Jun 05 2012

BC Technique: Downhill Kick Turns

 

A nice set of sharp-edged switchbacks up an Alaskan face.

As variability exists in the snowpack, variability also occurs in the type of skills a backcountry skier uses for switchbacks. In Valdez, skiers do dozens of kick-turns up slopes for thousands of feet, breaking trail toward an objective. On the surface of any slope are countless imperfections that interrupt the art of switchbacking an untracked mountainside. It could be deeper snow or icier conditions. The impediment could also be a single large boulder, a tree, or a crevasse. Kickturns come in many variations and I like using them all. One such turn is the downhill kickturn.

On any given skin track there are subtle changes in angles that may indicate a good place to kickturn. The slope angle may leave us teetering on each turn due to deep snow or an obstacle. Some skiers may spend energy stomping out platforms to make it easier for those following to use the switchback area. Being skilled at a variety of kickturns increases efficiency and speed when traveling up through complicated and sometimes hazardous terrain.
Keep making backcountry turns

Jun 03 2012

TR: Mt. Shasta – Jibbing from Coquette Falls

 
Shasta is still in great shape so I headed up again with some company this time – Glen (switchtele) and Too Tall Terri from Tahoe joined me. We headed for the north side.

Mt. Shasta from the north

From just past the railroad tracks on Military Pass Rd.

Glen’s Subaru Forester was about to be tested on the road to the Coquette Falls TH. This is the same place I was at back on May 2nd. The snow had melted on the road and I wanted to see how close we could drive to the Wilderness Boundary.

Road map to
Coquette Falls TH.
(click to enlarge)

This trailhead is the place to go if you’re looking to hit the north side. I decided to call it the Coquette Falls TH. The road called Bolam Logging Road, or road 42N33, heads for the Wilderness Boundary and is perfectly positioned to allow direct access to the bottom of the Bolam Glacier.  It is also a great way to access the north side of Shastina.

Drive in to the North Gate TH on Military Pass Rd.(43N19), stay right onto 42N16 – the way to North Gate.  But turn right onto 42N34.  Head up and around the large moraine on 42N33, also known as the Bolam Logging Road.
Keep making backcountry turns

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May 31 2012

Review: Self Arrest Grips – 3 options

 
Back in the day, when my goal was to set ever higher personal records for the length, width, and pitch of various couloirs a self arrest grip was standard equipment on all my ski tours. There were even a few times I carried them in-bounds.

Eric Blehm descends the headwall off Mt. Jepson (San Gorgonio Wilderness) with the short lived Leki SA grip.

It was fun to observe the wary looks in my direction because of the threat my hooked ski poles suggested if someone tried to take cuts in the chair lift line. This was especially true in Europe where crowds assembled at the base of the lift and progress to the narrow access gate involved a bit of luck and mosh pit action to make any headway. In such cases, self arrest grips created an unspoken advantage – not so much for gaining ground as being able to hold it without any contention.

They actually came in handy a few times at Mammoth when I fell in the Avy Chutes off Chair 22, or on Huevos off the top. Mostly they were used as an ascent tool when climbing uncharted couloirs of styrosnow in the backcountry.
Keep making backcountry turns

May 28 2012

AT Boot Review: Dynafit’s TLT5 TF-X

 
The prospect of locking your heel for skiing is a nice option to have. Most times I’d rather switch between a pivot for skinning, or tele-resistance for turning. When it gets steep though, I like having a locked heel. Nowadays the angle of slope that I prefer a locked heel on is less than my age — which is admittedly getting pretty steep. 😉

Dynafit TLT 5 backcountry ski boot

Dynafit TLT5 - lightweight king of rando mobility for humans

Nonetheless, I don’t spend enough time pushing the limit of how rad I can be to be compelled to need a locked heel on most days. And I love the flexible soles of a teleboot. But the range of cuff motion and the weight of the new breed of alpine touring boots is seductive enough to make me consider sacrificing the option to tele just for the comfort these new AT boots allow while skinning. Heck, that’s part of why I prefer tele over alpine and the TLT5 is outclassing plastic tele boots without even breaking a sweat.
Keep making backcountry turns

May 21 2012

Review: G3 Saint

 
One of the better skis G3 has ever produced was the Reverend. It had a weird reputation because so many skiers were put off by the image of a preacher looking back at them. Actually he was looking up, but the religious overtones made a lot of folks uncomfortable. Graphics notwithstanding, they skied great.

G3's Saint - a mid-fat with excellent all round performance and no guilt.


So it is with the descendent of the Reverend, the Saint. The similarity in name belies the similarity in performance, without any graphics induced guilt. When the Reverend was introduced, 88mm at the waist was gignormous. Compared to the genetically modified cows being served with girths beyond 120mm the Saint appears svelte with only 93mm underfoot. Like the Reverend though, they rock.
Keep making backcountry turns

May 17 2012

BC Technique: The A-V-A Kick Turn

There are lots of ways to change direction on the skin track. Ideally you don’t need a lot of uphill skill, and if you are careful, and a bit lucky, you can set an easy to follow skin track that never requires a sharp switchback. In that case, all you need to know is how to sniff out the low angle dips on a slope and strategically link them so that all you ever need to so is a simple, 3-to-4 step change in direction that the AMGA calls the A-V-A turn. Depending on how you initiate it, it might be a V-A-V turn. All you do is progressively change the alignment of your skis to form an A, then a V, then an A, until you have changed direction.
Keep making backcountry turns

May 16 2012

Madsen buys Telemark Skier Magazine

 

TSM goes Digital for International Appeal

Josh Madsen takes the torch for Telemark Skier Magazine

When Height of Land Publications announced the sale of Telemark Skier last January (2012) to its editor, Josh Madsen, it sounded like a good fit but the move immediately raised questions about the future of the magazine.

Was this just a way for them to quietly divest themselves of an albatross title for a sport that had gone from being in the limelight to the butt of backcountry jokes? Nothing of the sort. According to Adam Howard, executive editor for HOL Publications, “It had become Josh’s magazine already anyway and him officially taking it over was just the inevitable next step.”

Josh Madsen wasted no time in solidifying the crew he had assembled for the last two print issues of Telemark Skier Magazine while announcing the publication would cease printing and transform itself into an e-zine with six issues using Zinio as the digital rendering engine.
Keep making backcountry turns