Not-Super-Scientific, but Cool Piece on Whether Fat Skis Increase the Risk of Injury

ESPN Arty

Just saw this and thought it was interesting. I kinda take it with a grain of salt except for what Brad Holmes said about the “fast” part. I agree with that. In my experience, speed + big tele boots +Hammerheads with the six-screw toe + Volkl Explosivs with a metal topsheet = Bad News Bears. A trip to the operating room and some percocet for the trouble. YEE HAWWWWW!!!

Interesting Blog Post on the Decline in Valley Farm Production Last Year

Blog post

Full report

The blogger makes some very good points.

I’m going to start putting up more interesting water news.

Greg Hill on Gear and “Shredding”

It’s been forever since I put something up, so here we go…

For best results, watch in HD:

I <3 my Gamma MX.

I need a new hardshell though, just to vary it up.

Brilliance In The Backcountry

Thanks to a post in TGR’s Slide Zone sub-forum and the CAIC for this video of what NOT to do in the backcountry:

Lucky schmuck.

Off The IR List!

I had my follow-up appointment with the podiatrist today and had the pin (which I, of course, and much to the chagrin of my beloved, saved) pulled out of my big toe. I watched. Damn thing was like two inches long. Anyway, the conversation with the boss went like this.

Me: “So when can I get back to being active?”
Podiatrist: “Today.”

And like that, I was happy.

Initial Review: DynaDuke Plates

So fairly soon after I broke my leg last February, I decided that I wanted to switch from telemark to alpine for at least a season or two. Several things led me to this conclusion:

1. I wanted a releasable binding.
2. I didn’t want to deal with fitting new boots a la NTN.
3. I’m a pretty decent tele skier if compared to half the flailers I see at various Tahoe-area resorts, but I still felt a bit held back by the equipment. If I wasn’t a weekend warrior, things might be different.
4. I wanted Dynafits, and I couldn’t afford to swing two pairs of boots.

I sold my leg-breaking equipment in the spring and purchased several new pieces of equipment. These included: Black Diamond Factors with both sets of soles, Movement Goliath Sluffs, and Marker Dukes.

The months slowly crawled by.

In the fall, jondrums on TGR opened up the list for his DynaDuke swap plates. I was first on the list for two pairs.

They were delivered in December. They are beautiful.

I purchased mounting supplies.

I ordered Dynafits. I got the white ones just for kicks because they were the same price and I had the option.

This is the result:

Mounting the plates was super easy. These were my first mounts, other than an XC mount or two in high school, and they went very smoothly. The only issues I ran into were conflicts with previous mounts.

In advertising the plates, Jon mentioned that the wider mount pattern wouldn’t interfere with previous mounts… although I’m pretty sure he had only checked common alpine/AT bindings. However, my Sluffs were previously mounted for Look demos and there was a conflict. Unfortunately, I was in a hurry when I was initially drilling those so I didn’t notice the conflict until I’d already drilled a couple. I had to core out the problem holes and put inserts in. No big deal once I figured out what I wanted to do. On the Praxis, I previously had 22Designs Hammerheads (tele bindings) mounted at 101. I wanted to remount at 102, but there was a conflict, so I stayed at 101 to get the desired spacing. These were minor issues, but I wanted to note them.

All-in-all, I am super satisfied with these things. They made my switchover from tele much easier, and made me learn how to mount things myself, which will save me a bunch of cash in the long run. Mounting skis also provided some much-needed therapy when I still can’t ski in the midst of what is turning into an epic El Nino year in Tahoe.

Buy them here.

If you buy a set or two my advice would be to get a larger bottle of Loctite, and a nicer long-shafted hex tool.

This review will be followed-up with a short ski review (in April?) when I can actually get my left foot in a boot. I don’t anticipate having any problems though because it seems Jon has really done a bang-up job and I haven’t seen any complaints from the hardcore (at least on the internet ) skiers of TGR.

CMH/Arcteryx Video Contest

To win a heli-assisted touring trip with Greg Hill and lots of Dead Bird gear from America’s Hat…

Great Old Film On The 1952 Donner Pass Train Stranding

Very much worth watching. Hoping for a winter like that, after I’m healed up.

Recommended Ski And Avalanche Book List

I haven’t posted in a while.  I’m planning on posting a brief review of the Black Diamond Orbit lantern, but I haven’t really felt like it yet. Since this is November and everybody is jonesing for snow, I thought I’d post a list of my favorite ski and avy info books. Warning: The list is somewhat California-specific.

I put these roughly in the order I think one should own them, with the first book being a “must-own,” and so on…

Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills (Various authors)

This is “the Bible” of mountaineering. FOTH includes basically all one needs to know about eating, sleeping, travelling, working, recreating, and staying alive in the mountains.  From what clothing to wear to how to make certain climbing moves and set anchors in rock, snow, or ice to avalanche avoidance to predicting mountain weather to group dynamics and expedition planning, this book has it all in at least a basic level of detail.  Now in its seventh addition, this book should be on every mountain person’s shelf.

Thoughts On Ski Packs

So I’m looking at buying a new day-touring pack this season. I’m basically decided on either the Osprey Kode 30 or 38, or the Osprey Variant 37. Here are my thoughts that I just put into a post on TTips (on what I want out of an ideal BC pack) that I thought I’d repost over here:

“Backpanel access isn’t necessarily a dealbreaker for me, but it’s a major plus. To me it’s more helpful on smaller packs when I’m lapping something and not skinning for long periods of time without stopping.