So it was a revolutionary moment when Paul Ramer sent me a pair of his Assault Snowshoes – an oval shaped platter of stamped aluminum with cookie cutter edges. As usual I thought it was a kooky idea, but as with his Ramer Classic alpine touring bindings, their beauty was only visible after experiencing their performance.
Archive for the ‘Accessories’ Category
Review: Spark R&D resurrects Verts™
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Posted in Accessories, Climbing Skins, Dostie, Craig 
Tags: Ramer, Snowboard, splitboard, Verts 
No Comments »First Look: Gecko Climbing Skins
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To the touch they appear mildly sticky, maybe half as sticky as “normal” glue, but when stuck to the base of your skis, especially when weighted, they hold as well as any other skin glue. The Gecko folks say it is a pressure sensitive adhesive so when you’re skinning, they hold tight and keep snow from creeping under.
Preview: The Dozer™ – New BCA Shovel
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The Dozer … converts into a backcountry hoe for excavating large amounts of snow quickly … it reduces shoveling from a three step process, to only two.
Review: G3 Alpinist Climbing Skins
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You have to be pretty particular, or simply have skis that are too thick at the tip to not like G3′s Alpinist Climbing Skins out of the box. The tip and tail kit are impressive, as is their welded attachment to the skin itself. And then there is the reduced thread count, laid-back weave of [...]
Posted in Climbing Skins, Dostie, Craig, G3 Tags: cammed tail hook, welded tail, welded tip 4 Comments »Review: Petzl Tikka XP CORE Headlamp
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Petzl’s Tikka XP is a great utilitarian headlamp for around the home, lighting the way on dawn patrol, or basecamp duties. Where it really shines, however, is in the rechargeable lithium-ion polymer CORE battery that uses a power cord that plugs into any USB port.
Review: BCA Magic Carpet Climbing Skins
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After several years of simply hanging in there and offering the lowest priced climbing skin in the American market, BCA’s climbing skins were upgraded last season. They wouldn’t disclose who their new source was, but I can assure you that out of the box the new Magic Carpets are indeed an upgrade. How good of [...]
Review: Clip-Skins (look Ma’, no glue!)
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It is now year two for Clip Skins, the climbing skin that you can attach to your ski without glue. No glue to go bad over time, or get contaminated if you drop them in the dirt, or the need for Herculean strength to pull them apart after storing glue-to-glue, or the hassle of trying [...]
Posted in Climbing Skins, Clip Skins, Dostie, Craig Tags: glide, glueless, neanderthal, skinning 10 Comments »Testimonial: Aetrex Footbeds
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Like skinning, today’s run was a pleasant reminder of how much I love trail running. It’s a big part of why I’m rather inclined to like the earning part of backcountry skiing, for that steady state aerobically induced runners high. There was a time, not so far back, when both activities were in jeopardy. I [...]
Posted in Accessories, Dostie, Craig, Technique Tags: boot fitting, custom fit, footbeds, orthotics 1 Comment »Review: Wonder Warmers heat pack
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Finally, a technology I chanced upon over 20 years ago has made it to the consumer market. It is a reusable heat pack called Wonder Warmers. The Pros Wonder Warmers is a chemical in a pouch that creates heat when the liquid becomes a solid. It uses a metal disk that you click to trigger [...]
Review: Princeton Tec’s Apex Pro
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Princeton Tec’s Apex Pro has been my headlamp of choice for the past five years. It hasn’t been an unblemished record, but the pros continue to outweigh the cons. Nary a day goes by that I don’t use it, whether taking the dog for a walk after dark, hunting for a dropped widget in the [...]
