Yes and yes it was very good today

8-10" of new........check
skins and touring bindings............check
having the hill all to myself for 4 hours.................check

:-)

Spot PLB = Solid

Let me get right to the point, I'm impressed with this thing. I've taken it out skiing the past two days and its performed just as advertised. It couldn't be more simple, turn on, hit OK, signal goes to mission control letting her know I'm alright.

The ability to send text alerts to cell phones as well as e-mail accounts is especially slick, meaning I will NEVER again get back to the car after a long day in the BC and have to deal with the "where have you been?" voice mail on my cell.

I still want to get it out into full on East Coast tree canopy before I'm completely sold on it but for now its definitely found a home in my pack on tours.

The 2007-2008 vertical challenge update #10

thanks to Kevin Broderick for the photo

to date:
13 days
25349' climbed


10/31 1575' climbed
11/3 3304' climbed
11/11 1498' climbed
11/16 377' climbed
12/3 1624' climbed
12/8 1680' climbed
12/13 351' climbed
12/14 3271' climbed
12/15 1690' climbed
12/16 1070' climbed
12/17 3186' climbed
12/23 768' climbed
12/30 1654' climbed
12/31 3264" climbed

SPOT PLB: First Impressions

Finally got my SPOT PLB delivered this afternoon. After reading some preliminary reviews from sources that I trust, I decided that it would make sense to add this tool to my quiver. I spend a lot of time out in the backcountry where cell phone signal goes in and out throughout the day, so the ability to "check in" without calling out SAR makes this a very appealing device.

First off the vitals:
Dimensions: 4.38 X 2.75 X 1.5”
Weight with batteries: 210 g
I have not tested the claim of whether it floats :-)

Size wise its basically the same length and depth as my Garmin GPS. Construction appears to be very solid, the unit has a heavy, well built feel to it. I had been worried about the lack of a cover but the four buttons(help, on/off, ok/check, and 911) are small and reaccessed to minimize any accidental activation. Also helping to prevent a false alarm is the device requiring that for a 911 or help alert to be sent, the corresponding button needs to be held down for 2 seconds before a message will transmit. The device is not pre-enabled out of the box, you have to log on to the SPOT website and register to get the device to send messages.

Registration was quick and easy, the system allows you to send both text messages and e-mails to your "Spot team" and customize both your OK and Help messages and who you would like to receive alerts. You can add and drop contacts at any time. For an additional $50 fee, you can sign up for SPOTcasting, which allows people to follow your progress for up to 24 hours.

After registration it was time to give the device a quick run through, so what better way then to walk outside and attempt to check in.

Conditions were dark, windy, and overcast, just the kind of conditions that you hope you're not stuck out in. So I trotted out of my house, powered up the SPOT and hit the "OK" button. The lights flashed as they were supposed to and nothing happened, they just kept blinking, and blinking, and blinking. I kept waiting for the lights to turn solid to indicate that a message was sent, but the lights kept blinking. Finally the light went solid green(message sent), and then continued blinking. So I shut down the unit and went inside to check if the message had been received, sure enough, I had e-mail notification showing my exact location. I trudged back outside for further testing, powered up the unit and hit OK again. Once again I was treated to what felt like an eternity of flashing lights, with no sent messages, it was at this point I began worrying that I had purchased a very useless gadget, I hadn't even tried it under tree cover and it wasn't quickly sending messages. I began thinking how miserable it would be to be in a real emergency and just watch the two green lights flash, knowing that nothing was being sent.

It was at this point that I walked inside to scan the user manual, which upon reading it(novel concept) told me that it could take upwards of 4 minutes to get a location fix and send a message and that SPOT would attempt to send multiple messages for 20 minutes. Back out I went, this time grabbing a warm jacket, I booted up the Spot and hit the OK button, this time I also hit my stopwatch. It must have been the pressure because within 51 seconds I had successfully transmitted an OK message, I left the Spot on in transmit mode and it sent three more messages at 8:45, 12:25, and 18:53. Its worth noting that somehow the Spot manages to delete redundant messages and only sends one e-mail notification. Feeling more confident and having a better grasp of how the device functioned I proceeded to change location and send a "Help" signal(Help signals only go to your Spot team, not to the 911 dispatch) this could be very useful in the event of a car malfunction, or other non life threatening situation. Sure enough within 5 minutes, the Spot confirmed message sent.

