September 2014 archive

Avalanche claims Fransson and Auclair

  It appears Andreas Fransson and J.P. Auclair were caught and died in an avalanche on Monday, September 29th, 2014 in the Auyen mountain region of Patagonia near the border of Argentina and Chile. The avalanche occurred on Mounte San Lorenzo (12, 159′), reportedly running 700 meters (2300′).

Keep making backcountry turns

Boot Review: Tecnica upgrades Cochise for 2015

  One of the better boots to come out last year, with great performance on either side of the boundary line, was Tecnica’s Cochise. It’s a mid-weight boot with a stiff forward flex and good mobility in the cuff for touring. However, it favored feet with average width but a high instep. That meant a …

Keep making backcountry turns

News: AvaTech develops Snow Profile Probe

Ava-Tech is a new company introducing two tools, the SP-1 probe and AvaNet™ cloud platform at the International Snow Science Workshop next week (Sept 29-Oct. 3) in Banff, AB, Canada. To the naked eye the SP-1 is a 150 cm probe with a tip that senses and records pressure as it is driven into the …

Keep making backcountry turns

Review: Volkl’s BMT Series – 94/109/122

It was two seasons ago my preconceived notions about rockered skis, especially the too fat variety, were blown to smithereens. For me, that means anything wider than 110mm at the waist which simply cannot hold sufficient edge for good all round, backcountry skiing. The example was Volkl’s V-Werks Katana, a magical mix of wood core …

Keep making backcountry turns

TR: Goodness in Gulaba, India

  We exited our jeep taxi at the end of cleared snow about a third of the way towards the pass. The Indian Army’s road crew had begun the multi-month task of clearing snow off the road over Rohtang Pass, a critical connector north to the contested state of Kashmir. The road is a remarkable …

Keep making backcountry turns

Review: Scott-Sports Cosmos II & Celeste II

  In their second year building Alpine Touring boots, Scott made a few changes to address issues with buckles breaking and improve the touring performance of the Cosmos and Celeste boots. The buckle change is disappointing; their ability to hinge out of the way made getting in and out of the boot a simple affair. …

Keep making backcountry turns

First Look: Stanley’s Vacuum Coffee System

  Stanley is transforming itself from a second rate copy cat company of cool camping gear into a top notch source of goodies for camp decadence. The latest evidence of that is their 1-liter Vacuum Coffee System. You still need a stove to get the water hot enough to boil it for making coffee and …

Keep making backcountry turns