Part crystal ball, part whishlist, all in fun. Obehwhanskinoobie at your service, and awaiting your own visions of the great ski touring beyond.

Lou models 1955 high style onesie, will the look return in 2020?
1. Look for new electronic capacitor airbag packs to gradually become ubiquitous. They work. Yeah, I alluded in my 2019 prognostication list that this would happen soon. I’m extending the prediction.
2. The Dynafit Speed Nose boot toe will go away. Slowly, yes, but it will. A well known industry insider is said to have researched the popularity and market for the Speed Nose, and concluded that selling the idea is something like selling a certain meat product in a certain holy city.
3. Onesies will not come back into style, though I’m trying to be a role model.
4.The future of clothing? Yes, we will continue to wear it — that is unless we’re microdosing at Esalen. Thus, the breathability wars will continue unabated, with all manner of “real world” tests being devised by every keyboard pounding legit gear-blogger on this planet. My take? It all works pretty good unless you are super high-output and produce above average amounts of perspiration. In that case, there is nothing like nothing, meaning a synthetic T between you and the pure crisp air of planet Earth.
5. Survival odds for avalanche burials have likely been improving, though proving this statistically could be a bear, as the statistical sample is a moving target. Allow me to predict this perceived trend will continue, due to a variety of factors: Airbag packs; shoveling strategy; rescue education; better post-avalanche emergency medical care. This does not mean we are off the hook, as death by “injuries incompatible with life” will continue. On that note don’t look at airbag packs to prevent trauma unless they enclose you in a bubble. Though there may be a consensus rising that an airbag created airpocket could be a life-saver if you do get entombed despite your jolly red balloon.
6. Freeride is not where I hang my hat, and neither do most WildSnow readers. But let’s not ignore the guys clomping around with 4.76272 kilos strapped to each foot. The weight training is good for them, and they sure look nice coming downhill. Also, this is the growth area in the industry — if for no other reason than it’s become stylish to sport ski touring bindings and boots on the lifts, not to mention that walk-mode boots work better for bar hopping. I predict the growth will continue, and you’ll see companies such as Scarpa and Dynafit vying for their share. Though competing with the likes of Dalbello, Nordica, Rossignol etcetera is rumored to have caused hair loss among the stalwart “touring” company leadership.
7. More Freeride thoughts. Yes, you’ll see at least one more binding along the lines of the Salomon/Atomic Shift. I continue to be amazed at how innovative that thing is. That said, if you want something lighter for freeride, it is a confusing world out there. For example, I’m of the opinion that the Fritschi Tecton is a Freeride binding that yields just about the best combo of features I can imagine. Validating that, the 2020 Skialper Buyer Guide does include Tecton as a Freeride binding. I’ve been working on translating a few Skialper excerpts from Italian to English, following is their Tecton take.
Fritschi Tecton 12 Review — Excerpt from Skialper 2020 Buyer Guide
“This is a true, complete, very studied hybrid* solution, without unnecessary complications: the boot is attached to tech pins at the front, and behind you get an alpine-type heel that retracts for the ascent, and releases the shoe simply by acting on the large operating lever. The features of Tecton make it pleasant to a potentially very large audience: the only specific boot feature required is the front tech fittings. The toe unit is the same as that of Vipec 12, which allows lateral release on the basis of the chosen adjustment between 5 and 12 in both uphill and downhill mode (safety regarding avalanches during the ascent). The two heel climbing lifts seem too high, but the drop is reduced considering the higher than average height of the front pins. Among the three hybrid Freeride solutions (Trab, Marker, Salomon/Atomic), Tecton seems to us the most advisable to a non-specialized public, as it provides such a complete range of features.” [The term “hybrid” was probably first used here at WildSnow, to describe a ski touring binding that uses a combination of “tech” boot fittings that conflicts with the informal standard of the industry — nice to see the word in use elsewhere.] (Translated from the Italian by Google and Luigi.)
8. Despite my chanting “Tech 2.0” over the past decade, I don’t see it happening in 2020. But I still predict it’ll happen. Who will be the innovator bold enough to go where no ski company has gone? So far, that honor goes to Trab for getting close. Some say they are indeed Tech 2.0 with their TR2 system. I’m not ready to go that far, though they do deserve honorable mention. Also note that the fastest growing segment in touring is not the lightweight side, but rather the heavy Freeride category, so I predict you’ll (sadly, in my view) see most of the binding innovation in that space.
9. The magic three zeros. We’ve seen 1,000 gram skis, 1,000 gram boots…now look for entire “resort uphilling” setups for under a $1,000. You can already do that, of course, if you shop carefully for mix of new and used gear. But I’m talking package deals — brand new stuff. Along with Freeride, uphilling is the other growth area in ski touring gear, so seeing this should come as no surprise. More than a few times I’ve been evesdropping on a ski shop conversation, and could tell the exasperated clerk would have loved to say the words: “Ultraski has a complete package for uphilling for about a grand, we recommend it, we can have you out the door in two hours.”
10. Cripple Creek Backcountry will not open another bricks&sticks store. Watch this space, as we’ll have a big announcement about that at the beginning of April.
