Poor Man's Heli

More BC on a budget stuff, and at risk of sounding like an REI whore (hey, I’m a sucker for someone that stands behind their products), I got an email in my inbox this morn’ with a code for 20% off a regular priced item at REI. Coupon code ‘FALLDEAL’. Just tested it out and it WORKS on avalanche beacons (a man, I checked and it won’t work on the split kit).  Beacons tend to not go on sale much so if you need one buy it now so you’re not kicking yourself in November/December thinking how you could have saved $50-100.

Ortovox S1 – BAM, 20% off (well, once you put it in your cart and enter FALLDEAL)

Ask not what you can do for your beacon...

BCA Tracker – BAM! 20% off.

but what your beacon can do for you

Mammut Pulse? Yup, on sale for 20% off.

Et tu Pulse? Than Poorman shall fall.

I could go all day. Check ‘em all out here and save yourself some beer money.

Read the fine print, looks like it doesn’t work on skis and snowboards, but it will work on other stuff like the Voile Tractor skins for your split, shovels, probes, and packs

If you know me at all you know that I’m a) cheap but also b) a fan of buying good gear. If you buy the good stuff upfront you’ll save money in the long-run. By shopping around I was all in, from board to beacon, well under $1k when I first got kitted up. So, in a continuation of the ‘BC on a budget‘ stuff just saw that the Voile Mini Telepro T6 is on sale at the REI-Outlet for $32.93. However, if you put in coupon code ‘OUTSNOW20′ you’ll get an extra 20% off, bringing it to…uhhh…carry the one…umm….$26 and change. A pretty good deal for a good shovel.

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Voile Mini Telepro T6 shovel

Let’s face it – skiing and snowboarding aren’t cheap, and backcountry snowsports even less so. Summertime is the best time to buy your backcountry kit as typically stores are trying to blow out of whatever inventory they have left from the prior year to make room for the upcoming gear in the fall. If you shop around a bit, and don’t mind the occasional used/demo gear. This is my first take on building out a budget kit for someone getting into the sport or looking to upgrade their gear.

Splitboard – Found these Voile Mojo demos over at Mammothgear.com. Cool little shop staffed by cool people in the eastern Sierra, and the demos come with skins and the universal binding interface – something you don’t get if you buy a Burton or most other splitboards.

Beacon – Pieps Freeride for under $160 at Acmeclimbing.

Shovel – The Backcountry Outlet has got this aluminum blade Camp on sale for under $20. For just over the price of a pitcher of beer you can get yourself a metal shovel.

Probe – Again going to Mammothgear, they’ve got the Ortovox 340 for $50. Not the cheapest probe, and certainly not the lightest, but I’d rather save ounces on non-lifesaving equipment.

For under $800 and a few minutes of interwebbing you’ve got yourself the essentials (reminder: take an avalanche safety class and read up) to get you out of the resort and into the backcountry. It should be noted that I’m not endorsing any of the gear or retailers here, just showing what kind of kit you can put together on the cheap (cheap is relative) in the offseason.

Fresh pow on the cheap