You are currently browsing comments. If you would like to return to the full story, you can read the full entry here: “Choosing Backcountry Ski Gear”.
Choosing Backcountry Ski Gear
Inspired Mountain Living
Inspired Mountain Living
You are currently browsing comments. If you would like to return to the full story, you can read the full entry here: “Choosing Backcountry Ski Gear”.
Dolomites Tour Operator
Hi Dan!
This is again a great blog post. And while you are training, remember February 27th; 2nd edition of Tour de Sas … the course will be harder as 2 more climbs where added.
http://www.tourdesas.it/index.php?lang=en
Igor
typical elitist backcountry frenchie attitude. But of course the euros are superior, no? Not really suprised to hear it from you two…Also seems like a pretty narrow scope you speak so broadly of. After all, you are in Mammoth/Bishop…pop: very small. To claim “Americans” (lol you dont seem to consider yourself one) are all trending this way is pretty far off base. True, you come from a Rando/race background…most of us think you quite strange, but are you really following all trends in the ski industry or what the Mammoth locals are up to? Tons of light & fat gear coming out last year and this year. Take a look at blackdiamond.com or G3 or Voile. Very popular with us Americans. Maybe you’ll beat a few folks to the top on those toothpicks, but keep your yapper closed on the way down or you’ll be eating the locals pow spray. Also, be sure to stay in the backseat on the ultralite elite dynasaurs…gotta keep those little tips up ;P Funny stuff.
Good to hear from you Junkity Junk Junk.
You seem a bit angry.
I am out having tons of fun each and every day in the backcountry. It doesn’t matter what I ski, how I ski, who I beat to the top of anything, if I beat anyone, or if I care to beat anyone, in fact the last time I skied with friends it wasn’t a race. Seems you are the competitive one in desiring to make me “eat the locals pow spray”. Very nice. Do you really think I care one tiny bit about this?
I bring up the point of asking if people are choosing the right gear for their needs. And bringing into the conversation another option that perhaps people are overlooking here. Agreed, the Mammoth area has a tiny population of backcountry skiers. But, people are asking about learning – I am presenting my case and another route to consider.
Dan
Nice article. I moved to the US (NM) after doing a load of touring in Scotland and the Alps, and no-one ever believes that I _like_ my little light skis, and that they are the way forward for technical touring (turning in tight spaces, getting down awkward rocky sections, etc.). I bought some fat skis, but they really are no fun unless there’s more than about 3ft of fresh powder, otherwise they’re just cumbersome. I’m so pleased I’m not the only one that thinks this!
My boyfriend and I love your website. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Rosie, Glad you like the site. Feel free to suggest anything for us to cover, discuss, or have others discuss. I am hoping to bring more voices to the content so it is great to hear from readers. Thanks again, Dan
Very solid, well-reasoned article. Not surprising that with your intercontinental range of experience, you suggest being practical—equipping to enjoy the skiing you actually do instead of the skiing you wish you could do. Here in Colorado, AT is growing fast and folks are having fun on every sort of ski. DolomiteSport.com is a great resource for stoking mountain passion.
Thanks Leslie, In my experience, no matter the activity, when you are using the right gear for you, and you understand what it is you want to do, you have more fun and in the long run get more out of it.
Dan
Well articulated article Dan. Down here in Crested Butte, we see a much more broad spectrum, with a sizable (for North America) race community and terrain being the major influences for the lighter gear.
I notice the beefier set-ups most popular with folks who are newer to backcountry skiing. I have to assume this is wishful thinking as the big gravity fed Alaskan and Canadian terrain featured in vids and marketing for that beefy gear, just doesn’t exist here.
A few seasons back I skied on a pair of beautifully light and short Italian touring skis; only to be consistently defending them as NOT being race gear! For the serious backcountry skier, the broad quiver suited to any condition will be desirable, but for the skier just dabbling in touring- the oft-overlooked lightweight set-up could be the key to success!
Thanks for the comment Mike. You are right, I did fail to mention the option of having a quiver of skis, and it is a key point. Thankfully, in today’s post Howie Schwartz will talk about it so we are covered. I was focusing on getting info out about how well some of the new light gear works and how it might be a great option for many skiers in North America. Thanks again for writing. –Dan
I think that skier’s ability come first. If you’re a good skier, you’ll enjoy either your 1500m of gain up to the mount and a great descent with light skis and boots, and come back home without burned legs…c’mon it’s just a matter of ONE descent, not a whole day up and down with lifts and short skinning and with more than 4000-5000m of descents.
I use Scarpa F1 ( i love em, definitely as strong as a good 3 bucklets -much better than a Garmont MegaLite- and great for ascent) and a light pair of Fischer skis, not too light (1250g) and dynafit bindings…I love’em for ski touring.
Let’s go and try!
Never used dynafits and light skis. I am a quiver of 1 kind of a person who skis the resort 90% of the time. Just upgraded to freerides and last years kilowatt from crossbows and like them a lot more for powder and crud, but they don’t ski bumps or groomers as well. Not convinced about the utility of 100mm waisted skis. Curious as to your thoughts on a quiver of one setup?
You’ve put me on the spot…
Quiver of one?
