Tag Archive for 'Black Diamond'

Backcountry Film Festival at Brewvies

Published on January 17, 2011 by a ok.

Typical January thaw have you feeling blue? How about this prescient line from the Utah Avalanche Center today: It’s a complete mess out there. With rain having fallen to fairly high elevations yesterday, and cooling coming down the pipe, there’s sure to be some slick (spicy and icy!) riding in Utah over the next few days.

If that’s all a bit much to handle, take a break from marginal conditions with a trip to SLC’s Brewvies on Thursday, January 20, 2011, to have a libation as well as to drink in a handful (there’s 6) of compelling films about human powered adventures. We’ll just overlook the notion that some of these films were made possible by airplane, since the reality is that even the most environmentally friendly folks typically take four wheels to the trailhead.. At least they ‘planepooled.’ That was efficient.

Eco concerns aside, the movie lineup is as rad as your hand-knit hat:

Deeper – Festival cut. Not the whole TGR movie, but the essentials.. Airplanes were used to make this film, but no helicopters. That’s different.

Desert River – Alaskan skiing. Always nice to watch.

Whitebark Warrior – A chronicle of the decline of the high alpine whitebark pine trees, as well as efforts to save them.

Australis – Antarctic skiing. Human powered plus airplanes and boats. Good times.

TELEvision – Someone has to represent the one snow sports segment that is seeing a precipitous decline in gear sales when everyone else is seeing an increase: telemarking. They might be calling it Black Sheep Vision by next year. Watch it before the bindings turn into Dynafits and the skiers ride a little higher above the snow.

Cross Country Snowboarding – A comic mockumentary. Brace yourself.

A bit of everything, with something for everyone. All that’s left are the drinks, the star presence, a few speeches, and a raffle. If you’re not familiar with Brewvie’s, you can at least take a hint from the name – yeah, they sell beer to accompany the movies shown. It’s a little hint of that European Genius right here in Salt Lake City, Utah.

7:30pm January 20th, at Brewvies Cinema Pub: 677 South, 200 West.

Admission is $10.

$8 pitchers from Rooster’s Brewing.

There’s a massive raffle of swag.

Show up early for this madhouse event, the sixth annual Backcountry Film Festival!

This tour has been traveling for some time now, but to check if it’s slated to come to your town, check out the remaining Festival Dates and Locations.

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Homicide Chute

Published on December 28, 2010 by a ok.

Skiing today was, for the most part, survival skiing. Another phrase people use to describe these conditions is ‘a series of linked recoveries.’ Between frequently airborne turns, skis met very firm, icy conditions. There was also plenty of avalanche debris from days past, which left a deposit of frozen chunder balls covering the middle section of the day’s objective. I’m not sure too many people on the planet ski these sorts of conditions smoothly.

Maybe it’s the combined south western and southern aspects of Homicide Chute – two aspects that are often hard to catch in good conditions in the Wasatch – but this was my first time down the murderously named line. Fortunately, Andy was also up to the challenge of skiing conditions that were far from mouth watering. And it was a heinous, near homicidal affair. Glare ice lined the chokes between several exceedingly narrow rock bands. Sidestepping ensued. I was grateful to have a Black Diamond Whippet in my hand, and used it several times to provide an extra bit of hold in tricky sections. An 18 – 24” crown lined the width of the Homicide Chute, about halfway down the doglegged, upper section, evidencing the avalanche that had torn free, whose debris was invisible from above.

When conditions are variable, sometimes the best move is to throw down some hop turns. Andy mid-turn on Little Superior.

Fortunately, Homicide Chute isn’t Continue reading ‘Homicide Chute’

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A Broken Fritschi Diamir Binding

Published on October 30, 2010 by a ok.

Coyle skinning the ridge.

A broken Fritschi binding screwed up the ski outing on Friday, as the day’s partner, Andy Coyle, suffered a broken binding screw that resulted in a hike down to the truck after about a dozen turns. I’ve used Fritschi’s in the past, although not since I joined the biblical Paul – who was apparently converted on the road to Damascus – with a full blown conversion of my own. Still, I never had the slightest issue with my Diamir’s functionality, and it surprised me to find that one section of the binding (the heel retention unit) is held in place with only one screw. I don’t think there’s a way to break a solitary screw on a Dynafit binding and have it ruin your day. Perhaps the solitary lateral DIN screw could break, but I suspect it’s not subject to large binding forces. Musings aside, my tiny spare parts and tool bag Continue reading ‘A Broken Fritschi Diamir Binding’

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Turning Back and Walking Away from a Ski Descent

Published on May 28, 2010 by a ok.

In my ski life, I have walked off of a few choice routes, deeming them unsafe for turns at that time. It’s always a tough call to make, as, putting in some effort to get up a mountain to ski a line, it’s hard to have it within grasp and deny oneself. It’s sort of a ‘kid in a candy store’ phenomenon, except in this case, the kid has eyes for only one particular piece of candy, the kid has walked uphill eight hours in the rain to get to the candy store, and now the kid declares that candy made with high fructose corn syrup won’t pass muster, as the negative health implications are too large. This kind of denial is the most healthy sort. The don’t-die-in-an-avalanche game is best played with a healthy dose of skepticism in mind at all times.

It may be a combination of luck plus Continue reading ‘Turning Back and Walking Away from a Ski Descent’

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A Dynafit Conversion Story

Published on May 22, 2010 by a ok.

For me, the biggest surprise out of the recent headline that Black Diamond Equipment Ltd. is going public, was that the company involved wasn’t Dynafit. If there is one company which has revolutionized the ability of folks to get high into the mountains quickly, it is Dynafit. Light and Fast, and Light is Right are the two Continue reading ‘A Dynafit Conversion Story’

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The Black Diamond Whippet Could Save Your Life

Published on May 18, 2010 by a ok.

I recently wrote about the Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd Whippet, describing a dozen uses for this handy ski pole design besides its primary function of allowing a fallen skier to self-arrest, stopping a slide down the mountain before it turns ugly. Realizing that a dozen uses were at least a dozen short, at least in my experience, I wrote about another dozen uses.  I find Whippets indispensable, and feel that Continue reading ‘The Black Diamond Whippet Could Save Your Life’

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