While the rest of us have been going about our regular 9-to-5s, the inhabitants of a parallel universe that consists of career bloggers, retail buyers, and retail buyer bloggers have spent the past few weeks at Outdoor Retailer, SIA (still going) and various other “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” events. Thanks to Gore’s invention I’ve managed to cut out the travel and brodowns and am able to live vicariously through their expense reports. The below is a little something I spied while making the rounds through chatroulette and thought I’d share.
2013 Spark R&D bindings
It looks like the Karakoram competition has forced the Spark R&D guys to up their game and innovate yet again. For 2013 it looks like they’ve got a new mounting system they are calling the Edison Interface. Hard to see how it works from the photo, but based on where the screw heads are I think it’s safe to say it’s NOT just held in place by the head of the screw. (Note: that blue plate looks reminiscent of the old Burton interface, no?)
In their non-Edison bindings I spy a lightened heel area and possibly a considerably lightened base plate. Not sure if the white/black binding is one using the Edison interface or if it’s a lightened non-Edison binding.
Edison base plate or new drilled out model? What do you get when you cross an elephant with a rhino?
Old dogs, new tricks
Standard interweb disclaimer: The above binding photos are not mine and were all stolen borrowed from Shay at Shayboarder.com, who has A-game snowboard blogger status, so make sure you check out here site, follow her on twitter, and just generally show her some love.
Was looking through the interwebs this AM, trying to find sneak peeks of 2013 gear that’d be relevant or interesting for the blog, and came across Switchback Bindings. To be honest I like the simplicity of their grinning highback logo, and the modular binding idea will go off in this day of ‘my pro model socks need to match my pro model headphones need to match my pro model google straps need to contrast with my pro model binding hardware‘. I think they’ll sell like hotcakes.
HOWEVER what stood out to me was all their talk of going no-back, ya know for the freedom, the surfy feel, the (insert hyperbole here) and I thought “AH-HA! Finally my old age experience will come in handy and I’ll look to the past to rehash something that will redefine snowboarding as we know it. BOOM!
Step 1: Look back to the past for a future ‘new’ idea
Step 2: Profit
Step 3: ????
So, I present to you my top-5 ‘amazing ideas that will bring a whole new level of marketing fun to snowboarding!’
1. Baseless bindings. This one is a no brainer, someone says no-back and I instantly think baseless. I’m not talking Burton ECS IST or whatever (it’s not baseless if there is a shock absorbing pad there brah), I’m talking real deal Holyfield baseless and the limited stance options that come with it. Like Trojan Ultrathin condoms these babies are all about broad board feel. Possibly even surfy feeling.
2. Step-ins. Switchback is going to remove back highbacks, my baseless bindings are going to remove the bases, what else can we remove? The straps, naturally. Save that annoying 5 seconds you spend ratcheting into your bindings and instead just step down. At 5 seconds saved per run times….umm….a lot of runs you’ll have hit one more run! My marketing team industrial designers are still working on our final look/feel for these babies so not sure if we’ll be going baseless or no-back, but rest assured it’ll turn your strap using frown upside down. #PROFIT
3. Hardboots for pipe. #OFKYEAH For those of us you don’t like the responsiveness, or lack thereof, from our baseless nobacks (what? You no like boardfeel?), THESE are your holy grail. Hell, I’ll make sure my marketing team markets the plate bindings as no-back so you’ve got additional new technology to talk about around the snowboarding watercooler.
Who says there's no flex in hardboots?
4: No boards Let’s just remove the bindings from the equation altogether. No boards, or as our forefathers (or fourfathers if your mom didn’t use those Ultrathins…) called them snowboards. Actually, these look like they’d be fun on the right day – say if you had a cabin in the mountains with a nice little hill behind it, keg in the snow at the bottom, just chillin’ with your crew and taking laps on the no board – and they’re likely the closest thing we’re getting to what McFly has had us all dreaming about since ’85.
