G3 Alpinist Splitboard Climbing Skin Review
With the aid of a belay and the G3 Alpinist Splitboard Skins Jonathan Cooper crosses a bergschrund and continues to ascend a slope near Haines, Alaska.
Climbing skins for skis are no new topic here on Wildsnow. Splitboard skins, on the other hand, need some attention. The splitboard specific addition to the Alpinist Skin collection by G3 combines everything you’ve heard about their combo of grip to glide with the innovative tip and tail clip for offset split-skis. Read more backcountry skiing
Backcountry Skiing News Roundup – Spring 2013
Last spring the Independence Pass Colorado backcountry skiing was good for a few weeks. It starts this coming Thursday when the road opens. Potluck barbecue planned for this coming Saturday May 26, rain day Sunday.
Oh lordie! I should have been doing more of these. We get so distracted by all the gear and all the skiing. News? What news?
Over on the West, Sierra snowpack reports will become more accurate with more data gathered by aircraft. It’s indeed mind blowing how much information we backcountry skiers now have with steadily better and more available weather reports, snow surveys, avalanche forecasts and more. When we were celebrating Matt Kamper’s 54 fourteeners a few days ago, someone mentioned what it must have been like back in my day, going after some mountains with little more than general aviation weather and frequently inaccurate air mass predictions. The info is so good now, if you know what you’re doing you can check out NOAA weather for nearly any place in our fair land, interpret their synopsis and discussion and come up with a very effective take on when you’ll get a weather window. Only glitch is when the air masses shift faster or slower than predicted, but that usually only affects you if you’re trying to push either side of an obvious window. Read more backcountry skiing
Plum Recommending Replacement of Binding Top Plate Screws
I just heard from the Plum ski binding rep for North America. He says there have been some durability problems with the top plate screws (see photos below) in late model 2012/2013 (sold in North America Nov. 1, 2012 to Jan. 10, 2013) Plum bindings. Some of our readers alluded to this in previous Plum blog post comments.
To remedy this, Plum is not doing a recall but rather providing replacement top plate screws free of charge. The replacement process is simple. Read more backcountry skiing
Trab Freedom Backcountry Ski – Quiver Arrow
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I don’t know what they are putting in the water in Bormio, but whatever, Ski Trab should keep using their secret chemical to mix their Kool-Aid. Ski Trab makes skis of unparalleled craftsmanship, excellent weight, high quality materials and polished finish. But mainly they ski downhill incredibly well.
Trab Freedom backcountry ski - 2013-14
I recently spent a couple of days on the Freedom, a new ski for next season. Freedom has traditional camber with dimensions of 125/90/112. Somewhat old school, but still a current sweet-spot for ski mountaineering planks.
My first day involved a quick skin for a few runs in spring corn. My second day consisted of a few laps of touring on the backside of Aspen Mountain with my beautiful wife followed by some runs down the fabled slopes of Ajax. Conditions were 3-4″ of new snow fallen on everything from baby-butt smooth to hard and variable underneath. The conditions changed throughout the day as the clouds parted and the sun and warm temps had their way with the snow. Read more backcountry skiing
Congratulations Carl Dowdy and Matt Kamper, Skiing 54 Fourteeners!
HUGE congratulations to two individuals who recently completed skiing all 54 Colorado 14,000 foot peaks!
Matt Kamper at the summit of Snowmass Mtn, 5/15/2013 his last fourteener ski of the 54. Click images to enlarge.
Vail ER doctor Matt Kamper got done yesterday, with Snowmass as his last hit. He cheated by taking Jordan White with him, but we’ll ignore that since I’ve enjoyed the “Jordan Factor” myself (grin). Besides, Jordan claims Kamper put in most of the booter and left him in the dust. Apparently the guy was pretty motivated, this being the capstone on his multi-year 14er project. Matt is 52 years old, making him the oldest guy to have skied them all. Jordan keeps a better count than I do. He says Matt is the eleventh person to complete the 54. Still a pretty rarefied fraternity. Read more backcountry skiing
