September 2012 archive

Review: Backcountry Mag’s Deep Issue

  Once again my friends at Backcountry magazine have pumped out another worthy issue this season. Okay, I’ll admit that actually having the opportunity to pen a few words in there might be influencing my perspective a bit, but I’ll let you decide that when you browse your copy on the newsstand. For starters it …

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On the fence with NTN for 2012/13

If safety release, convenient entry and exit from the binding and excellent downhill control are at the top of your list, the Freeride is a good option with inferior but acceptable touring performance. If you don’t need turbo power for turns, with good touring, though not a true free-pivot, Rottefella’s Freedom is the way to go. If you want step-in convenience, don’t need safety release, with solid control and excellent touring, look at NT Spike. If you want Dynafit caliber touring performance and Hammerhead power with catastrophic release capability, TTS is your rig.

News: Avalanche on Manaslu – many lives lost

By now many of you have heard, and for those who haven’t, a large avalanche occured on Manaslu in Nepal Sunday morning. The avalanche occurred around 4:45am and swept through camp 3 at around 6800m elevation. In the aftermath of the avalanche there were 8 confirmed deaths, several missing people, and uncounted injuries. One of …

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Red Truck – Truckee’s local lunch secret

Red Truck Truckee

  As the northern gateway to Lake Tahoe, or the last California town before the casinos of Reno, Truckee gets a fair amount of visitor traffic. As such there are a lot of restaurants that cater to the natural ignorance of a visitor and survive when they wouldn’t otherwise. While locals tend to guard their …

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BC News: BD to buy Pieps

Pieps Vector avalanche transceiver showing Li-ion battery life

  Black Diamond Equipment, Inc., announced this morning its intent to acquire Pieps, a leader in avalanche rescue transceivers in early October, 2012. The acquisition fulfills a decade-long goal to add avalanche transceivers to the palette of products Black Diamond offers for backcountry safety. Over the years there has been much speculation as to whether …

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Review: G3’s Enzo

G3's new backcountry telemark binding - Enzo

Enzo comes with a lot of admirable traits that puts G3 back in the game with an up-to-date, easy to operate, high performance tele binding.

Except for weight, all the shortcomings of the Ascent, G3s first foray into the world of free-pivot telemark bindings, are overcome with the Enzo. It is powerful, easy to switch modes, and appears to be as immune to icing up as a backcountry binding can be.

Review: BD’s Outlaw AvaLung™ pack

View of BD's rear access panel on the Outlaw AvaLung™ pack.

All those features are nice, but none were enough on their own to convince me to make the Outlaw the new sack on my back. However, it only took one time using the zippered access back panel to convince me.