Tag: Snowboard

First Look: Spark R&D Dyno hardboot binding

The vast majority of snowboarders prefer soft boots for the same reason I prefer tele boots over alpine boots — comfort. Unfortunately when you need mountaineering versatility soft boots don’t perform the way hard plastic boots do. True, hard plastic boots don’t perform in soft snow the way soft boots can, and soft snow is …

Keep making backcountry turns

Skiing down, tele up? Sifting through SIA’s data.

  The latest Participation Report from SIA indicates a few trends you might expect, and one that continues to confound the free heel faithful. As you would expect after two years in a row with below normal snow levels participation in skiing was down this last year, but only by 2% according to the SIA …

Keep making backcountry turns

Review: Spark R&D resurrects Verts™

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.