Grimentz – season close
15th April 2007
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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.
