Penn from Backbone Media brought over a nice sampling of Cloudveil gear we’ll be using for our next cycle of Couloir Magazine backcountry skiing clothing reviews. One incredibly nice piece is the Icefloe softshell. My son snapped this up for his trip today to Highland Bowl. Another nice item in the goodie box was a woman’s Wister Jacket — the perfect light insulating layer for those fit and fast days when you are feeling GOOD!
Penn and his wife are super athletes — fast uphillers and terrific skiers. I was always wondering when they’d convert to Scarpa F1 backcountry skiing boots and Dynafit bindings for races and super-fast ascents. I’m wondering no more as they’ve both picked up Dynafit setups. Penn is an awesome telemarker so I’m not expecting him to go rando for everything, but he’ll be fast in the races if he at least uses Dynafit for that. His wife skis randonnee with Fritschis and she’s still too fast uphill. Now she’s got some Dynafits. Look out world.
More gear notes: I just got off the phone with Aspen powder guide Bob Perlmutter. He’s been on a twenty year quest for one-rig randonnee AT boots, and thinks he might have found something close in the Garmont Adrenaline. After dealing with some fit issues, his tip is to consider swapping out the liners if you have any problems. He ended up with Raichle thermo liners (the ones with the thick overlap in front of your shin)– but recommends giving the stock liners some time before you cut bait.
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.
