Joe Risi and Randy Young were our secret shoppers for Summer OR 2014. Here’s a few of their finds.
From our OR veteran Joe Risi (photos by Joe Risi):
Workout fiend Joe was quickly drawn to the countrymen of his ancestors, Italians who run Ski Skett, a company specializing in roller ski production for off season conditioning. They are currently looking for distributors and hope to be in U.S. shops soon.
Ski Skett has designed a roller ski for uphill ski training.
The base is wide enough to fit a Dynafit binding toe piece.
Ratcheting wheel makes this roller ski especially suited for uphill training. It allows you to go uphill in a similar motion to skiing up a skin track. Parts are beautifully CNCed in Italy.
Fast Ascent pack by Solomon, inspired by mountain runner and mountaineer extraordinaire, Kílian Jornet, offers a unique access system. Available fall 2014.
20 liter Fast Ascent loaded up.
Access zipper is nestled in between back pads.
Fast Ascent swings around for quick access.
Klymit Inertia X-lite is a 6.1 oz sleeping pad, excellent for keeping your pack weight down or for the unexpected bivy in an airport.
The unique design is surprisingly comfortable.
Packs down almost as small as a smartphone.
Full size Klymit Inertia O Zone includes attached pillow.
Drink Tanks makes 64 oz stainless steel growlers with double wall vacuum insulation designed to not sweat your favorite brew.
The Keg Cap turns the Growler into a mini keg.
goTenna wirelessly connects smartphones, enabling you to text and share locations with anyone who has the device even if there’s no cell service or routers available. Also can shout out to see if there are other users within a several mile radius. The device connects to your phone using Bluetooth. Then you can communicate using a public radio frequency. Sold in pairs and requires no contract.
goTenna can be strapped onto backpack or waist belt.
Example of screen display.
Furoshiki is a new shoe by Vibram which can be used as a lightweight hut slipper. Under 250 gm for the pair. Unfortunately the upper is not waterproof and it’s expensive (MSRP about $140), but it is lightweight. Currently available in Boston at Vibram’s flagship store.
Vibram sole gives this slipper some grip.
Clever design makes a comfortable wrap, with a three size range, handy if your foot swells after a long ski tour.
Packs away in a small sack.
From WildSnow contributor and co-owner of Carbondale’s mountaineering hub, Cripple Creek Backcountry, Randy Young (photos by Randy Young):
olloclip: offers clip-on lenses for iPhones such as fisheye, wide-angle and macro. Will be available for Samsung phones soon. MSRP for Macro 3 in 1: $69.99.
Macro 3 in 1: 7x, 14x, 21x macro magnification would be handy in a snow pit for analyzing snow crystals.
Instafocus hood attachment eliminates flares and facilitates the correct focus.
Mobile Mummy: sleeping bag by Sierra Designs. MSRP depends on fill weight.
Arm holes and leg openings mean you don’t need to leave your cozy cocoon for early morning cups of coffee or late night jaunts to the latrine.
Men’s version is available now in Dry Down (Polyfiber synthetic coming spring 2015). Women’s version has more fill (Polyfiber synthetic) and slightly trimmer fit.
Backcountry Bed: zipperless bag. Nestle underneath a comfy down blanket. Lack of zipper saves weight and increases warmth. Available now in Dry Down 600, 800 fill, (850 available spring 2015) . Polyfiber synthetic. 47 degree or 33 degree, available spring 2015. Women’s version available now in 40 degree and 29 degree Polyfiber fill.
Insulated hand and arm pockets helps keep the blanket wrapped around you when you roll over. Hands free foot vent for hot feet.
Half sleeping pad sleeve, abs to shoulder, allows legs to move around freely.
LuminAID Solar Inflatable Light:
Inflated, the LuminAID lantern provides up to 15 hours of LED light.
Interesting stories are behind some of these innovative products. LuminAID founders Anna Stork and Andrea Sreshta studied design in graduate school. In 2011 they were unexpectedly caught in Japan’s devastating earthquake. Out of that experience came the goal of making portable lighting a part of the supplies sent for disaster relief aid. The pack and ship weight of 50 LuminAIDs equals that of 8 small conventional flashlights by volume. Since development, LuminAIDs have provided light in the wake of Hurricane Isaac in Haiti and Hurricane Sandy.
TomTom Runner Cardio: heart rate monitor built into a watch so you no longer need a chest strap. A number of companies are developing these. TomTom Runner Cardio comes with GPS. MSRP $269.
Easy to read large display.
Nice job boys!
21 comments
Lot’s of cool stuff! I like the mummy bag with arm holes. I’ve done that a few times with my normal mummy bag, but having arms would be a welcome upgrade.
According to one guru it works well for trips to the can. I’m trying not to picture that.
Sure is some interesting stuff, nice of wildsnow to bring it to us. The roller ski could really take off. I would like to see a video demo of Joe R going up and down that road in Marble.
