Preface: Up til Friday I’d never met Kyle Miller in person. Originally heard about him by by way of his occasional trip report on splitboard.com and TAY. Noticed he spent a LOT of time in the Crystal Mountain area, which is near and dear to me (well, near is relative right?), and after seeing his epic Olympics TR I knew I wanted to meet up and ride with him at least once this season, plus I figured I owed him a beer for the ‘behindmydeskcantwaittoquitthisfuckingjob’ stoke he provided me and many others. After you’ve read through some of his TRs on his own site and at frequency I think you’ll agree that dude gets after it!
PMs and numbers were exchanged, forecast looked less than stellar, but we both decided what the hell – any day in the mountains is good, and if we happen to get good turns as well than it’s icing on the cake. Plus, my Heavenly riding buddy Kevin had torn his achilles two days prior – made it hard to pass up an opportunity to play in the mountains after having the reminder that the opportunity to play in the mountains can be snatched from you at any moment.
I’ll let the photos do the talking, long TR short the day went from greybird to bluebird, from western to eastern Washington, from ooooooh to OH SHIT! and finished in the bar drinking to new friends and adventures.
We set off in greybird conditions, hoping to find the sun
Dan skinning
Kyle skins toward the light
Sun rays
Kyle scopes a potential line while Dan captures the moment. We sawed off a small piece of cornice here, could have used a Backcountry Bomb!
Mount Ronyay pokes it's head out. At this point I could have used a namesake beer.
Lunchbreak, eyeing the potential lines.
Dan snapping photos of the ridiculous scenery
Lines lines everywhere
Dan assesses the snow conditions
...and deems them satisfactory
Kyle assesses Dan's assessment
...and agrees
Kyle's jacket, always tough to impress, gives the trip one thumb up
Good trip and good turns, appreciate Kyle Miller and Dan Howell letting me tag along and slow them down. This turns were for you Kevin, hope that achilles heals up in time for next season!
Been doing some serious gear whoring the past week or so as biz locally was going good for a bit. Was. Ahh well, at least I’ve got some new gear to show for it.
First up, the Stoic Bombshell jacket. Stoic is the new name for the house brand gear from backcountry.com, and from what I can tell thus far this stuff is a serious bargain. As I just received my jacket a few days ago I can’t give it a full review, but as of right now my impressions are that even at full price this stuff is worth it (and this coming from a guy that can’t recall the last time he bought ANYTHING full price).
The marketing department had this to say:
The undaunted Stoic Bombshell Jacket signs on for summit pushes, hut-to-hut tours, and anything between. Slightly stretchy, 3-layer Bombshell material offers shelter from ridgeline gales and whipping spin drift, while thumb-holed hand gaiters and a fully-adjustable hood ensure a complete seal from the elements. Fully-welded seams increase the Bombshell’s breathability over standard taped-seam shells and mesh-backed underarm vents banish excess body heat during long boot packs. The Stoic Bombshell’s internal pocket with headphone port begs for some musical accompaniment. Stoic’s 3-D ergonomic fit offers un-inhibited mobility without drowning you in excess fabric—if you tend to like a roomier fit, size up.</p></blockquote> <p>A few quick pics to get the party started. Once I’ve had a chance to use it to do more than walk from Deschutes to Rogue to Bridgeport and back I’ll give my full review.
This jacket is the bomb…shell
Waterproof zipper close up, with wide angle lens shadow thrown in for ambiance
Wings spread
Gaping pit zips
Mesh lined pocket and headphone port
Left internal pocket detail
Removable powder skirt with attachment zipper and snaps
You can call me dirty and then zip off your skirt
Seriously well thought out jacket. Wrist cuffs with small stretch panels.
Let me know if you have any questions on the jacket, want to see some additional angles/close ups, or if there’s anything in particular you want me to pay attention to while I test it out.
UPDATE:
Saw this code for 30% off on the Stoic stuff. 4KZ-1-G3JU6
One of the worst kept secrets in the industry has been officially revealed on Voile’s site tonight. The Voile Light Rail and Voile Trax bindings. Yes, that’s right, Voile has introduced their own splitboard bindings.
Reaction upon initial view of the Trax: meh.
Reaction upon initial view of the Light Rail: meh
I guess I was hoping for more immediately (visually) obvious innovation.
First up the Trax, which is the lower end model, and outside of the milled base plate and integrated ‘Avalanche Rip Cord’ looks like any other metal base snowboard binding. They are claiming the Trax sit lower on the board than a regular binding setup, but to me it looks like it would be similar to any other metal binding setup as unless I’m looking at it wrong you’d only get a decrease in ride height if their baseplate was thinner than your current baseplate.
Voile Trax
To their credit the milled out base plates will obviously result in a weight savings, and the Avalanche Rip Cord system is something that I’ve seen a few do on their own but never seen as a factory offering. Will be interesting to play with that system and hear real-world feedback on it’s ability to release both buckles and both feet consistently. Actually it’d be interesting to hear the benefits they tout on the release system – I’ve got to believe that their lawyers will make sure Voile chooses their words properly as Americans are prone to sue (Colin in CA care to chime in with some lawyer $.02?)
The Light Rail looks similar to the Trax, except for the inclusion of two CNC machined aluminum rails on the underside of the baseplate instead of re-using your slider plates. It’s an interesting (yet inelegant to my eye) solution to the problem – I just prefer the clean look of the Sparks v. the the board height side view of the Light Rail. Yes, I realize that has absolutely ZERO to do with performance, just throwing it out there.