5. Camber Run out of 80s/90s ideas to cop? Just go back a few years and take the idea you wrote off in all your marketing material last year, add it to a board for 2013, and market the hell out of it, capitalizing on the short term memory of the American consumer. #STEP2BABY
Honorable mention aka coming in 2014: Ballz jeans, two-tongue boots, Sorels, dual edge snowboards, ‘Boycott Burton cuz you can’t patent fun’ stickers, USA manufacturing
Just got a press release from Venture Snowboards mentioning next year’s Venture Euphoria. Yup, the Euphoria is back, and she’s looking just a wee bit different after Johan Olofsson had his way with her.
In its latest incarnation, the Euphoria boasts rocker, reverse sidecut, and a swallowtail. A full insert pack allows it to be ridden with traditional bindings, though it is designed to excel when surfed bindingless. The Euphoria will be offered both solid and split, and in three different lengths: 156, 162, and 168cm.
Break out the Zogs
Will post up the pics of the rest of their lineup soon but thought the Euphoria was cool enough to get it’s own post. LOVE the new topsheets!
36-24-36? HAHA, only if she’s 153. Midnight insomniac fun times. Couldn’t sleep last night, eyes were tired but my body was wired, hoped that looking at numbers would put me to sleep. A-man threw a comment in the other day asking about splitboard price comparisons, which made me think that could be part of something bigger, consolidating stats for most of the commercially available splitboards together in one place. I say most and not all as the splitboard scene seems to be a lot like snowboarding circa-95 and every week there’s a new company coming out, or a new mfr releasing an OEM split. I’ll update this as I remember and have time, or as people drop comments saying I missed something.
My hope is that there’s some value (probably more helpful if the columns were sortable but I know zero html….) in this as some sort of a pre-purchase decision making matrix, though obviously the data below is very high level. As it’s missing things that are damn important to your decision such as camber/rocker profiles, flex patterns, etc. I’d say the data is only valuable to use as an early comparison to weed out things blatantly wrong for you, like a 26+ width on a size 6 boot. Another thing to note is that boards are listed as a twin if their nose and tail widths are the same, but most (all?) of them actually have a directional flex so they are only twin in shape and not true twins. Anything labeled as ‘pow’ under shape are boards with a very distinct, singular focus shape – think swallowtail or fish – and not just boards with longer noses and bit tapers.
If the manufacturer’s name is hyperlinked it links to the article I did on their 2011-12 splitboards. The links at the specific model level will bring you to the manufacturer’s page for that model so you can get the full story on a particular board. The last column links for buying online are for those of you that aren’t fortunate enough to live near a good shop that stocks a selection of splits and should only be used if you can’t find something locally.
If you notice anything wonky, or want something added, just drop a comment.
UPDATE: I quit being lazy/stupid and figured out how to make this sortable and searchable. That’s right, any ol’ a-hole can blog, but it takes a special kind to go the extra mile for their peeps. There’s still some wonkiness with the links not coming over when I changed formats, but I’ll get that fixed. Enjoy!
These things are expensive and hard to get much data on, so thought it was cool the guys at SnowBigDeal have released this overview video showing an ABS, Mammut, BCA, Snowpulse and AviVest in action.
So the peek at 2011-12 splitboards has been a bit interrupted, apologize for that, ADD kicking in I guess. By now most of these are in your local shop, but for the one guy that lives in Kansas and their local shop doesn’t carry splitboards we’ll press on.
Next up is one that people have been waiting for since whispers were getting out about Rice’s DIY splits during the pre-Deeper release days.
This year’s T. Rice is Lib’s first effort (I don’t consider at releasing a board that you’ve got to drill out yourself at home much of an effort…) at a factory split and she’s looking nice. Lib took the higher end of the Rice models, the Pro Horsepower (all basalt/fiberglass free version of the standard T.Rice – basically a touch lighter), and splitboardified it. You get everything you’d expect from a factory split – inner middle edge and a standard Voile pattern, a bonus with Karakoram board/tip/tail clips – and it’s all wrapped up in a fat metal flake topsheet that looks like it could be on a ride in Dice Magazine (looks sick in real life, looks like crap in the photo below). It’s worth noting that while it has Magne-traction on the outer edges the inner edges do not have MTX the way a Jones Solution does.
The 2011-12 Lib Tech T.Rice splitboard is available in two sizes, a 161.5 and a 164.5, and MSRPs for $969.96. If your local shop doesn’t stock Lib, or sold out of the one split they carried, you can buy it online at evo, snocon, US Outdoor Store and backcountry.com.
