Fiddle funkin boot-pant interface has not changed in 40 years. It was easier when stretch pants simply inserted into boot tops. Skimo racers have it figured out. Is it possible we’ll all be sporting skinsuits?
We want the industry or our own community to fix this stuff. Please. Commenters, you got anything more? Have some whine with your cheese! Seriously, good industrial design often begins with consumer survey. Let’s produce one that all the manufacturers can refer to. I broke this into two categories: “Gear” and “Other.”
GEAR
– Sweaty boot liners that could kill you or someone else.
– Skin glue that’s no better than boiled horse tissue.
– Ptex as soft as baby skin.
– Icing ski tops that obviate the $x,000 you spent to haul less weight.
– Complex bulky avalanche beacons that potentially do very little compared to an airbag pack.
– Airbag packs that weigh a ton.
– Ski touring rucksacks that leak water like a cotton towel used as an umbrella.
– Ski pant boot interface that takes longer to configure than buckling your boots.
– Bindings that take more than one tool for upkeep and adjustment.
OTHER
– Parking issues artificially created by lack of will to expand parking.
– Late morning avalanche forecasts.
– Steep climbing skin tracks.
– Shallow skin tracks.
– Boots in the skin track.
– Skiers-riders launching above others.
– Backcountry guidebooks without GPS coordinates. (grin from Lou)
– Dogs?
(To be fair, progress has been made. Yet striving for perfection allows the necessary and sufficient to prevail.)
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
