Reviews
Reviews of the lastest gear
Tuesday, 06 March, 2007
Discovering the secrets of snow
One of the big variables when starting ski or snowboard touring or going off marked and open ski runs is the snow. Is it safe? Will the conditions be skiable? Many, quite reasonably, leave such decisions to a guide or instructor so they can focus on the pleasure of riding acres of powder or gliding perfect spring snow.
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Sunday, 04 March, 2007
Low-tech returns to its roots
If Dynafit makes the catwalk strutting supermodels of the ski binding world the new Low Tech Race must be Kate Moss. It is positively skeletal in looks, consisting of nothing more than a curved spring and post for the heel. This brings the standard binding weight down from 335 grams for the TLT Speed (without mounting screws) to just 160 grams. Extreme skier and journalist Volodia Shahshahani suggests that Dynafit had been feeling the heat from “artisanal” products. It is possible to buy similar heel units built by ski mountaineering fans in their own workshops.
Dynafit low tech race
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Sunday, 25 February, 2007
Black Diamond Test Centre opens in la Grave
American firm Black Diamond has opened a test center in the holy-grail of freeride skiing, la Grave. The French resort has a single main lift which carries backcountry sports enthusiasts from the bottom of the Romanche valley at 1400 meters to the Col des Ruillans à 3200m. With the glacier drag lifts skiers can enjoy over 2100 meters of vertical. What better test environment.
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Saturday, 10 February, 2007
New boots and liners from Scarpa
The biggest news from Italian ski and alpine boot manufacturer Scarpa is the dual use Terminator X. Named after Norman “Terminator X” Rogers, Rap DJ, former member and producer of Public Enemy the X is designed for the NTN (New Telemark Norm) system. This dispenses with the classic Telemark duckbill front lip. Instead, the NTN binding interfaces with a rounded front sole and a lip under the arch of the boot. This gives much greater rigidity and power transfer for the widest telemark skis.
Scarpa Terminator X
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Monday, 05 February, 2007
Marker Duke Nukes em?
Last weekend we spent a day touring in the south-Savoie and a day in resort. The contrast to our backcountry eyes couldn’t have been more stark. Out in the high mountains with routes of 1500 to 2000 vertical meters nearly everyone is on Dynafit bindings even if skinny “matchstick” skis have slowly given way to larger “freeride” boards. Our resort day was surprising, surprising in the number of skiers now equipped with touring bindings in order to practise a bit of “sidecountry” skiing. Short climbs from the top of ski lifts to find stashes of fresh powder long after the visible runs are tracked out.
Marker Duke looks bomb proof
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Tuesday, 23 January, 2007
An Avalanche dissected
As the snow is finally falling outside we thought it would be a good idea to take a further look at avalanches. This is some footage from the Redbull Snow thrill Challenge at Monte-Rosa where a competitor gets caught in an avalanche and skis out. Avalanche expert Ed Adams, an associate professor in civil engineering from Montana-Bozeman University gives his comments on the slide.
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Monday, 22 January, 2007
Not swimming but drowning
Conventional wisdom says that if you are caught in an avalanche swim for your life to stay on the surface but according to avalanche expert Dale Atkins it is wisdom that may kill you. According to Dale the swimming technique was first described by a French survivor back in 1864 and has been oft repeated since. Before joining Swedish firm Recco as a consultant Dale spent for nearly twenty years as a senior avalanche forecaster at the Colorado Avalanche Information Center in Boulder and has done time as a ski patroller and rescue worker.
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Tuesday, 09 January, 2007
Espace Montagne Touring Ski Tests
Last Sunday saw Espace Montagne’s second touring ski test day. In fact it was not just a chance to test the latests offerings from Dynafit, Trabb, Dynastar, Atomic and Hagan but also the bindings from trick Tourlite Techs to Diamir to Naxos in the form of the rebadged Dynastar Early Tram. Way to go.
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Thursday, 21 December, 2006
Avalanche and Off-Piste Awareness DVD
Avalanche expert Henry Schniewind, who runs the very popular avalanche talks in the French Alps and sports presenter Matt Chilton have teamed up to produce an Avalanche Awareness DVD. Avalanches claim hundreds of lives each year. The victims range from mountain residents, travellers, soldiers and rescue workers to winter sports enthusiasts. The film takes a close look at the dangers lurking in the mountains, many of these lives are lost through a lack of understanding of the risk posed by the winter environment and the awesome power of avalanches.
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Monday, 18 December, 2006
Skiing the Chamonix-Zermatt Haute Route
Every ski mountaineer dreams of completing the “Haute-Route” linking Chamonix with Zermatt. English climbers were the first to imagine joining these two capitals of mountaineering by crossing the high altitude passes. After much exploration it was in the summer of 1861 that the “high-level road” was walked for the first time.
6 days & 5 nights with Carole Dechantre, hmmm....
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