I then moved into the woods, to get a better understanding of how well the Spot would function when under tree cover. I got my first alternating flash which meant the message could not be sent, but a slight move to the right gave me a solid light message sent indicator. I began to see the wisdom in allowing for a 20 minute, multiple message cycle which would offer the best chance of a message getting through, even in thicker tree cover. I tried a few more locations and managed to get messages sent within 4-8 minutes of pressing the OK button.
Once back at the computer I could get an overview of where I had been with Google Maps.

To make a quick summary, I'm honestly not entirely as blown away with the device as I though I would be. I envisioned a much faster transmitting device, but its clear that I had an unreal ideas and expectations of how the product worked. I also was not testing it in the way I would be using it in the field. For example if I was truly sending an OK alert, I'd probably either would be moving, in which case having a 20 minute window to find a clearing to send a message is a nice touch. Or I'd be stopped for lunch, again in which case I'm not going to care if it takes 4-6 minutes to send a quick check in message. This is not an instant communication device and as soon as I realized that, I began to understand the product better.

Clearly the SPOT does work as a locater beacon, and the ability to send an OK vs Help message is reason enough to buy it. Its well built and ergonomically well designed, and it should make for a nice addition to my backcountry pack I'm going to give it a far more thorough run through in the usage and terrain that I bought it for sometime in the coming days, so look for an update soon.

Dynafit Freeride Aero TF boots UPDATE!

Previous review Freeride Aero TF boots

Update:

I've gotten a solid month on the boots so here's my updated thoughts.

As I mentioned in my earlier review, the forward lean on these things is slightly too much for my taste, given the fact that there is no adjustment for this the boot needed to be modified. Its a fairly simple fix, first remove the forward lean mechanism by removing the bolt above the heel. Then simply use a drill to elongate the existing hole(towards the bootsole) so that the hardware will sit lower in the boot, and then use epoxy or JB weld to fill in the void above. Then simply re-assemble the mechanism. Thanks to Lou Dawson over at wildsnow.com for coming up with that solution!!! My quads are truly in debt to you!

The second change I've made is to downgrade from a World Cup booster strap to the Expert/Racer model. The WC model just never sat right on the tongue and was a pain to get tight enough to be effective. In contrast the Race booster conforms better to the shape of the tongue and requires less tension to be effective at preventing shin bang. The slight downgrade in overall stiffness is also nice as I feel the boot has a bit more "give" in it which makes it ski better in variable conditions. As a bonus the WC booster can be moved back to my TLT 700's where it fits the boot tongue perfectly and adds exactly the right overall stiffness to the boot.

I still have a couple of gripes with the boot though. For some reason my toes are cold in this boot, once I'm walking or skinning they stay warm, but while skiing lift serve or standing around waiting, they're just cold boots. I may re-mold the liner to see if making the toe area smaller will address this issue.

The second issue I have is dealing with the buckles while touring or
leaving them unbuckled while on the lift, they're very easy to catch on things. Where the TLT 700 and other AT boots provide one long gate post which allows you to snap the buckle shut and still effectively use the walk mode. On the Aero you're left with either leaving the boots unbuckled and gated(where they snag everything), or completely unbuckling the top two buckles(which leads to some slop in the boot). I've gone with just unbuckling while touring, as it gives a slightly better stride. Both of these gripes are fairly minor and the toe issue could just be a re-mold away from being resolved.

With regards to the issue of binding interface, I have used them with Dynafits, Dukes, and yes Virginia I can use them with my Mojo 15 alpine bindings. It took some work, and the DIN setting in the toe indicator had to be significantly lowered to compensate for the friction, but with some trial and error I managed to get the release to be within tolerance for the DIN setting I wanted(basically the indicator says my toes are at a 5.5 and its actually releasing at a 8.5). I'm a bigger guy running a higher DIN, so a lightweight may not be able to get the indicator value low enough to compensate for the friction. I'm still anxiously awaiting an alpine binding with a adjustable/movable AFD. I think with the shear number of people who are using burlier AT boots as their only boot its only a matter of time before we see this. I'm gonna wait until I see next years bindings, and probably will wind up picking up a pair of Freeride's or Naxo's if nobody brings an alpine binding such as I've described to market.

