Nov 28 2011

Glove Luv: Outdoor Research’s Vert Glove

Outdoor Research: Vert Gloves MSRP: $65 Warm when you're active, tough, and easy to put on even when you're hands are soaked.

Outdoor Research: Vert Gloves MSRP: $65 Warm when you’re active, tough, and easy to put on even when you’re hands are soaked.

Gloves are one of those pieces of clothing that are not only necessary for winter lovers, but also rather personal in the features that matter to each of us. It is unlikely that the majority of readers will agree with my appraisal of what makes a great glove. For the few who share my priorities, however, here’s why Outdoor Research’s Vert gloves have become my first choice for general protection while backcountry skiing, shoveling snow, or biking in cool temperatures.

The main reason I like the Verts so much is because they are not over insulated. A thin, brushed tricot lining is all they provide for insulation. It does a superb job of wicking moisture away from your hands. That means there are many times when they aren’t the best glove for the job for either, like when I’m blowing snow, not shoveling it, or the snow is dropping from the sky heavy, wet and driven by the wind. For that I want more insulation and protection. But for most of my time, especially backcountry skiing, I just want a protective layer to hold the heat in that is being created while skinning uphill, or shed the wind and light snow to keep my hands dry.
Keep making backcountry turns

Nov 26 2011

Rerun: Craft Beer Primer

Originally published in Couloir Vol. IX-2, Nov. 1996

“Cerevisia malorum … divina medicina”
(A little bit of beer is divine medicine)

After a long day of climbing and skiing you’re bound be thirsty. Part of this thirst is pure physiological dehydration, something only a quart or two of water will cure. But let’s get real. You’re not aching for a glass of water — what you really want is a beer. Not just any old beer, but one you can wrap your tongue around and taste. Not some cheap, near beer (as common as slope dopes on corduroy), but a beer that shares your passion for quality and uniqueness. Maybe any beer will do, but how about enjoying the taste and aroma as well as the wetness?

How? Read on, friends, and permit this slight treatise on fine microbrewed beer available throughout the country.
Keep making backcountry turns

Nov 21 2011

Caught! Avalanche incident

With a new season just begun, and the first high-profile avalanche fatality already recorded, it’s probably worth revisiting how dangerous conditions can be at the beginning of a ski season. This was underscored for me through one of the editors for Couloir magazine, Matt Samelson. His brother died in an avalanche in early December on Diamond Peak, at Cameron Pass, Colorado.

Aaron and Laney enjoying fresh on Donner Peak's E side.

Besides the morbid mood the sick thing within the office was we had just published an article about the dangers of an early season snowpack. With cold temperatures and a not so deep snowpack depth hoar forms easily at the ground level, especially in the intermountain ranges like the Wasatch and Rockies. Add to that a fresh dump with a lot of mass and the ever eager skier to trigger it and you have the perfect formula for an avalanche fatality.

Reality suggests that it isn’t only early season snowpacks that are the problem. It is our individual failures to engage our brains or to back away from known danger. Let’s not confuse what sort of danger should be avoided because we all know danger is part of the thrill, but the danger we seek we have some control over, like the steepness of the pitch and our skill to negotiate it, preferably with some style to boot. Avalanches, on the other hand defy control. The only skill one can reasonable practice with them is avoidance, or at least some ‘semblence of restraint. Either that or full on engagement with explosives.
Keep making backcountry turns

Nov 16 2011

Review: Barryvox Pulse (2011, v3.0)

Barryvox Pulse
Price: $490
Range ~ 48m (best),
~ 40m (worst)
Multiple Victims Features, Vital Signs, Customizable.

Overview
The Pulse doesn’t just up the ante from two to three antennas, but four. However, truth be told the value of this fourth antenna is as obvious as an appendix. To even mention the availability of this perhaps detracts from the value of the Pulse. The fourth antenna does nothing to help you find a victim, it only exists to transmit motion information in the extremely rare event that you are searching for multiple victims in an avalanche, locate more than three quickly, and need to decide who to dig for last (‘cuz one isn’t breathing and the others are).

Yeah, TMI! In that situation it may matter, but are you really going to be thinking that rationally then? I’m afraid it will just confuse an already soul-racking experience. If you must know about this feature, read the manual (or see pg 2).

Now that we have the pulse feature of the Pulse discarded from the conversation we can focus on what the Barryvox Pulse does well – find buried beacons with alacrity – fast and easy. Pieps DSP might yield greater range for first obtaining a signal, but not by much. If you dig into the available menu system, you can do all kinds of customizations to adjust what sort of clues the Pulse gives you, allowing you to alternate between digital and analog modes, make the analog tone switchable in close, toggle the direction on or off, and chose what pulse signal you are using, depending on if you’re stateside or in the eurozone. Again, if you want to know more, read the manual. For most the factory settings are just fine.
Keep making backcountry turns

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Nov 15 2011

S. Lake Tahoe Ski Swap Nov. 19th

Looking for deals on backcountry and cross-country ski gear? Or a chance to prune your oversized gear closet? Hope Valley Outdoors will be hosting a ski swap this Saturday at Lake Tahoe Community College in South Lake Tahoe. There will be a 20% service charge on all items sold (deducted from sale price) to benefit the LTCC Future Business Leaders of Tahoe scholarship program.
This is an excellent opportunity to either clear out your unused gear, or pick stuff up for a bargain. Bring your retired AT, telemark, or cross-country gear on down. Don’t forget avy safety gear (beacons, probes, shovels), backpacks, shovels, tents, and climbing gear.
Keep making backcountry turns

Nov 14 2011

Review: K2 Wayback Skis

The main reason K2’s Wayback ski didn’t become my go to ski last year had nothing to do with the skis performance. For starters, one of the goals for last season was to test a small group of old school fatties. Translation, skis with a waist width somewhere around 90mm; skinny by current standards, but plenty fat enough if you learned on leather and real skinny skis. And better for going way back, instead of just line of site from the trailhead.

K2's Wayback. 124-88-108 mm profile. MSRP: $600 Weight: 1425g/ski, 6 lbs., 4½ oz./pair

The other reason was that I mounted ’em with the TTS binding. My expectation was that I was going to spend a lot of time on the TTS binding, which I did, but not as much as I would have liked to. Duty required I check out other skis and binding systems, but more to the point, the TX-Pro boots are inferior to a T2-Eco or its predecessor the T2X (my boot of choice) for skinning. So they didn’t become my go to ski. Not yet.
Keep making backcountry turns

Nov 12 2011

Tahoe Vertical Challenge (11/12)

Log your vert and help support the Sierra Avalanche Center.

The 2011 Lake Tahoe Backcountry Vertical Challenge represents the region’s first ever FREE, community–wide fundraising initiative to benefit the Sierra Avalanche Center. In a quest to attain operational dollars for Lake Tahoe’s local avalanche forecasting agency, Alpenglow Sports has challenged the entire Tahoe backcountry community to a cumulative goal of 15 million vertical feet of human-powered uphill travel.

As a Tahoe backcountry enthusiast, this is your opportunity to give back to the Sierra Avalanche Center at zero cost! As such, every single foot of uphill travel matters, and no number is too small! While 15 million vertical feet is a lofty cumulative goal, the ultimate payoff is a $3000 donation to the Sierra Avalanche Center, given by Alpenglow Sports. To sweeten the deal, Alpenglow Sports will also pay participants for their progress! The event is designed to motivate, inspire, and bond the Tahoe backcountry community around a vital, underfunded, resource for all methods of backcountry travel and recreation.
Keep making backcountry turns