A few highlights from the Outdoor Retailer show floor.
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| First stop, get the doctrine on BD’s new boots. Here, Black Diamond PR guy Penn Newhard takes us through the line. They’ve got three AT boots. Factor is the heavy duty version, with “Method” being the softer boot which is also available in a women’s lasted version called “Shiva.” That’s old news now. The interesting part is we are told they’ll indeed have lighter weight AT boots 12 months from now. As the present line is quite nice, we’re looking forward to the less weighty versions. |
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| I swear, BD colors their skis so they’ll look good on their rack at the OR show. Two new skis this year. Megawatt is a huge monster with reverse camber tip and tail, while the Guru is Megawatt’s opposite image, being a tiny Euro plank for traditionalists. As mentioned in previous blog, Louie tested the Megawatt and found it quite effective, albeit perhaps too floaty at times. |
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| We liked these. Flipgripz, Shoes with fold-away street crampons. You just flip out and rotate the fitting on the sole, and walk ice with confidence. Reverse and you won’t ruin your mom’s house floor. |
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| A trip over to Zeal yielded their lightweight frameless sunglasses. Euro style? |
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| This water bottle from Hydrapak is innovative. You load the smaller cartridge with athletic gel, then depending on how you open the top with your teeth you have your choice of gel or water. |
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| Backcountry Access showed a Naxo NX22 that’s pretty much the same binding as last year, only with the addition of a second set of legs under the foot, configured in a wider stance. This is said to make the binding more torsionally rigid. We feel that might be the case in alpine mode, but what about when you’re touring and trying to control the ski with your heel up? Won’t make any difference for that. Torsional is an issue for many skiers, but let’s just let that sleeping dog continue to snooze for now…
Really, in my opinion BCA is largely about beacons, specifically the famous Tracker. They’re showing the new Tracker 2, with features such as “real time” signal (you don’t get pauses in the readings as you search), an improved search mode switch, and joy, a slightly thinner profile. Available next winter after extensive testing. I also liked what BCA is doing with their shovels. They continue to sell some of the lightest and most nicely designed aluminum shovels on the market, even going to the point of anodizing rather than painting as doing so saves about an ounce of weight. Their “companion” has a blade specifically shaped for shear and compression tests. It’s no longer sold with an integrated probe stored in the handle, but one could be installed in the fixed length version. |
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| We did a quick visit to Garmont for a glance at their new overlap cuff beef boots. Our take after we meet with Garmont tomorrow. |
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| Are we in Vegas or Utah? You be the judge. |
13 comments
“As mentioned in previous blog, Louie tested the Megawatt and found it quite effective, albeit perhaps too floaty at times.”
Too floaty? Even my Sumos at 120 underfoot don’t fit that description. I guess that although I subscribe to “Life’s a mountain, not a beach”, in reality I love the feeling of surf. It’s all about float for this boat.
Lou- With so many developements in the AT and Tele Boot arena, I’m looking forward to more boot comparos! Seems like a lot of the manufacturers are going with an overlap design instead of the traditional tongue design. It’ll be interesting to see how all these new designs play out. Not that I’m in the market for a new boot anyways, as I’m extremely happy with my new Dynafit Zzero PU! Any word on BD’s tele boot/binding set-up (the Holy Grail) that was suppose to give the NTN a run for it’s money?
Thanks for keeping us informed!
-Marc.
Lou,
Any chance you could get some photos of Atomic’s new splitboard? Their binding attachment system is supossed to be totally different than anything currently available. It would be interesting to see the new developments in the splitboard market.
Thanks,
Sol.
The Naked Cowboy is from Times Square. Who brought him out to the OR show?
Thanks to the Dawson Trio. Enjoy the reports. Keep them coming. Agree with lou about AT. Seeing more AT than Tele here after few years with tele on the rise and even some diehard teleskier swithing over. The few… the proud….. the thigh tired.
Lou,
The Devore creation you’re modeling looks a little Romeo-esque, don’t ya think? Appreciate your findings from the show.
Colby, Romeo?
as in Steve.
ya know, w/ the goofy ball on top and all.
Oh yeah… hey, I’ve got my public image to consider (grin).
“The Naked Cowboy is from Times Square. Who brought him out to the OR show?”
Ex-Officio brought him out from the look of it. I’m sure the ExOff employees (and everyone at the surrounding vendors) wanted to kill him by noon. It’s a shame Buck wasn’t the booth next door… 😉
I still haven’t heard what the dimensions are on the new Guru from BD. Are they a little wider than the Cult? I would be interested to know a little more about this new ski.
David, I finally got ’em:
Dimensions of the BD Guru are:
162cm> 114-75-101
170 cm> 118-75-104
178 cm> 120-75-106
FYI, PSA, ETC…..
……..there’s new beta on 08/09 skis from various manufacturers on the telemarkskier.com website…..
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