Housecleaning issues out of the way its time for a performance update.

Now that I've got them almost dialed in, I can report with great confidence that: THEY ROCK. I'd been looking for a boot that was basically an Alpine boot with dynafit fittings, and this is it. I've skied inbounds all day with this boot, everything from bumps, to trees, to groomers and it handles everything I can throw at it. I've used it with Marker Dukes on sidecountry runs where skinning back to the lifts was a much more comfortable and less tiresome experience then it would have been if I was using a full on alpine boot. But the real kicker is how much I like this boot when paired up with dynafit fittings. I've done 7 short to medium sized tours(1,500-3,000 feet of vertical gain) with the boots and the 2 pounds I gain vs using TLT 700's is insignificant next to the performance gain I get on the downhill. The 700's will still see a lot of use for all day excursions, and shorter tours where the terrain doesn't warrant the use of a big boot. The Aero's touring performance does give me the option of deciding to use it if the downhill terrain calls for it. I'm fairly confident that I could use the Aero's + dynafits for a 4-5k day and not be miserable.

Can I tell the difference between the Aero and an alpine boot? Yep, its not as burly, and not quite as laterally stiff as my alpines, the Aero can hang, but its more like a mid range alpine boot then a step under a race boot like I expect the Garmont Shaman or Scarpa Hurricane are. On the other hand my alpine boots don't tour anywhere NEAR as well as the Aero's and the
downhill performance is close enough that people aren't waiting for me at the bottom.

All in all this is a fantastic boot for those of us that like to do a bit of everything, and sometimes aren't sure where they're going to be on any given day. I like the fact that I can throw 3 pairs of skis in the rooftop box and be set for a weekend with one pair of boots no matter what cards I get dealt.

K2 Sahale Review

I'm gonna consolidate a bunch of posts into one review here

Picked these up off of SAC during the fall. Decided to go really short as this would be a quiver ski and I wanted to save weight for spring tours/ski mountaineering. So far this year I've wound up mostly using them for teaching the mini-animal how to ski and I'd been impressed with them thus far. Even though I'd been on greens, I'd been able to run them through sideslips, kickturns, and lots of different radius turns(they also make great pie turns )

In order to really get full confidence in them I needed to get off of the greens and into some steeper and faster terrain before giving them a seal of approval. Last night I finally got to test them on inbounds hardpack and they performed.

I'd been really worried about the length but after one run my fears were put to rest. Conditions were a light dusting of natural + manmade on top of a firm hard base that was scraped off in spots.

At speed what little chatter I observed in the tips was not noticeable underfoot. With regards to a speed limit, you might say it has one, but thats only because they won't straightline, as long as you're locked into a turn, feel free to push them as fast as you would like. Given the fact that my BC skiing speeds are far less then what I was skiing last night, I'm fairly confident in saying that on a firm surface, I will not find that this ski has a speed limit.

Edgehold was superior, not once did I think that the ski was going to wash out of a high speed arc, which is confidence inspiring for me as a big guy on such a short ski. The tail is very supportive during the turn, but allows for a huge variety of turn shapes from small hop turns to big swooping arcs. Also a plus was the fact that the ski was neither overpowering or overpowered by my boots.

Not that the TLT 700 is a ton of boot, but with an added WC booster strap, wedges underfoot, and a rear spoiler, its definitely closer to something like a Megaride/Struktura/Denali then a Laser/Matrix/F1 class of boot that I think the ski was intended to be skied with.

I've taken them uphill once, and most of that was with them on my pack, so I don't have much to comment there, but as would be expected, they're light, and skinning flats with them was a joy.

Update #1
I threw the headlamp on and took them for a couple of runs in my Backyard glade I created over the summer

Conditions in my backyard were 5-6" of unconsolidated over a 3" base with a little crust on top

Again I was pleasantly surprised, my rig for this kind of low angle bushwhacking has been a 180 Alpina Cross terrain, and normally its tough to get enough speed to get it to maneuver. The stiff tip and larger sidecut on the X-terrain lead to making a ton of jerky, uncoordinated turns from the backseat as I try to avoid crashing into trees or thickets. The Sahale was an entirely different experience, the tails sunk, the tips floated and I was able to make smooth turns as long as I could keep the speed up. I found putting skins on to be a pain since I was used to the waxless pattern on the cross terrain, but it is what it is. Skinning back up the hill was painless due to the light weight, and ski thicketeering was much simpler on a 160 then a 180 since there was a lot less ski to get caught in the underbrush.


