Monthly Archive for January, 2012

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Garmont Masterlite gets Revamped

Published on January 23, 2012 by a ok.

It’s no secret at Garmont or here at Tetons and Wasatch that the original incarnation of the lightweight Garmont Masterlite ski boot suffered from some flaws. However, version 2.0 of the boots was on display at the Outdoor Retailer show. It appears that Garmont has addressed most of the former, common areas of complaint by making substantial changes to the updated version of the boots.

Garmont has substantially reworked the original Masterlite ski boot.

Of largest importance to me, the weak ski/walk tab has definitely been replaced with the beefier version Garmont came up with in response to multiple boot breakages in field testing. No more Continue reading ‘Garmont Masterlite gets Revamped’

Located in 04 Gear I Use, 12 Random and Industry News 2 Comments Tags: .

Lake Blanche

Published on January 23, 2012 by a ok.

With avalanche danger pushing into the extreme realm following a deluxe delivery of some sorely needed pow pow, Travis was open to my suggestion of relatively safe, low angle powder turns on Sunday. But where to find ‘em? If you’ve been paying attention, you know that conditions are about as dangerous as it gets out there right now.

We headed up Mill B to Lake Blanche, encountering a few snowshoers along the way. We quickly caught and passed each party, simply because snowshoes aren’t nearly as effective for crossing snow covered ground as skis are. That left us breaking trail the rest of the way to the lake.

Ah, the old 'skinning by a stream' photo. They have no streams at Brighton. A fine change of scenery..

All I can say about that is that it’s most excellent to be able to break trail again. It’s been Continue reading ‘Lake Blanche’

Located in 11 Perspective and Wasatch 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

‘Wasatch versus the World’ Race

Published on January 22, 2012 by a ok.

The world was invited; several players from Colorado, one guy from Idaho, and the usual assortment of Wasatch characters showed up. (pretty good for a free race series put together on a budget of .. of .. well, about three winner’s pies per race, usually). ..And the out-of-towners pretty much handed the locals their collective butts, walking away with the first, second, and third place finishes. Guess Wasatch skiers need to work a bit more on speeding it up. And that’s the basic point behind the Wasatch Citizen Race series. Next race comes up on Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 at 7 p.m. Will you be there?

Brief details:

  • Four of us headed up early to put in a skin track since we’d had this unusual and quite rare white substance fall out of the sky overnight.
  • When finished, we stood in the parking lot waiting for everyone to show up. A few minutes before race start time of 7 am, no one had showed. For a second we thought it was a bust, then realized that it was more likely that everyone was crawling very slowly up the canyon behind someone driving quite slowly. A minute or two later, the procession arrived, led by a slow truck.
  • I counted right around 30 racers; not bad for a snowy, end-of-week workday.
  • Lost track Continue reading ‘‘Wasatch versus the World’ Race’
Located in 12 Random and Wasatch 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Outdoor Retailer Returns

Published on January 19, 2012 by a ok.

Days like today, tomorrow, and the next really test one’s commitment levels. The first snows of the season to potentially offer up low angle powder turns (high angle turns could be suicide, considering the snowpack) or powder-on-groomer turns – without a massive number of rocks – are on offer. The only question that remains is “Go to Outdoor Retailer as planned, or skip out and get some of that pow that’s been so rare this season?”

For perhaps the first time in its history, the Winter 2012 Outdoor Retailer Show’s arrival coincided with the arrival of the first large snow storm of the year. High in the mountains, bombs went off at ski areas conducting control work, avalanches rolled down, and powder rabid hordes waited in line for the lifts to fire up.

Meanwhile, in the city, any Continue reading ‘Outdoor Retailer Returns’

Located in 14 Pictorials and Industry News 2 Comments Tags: .

Slaying the Toe-Deep

Published on January 18, 2012 by a ok.

Jon Swain and I slayed the toe-deep fresh snow today, surfing that fresh inch of snow mercilessly. This, while watching the wind blow the majority of the flakes towards Kansas. Does it get much more sick than that this year? We may know that answer soon. It was invigorating to finally see some snowflakes falling. Hopefully the wind leaves some on the ground…

It..

..doesn’t..

..get..

..much..

..better. Whoops. Slipped one in from last year. Can the Wasatch deliver?

 

 

Located in 14 Pictorials and Wasatch 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Dynafit TLT 5 Mountain versus Garmont Masterlite

Published on January 17, 2012 by a ok.

Lightweight, backcountry specific ski boots are all the rage for those who power themselves up the hills. Backcountry specific? Yeah. Think excellent ankle articulation, tech binding inserts, a minimal number of buckles which open and close quickly, and rubber soles suitable for clambering around on rock and ice.

In the non-carbon, might-last-longer-than-a-season-without-breaking variety, there are several models available for consideration – the Scarpa Alien, the Dynafit TLT 5 Mountain, and the Garmont Masterlite come readily to mind. Haven’t used the Aliens yet, but I‘ve got enough time in on the other two to make a meaningful comparison of the pros and cons of each.

The Dynafit TLT 5 Mountain in tour mode.

The Garmont Masterlite and its unique spiderweb 'I-beam' design.

Can’t decide which boot is for you? Continue reading ‘Dynafit TLT 5 Mountain versus Garmont Masterlite’

Located in 13 Gear Testing 4 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .