Apr 16 2012

Review: SnowPulse HighMark22 Airbag Pack

SnowPulse's HighMark22. Not too big, not too small.

Packs and their various configurations become personal quickly – after all, you’ll be wearing it and relying on it to carry and organize your essentials for adventure. The need to address your unique preferences are partly a matter of what you’re used to, and experience.

Which is why the SnowPulse 24 liter HighMark pack is such delight to use. Though I’m not a climber per se, I like simple packs that aren’t cluttered. That’s part of the problem with airbag packs. Of necessity they’re more complicated than a simple rucksack, and those who try to be too simplistic end up allowing the plumbing to become a burden.

The Highmark22 from SnowPulse does a good job of balancing the need for organization with multiple compartments, without getting overly complex. The key is the strategic placement and use of zippers to create a multi-layered, compartmentalized – which sounds admittedly complex – pack that is simple and intuitive to use. They do it by never having too many options at any level, and nesting pockets and sleeves inside of each basic compartment.
Keep making backcountry turns

Apr 15 2012

Dust to Dust – Farewell to John Holleman II

Dan Belanger on Mt. Shasta - John Holleman memorial tour.

There was no doubt John’s spirit was there because the tour had all the characteristics of all the trips I had taken with him since he was diagnosed with colon cancer. From the day after the doctors butchered his guts every trip John Holleman and I took was marked with perfection – from the blessing of fresh powder to windless blue skies and, of course, excellent camaraderie.

This trip felt the same except for the lack of his physical presence, but everything else was according to spec. In the previous 48 hours one of California’s late but nonetheless appreciated spring storms had dropped over three feet of snow above 7,000 feet and now the clouds were parting as we skinned up towards Sun Bowl on the southern flanks of Mt. Shasta.
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Apr 11 2012

Review: Spark R&D resurrects Verts™

Alex Kutches shows the side profile of Ramer Assault Snowshoes. They didn't weigh much either.

When you’re earning your turns with a big fat single plank, you want an efficient way to climb without resorting to a splitboard, or wasting energy with floppy snowshoes, or ugh, simply post holing. If you’re lucky the snow is firm enough for crampons, but I’d only do that on a board knowing it would soften by the descent.

So what other way is there? What if you could set up a staircase using a type of snowshoe that stomps out a platform with every step? Well, you can and that’s exactly what Verts™ let you do.

Back before splitboards there were only two options, crampons on firm snow or snowshoes. Snowshoes work by keeping you from post holing, but they suck in deep snow compared to skis or a splitboard. Besides being unable to glide you can’t climb very steep straight up with them and they don’t hold an edge well on a traverse.
Keep making backcountry turns

Apr 09 2012

Review: Voile Vector BC – One ski to farm it all?

The fat ski trend has penetrated the new millenial genre of XCD skis and it is no surprise that Voile is pushing the envelope of what is acceptable. For those stuck in the XCD is Nordic is skinny paradigm, Voile’s Vector BC is here to smash that vision to smithereens. In case you hadn’t noticed, fat waxless metal edged skis are one of the hottest ski categories of the day.

It turns, it glides, it strides and climbs. It's a cross-country, no a downhill, NO! - it's a Vector BC.


The reason is simple – it’s that old fashioned feature called versatility. Versatility can mean compromise, but it can also mean performance when you don’t have to waste time switching tools and modes. That’s what Voile’s Vector BC does in spades.
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Apr 07 2012

Rerun: Lone Rangers

This article was originally published in Couloir Vol. XIX-4, Dec. 2006.

If you’re a regular reader of these pages, you’re a hard core skier, some might even say extreme. When you consider that the average skier only logs four days a year, and we log an average 35 to 40 days a year, yeah, maybe we do take it to extremes.

Part of the appeal of skiing solo? Solitary tracks on an untracked sloped.


About half of those days are at a resort, and half in the backcountry. On average.
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Apr 04 2012

Review: BCA’s Float 36 Airbag Pack

BCA's Float 36. $785

When a product gets dropped or dramatically changed, that’s a clear sign something needed fixing. In the case of BCA’s Float series of airbag packs, the elimination of the Float 36 is a sure case of Darwinian natural selection. The replacement, a Float 32 which won’t be available until Fall 2012, looks like it has the genetic heritage of a solid, functional, well designed climbing pack.

The core of the Float series packs remains essentially unchanged, which is good because that’s the main reason you would be interested in one. Nor does it need much refinement. It just works, using a cylinder of compressed air in combination with a Venturi valve to fill a 170 liter bag. As it fills, it blows out a burst zipper behind your neck at the top of the pack. It uses a mechanical trigger to open a valve letting the dried air out. It is simple to operate, and simple to maintain. You still need to follow some pretty strict procedures when refilling and connecting, but nothing a bit of diligence can’t handle. In other words, read the directions and don’t throw them away. Or go to BCA’s website and download ’em.
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Apr 03 2012

Review: Pieps DSP and DSP Tour

Pieps DSP - Long range and easy to use for single or multiple victims.

It doesn’t take long before you realize that Pieps is the range leader when it comes to modern avalanche beacons. In test after test the DSP or Tour have the longest, most reliable receive range available (circa Jan. 2012). Whatever the configuration, single, multiple, best or worst coupled, other beacons can only hope to equal the range of the DSP or DSP Tour beacons. Which is part of why the Pieps has garnered a loyal following because, even if it isn’t the only thing that matters, range does matter.

To switch to receive, press the locking tab on the right while pushing the on/off bar up until it is in the search position. Once a signal is detected, the beacon shows you what direction to move via five directional arrows on the display, and a number indicating how many meters away it is. The directional arrows and distance readings of the DSP or Tour are noticeably more stable and less jittery than the Pulse or S1. In addition the number of signals within range will be shown at the bottom of the screen as horizontal bodies, up to a maxiumum of four (pray you never deal with that in a real situation).
Keep making backcountry turns