Update #2
Finally got them out in some real world BC conditions

I decided to make a quick lap during the rainstorm we had out here today

Conditions were fairly compacted wet snow, but ranged from very firm to complete slush 2 feet away.

This was exactly what I was looking for to test just how well the Sahale actually skis when you throw tough conditions at it.

As expected on the uphill portion they were ridiculously fast on anything flat or firm, and held an angle while climbing just as well as my fatter boards. They were however somewhat bothersome while trying to break trail or move across more unconsolidated snow. The lack of length and width really made it somewhat challenging, I found myself being sucked down in wet patches my longer, wider skis would have slid over with no problems.

Once again I was pretty surprised at how they handled on the way down. Granted I couldn't ski the same way as if I had my normal setup, but it was far from survival turns. I noticed the lack of waist width much more then the length which isn't surprising given the conditions. I lost some fluidity vs. a wider ski, but never felt like the ski was "getting away" from under me or wasn't comfortable in the terrain. I always felt like I could turn when I needed to and stop when I wanted to.

The 2007-2008 vertical challenge update #9 (over 20,000' for the season!)

thanks to Kevin Broderick for the photo

to date:
11 days
20431' climbed


10/31 1575' climbed
11/3 3304' climbed
11/11 1498' climbed
11/16 377' climbed
12/3 1624' climbed
12/8 1680' climbed
12/13 351' climbed
12/14 3271' climbed
12/15 1690' climbed
12/16 1070' climbed
12/17 3186' climbed
12/23 768' climbed

The 2007-2008 vertical challenge update #8

thanks to Kevin Broderick for the photo

to date:
10 days
19663' climbed


10/31 1575' climbed
11/3 3304' climbed
11/11 1498' climbed
11/16 377' climbed
12/3 1624' climbed
12/8 1680' climbed
12/13 351' climbed
12/14 3271' climbed
12/15 1690' climbed
12/16 1070' climbed
12/17 3186' climbed


phew, almost to 20k!!!!!!

hmmm

break out the golf clubs, its looking good for this weekend!

The 2007-2008 vertical challenge update #7

thanks to Kevin Broderick for the photo

to date:
8 days
13717' climbed


10/31 1575' climbed
11/3 3304' climbed
11/11 1498' climbed
11/16 377' climbed
12/3 1624' climbed
12/8 1680' climbed
12/13 351' climbed
12/14 3271' climbed

Mini-animal slays the sickness that is Jiminy Peak

3 years old
yeah, he pretty much kills it now
only 6 or so more years till he's beating me down the hill for real :-)

The 2007-2008 vertical challenge update #6

thanks to Kevin Broderick for the photo

to date:
7 days
10446' climbed


10/31 1575' climbed
11/3 3304' climbed
11/11 1498' climbed
11/16 377' climbed
12/3 1624' climbed
12/8 1680' climbed
12/13 351' climbed

Christmas Tree 2007

Ethan and Mommy out searching for the tree

Ethan doing lights

Happy Ethan

The 2007-2008 vertical challenge update #5

thanks to Kevin Broderick for the photo

to date:
6 days
10095' climbed


10/31 1575' climbed
11/3 3304' climbed
11/11 1498' climbed
11/16 377' climbed
12/3 1624' climbed
12/8 1680' climbed

Oh Oh its Magic

You know :-)

Met bluebird at the baselodge at 7:45 and we started skinning up

Don't go to Magic kids, it sucks

This is a total photoshop job, there actually isn't any snow

Again go somewhere else, Magic isn't worth driving to

Good to get out and be able to have skis on top to bottom, coverage was good, snow was good, all in all it was a good day

The 2007-2008 vertical challenge update #4

thanks to Kevin Broderick for the photo

to date:
5 days
8415' climbed


10/31 1575' climbed
11/3 3304' climbed
11/11 1498' climbed
11/16 377' climbed
12/3 1624' climbed