Probably the most asked question in all OR Show history is “Have you seen anything new & cool?”  This is kind of a trick question as most of the stuff there is new and cool, but the deeper meaning of the question is more like “Have you seen anything revolutionary?”  Most of the time, gear design is evolutionary, which means new colors, sizing or products designed to hit a specific marketing niche.  But occassionally, revolutionary new  products like plastic teleboots, multitools, portable solar power, hydration systems, shaped skis, camming devices for climbing or portable GPS units come out that change they way people recreate in the outdoors.   I didn’t see any such game-changers at this show, but in all fairness, I didn’t look very hard either.  Usually, if they are out there, you’ll hear about them.

However, there was some interesting gear that caught my eye…

Pieps Vector – I’ve been a fan of the Pieps DSP transceiver for the last few years and haven’t felt any reason to change until I saw the Pieps Vector.  The Vector has all of the great features of the DSP, but also includes GPS and weather data capabilities.  If the unit is on, it will track your location, which can then be downloaded onto a computer while the battery is being recharged via a USB port. This is more of a home-based beacon than for expeditions, but it is a nice combination of technologies.

Mountain Hardwear Chute Packs – I’m admittedly partial to these packs as I helped design them.  Available in two sizes, a 28 liter and a 15 liter, they are dedicated ski touring packs.  The Chuter 15 is for lightweight day tours or mechanized skiing, and the Chuter 28 is for longer outings, guiding or anywhere you might need to carry more stuff.

Voile Vector Skis – A moderately wide (92-96mm), versatile backcountry ski with rockered tips and a fishscale pattern embedded into the base which allows you to climb up mellow slopes without skins.  If you do need skins, you can still slap them on. These would be perfect for “farming” powder laps, but you could also easily take them anywhere else.

ABS Packs – There isn’t much new with the actual guts of the ABS airbag backpack system, but ABS has added a few new styles of “bags” and buffed out their existing design.  Unlike other airbag backpacks, the ABS has a “frame” which different sized “bags” can be zipped on/off of.  This also allows other manufactures, like Burton and Arva, to make their own bags which can then be merged onto an ABS frame.

BCA Airbag Packs – These have undergone a much needed facelift for 2012/13.  I tried the Float 30 and Float 18 last year, and although the airbag safety aspect was indisputable, as a pack they were lacking.  For next year, the bags have been redesigned and look nice.

Splitboards – I don’t know phukall about splitboarding, but it is great to see that those who do are getting faster, lighter and more dialed.  Jones Snowboards  looked well thought out, and the beautifully crafted Karakorum bindings are a pleasure to behold in all of their CNC’d brilliance.

GoalZero Guide 10 Plus – I bought one of these as a show special and they are techie little units that now come now come with a 10 dongle USB adaptor (not shown in the photo below).  The unit can be charged from a solar panel or a computer USB port, and then in turn can charge (or power) a variety of items ranging from camera or cell phones to just about anything else.

Sterling Hollow Block  – There is alot more to this little product than meets the eye.  It is a sewn loop of tubular aramid fiber which will work well as a runner or for a prusik loop.  The advantage of using this for a prusik loop is that the aramid fiber has a very high melting temperature, so if you are using it as a glacier prusik and take a long fall into a crevasse with it, it won’t melt or glaze like regular accessory cord.  Then, if you want to use it as a runner, it is good for 14kN.  Lightweight, low profile, simple and functional.

As an Industrial Designer (ID) by profession and education, it was interesting to see the explosion of ID in the outdoor industry. In the 1950′s ID was all about fins, steel and streamlined shapes, but the two-thousand-teens are going to be remembered for everything looking like an iPhone. You can almost hear the Sales Directors shouting “I DON’T GIVE A DAMN IF IT IS A CARABINER! MAKE IT LOOK LIKE AN APPLE iPRODUCT!”  What kind of apps does this binding run?

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Last Saturday we followed a masterful skin track up the Argenta aprons on Mt. Kessler and caught the trail breakers right on the summit, who turned out to be Alecs Barton and two friends.  I’d met Alecs in passing before and we had a lot of common friends and interests, so it was fun catching up with him in such a beautiful spot.  Tragically, within a few minutes of our groups parting ways, Alecs’ group triggered a large avalanche in the West Couloir of Kessler and Alecs died of trauma from the 2,500′ slide.  Alecs was a prolific Wasatch backcountry snowboarder and his death underscores what a treacherous snowpack we have this year.

On top of Kessler with Forrest Shearer on the left and Alecs Barton in the center with the bright yellow backpack.

