Your friendly blogger at Marker Volkl chatting with Stian Hagen. He’s always got a take. I wasn’t covering skis at ISPO so I won’t go into happenings at Volkl, though all their happenings are good happenings (including the beer bar at their booth which is apparently open 12 hours a day). I found it much more interesting hearing about Stian’s impressive attempt to ski the whole Jotunheimen traverse in one push (frozen hydration system), his opinions about airbag packs (heavy and perhaps over rated in terms of how my safety they offer), and the fact that yes Marker had to remove the boot locator tabs from the toe unit of the Kingpin.
Next stop, SCARPA. More of a social call, but I couldn’t help but home right on on the Maestrale 2.
Myself, with a few boot masters of Montebelluna. Left to right, marketing officer Marco Campagna, me, head honcho Davide Parisotto, product manager Massimo Pellizzer.
While at the feet of the source (like locating the headwaters of the Nile), I got a few details clarified due to reader questions: Nope, no more cant pivot-rivets in Maestrale cuff, “too prone to problems.” Most skiers can probably get enough change in cuff alignment by padding one side of the upper liner. For those of you who want a traditional cant pivot-rivet, The “T-nut” cuff pivots are still easy to remove for boot work, and could probably be replaced with canting pivots. Also observed, they’re still making a “Tronic” version of the F1, to only be distributed in Europe.
Detail oriented friends of mine noted that SCARPA is touting something called their “Lambda Frame,” while one of their main competitors is doing so as well! Is there a conspiracy? Readers, what rumors have you heard? Who or what is lambda, something that results from doing the forbidden lambada dance? A match symbol? Greek alphabet? Google got me nowhere with the Lambda Frame. The single word Lambda is the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet (uppercase ?, lowercase ?). It looks like an uppercase A without the horizontal bar. So I guess the answer to the mystery is rather unexciting, Lambda Frame is just a thing shaped like an A, sort of?
Getting a little over to the crazy side. Fritz Barthel suggested I check out the Pinding binding that Bavarian Alpine Manifest (BAM) has been trolling down on drooling freeriders for some time now. These guys are clever, but one wonders if bindings such as Tecton and TR2 obviate the need for convertible alpine bindings. Me, I don’t know. It’s said that a full-on race quality alpine setup can be necessary for things such as stunt skiing and movie footage, so an alpine binding that converts could still be viable. But is that a viable market? The BAM guys told me the plan is to have something in retail by 2017-2018, so time will indeed tell.
Pinding shows its pins.
A quick run through CAMP reveals the most fun to photograph helmet lineup. New, they’ve worked up a version of their “Speed” climbing helmet into the “Speed Comp,” a super ventilated lightweight skull shell that’s compatible with the skiing and climbing certification norms. (It’s said that by conforming to both norms the helmet is safer overall. While that seems logical I’d like to see the test numbers — and as always we should note that both norms are quite minimal in terms of protection.) Vertical row on the left side of the display photo, available fall of 2017, around 370 grams. Some of us here at the HQ will definitely give it a go.
Camp has also made some small improvements to their lightweight rucksacks. For example, have you ever used those lower compartments with the side flap? Most, you open up and the flap just “flaps” around. Simple solution, this limiting strap keeps the flappage under control so you’re not flapping your way down the mountain. Or so the marketing person told me.
CAMP Rapid is the minimalist ruck we like from these guys. Formerly a dedicated racing packIt's improved this year for regular ski touring with various reinforcements etc., 110 euro price seems steep but this is state-of-art stuff. What comes to mind is I’m seeing a fairly rapid evolution in what people expect and desire in ski touring gear, in terms of weight. Products such as this are responding to the trend.
Thought I’d throw in a photo of my favorite CAMP pack feature, those little pouches on the waist belt.
I ended up having a fairly detailed discussion with Thomas Laakso of Mountain Hub. You might recall their app and snow probe was formerly AvaTech, they rebranded a while ago and their stuff has matured extensively. I’ll have to try the trimmer and apparently more functional snow density probe, along with the app. Website here.
Trab was showing this cool ski brake that’s integrated with a nice ‘U-spring’ touring binding.
Trab brake latches up in touring position. This is another ski touring binding “stopper” that works independently of the heel unit, a configuration we feel is much better than the excessive efforts mounted by other companies to lock the brake up using complex and sometimes failure prone mechanicals built into the heel unit.
Trab brake in downhill skiing position.
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.