“having arms would be a welcome upgrade” > Heh.
Seems like companies are knocking themselves out to come up with great lightweight gear.
Using that lens on my iPhone would be cool but the battery would cop out faster than usual taking photos in the cold. What they need next is a lightweight phone charger but that’s another gizmo, oh well. Thanks for the photos, I enjoyed your finds.
Sue, I put my iPhone in Airplane mode when I travel in the backcountry but I still carry an auxiliary battery that weights at least twice as much as the phone. I agree that a super lightweight charger would be awesome.
Sleeping bag looks like a less functional version of the exped dreamwalker, one of my favorite pieces of gear.
http://www.exped.com/usa/en/product-category/sleepingbags/dreamwalker-650-l
Lisa
My iPhone 5c loses GPS capability when in airplane mode so if using a map or tracking app (I have logged a lot of hours with GAIA GPS) then I have to keep battery use down by turning off Wifi, cell etc. I have an Anker supplemental battery that works well. At the show I saw a small Solio battery with built in solar panels that looks pretty good.
It is my understanding that Android phones do not lose GPS when in airplane mode. This would be good in my opinion. iOS 8 ??
@JB One iPhone hack for saving battery while using the GPS is to enable a pin code for locking your SIM card. This is pretty easy to do – search the web for instructions. So before heading into the backcountry, turn your phone off then on. It will ask you for the SIM pin but you can leave it locked. This will prevent the phone from searching for a cell signal when not in airplane mode. To unlock the SIM, go to airplane mode and back – it will ask you to unlock the SIM. A very inelegant solution I agree but it works well. I agree there should be a separate toggle for GPS, but that’s hardly a reason to suffer with a Droid phone 🙂
If I’m not mistaken, recent Android OS upgrade eliminated the GPS toggle. I’ve spent a couple of hours trying to figure this out, typical and super annoying. Lou
You’re mistaken Lou. There are multiple gps toggle widgets, or you can just go to settings to turn location services on/off, in 4.4.4
Litho, thanks, I’ll check the apps/wigets. Too bad Android eliminated the built-in toggle. Problem with using “location services” is I want to run just GPS and no cell location, to test GPS apps. I used to just turn of the location services and toggle the GPS option on. Now, with no GPS toggle, I get to take more time out of my day to install software. Yeah, probably just a few minutes but it all adds up to quite a bit of extra time fooling with all this stuff. Lou
I do not get what is special about the Ski Skett.
There are a number of classic stride roller skis out there that
you can mount a tech toe on . Some with speed reducers and brakes.
I use V2.
Bill,
Ski Skett’s ratcheting system prevents the roller ski from going backwards so you can move uphill in a sliding stride. Can you do that with the V2?
Lisa,
Jenex v2 (made in the USA)have a number of models with and without ratchet I use the aero 150 combi model with outrigger wheels for support mounted with dynafit toe piece only.
Skike have a new model V8 lift which means you can use your own shoes. I’ve yet to try it but have the previous skate model V07 which is pretty good for skating.
Outside of models, manufacturer s etc I feel this is a mostly overlooked area of very specific training for the uphill element of our sport. With an enhanced balance challenge (on two wheels), identical movement patterns and a cardio blast! viel spass!
Arnie, thanks so much for the info. I checked out Jenex’s website and was impressed by the story of Carolyn and Santi Ocariz roller skiing across the U.S. Excellent cross training and viel spass for sure!
Rollerskiing is great dry land training. Not sure I’d go so far as mounting a tech binding though, as what do you use for a summer boot, a stripped down Alien? Sounds like more garage clutter to me.
Any of the classic style roller skis have the ratcheting, or one way wheel so you can push straight back like in a classic stride. I found to get a good workout without a substantial hill you need speed reducers to create drag. Brakes are another item I do not want to go without. I really enjoy it. A lot easier on the body than running.
Scott… my wife couldn’t agree with you more!
Bill…I’m with you. Luckily I’m not short on hills. I tend to work the up and either run down (short hills-multi repeats) or drop my bike off at the top (for a long effort)
All of the roller ski makers have classic models that have a ratcheting wheel. All or most all have different speed wheels. Since classic nordic skiing is typically more gliding than is uphill skinning, using the slowest wheel would probably best replicate a skin track workout. Slow wheels also make the downhill less terrifying (not unterrifying, just less).
The stability of the three wheel ski may more closely mimic a wide ski with skins, but I doubt it is necessary.
Note that pavement is hard and roller ski injuries are not uncommon. I won’t do it, but I am old and fraidy. My kids spend a lot of time of them, and have the scars to show for it.
I use V2s for roller skate ski training (handle rough roads better) and http://www.niflheimnordic.com/rollerskis for skimo training (racheting wheel and robust speed reducers)
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