Lou Dawson's Backcountry Skiing Weblog Blog & Website

I found a copy on a lift chair.

Recently reworked Skiing Magazine appeared on a nearby lift chair a few days ago. Like Simon Dumont shooting for extra air as he sails above his latest halfpipe conquest, Skiing Mag is still chasing Powder Magazine’s “freeride” market.

Thing is, in terms of look and content Skiing is doing pretty well in the race, though some of this book’s content has that “me too” feel that can be a turn off.

The redesign has a nice balance of in-your-face advertising with editorial that’s laid out in forms that inspire actually reading the text. Lots of fast food in there, but one full length article by excellent writer Kevin Fadarko takes you to the inner workings of Canadian mechanized skiing.

In “The Last Piece of Paradise,” Fedarko details how the gut busting Canadian powder pie gets divided for heli skiing, and how a group of seasoned backcountry folks trade their mountain mellow for business dealings worthy of a mob boss. Turns out that powder may enlighten and mountains may inspire — but people are still people. Recommended.

Highlight of the mag is in my opinion Grant Gunderson’s highly crafted cover photo, which folds out to a stunning poster (without clutter, if you get the naked cover version as pictured here.) Best laugh (I chuckled out loud)? Vail’s two-page ad, that features, yep, two blank pages. I’d imagine someone in Vail’s PR outfit thought they were clever — they obviously don’t get it (and Skiing was happy to take their money without explaining).

On the other hand, if Vail’s is the only ad WildSnow is blogging about, perhaps they got their money’s worth? So shut my mouth.

The magazine’s extensive ski test is interesting as well — good to see a number of Black Diamond and K2 skis made the cut. Among them: BD’s Megawatt in the magazine’s “Powder Specialty” group, and K2’s Apache Xplorer in the “All-Mountain Expert” category.

Good early season stoke.

This morning we noticed another server slowdown/shutdown that resulted from a large amount of traffic from one server with IP number that geo locates to gigantic defense contractor Lockheed Martin in Denver. Something weird is going on with this and we’re trying to figure it out. Cyberwarfare from a disgruntled individual within their organization who doesn’t like how many face shots we brag about each winter? Just a bunch of backcountry skiers withing their population of 10,000 employees all browsing out of the same server at nearly the same time? We shall see.

Thanks to those of you from Lockheed who provided me with contact info. If anyone has more info, instead of leaving a comment please send me email via contact link in menu to left.

I’ll leave comments on for this post, but please don’t comment with any public information that could cause me to be liable to Lockheed. They’ve got lots of money and lots of lawyers.

Also, please don’t leave any email addresses in the body of your comments, as those will be food for spambots.

Baring the soul of your repair kit is like skiing in a speedo in front of Grant Gunderson’s glass, but I’ll take the plunge. Below is what I carry for average to short trips fairly close to civilization. For bigger remote trips, I’d add in a few things and coordinate with partners to eliminate redundancy. For super short laps above parking and trailhead, I sometimes simplify things more by carrying a smaller knife and less fire starting gear.

Top row from left to right: Film canister with aspirin, ibu, prescription drugs, etcetera; screw driver bits that fit multi-tool; case for all (padded pouch from early Pieps transceiver).

Middle row from left to right: Chunk of bicycle inner tube for fire starter; duct tape; cordage; spare Ion headlamp; CPR mask; list of frequencies programmed in my amateur radio.

Bottom row from left to right: Waterproof matches and lighters; compass; smaller multitool with driver socket welded on plier handle; spare lithium batteries; high power folding reading glasses.

Bottom left to bottom: Ski and skin wax (also used for fire starting); Inka pen.

For longer trips I sometimes add a spare pole basket, athletic tape, antibiotic ointment, malleable wire, and blister treatment items.

Other items that double for repair or first-aid but are not in kit: Voile straps; bandanna; plastic bags and food wrappers; ski goggles; belt; climbing gear; sunscreen; lip balm.

It’s worth mentioning that since we do guite a bit of skiing close to trailheads, I keep a complete emergency kit and rescue gear in our vehical. This winter I’ll be keeping all that stuff in a “go bag” so it can be transfered from one vehical to another. Items in the “go bag” include spare clothing, beacon, goggles, probe, shovel, blanket, radios, batteries and food items. Having this stuff has come in handy many times, mostly as loaner gear for people who forget essentials. That alone provides a huge improvement in safety, as instead of aborting their trip skiers will frequently take the risk of traveling without an item of gear they left at home.

What do you guys carry? Comments on!