SnowSlider - Blogging From the mountains by ise

Delayed from last weekend the lifts opened at Zinal today. Two chairs, the Corne de Sorebois and the Chiesso, along with Remointze drag lift and of course the cable car from the village. Snow conditions are pretty good, there’s a base of canon snow on the piste topped up this week by some significant snowfall. Something like another 20cm or would be needed to full operate I’d guess and the Piste de l’Aigle back to village is going to need a lot of more snow to open.

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Waiting for the first snow to fall and getting ready for the upcoming is always fun as it always means a few new pieces of kit. In fact, I’ve been replacing a load of old climbing gear as well and I’d already posted an inventory of that here, primarily that’s just my way of keeping track of what stuff weighs.

First, a pair of Black Diamond Voodoo’s for me. My Stormrider XL’s are starting to get slightly tired and I’m not sure they’ll last the whole season. The XL’s are a little heavy at around 4-4.5 kg so I wanted something a little lighter. For ultra light I’ve a pair of Stormrider PIT Lights with Dynafit TLT Speed bindings which are only around 3.6kg all together so I was looking to save around 1kg on this ski. The XL is a versatile ski at 112-76-102 mm but I’ve decided that fatter skis have improved enough to size up slightly so I’m taking this Voodoo at 124-88-115 mm in the longest 185cm length.

I’d looked at the Black Diamond Havocs as well which are a similar ski but use a few more wood layers to make them stiffer and slightly heavier. I also seriously considerd the Black Diamond Kilowatt but at 127-95-116 mm I think it might be awkward on some of the snow we get at times.

I’ve gone back and forth over what bindings to mount on these, on one hand some dynafits and use my Megarides. On the other hand, Fritschi or Silvretta and have the choice of boots. The reason I’d like to use my Megarides is that they’re 1 kg lighter than my Endorphins and that would extend the range of use for the ski. In the end I’ve opted for the Fritschi option, I’d like to be able to use either the Endorphin or Megaride and I’m familiar with Fritschi as I have some Freeride Plus bindings already.

I did consider going for the Fritschi Explores but when you add a brake they’re barely lighter than the Freerides and I get that higher DIN range for skiing with a pack etc.

In fact these skis haven’t been shipped to me yet so I guess I can still change my mind about the bindings !

The next pair of skis are actually for Julie, we wanted something for an occasional tour and light off-piste as her current Stöckli Laser skis are a FIS masters ski and rather thin underfoot. Looking for something light(ish) with a reasonable footprint we came to the K2 Shuks Anne which is a women’s version of the Shuksan. The Shuksan, developed in conjunction with Swiss Guide and Pro Guiding Service owner Martin Volken, is the staple tour ski now from K2 and this is the first year it’s offered in a women’s version. It’s a nice light ski at 2950g per pair and 122-80-107 mm.

These actually are shipped and they’re right here now with some Diamir Fritschi Explores on them, being lighter than me the DIN range on these is just fine for Julie.

I’ve been looking for a new rucksack for ages. I’ve been having some problems with my back for various reasons and I’ve found I need exactly the right sack to be able to comfortably carry any load at all for a full day. I’m still delighted with my Salewa Inversion but they’ve stopped making them and it’s just too small for some days. I think this is a shame, I still reckon the Inversion is one of the best rucksacks ever made by anyone.

The Inversion weighs 1200g and some bits can be stripped to reduce that further. One of the reasons I like the Inversion and dislike many other sacks is the weight. Some manufacturers are shipping ski, ski tour or off piste sacks that weight a ridiculous amount, over 2kg which is just daft, why do people buy these? Don’t they look at the weight? I presume they’re more concerned if their shovel is visible and makes them look sufficiently “hardcore”.

The Black Diamond Revelation is 42L in capacity which is exactly what I wanted and weighs 1550g, again some bits can be stripped to reduce that more. It’s a single compartment top loading sack which I quite like but I know a lot of people don’t. It’s got all the attachments I want, straps for multiple ice tools, crampon straps, ski carrier etc. In fact the ice axe attaches nicely as you can see in the photo’ neatly tucking the pick out of harms way. So far I’ve used this for a two day hike and climbing on the Mönch and it’s been great.

Finally, I’ve been so impressed with the fit of the new g-fit inners on my Megarides that I’ve had some done for my Endorphins as well. The fit on the Endorphins was already good but this just makes it perfect. After a season usage the padlock liners on the Endorphin showed some wear but nothing too excessive so I’ve now got two shells and three inners which I can mix and match.

I have updated the review I posted for the Garmon Endorpin freeride/ski-touring boot after a season of use. The review can be found here:

http://snowslider.net/reviews/garmont-endorphin

click on photograph for larger version

Yes, sad but true, it’s season close here in the Val d’Anniviers, all the valley stations close today for the season. There’s been fairly reasonable conditions over the last few weeks, a late winter fling producing a good late season base and up to ten days ago there was still some good powder in some higher couloirs. A couple of days ago I skied the Chamois from Zinal to Grimentz with Sonya and it was very good at the top although we needed to take our skis off a couple of times. Inevitably the conditions lately have been better in the morning of course and avalanche risk has risen rapidly during the day.

Today I’ve been skiing on some new skis as well, a pair of Stöckli Stormrider PIT lights. I’ve been perfectly happy with my Stormrider XL’s which have Fritschi Diamir Freeride Plus bindings along with some Garmont Endorphin Mg boots, this is a freerando set-up and performs well but weighs in around 10kg. My guess is that the average downhill set-up comes in around 12-15 kg. 10 kg is OK to be carrying on my feet but on longer tours I’d like something lighter.

The first thing to look at was the bindings, my Fritschi Diamir Freeride Plus bindings weigh in at 2040g. There’s some lighter versions like the Fritschi Explore at 1680g but if you want a light binding you have to look at the Dynafit range. I’ve opted for the Dynafit TLT Speed which is the latest version of the classic Dynafit binding weighing an amazing 670g per pair. The unit pivots purely at the toe piece which has the effect of slightly reducing the work of lifting the foot on ascents.

Using Dynafit bindings requires a special boot and my Garmont Endorphin Mg boots won’t work with this binding. As the Endorphins weigh 4050g I wanted to look for something a little lighter, one option was the three-clip Garmont Megalite at 2960g per pair. I decided the Megalite lacked the support I was looking for and that the Garmont Megaride was a better option weighing 3300g. The fit I get from the Endorphin is so good that I didn’t seriously consider anything other than a Garmont boot. This boot is compatible with my Fritschi Diamir Freeride Plus bindings so I have another option there.

Likewise for skis I didn’t really hesitate either, we have a lot of kit from Stöckli, a couple of pairs of boots, three pairs of Stöckli skis, a couple of Stöckli bikes and assorted accessories. The customer service is exceptional and I’d need a really good reason to go anywhere else. As the PIT light is at the end of life it’s discounted by 30% currently so it’s well worth a look.

In total this reduced the weight of my set-up by over 3kg which is very noticeable. Skiing around today I was pretty pleased with the whole set-up, it’s dramatically better on piste than I expected and a quick test climb seems to confirm it’s all I expected. Hopefully I should get out and do a fuller tour soon and have a better idea how the performance is.