Came across Homeschool Snowboarding by chance, was reading an article on the Portland Seed Fund’s first investment class, initially thinking maybe it was some form e-learning solution for the next generation of Shaun Whites (note: massive failboat assumption on my part). After learning they were in the North Coast Seed building (note #2: I dig old brick buildings with tons of patina and character and have been wondering about that building since I moved to town) I had to head down there to check them out. Pinged them via their site, received a prompt response from Jevan, it was on.
Room 112 where the players dwell...
Homeschool’s mission is to create outerwear that performs in the PNW’s climate, which is basically NYNY for technical outerwear – if it can make it here it can make it anywhere – while keeping an eye on timeless style and durability. No eyeball searing allover prints (on the outerwear…) or disposable fashion here. All of Homeschool’s products utilize variants of Cocona (currently the only outerwear company that incorporates it, but the big guys are joining the party next year) to turn the breathability amps up to 11 while staying just as waterproof as the other guys.
coconut, brah
Homeschool's breathability goes to 11
Video below is of their ‘hot plate’ test that proves Cocona is the shit. I can only imagine the search hits I’m going to get at 2AM now….
Mural by Adam Haynes, same guy that did this year's Billy Goat and a ton of other stuff you'll recognize when you click to peep his site
A few pics of some of their 2011 product below.
100% recycled polyester Naked Raygun jacket in 'deep'
Night Witch pullover in 'misty'
With Teeth in 'ever'. See what they did there?
Revolve pant in 'drift'
LIGHTNING BOLT!
Wave Rave homage pant Skweetis in 'bronze'. Mambosoks coming in 2013.
Airbreather Moto Top in trinity print
Art Hag mock neck in drift
Face on left uses leading brand. Face on right uses Homeschool/Cocona.
Overall impression of the product: WOW, local boys done good. Well thought out, from the choice of fabrics and laminates to the RiRi Aquazips. Throw in the clean lines and durability (assumed, felt like a VERY high quality product but have never used so can’t say for sure) these are the types of pieces I’d actually consider paying full price* for – and if you know me you know that’s a rare statement. Run down to your local shop and check it out and see if you don’t agree. If your local shop dropped the ball and isn’t carrying Homeschool you can find it at quality retailers like the US Outdoor Store in Portland, Snowboard Connection and evo in Seattle and the Sportsman’s Chalet in Bellingham.
The Utah Avalanche Center released their report (with photos of the slide) on the avalanche that killed Jamie Pierre on Sunday. You can read the report here. Remember folks, just because the snowpack isn’t deep doesn’t mean you can’t get into trouble. I think we’re all guilty of thinking at least once that because it’s not deep you won’t be buried (much) and disregard the potential trauma that could arise from being thrown down a slope out of control. Also, this is fucked up
The rescue teams from the ski areas and Wasatch Backcountry Rescue often put their necks out on the line to access and evacuate an injured party. It was reported that other parties at Alta continued to ski and knock down avalanches into Greeley Bowl while the rescue was in progress.
C’mon people, really? Last, the below were the last tweet I saw on Saturday and the first I saw on Sunday. Kinda creepy, no?
Ever lust over those skins your skier friends had with the tail connectors while the rear of your skins was flopping around due to poor storage, causing the glue to get that waxy white color and rock hard? If so you’ll dig what Genuine Guide Gear (aka G3) is bringing to market this year – splitboard skins with *GASP* tail connectors. That’s right, no more garage modding your Voile skins or a pair of ski skins AND they retail for the same as Voile’s skins AND they come with skin savers (think Black Diamond cheat sheets). In the days of $800 splitboard bindings it’s nice to see simple little missing links being filled in by manufacturers at a reasonable price. No clue how the grip or glide is on these but it’s DEFINITELY worth a look if you’re in the market for some new skins.
6,270 frames from G3 about their new skins below
Tip of the beanie to Bsmart2910 on the twitters for pointing these out to me.
G3 has pretty good distribution so odds are you’ll be able to find a pair at your local shop, but if not you can pick them up online from Portland’s own US Outdoor Store and of course backcountry.com.
SAY WUT?