Jan 09 2011

Drying Boot Liners

Drying your ski boots out after a day of sweating in them is easily achieved in a variety of ways. Here’s a couple of simple tricks for when you’re away from the conveniences you may have at home like a dedicated set of forced air dryers, a space heater, or the shelf above a pot belly stove.

If it’s a sunny day the fastest way to dry ‘em is to pull the liners out of the shells and set them on the dash of your car. Even on a cold winter day the solar energy should be sufficient to dry ‘em out in an hour or two. This is NOT advised with heat moldable liners that can, especially on a warm sunny day, get hot enough to remold on their own. In other words, use caution with this method.
Keep making backcountry turns

Jan 03 2011

Review: A Life Ascending

Everybody knows that ski movies are to skiing what porn is to sex; visually stimulating, but nothing compared to the real thing. It’s why I tend to avoid them both. Why bother when the real thing is so infinitely superior?

When it comes to movies I want more than a tickling of my visual cortex, I look for something that stirs the soul. Thus, my preference is for movies that have a story line and characters that simmer and develop as the plot thickens (or sickens). That’s a tall order in the world of ski porn.

A Life Ascending is ski film by Stephen Grynberg that doesn’t fit the mold of nonstop segues of skiers hucking their meat off cliffs and diving deep in bottomless stashes of powder synchronized to throbbing music. It is a whole lot slower and thoughtful than that. Ski mountaineers may appreciate it, but action hungry tweeners will only use it to cure insomnia.
Keep making backcountry turns

Jan 01 2011

Telemark Skier Magazine #16

If you’re of the free heel persuasion and want to have some telemark stoke handy on your coffee table for friends to peruse, or for motivating yourself to get off the couch and onto the slopes one can hardly go wrong with the current issue of Telemark Skier magazine. The second and final issue of the Ten-11 season is their photo annual and event guide.

Telemark Skier Magazine #16. click to enlarge

Back when I launched this publication at the turn of the century it was hard to find photos showing the power and athleticism possible with telemark gear. Based on the images found in this issue those days appear, thankfully, to be long gone. The speed and power exemplified in the photos of this issue are equal or superior to the stuff shown in rags like Powder or Backcountry.

And then there’s the writing. I’ll admit my own prose is found twice in this issue but that isn’t why I think it’s a worthwhile read. Well, maybe a little. I think you’ll find my interview with Steve Barnett amusing if you’re under 30, or reinforcing if you learned to tele in leather. There’s a great piece by Megan Michaelson on a microbrewery out of Colorodo but my fave piece is from editor Josh Madsen. His intro started to raise my defensive hackles as he laments the traditional perspective of tele and backcountry being interwoven, then goes on to explain how the new enthusiasm of jib fueled telewhackers are just kindred souls on a continuum of pinhead styles.

There’s also a good guide to telemark festivals around the country. If you’ve never been to one, I encourage you to imbibe.

Mostly though, I think you’ll like it for the photo stoke. If you’ve never dropped a knee or free’d your heel to make turns on snow, this issue does a superb job of motivating you to try it.

Dec 26 2010

Ten-11, Day 6

What a difference 365 days makes. It is why I don’t buy all the hulabaloo from weather forecasters about El Nino, La Nina, or global warming. The weather is what it is, and no matter what we do to try to control it, the best way to deal with it is to roll with it. There isn’t a lot of snow in Tahoe this year, but there is a ton of ice. The skating is epic. Grab a pair of blades and enjoy it while you can.

For the first time in over a month Snow-Forecast is calling for some precipitation at the end of next week. No, not snow. But a break in the subzero pre-dawn temperatures and if we’re lucky, the rain will turn to snow. Cross your fingers and do the snow dance (wash your car).

In the meantime, a rerun from last Christmas Eve, 2010:
 

The view looking SE from the top of Jake's Peak, Christmas Eve morning. Click to enlarge.

Another short tour, but finally one with the sort of incomparable views Lake Tahoe delivers, good conversation on the climb, and excellent turns back down. Jakes Peak delivers those goods reliably. The only item missing in that formula on storm days are the stellar views. In that case the depth of powder usually makes up for the lack of a view.

 

 

 

Keep making backcountry turns

Dec 23 2010

Watchin’ the Weather: Snow-Forecast.com

Snowhounds love to watch the weather. Not just to see what’s coming, or know when to enjoy what it has wrought, but to go out and embrace it while it’s happening. It’s part of why I like skinning up in a storm. You’re totally immersed in a swirling dance of snowflakes. No matter whether they’re floating down in a slow waltz through space, or ricocheting like pinballs in a mosh pit, the immersion in their energy fuels my anticipation for the ski descent back down.

Prediction on Dec. 15, 2010 for snow accumulation by Dec. 21, 2010. Bring it on!

Knowing when to go is essential to maximizing when you take time off of work to play in the snow. So watching the weather becomes essential. And finding reliable information is the criteria by which all forecasts should be judged.

 

My go-to site for reliable snow forecasts is snow-forecast.com. Like many other weather sites there are a ton of options for viewing what’s coming, but I’ve narrowed my choice to one page that lets me view all the major ski regions in the world. Naturally I go to Northern California 99% of the time. But it’s just as easy for me to see what my friends around the states are about to receive, and perhaps as important when traveling, how much they received in the last week.
Keep making backcountry turns

Dec 18 2010

Trimming Tele Fat

Telemark equipment has gotten ridiculously heavy. Like many telemark skiers I kept adding more so I could enjoy unlimited terrain options; burlier boots, fatter skis, wider skins and heavier, more powerful bindings. Before long I was hauling over 10 pounds per foot into the wilds. Since 1990, the weight on our telemark feet has nearly doubled. I slogged my way back to the trailhead at the end of last season and finally hollered, “Enough is enough!”

Turning what he earned in Thompson Pass, AK

I retreated to focus on cutting weight, lots of it. I had tasted the ultimate in telemark power with BD’s PUSH but the weight, bulk and multiple adjustments were too much drag in any condition.  After having skied four years on two versions of BD’s Verdict as my one ski quiver, it seemed I had found the perfect dimensions for a backcountry ski.  Too much fat can be as compromising as too much weight and thus limit a skis ability to handle a variety of conditions. This combination of boots and ski were just a bit too much rolling over flats or spending part of a day kick-turning through steep, thick brush to get to an untracked couloir.  Breaking trail through deep snow seemed much less satisfying than years ago on T2X’s and those lovely BD Havocs. Faster, lighter, gear becomes an inevitable goal as your backcountry days increase.
Keep making backcountry turns

Dec 15 2010

Review: Pieps 30° Plus inclinometer

If you have reason to measure slope angles accurately, you would be hard pressed to beat the convenience of Pieps 30° PLUS. It’s a small, light device that measures slope angle in any orientation quickly and accurately. How does it work? With some electronic wizardry on a chip that measures gravitational acceleration in three axes. Power comes from a non-replaceable lithium battery Pieps claims will last at least five years. It has no off switch, but conserves energy by only staying on for about 30 seconds each time you turn it on.

Fast and easy angle measurement for $100

Besides being light and mounting to any commercially available ski pole using a pair of Velcro straps I like how I can hold it in any orientation, as long as I can read the display. It was developed primarily for avalanche pros and snow science hounds who want a fast, accurate way to record slope angles. For me, it was the perfect tool for seeing how accurate my estimate was of my preferred Meanderthal skin track angle, and equally as interesting, the average attack angle of the typical guide skin track and Neanderthal skin tracks found on the shores of Lake Tahoe, the Cascades, Rockies, Sierras, Tetons and Wasangeles ranges.
Keep making backcountry turns