She ate Pit Bulls for breakfast, and spit out Black Diamonds for lunch. By carting those free-heel boards around she was transformed from mere city slag to a goddess of the mountains, a shining alpine succubus, nymph of the glades come to whisk mere mortals away to a whitened fantasy land during their lunch break.
Archive for the ‘Technique’ Category
Caught! Avalanche incident
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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.
Modifying NTN for better touring
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Update (13nov11): Finally managed to get this revision out on snow. See the very end for the results.. First, I would like to thank Jay (tainted meat) and Andrew (Andrew L) and Mike (MD2020) for donating NTN parts for this experiment. It saved me from destroying my own working bindings as the prototypes were made [...]
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 »Skin Track Angles – A Classic Debate
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It’s been quite awhile since first publishing the classic debate on what is the best angle of attack to take when skinning up a mountain. A lot of that comes down to terrain and personal preferences, but everyone I know tends to prefer either a low or high angle skin track. The basic tenets of [...]
Skinning: Keeper Steeper
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Might I be so bold as to suggest that the esteemed skier from Truckee, Mr. Dostie, is suffering from a cranial/rectal impaction when it comes to appreciating the fine art of steep skinning? Not only is steep skinning faster and more efficient, it is The Way. The Chosen Path. The Trail to Enlightenment as well [...]
Skinning: Tracks of the Tortoise
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Taking the low road has several advantages. It is unquestionably more efficient…is consistently safer, arguably more aesthetic and, for those still intent on a challenge, is more difficult to achieve with purity…
Posted in Dostie, Craig, Skinning, Vol. XIII Tags: climbing skins, low-angle, meanderthal, skinning No Comments »Kiteboarding 101: Not sailing – FLYING!
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If windsurfing is like sailing, then kiteboarding is like flying. Who can say they’ve never shared the dreams of Iccarus? To be sure, it isn’t really flying, but after finally taking lessons from Bruce Sheldon I found out in short order, the similarity is more true than not. As a die-hard skier, windsurfing became my [...]
Quack: Making sunglasses with Duct Tape
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You probably thought I meant, repairing sunglasses with duct tape when you read the headline, but you assumed something not stated. I really meant making a pair of sunglasses with duct tape. How do you make sunglasses with duct tape? First, you need to get to the root of the purpose of sunglasses, especially on [...]
Semi-Lite lessons from the Sierra High Route
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It’s been just over a week now since skiing the Sierra High Route. Unlike my previous attempt two years ago, this time we skied all the way across. Two years ago I started out with ASI’s Geoff Clarke, Nick Washburn, and Nori Hamaguchi. We made it to the beginning of Deadman Canyon before hitting the [...]
