Maybe I should have oriented the whippet so the pick was at the bottom and not near my face. Then again…maybe not. 😉 I know this has happened to you at least once. After a number of ski days in a row last week without warming up or drying out my gear, I arrived at […]
Gear
Soooo…I was out skiing on one of those greybird/mostly cloudy/mountain snow-shower days last week (pretty much like every day last week) and of course, I didn’t use any sunscreen since it didn’t seem like the sun was really out. Well, at the end of the day (and after I got out of the shower) my […]
I was asked the other day if I wanted to test out the new Dynafit Radical FT binding for 2011. So…10.5hrs, 18+miles, 8k+’ vertical, 3 descents, 3 liters of Nuun water, 2 ProBars, 4 GU Chomps, 3 pieces of cake, sunburn, and 2 bloodshot eyes later…I’d say it was a success. More later… Got slough?
In the past couple weeks, I’ve read some good trip reports, but a few sentences in two of them in particular got me thinking. Thinking what Rando you ask? Well, I’m wondering when it’s okay, or acceptable, to remove and take climbing gear set-up for rappel anchors and when one should leave them for those […]
I like to wear my transceiver on the front of my torso and away from my arms, backpack straps and jacket pockets. Like many of you (I think), I wear an avalanche transceiver when skiing in the backcountry. (My personal favorite is an Ortovox S1.) Most transceivers come with a decent carrying case and harness […]
Tune in tomorrow for what’s IN my pack. 😎
Props to Derek for having the cahones to drop into Central Couloir while it is still a pretty large, mandatory, double-drop air at the bottom. Unfortunately, it appears his alpine setup couldn’t stay on his feet and his ski popped off just as he went for it. Glad he didn’t get hurt. I’ve only skied […]
At last winter’s Outdoor Retailer, I got to fondle one of the new La Sportiva skis. While it seemed to have decent construction (made in the Movement ski factory, in Tunisia), it was sub 90mm at the waist, which honestly, doesn’t really get me jumping for joy. But when I heard they also had a […]
I was able to get by a few of the booths of the players in the avalanche safety game while at the Outdoor Retailer trade show yesterday. I’m keen to Ortovox products, but it’s always fun to see what other products are out there as well. The Ortovox S1+. My first stop was at Ortovox, […]
Black Diamond ski testing at Snowbird in December. Not only is Black Diamond now the title sponsor (along with Subaru, click here to read more) of the Freeskiing World Tour, it is stepping up it’s Power Series ski line-up for Fall of 2011 to meet the needs of hardcore skiers as well. With traditional sandwich […]
Thanks to Alpenglow Sports in Lake Tahoe for these photos. I received some Dynafit spy photos from Alpenglow Sports in Lake Tahoe via Faceplant yesterday and it looks like the company is going big and burly for the 2011-12 season with the new Radical Binding series. With stiffeners, dampeners, easier entry, a new crampon attachment […]
The cat’s meow in heal plates and cones. My busy holiday work schedule is just about wrapped up and I’m psyched to start getting a bit more free time to go skiing. (It just needs to warm up a little now.) In preparation for the rest of the ski season, I’ve been remounting my ski […]
Thank You Santa! Santa was a little late to the party this year, but I knew I had been a good boy last year and I was expecting a delivery. Thankfully, ye old Kris Kringle (disguised in a brown suit this year) didn’t let me down and delivered this tasty treat for my feet. Yes […]
I know many of you out there probably have quite the quiver of rando skis and maybe a few pairs of boots. I know I do. They range from a 5 lb/foot (ski, boot, binding) old-school Dynafit race setup, to a more than 10 lb Black Diamond/Dynafit hybrid. I ski on both setups quite often […]
With the holiday season upon us, I’ve been working a lot and getting a bit soft, so it’s natural to see a contraption like this and think a little. The Skizee seems to be the answer to the poor man’s snowmobile and to me, a lot easier to dig out when you get stuck. A […]
Well, we had so much fun with my last trip out of the closet and into the confession booth, that I figured I’d share another one of my dark secrets and let you deeper into the world of Randosteve. I got a pair of these around the middle of last last season and honestly, I’ve […]
Sometimes I get bored of energy bars, blocks and gels when I’m out skinning. Don’t get me wrong now, Probars and GU products still give me the kick-in-the-butt energy I need to rally. But occasionally, the Albertson’s bakery sale rack really does the trick at getting me psyched to fill up the tank and is […]
Check out this innovative concept called the Sky-Step binding (be patient and ignore the hard to swallow intro…the unveiling comes at the end of the video) which uses the pendulum effect to automatically adjust the height of your heel risers as the slope angle increase or decreases. This looks like a pretty cool design, if […]
Historically here in the Tetons, winter closures to protect wildlife habitat in Grand Teton National Park have started on December 15th. Area closures around and near the town of Jackson, mainly Forest Service land, start on December 1st. Advocates like the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance put out ads on the radio and in newspapers (do […]