Dec 01 2013

BCTalk: Crested Butte, Colorado TR

 
Enroute to the summit of Mt. Emmons, Crested Butte, CO

Don't look back unless you're willing to get lapped.

Don’t look back unless you’re willing to get lapped.


Keep making backcountry turns

Nov 27 2013

Review: Nordica’s Hell and Back

 
Nordica first introduced the Steadfast and the Hell and Back a couple of years ago. At the time they were one of the first companies to heavily tout the lightweight “sidecountry” ski concept. Those two models have evolved into Nordica’s two best selling skis despite the nichey market position that they billed it as being for. Fortunately for Nordica, their skis are exceptional as normal in-bounds skis as well and I think that is the reason for their wide ranging success. In fact the Steadfast and Hell and Back have been universally praised by the skiing press and rewarded with top scores in the magazine tests when skied against ‘normal’ alpine skis. I have tested the Hell and Back every year and owned one in my constantly revolving quiver for a year as well.

Get ready for adventure with Nordica's Hell and Back.

Get ready for adventure with Nordica’s Hell and Back.


Keep making backcountry turns

Nov 25 2013

Technique: Pedal Hop Turn

Virage Sauté Pédale

Sven Brunso pulls a windshield wiper turn somewhere in the Alps.

Sven Brunso pulls a windshield wiper turn somewhere in the Alps.

Historically there has been a lot of “skiing with consequence” going on in Europe and America. Many of its roots can be traced to Chamonix, France. This is the hub for modern alpinism, with a large concentration of snow and ice climbs waiting to be skied.

Things began with the first generation of skieurs de impossible like Sylvain Saudan, with his first descent of the Spencer Couloir on the Aiguille du Blatier in 1967. At an average angle of 51°, it was one of the first notable alpine ice climbs to be skied. It became apparent to Saudan that the traditional parallel jump turn was too taxing to sustain at high altitudes and also too vulnerable, gaining far too much momentum on such steep terrain. New techniques needed to be developed for the super steep. Saudan made the “windshield wiper” turn famous. We couldn’t quite figure out the concept until one rainy day at the Geneva airport when we realized that the windshield wipers of French cars are not synchronized the way they are in America. Then the relation to Saudan’s unique and possibly inimitable pattern of ski movements became clear. However those were the days before the pedal hop.
Keep making backcountry turns

Nov 19 2013

Review: Volkl Mantra

The Mantra has been in the Volkl lineup for a long time as an Alpine model. This has been their best selling ski for the past few years and it is among the most popular expert level skis in Tahoe until just recently. Volkl has also had a backcountry version of this ski called the Nanuq. For 2011, the Mantra became a little wider at the waist and a tiny bit narrower at the tip than older versions and then in 2012 it also obtained a modest tip rocker. Since then, it has not changed and it has developed a modest following among skiers looking for a ski with a little stiffer flex for backcountry use.

Still a classic - Volkl's Mantra.

Still a classic – Volkl’s Mantra.


Keep making backcountry turns

Nov 14 2013

First Look: K2 Shaxe®

What do you get when you cross an axe with a shovel?

Shaxe gets around.

Shaxe gets around — seen here with Yannick Pralong (left), Gilles Sierro, and Olivier Roduit (behind the lens) ascending the Dente Blanche in Switzerland, for the first descent of the “Swiss Fall Line.”

In the years I’ve spent skiing, mountaineering, and, writing about skiing and mountaineering, a steady procession of ice axes and snow shovels have passed through my hands. One thing, however, that I had yet to see was a serious mountaineering ice-axe capable of morphing into a real snow shovel — and back. That is, of course, until the arrival of the clever new Shaxe, the latest addition to K2’s focused offering of complimentary off-piste/ski-mountaineering accessories (skins, ski poles, packs, etc.).
Keep making backcountry turns

Nov 13 2013

Rerun: Mt. Greylock’s Thunderbolt Ski Run

The Year of the Thunderbolt

Back when the annual Thunderbolt Run was a phenomenon.

Back when the annual Thunderbolt Run was a phenomenon.

Muscat called me from the operating room late Tuesday night and said that because he was on call until six a.m. and had Wednesday off, and because, since it wasn’t a weekend, the nannie would be coming tomorrow to look after Rachel while his wife was at work, and because it was the best snow year since the nineteenth century, and because he was crazy, yes, he would climb and ski the Thunderbolt with me on a one-day lunatic ski excursion from New York City. As he told me this I imagined him wrestling an immense hypodermic into the jugular of yet another unconscious victim of Brooklyn gang-warfare, a procedure Muscat has told me is one of the most interesting in anesthesiology. So what if it was 175 miles each way, Paul continued, or that we had to be back by dinnertime or risk being terminated with extreme prejudice by our wives and psychologically scarring his two-year-old daughter, who would grow up thinking daddy loved Mr. Ramer more than her? So what if the weathermen were predicting an arctic February cold front to sweep through the region tomorrow? So what if we didn’t know where the trailhead was? We knew which mountain it was on. I packed my bags and hit the sack.
Keep making backcountry turns

Nov 12 2013

Review: Salomon Quest 98

For this year, Salomon is expanding and redesigning the established Rocker2 collection into the “Quest” series in an effort to penetrate the mid-fat, 98mm width segment a little better. Like many brands, Salomon is slowly backing away from heavily rockered skis in the all mountain segments and so, while the new Quest 98 does have some rocker, it is moderate. The new Quest series is more directional than their more twin oriented skis of the recent past such as the Lord for example. The Quest also uses a light honeycomb section in the tip that reduces the weight by quite a bit.

Salomon's retreats from the rocker camp with the 2014 Quest 98.

Salomon’s retreats from the rocker camp with the 2014 Quest 98.

Keep making backcountry turns