The next day we toured in a different canyon and came across Ted Wilson’s dreaded “red snake” of a traffic jam, which he claims will be fixed by selling off 30.3 acres of prime public land to the Talisker real estate development company so they can put in a gondola.  As with two other occasions this season, the cause of the traffic back up was a car going off the road, which in this case resulted in serious injuries.  It was the second time this year I’d seen a major wreck right at this spot (bottom end of the “Seven Sisters”  area) and it made me wonder how many wrecks and fatalities LCC & BCC see every year.  It seems like a public transportation system up this canyon would both reduce accidents and traffic jams, whereas adding yet another lift would increase both.

Quick! We need another tram before we can open the road!

Dawn Patrollers in LCC have been a growing issue over the last few years as they prevent UDOT from safely shooting the big south facing paths (Little Pine, White Pine, Tanners, Superior, etc) that threaten the road. The Salt Lake County Sheriffs office sends out road closure text messages (sign up here), but there is also a new sign in the White Pine lot with flashers on it.  If the flashers are on, please avoid the north side of the road.

The lower elevations are still far from filled in and most of the steeper lines are too sketchy to ski, but if you can find low to mid angle, mid elevation, sheltered terrain, the skiing is actually pretty good.

Doc Brock shredding the LAB. Nice ass.

And, least anyone think that the Wasatch Mountains are not multi-use and in close proximity to a major city, here’s a photo from last Sunday, which is something that you probably won’t see deep in the Alaska Range…

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Avalanche-wise, it is not great, but I’m glad it came in as a big hammer instead of a bunch of little storms which would only delay the inevitable avalanche cycle. From what I’ve seen in the Wasatch backcountry, a lot of the big slopes naturally avalanched during the storm and are now starting over. That said, I doubt some of the major north-facing lines will ever be very safe to ski this year. Oh well. We had a dangerous year in 2008/09 and it was fun to work out a bunch of safe, low angle tours and I’m sure those will be getting some skin tracks this season as well.

Big, open slopes like this, especially those with cornices, are an obvious danger at times like this, but many naturally avalanched during the storm.

After a big storm like this, a lot of times the backcountry isn’t that great as you have to find a slope that is steep enough to ski down, yet not steep enough to slide, which limits your options to about a 5-degree window. This storm however deposited thick, supportable powder and there is plenty of GFP (Ghey Flat Powder) to be had. Big slopes that haven’t ripped yet are still an obvious concern, but an even bigger issue are the thousands of innocuous house-sized pockets that are big enough to bury you, especially in terrain traps like creek beds.

The Wasatch backcountry is filled with little traps like this - small slopes you normally wouldn't think twice about skiing, but now have a heavy, sensitive slab on them.

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In upper elevation terrain, storm totals almost covered the exposed rocks, dirt and budding tulips.  Ski Utah is expected to issue a press release soon and the Crayons Ski Resort drafted BS-2012 House Republican Bill to appropriate 200 more acres of terrain to meet expected skier demand as a result of the storm.
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The events take place every Thursday night at the Brighton ski resort and are very basic.  Based on the honor system, they involve skinning up a groomer, rounding a checkpoint and skiing back down.  Repeat as necessary.  The awards ceremony is held in the Molly Green’s bar where the winner gets a pie and the option of sharing it with everyone else.

The event is open to all ages and about 40 people turned out for the one last night.  For more information, check out the Wasatch Citizen SkiMo Series website, or the Wasatch Powderkeg Facebook page.   And speaking of the PowderKeg, it is being held this year on March 10th at Brighton and the surrounding backcountry.  Registration info can be found for the 10th Annual event at Ultra Signup.

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The Scarpa Aliens have all the features and more that you might expect in a racing boot, including a quick release heel throw, BOA style forefront tensioning, a minimal powerstrap and some sexy lycra gaitors to help keep the liners dry.

In sailboat racing, certain classes of boats are designed to hit a set group of requirements, and the Scarpa Alien does the same thing with ski mountaineering race boots.  An alternative name for them might be “Barely Legal” (legalesse miminalissimo in Italian) and they are intended to be competitive right out of the box, although for $1,000 more, you can get a carbonfiber infested upgrade called the Alien 1.0 which shaves a few grams.

Although the Aliens are intended for racing, they also work well for ultralight ski touring, especially when coupled with short little skis and basic Dynafit bindings.  In Europe, this type of skiing is known as “Ski Running” which is an apt description of the activity.  It’s about as far from Freeriding as you can get, but considering you can double your vertical and halve the weight, it has its advantages.

