The original Telemark Tech System binding was a bit crude but was close enough to yield a glimpse of what the future of telemark bindings might provide. Mark Lengel, the inventor of the system admits that the binding is effectively still a beta binding, but the current incarnation is vastly improved over the first prototype. [...]
Archive for January, 2013
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Fritschi Diamir’s NEW Zenith 12 Tech Binding
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Fritschi Diamir is joining the tech revolution in the backcountry. At the recent Outdoor Retailer trade show Fritschi unveiled their new Zenith 12, a tech binding that has lateral release capability at the toe, and an easy mode switch without exiting the binding. Although there is no standard for calibrating the release values of lightweight, [...]
OR Report: Urban Ski Tour in the Wasangles
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Saturday’s tour was a classic. The “greatest snow on earth” term was referred to as an example of how wrong it can be in reality. There were all the classic ingredients one might expect for an urban tour in the Wasangles range, easy access but lacking the wildness of a true wilderness. Salt Lake City [...]
OR Report: Interest in airbag packs explodes
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Can the US market really support more than a dozen airbag manufacturers? That’s right, there’s thirteen I know of that plan to distribute airbag packs next season, and two more soon after. At the moment the two biggest are the originator of the avalanche airbag pack, ABS, followed by SnowPulse. ABS uses compressed nitrogen to [...]
OR Report: Backcountry Access’ BC Link
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Besides being adopted by K2 Sports, what’s new at Backcountry Access? More of what you might expect, and a little of something unexpected. The Tracker3™ is the follow up to the Tracker2™, utilizing the same real-time digital processing but now with the ability to separate multiple signals and mark a beacon you have located. [...]
OR Report: On Snow Demo notes
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The Outdoor Retailer Show began yesterday up at Solitude ski resort in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. It’s always a blast checking out new skis, boots and bindings. The sun was blaring and the snow was tired, groomed, and firm so it was a good day to lock the heel and just cruise at speed to [...]
OR Report: Backcountry Boots for 2013
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Nowhere is the interest in backcountry skiing as evident as in the number of choices being offered for ski boots next season. Ten years ago there were a handful of companies making boots for turn earners, and none of them had any affiliation with a major alpine ski brand. This year there are very few [...]
OR Report: Backcountry Bindings for 2013/14
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Alpine Touring In the AT realm, there are a ton of new bindings headed our way. I don’t know if this is better or worse, but there are many more to follow in the years to come from the likes of companies like Salomon, Look, and probably from K2 too. For now, it’s mostly [...]
Outdoor Retailer Show – Winter 2013
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It’s that time of year again when all the companies gather to show off next years wares. What I’m aware of already will be posted over the next week in semi-daily installments. With any luck I’ll squeeze in some updates of relevant items that I unearth at the show. In a nutshell interest in backcountry [...]
Review: Scarpa’s Maestrale RS
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Finally managed to put Scarpa’s Maestrale to the test last week. Not just a couple of conditioning tours with a few tepid turns thrown in to get back to the car, but an actual locked-heel bombing mission. Frankly it was hard to resist. Not only was the snow perfectly prepared – I was also armed [...]