For me, what I ski – long days, all kinds of terrain, everything from long cruises for training to steep big mountain terrain to multi-day Euro tours – I would go with a light 3 buckle boot like the Scarpa Spirit 3 or one of the new Dynafit offerings (super excited about next year’s Dynafit TLT 5). For a ski, truthfully.. I am really happy with my older Dynafit FR10s but I am sure they have more of a selection to offer now. I also have a pair of Ski Trab Duo Freerando Lites I enjoy. Movement is doing some cool stuff as well. Boots are a bit more of what I am tuned into these days, again, speaking for myself, I see tremendous difference when I switch boots/try different things – but once I choose a type of ski, or a category, they all seem pretty similar. Boots are making the big difference for me, that is why the new Dynafit offerings are exciting as they are trying some new things to make the boots super light, comfortable and performance oriented.
Great discussion. It good to know that, in addition to race creed and color, backcountry ski width is another reason for bias. The configuration of the FR10s are very similar to my Alpine boards, Atomic Snoop Daddies. The Snoops are only slighthy heavier. Where is the sweet spot between weight & width ?
And what’s the best ski for skittering across frozen skin tracks and ruts on the way back to the car ? Mike makes a good point not every trip down is thru perfect powder…
I just found a great quote on a forum ….I wish I could give or take credit for it….
“oh.. and I’ll add I’m using an 88mm ski as well…… I know that’s a small ski for skiing the internet but for skiing mountains it’s fairly wide”
MATTERS OF SCALE
I love this blog and comments, but I have something I’d like to add. I also used to own Dynafit FR10 skis but never liked them as much as Dan does. Knowing that Dan weighs around 130 pounds and I weigh about 190 pounds I did some calculations to see how a 187cm ski supported me compared to a 169cm ski on Dan. I did some calculations to see how many kilograms our respective skis have to support for each square centimeter of surface area. To do this on your own, know that a 169 FR10 has a 86mm waist and the 187 has an 88 waist. I averaged out the ski widths as 10mm more than the waist and the length as 10cm less than the total length. The results were a real eye opener. To get the same flotation as Dan, my skis need to have a 117mm waist! When you talk of a “quiver of one” you better know whose quiver you are talking about.
The preceding paragraph might lead you to believe that I must own big, heavy skis. I don’t. I own 4 pair, all mounted with Dynafits with waist sizes from 80mm to 102mm. With each ski I buy I try to make it lighter than it’s predecessor. The same goes for boots. With 90% of my time spent on the uphill, heavy gear just doesn’t make sense for me. I’ll just never be as light on my skis as Dan Pattitucci.
Thanks Bill, and for those that do not know Bill – he knows backcountry gear quite well, obviously as he has applied scientific thinking to it all. Great comment Bill, thanks again.
Wow Bill, excellent post. Maybe there needs to be a better way to size skis similar to the way XC skate skis are flex tested. This is of particular interest to me…I weigh less than Dan.
Excellent summary of a cultural difference. What you write is perfectly true on average but one should not forget that the spectrum of practices is quite broad in Europe, and I guess in the US too (a bit less probably). In France, you can even see noticeable gear differences between Chamonix valley (more diamir bindings, heavier skis) and the Grenoble region (dynafit bindings amost for everyone !, the capital city of ‘typical elitist backcountry frenchie attitude’ I guess
).
I purchased Trab Freerandos in 164 length (I am 170 tall and 66 kg weight) and find them a little too short: shorter is less forgiving for your equilibrium position. This is not a problem in piste or spring snows, it can also be very nice in steep (~45 °) couloirs but in other situations, particularly when the snow is difficult to ski or deep, I am sure it would be easier with 170.
Hey Dan,
I just stumbled accross your website, I really dig what you’re doing with it! I think North American ski culture can really learn from what’s happening in Europe, with Rando racing on the rise in the US and Canada attitudes are bound to shift. You can do so much more on a pair of race skis than we realize in NA.
I think you’re bang on with the idea of the quiver, light skis are a tool in the tool box. I dig re-learning to ski on my trabs and like to bust them out when we’re trying to bag peaks or travel far….. or if it’s pounding snow, you pull out the fatties… it all depends on ski ability, ski conditions, the mtn range you ski in and your financial situation:)
keep up the good work, your euro skimo shots get me stoked to race!
This article was extremely helpful. The whole tele vs AT dialogue can get a little confusing, but after purchasing my AT setup, I know for a fact that this is what I need. I found it humorous that much of the talk between the two styles revolves around the whole ‘cultural’ aspect. I don’t know how many times the word ‘hippie’ showed up when referring to tele skiing.
While I may fit the stereotype of a hippy with my lifestyle, I don’t cling to that image. And I certainly don’t need skis to prove a point. I need skis, so I can go make some art. Unlike many skiers, my main goal isn’t to bomb down hills like an all star (although with this setup I do, I have and I can’t wait to do more), my main goal is to be out in nature, find some beautiful spot and to do some painting.
The AT setup covers this flawlessly. The dynafit bindings I purchased are great lightweight solid pieces of engineering. Uphill, these things are super comfortable. Going down, super solid. For me the best ski days and the best painting days don’t always match up so the AT setup gives me the comfort of knowing that I can handle whatever the weather throws my way.