18 comments
Hey Lou
Happy new year to you and all crew.
Want to say thanks for all the years of this great blog.
Thanks Bill!
Happy New Year Lou,
I too want to thank you for this website. It’s been a constant source of inspiration and very useful information.
Thinking back to our crew discovering this site in the mid nineties and consequently purchasing Dynafit binders…
On onesies with hoods, I’m in solidarity.
” The Dynafit Speed Nose boot toe will go away. Slowly, yes, but it will. A well known industry insider is said to have researched the popularity and market for the Speed Nose, and concluded that selling the idea is something like selling a certain meat product in a certain holy city ”
At least the TLT 7 & TLT 8 users were not likely to try stuffing those boots into a freeride binding, but last year some free ridey type skiers were giving the Pro a miss because it did not fit the skis they already owned so inspite of people liking them they couldn’t afford an entire new setup
On-line at a couple of big webz up here the Hoji Pro is readily available in all sizes while the Free is sold out so people are already voting with their wallets, I bet the Hoji Pro will be heavily discounted by late spring and might go away faster than you think .
From a design perspective Dynafit took a silk purse and made it into a sow’s ear and in the words of a local young jewish kid ” thats like dead pig man “
Thanks Lou for this site, and Happy New Year.
Too bad , Skialper won’t produce an English, online version again. An excellent publication, well worth the 10 Euros I paid for a few years.
Didnt realize id left such a screed yesterday ?
Surely someone knows whassup with the Creekin’ Cripplers? Ifn they arent opening another real store than perhaps they’re going to a web only model? The Amazon of ski touring? Skimo.com watch out.
In regards to yesterdays comments on overly warm peoples perhaps i should add that i have used a very breathable gridded fleece in the past while uphilling but almost always found it still too warm, hence the ferrosi. While those newer hybrid pieces with insulation on the front and stretch woven on the back and sleeves look nice and are prob ideal for many people, they’re just too warm for folks like me. And forget any kind of midlayer with anything resembling a hardface. What im talking about in terms of vests is stretchwoven softshell with no membrane or maybe a very light gridded fleece if its colder.
So who has any ideas i might not be aware of?
Ive wondered if an oldschool style wool vest like a Filson except with a zipper might do.
Whoops wrong thread?. Can above comment get moved?
Hey Lou, great article (as usual)! Quick note on point 9 – here in Europe the chain Decathlon (value/quality outdoor equipment super store chain offering own value brand plus wider selection of established brands) is selling resort uphilling sets for the equivalent of $450-$550 depending on the set. So watch this space, I’m sure that is going to make its way across the pond in no time.
Your comment in #5 about being enclosed in a bubble reminded me of this scene,…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKqdgvsbfFQ
Art imitates life imitates art???
I was excited to sign up for – and pay for – the English online version of the 2020 Skialper buyer’s guide, but only the ’18-’19 is up. I’ve tried to contact Skialper via their website and Facebook pages, but so far no response at all to any of my queries. I’m pretty disappointed as the had great reviews in previous versions, but I feel like i’ve been taken for a ride this year. I’d even be happy to have access to their Italian-lanuguage version and use online translation tools, but my login does not work on that site, either. If you have any contacts there, please let me know as I’m pretty frustrated.
Hi Christian. My understanding is that this year there is only an Italian print copy–No English, no online. I bought the Italian version. It’s well worth it, and really nice to have in hard copy. Their best work for the last few years, I would say.
Thanks, Bruno! Can you let me know if they reviewed the Dalbello Lupo Air 130? That’ll help my decision whether to get the print version. Frustrating that they are still selling subscriptions for out-of-date info.
Hi Christian, Bruno is correct, no English version online or printed. I’m in direct contact, they told me it was hard to come up with the money for either, but they said they might try for English again next year, at least online. Near as I can tell, there is also no online Italian PDF version either. That’s the rub for all of us, as the PDF isn’t that tough to translate, though can be time consuming. I’m having to use Google OCR on camera images of the pages, then once converted to text I then use Google Translate, then editing. I kind of enjoy it, but only in smaller doses. Lou
And yes they review Dalbello Lupo Air 130. In their Freetouring category. FYI, their “Boot of the Year — Freetouring” is the Hoji Pro Tour. They spec the Dalbello as a 100mm last, Hoji as 103.5, both lasts measured in size 27. Lou
Hi Christian–Bruno here. Sorry about the delay–I’m in Switzerland, so there’s a time difference. I lent my copy of the Skialper guide to a friend, and I won’t get it back for a couple of days, but when I do, I’ll send you what’s written about the Lupo Air 130, including the flex test information. But I highly recommend buying a copy…with a few Google translations here and there the graphics made sense.
Happy NYE! I love this blog! Do you guys know deepl.com – it works quite well for translating text.
Gentlemen – the solution to your Skialper problems…..and most other ones too, is simply to learn to speak Italian. It will improve your life tremendously, as well as the cut of your clothing.
I feel compelled to point out that, good life quality and good tailoring, are pretty much one and the same.
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