I first got into skiing on racing gear after an aborted traverse of Baffin Island left us with no other options but to ski steep chutes on spindly gear.  I was initially paranoid about skiing committing lines on F1′s and 160cm skis, but after a few runs I got use to it.  The key is to be very centered, which is much easier if the snow is consistent.  Skiing punchy, crusty, gloppy snow on race gear is no fun, but powder, foam or corn are no problem.

Booting up the 40-50 degree "Terror Firma" in northern Baffin Island.

"Look Ma! No brains!" Hahaha. getting set up to ski Terror Firma on some F1's.

One very unusual thing about the Aliens, or F1′s for that matter, is that in steep terrain, they have the potential to actually be dangerous if the rear heel latch comes undone as the boot instantly, and dramatically goes into tour mode.  With many boots this isn’t such a big deal, but because racing boots have such incredible ankle flexation, this means you can end up flat on your back with no warning.

Details to follow once I get them molded to my foot and hopefully, when we get more snow.
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The aptly named “Lake District” around Mammoth Lakes has an endless supply of beautiful alpine lakes which are now all frozen over and snow free, which makes for perfect skating.  I hadn’t skated for years, but the $40 investment in a pair of used hockey skates was instantly worthwhile as the setting is so sublime and the access is so easy.

It was also nice to get a break from Utah, where we hardly ever see anarchy like this.

We also had a chance to head down to the Owen Gorge for some climbing.  There wasn’t any water flow in the gorge last time I was there, but nowadays there’s a steady creek running through it with trees, wildlife (aside from snakes) and fauna, as well as fantastic climbing.

Owens now has over 1,200 climbs in it and a high proportion of them are in the 3-5 star range.  It’s a blast!

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The cover is a clamshell case with round spine which features a painting of a Wolverine Cirque style chute framed by the entrance to the Heart of Darkness and clear blue skies.  This is framed with Nigerian goatskin with goat skin overlays, alum (?) tanned sheepskin overlays and reverse quilted calf vellum overlays.  OMG!  The spine has the book title, and a lovely set of tracks  grace the exit of the cover couloir.

The interior is has been perfectly sized to fit a copy of The Chuting Gallery and is lined with topo map imagery from upper Little & Big Cottonwood Canyons.  The black fabric is Japanese silk and it has a leather pull tab to help extract the book.

I wrote and self published The Chuting Gallery in 1998 and expected the local land fill would be my biggest customer. The book was originally intended to be a pamphlet printed on 8.5″ x 11″ copy  paper and then folded and stapled together with a card stock cover. However, I accidentally worked on it too long and when I went to print it, I discovered that I would have to have it “perfect” bound, which meant printing thousands instead of one hundred.  By then I had too much time and energy into it to drop it, so I wrote the check and a few weeks later picked up a pallet of Chuting Gallery’s from amidst a warehouse full of the Book of Mormon.

The book has taken on a life of its own, which is due in large part to the rise in popularity of backcountry skiing during the same time span.  Most of the flak I’ve gotten over it comes from skiers who are upset that I gave away such “secrets” as the South Face of Superior or the Y-Couloir, although the only thing that is secret about those obvious roadside attractions is that they are not nearly as steep and nasty as they look.  Soon after printing it, a local avalanche forecaster told me I was going to “have the blood of dead 16 year-olds on my hands” from all of the adolescents who rushed out to ski these lines and died in avalanches.  So far this hasn’t happened, mostly because there is a lot of sweat and effort involved in skiing most of these lines, which is inherently self limiting.

One of my favorite TCG experiences happened about halfway up the Y-couloir when I came across a guy who had been hiking it for about two hours at that point.  When we caught up to him, he was completely ecstatic about the size and aesthetics of The Y and was explaining all of the stats and virtues of it to us, all of which he had learned from his roommates copy of the Chuting Gallery.  It was obvious he was having some sort of backcountry revelation, and he hadn’t even skied it yet.  Between encounters like this and unexpected gifts like Andrew Thompson’s cover, it has been a fun journey.

Alas, almost none of the lines in The Chuting Gallery are skiable yet this season, but if you are interested in getting a copy anyway, they are available through Amazon.com under the “Buy it New or Used” tab for the book, or, there’s a Chuting Gallery tab in the header at the top of this page.

Unlike this year….

Today it was raining at 7,100′ in Park City, which hurts, but given how weak and rotten the existing snowpack is, what little of it we have, it may be the best thing.  It’s like calling for a Do Over on winter.

Last Tuesday I was out skiing (translation: hitting rocks and wallowing in 20″ of sugar) and found a new use for tail holes. One of our group lost a BD tail clip off of his skins, but by cramming the polymer strap through the tail hole, it hardly mattered. The ribbing kept the skin nice and tight, and aside from the hassle of threading and stripping it, it worked as well as a tail clip.

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