry turns

Dec 31 2013

Review: La Sportiva’s Spectre

Spectre - make for walking up, rockin' down.

Spectre – made for walking up, rockin’ down.

When you first lay eyes on La Sportiva’s Spectre you can’t help but think this is a specialized rando race boot. The svelte marketing photos do nothing to prevent that view. Considering it weighs around 3 pounds per boot (mondo size 26.5) and has a huge cuff ROM for longer strides while walking or skinning it’s not out of line to think it can’t turn as well as it tours. That’s how I prejudged it too, until I actually skied it.

Thanks to a multitude of complimentary features the Spectre’s strongest suit is how well it tours, but the downhill chops aren’t half bad either. While this boot could be used in-bounds, where it really shines is it’s all round backcountry versatility.
Keep making backcountry turns

Dec 28 2013

Revelation with NTN

 

Rippin' fresh in humid conditions at Mammoth Mountain with the New Telemark Norm.

Rippin’ fresh turns at Mammoth Mountain with NTN.

Sometimes you need to make a wrong turn to know what the right way is. Or as National Lampoon pointed out several years ago, two wrong (left) turns don’t make a right, but three do. Such, it seemed, was my experience with the New Telemark Norm (NTN) system. But all is well that ends well. Here is the story of how, despite clinging to established ideas and norms I broke through to a NTN revelation.

Keep in mind I’m an old leatherneck who waited four years to switch to plastic boots, so I have a history of being cautious with new technology. My preferences are driven by a pragmatic desire to minimize weight because I prefer to earn my turns. The result is a preference for lower cuffed, 3-buckle boots, limits on ski girth to 80+ mm, straight 80mm climbing skins, and 3 lb free heeling, free pivoting binders. Some call that a compromise, I consider it judicious balance. It’s more than enough power for navigating 50° couloirs, or 38° bowls of waist deep powder.
Keep making backcountry turns

Dec 24 2013

First Look: Fritschi Diamir’s Vipec 12

 

Fritschi adds a tech binding to their plate.

Fritschi adds a tech binding to their plate.

The new Vipec 12 from Fritschi Diamir appears poised to follow through on what G3 threatened to do – upset the landscape of the two-pin tech binding world dominated since inception by its founder, Dynafit. Two things separate this binding from the majority of tech bindings that are proliferating in the market. Elasticity to combat premature release, not only laterally in the toe but also longitudinally to allow a ski to flex naturally without a dead zone. Secondly, the ability to shift on the fly from locked heel to free heel without exiting the binding.
Keep making backcountry turns

Dec 23 2013

BCTalk: Making Lemonade

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We always start our season with as much ‘nordic’ as we can get in. Good Thanksgiving storms gave us enough to begin the season right. Sub zero temps kept the snow fantastic until this week.
Introduced a couple of friends to skinny ski touring as well which made this start to the season even better. byJW

Want to add some thrill to your downhill? Take out the heavy metal and see your fear level rise with speed.

Want to add some thrill to your downhill? Take out the heavy metal and see your fear level rise with speed. Matt Kinney photo.

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Dec 18 2013

Tech Tip: Hot scrape to clean ski bases

 

This pair of skis hadn't seen wax in over a year. They were whitish with oxidation and yielded up this harvest of grime.

This pair of skis hadn’t seen wax in over a year. They were whitish with oxidation and yielded up this harvest of grime.

Aside from avoiding skiing in thin, early-season snow one of the best ways to care for your skis is by waxing them. Most skiers wax their skis so they glide faster. While many backcountry skiers don’t bother waxing, rationalizing that they’re not concerned with winning any downhill medals, there are additional reasons to wax their skis. Besides glide, a waxed base makes removing climbing skins much easier, especially in the case of today’s skis with bloated waistlines and excess surface area.

Yet another reason to wax skis is to recondition your bases by using the wax to clean out all the gunk that has inevitably penetrated into them when they were dry and you took them touring anyway, especially in the spring with all the pine pollen, grime, dust, and sticky skin glue.
Keep making backcountry turns