The light rails on the Voile Light Rail
Voile Light Rail ride height
One place where the Light Rail appears to immediately shine on paper is weight. Voile is claiming 4 lbs per pair of Light Rails, whereas the Spark Fuse comes in at 4.4 lbs per pair per the Spark website. What would a spandex clad superhero pay to drop .4 lbs from their bike? What if it was .4 lbs rolling weight?
All of the above is obviously based on the little bit of information available on Voile’s site, and for all I know these could be the shit and redefine the up and downhill ride of splitboarding as we know it. At the very least competition will make everyone step up their game, which is a good thing. Will be interesting to see some side-to-side comparisons on ride height, real world weight and stiffness v. the Fuse by someone with more money than I when these hit the market, which should be sometime in January 2010….which means they’ll be released about a month after their target customers have already upgraded their setups to the Spark Fuse.
Spark R&D has submitted their Fuse splitboard binding to the ISPO annual brand new contest. ISPO is the International Trade Fair for Sports Equipment, held for the last 40 years in Munich. The brand new contest is an international competition rewarding innovation and technology in the sports and outdoor affiliated markets. This contest is only open to brands four years old and younger.
Go here, watch the video, and click the pink-ish ‘Rate It’ button to give Spark R&D and their Fuse binding the props they deserve. I mean c’mon, is the ‘innovation’ of cutting a damn breathing hole in a glorified bandana more deserving than the CNC machined/paradigm shifting/anodized goodness that is the Spark Fuse? I think not.
Vote for Spark R&D and all your dreams will come true
NOTE: This is a bit of premature blogulation. Apologize for that, I’ll get you next time baby.
Was just browsing the latest sales flyer from REI, apparently their Winter Sale starts Friday. As part of the sale they’ve got the BCA Tracker avy beacon on sale for a penny short of $230. This is a damn good deal on a dead simple to use beacon.
Yeah, I know some of you are holding out for the (vaporware? Sasquatch?) Tracker 2, but I also know that some of you have been waiting for 2 years for it. If you’re in the market NOW for a beacon and want something that is so easy you could just about give to a 5 year old and they’d figure out how to use it the BCA Tracker is the one. Don’t forget you can order online and have it sent to the stores for free to avoid the REI/pre-Christmas sale crowds at the register.
$229.99 and it's yours
UPDATE 10/14/11: As this post is still getting traffic but is from an old sale I put a gear finder search box up on the top right rail to help you find any items on sale. Just go up there, type in what you’re looking for and click search and a list of items and prices matching your criteria will show up. Should help you quickly find what you want and at a price you want it at!
Matti emailed me this morning saying he found the blog when looking for some information on the Osprey Kode. He also passed along a link to a movie he and a few friends made.
Film is made practically zero budget with cheapest consumer cameras, but I think level of skiing is great.
This movie has a little of everything – skiing, snowboarding, fake tilt/shift, skin track time lapse – just an overall ‘good times in the mountains on great days with your friends’ vibe.
Matti, thanks for pinging me with your movie. Looking forward to future installments and what you can do once your current or future sponsors give you some better cameras. Canon, you out there reading, get Matti a 1Dmk4 to ‘test’ ASAP!
I missed this one the first time around, thanks to Wend mag for pointing this one out. Adobe Aftereffects + spring park riding + some Star Wars costumes…just wow.
Yes plz. Are there any Novembers you can recall where there have been more bluebird days with fresh? As much as I love a good PNW flat light day, hugging the trees so you can get a feel for slope contours, I’ll take fresh and sun 9 times outta 10. Reports from Baker to Crystal to Hood have all been ridonkulous. Let’s hope this trend holds up!
If you look closely you can almost see the green squares and blue circles...
A little windy at the top
EDIT:
Adding a bit more to the post from earlier to keep an old rider’s memory alive. To save time driving out to the storage shed and digging thru my crap I borrowed a Lib from a buddy, a Tommy Brunner model (was hard to find the board in the US at the time, I think it was a Euro specific model). Damn fun board actually, nose was a bit soft for my liking though I say that a lot so maybe it’s just me. For those who’ve never heard of him, Tommy was a big mountain rider killed in an avalanche in AK a few years back.
Serious bonehead move. Grabbed the bindings from my splitboard and a Burton board out of storage. Yup, 4×4 equals 16, not 3D. Usually this wouldn’t be a problem as I’d have spares in the trunk, but the junk in my trunk is still in full-blown summer mode and filled with surf wax, growlers, fishing gear, crab traps and the like. OK, cool, no problem, will just hit up the shop. Shop looked for awhile, but didn’t have anything as all their Burton stuff is ICS nowadays. Tried to make the discs I had work but couldn’t get ‘em to line up with anymore than two screws in and figure I’ve pulled enough inserts out with four screws in. Superubermegafail.
Oh well, at least it was a nice drive with all the fall colors and snow and…um….the line was short to get my pass picture *silver lining/justification/glass is half full/grasping at straws*
Bonus pics:
Saw this sick early Subaru, back in the good ol’ bombproof Sooby days
Sick sick sick early Subaru
It’s not officially winter until someone parks their car in a ravine. Thankfully the dude on the phone took one for the team and rings in the new winter for all of our enjoyment!
Well, it’ll be back later today once I find a phillips screwdriver and go stretch the legs up at Meadows. I’ve done a ton of ‘research’ on local beers lately, and gotten back into brewing my own again, time to start dropping knowledge on what’s making my man boobs jiggle these days.
