GEAR:30

G3 (aka, Genuine Guide Gear) is introducing a new touring binding — the Zed — that they’re calling the lightest fully-featured AT binding on the market. So we talk to G3’s engineers about their design philosophy and development process, current trends in AT bindings, and the compromises inherent in any AT binding.TOPICS & TIMES:Introductions (2:15)When did work begin on this binding, and what was the primary aim? (4:55)The “Dark Swamp of Despair” (8:03)The difficulty of naming products (11:09)The G3 ION as the precursor to the ZED (12:37)Cutting weight on the ZED (17:14)Why choose the ION over the ZED? (26:03)Why choose the Zed over "ultralight" bindings (29:07)Using ultralight bindings on wide skis (30:19)Carbon reinforced plastics (33:51)Current binding trends and U-Spring bindings (37:15)Understanding the inherent compromises in bindings (44:55) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We just finished testing a bunch of skis at Taos, and because of a closing-week snowstorm, we ended up getting on everything from very heavy, modified race skis, to a new, extremely light big mountain ski. So Blister editors Sam Shaheen and Luke Koppa join me to go over a number of the highlights, including the new Atomic Bent Chetler 100, the HEAD Supershape i.Titan, a new carver from DPS, the Black Crows Orb, and what might be my new personal favorite ski from Blizzard.TOPICS & TIMES:Shredding West Basin in a Hello Kitty onesie & snowblades (2:04)Atomic Bent Chetler 100 (5:48)Bent Chetler 100 vs. LINE Sick Day 104 (8:20)Renoun Citadel 106 (13:41)Blizzard Brahma (17:28)Update on the Fritschi Tecton (20:00)Black Crows Orb (22:15)HEAD SuperShape i.Titan (29:10)HEAD i.Speed Pro (33:10)DPS Cassiar 79 - “The Trainer” (35:34) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're talking about new backcountry gear and some of the changes to backcountry ski culture with the founder of Bentgate, Greg Floyd. Greg founded Bentgate in Golden, Colorado back in 1994, and Bentgate has become a cornerstone shop in the front range of Colorado for all things skiing and climbing.TOPICS & TIMES:How Bentgate got its start (2:20)How Greg has watched backcountry skiing culture change (6:05)Bentgate’s Backcountry 101 sessions (7:23)Sam Shaheen’s close call in Japan (19:04)Some of Greg’s favorite AT gear (23:25)Bentgate’s take on the Atomic / Salomon Shift binding (25:47)G3 Zed binding (28:07)Icelantic Skis (29:44)22 Designs bindings (31:04)Arc’teryx outerwear (32:00)Flylow Gear (33:36)Black Crows skis (34:32)Climbing skins: G3 vs. Black Diamond vs. Pomoca vs. Contour (35:31) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’ve got 2 parts to this episode — first, I talk with Blister reviewer, Sam Shaheen, about the most unusual ski we’ve ever reviewed (and the ski that nearly caused Sam and me to fight), the Renoun Endurance 98. And then Sam and I wrap up with an update on the Scott Scrapper 115.Then I talk with Blister reviewers Sascha Anastas and Kara Williard about women’s ski boots and the problem it can be for good skiers (that happen to have small feet) to find boots that works for them. Having Sascha and Kara weigh in on this is great, since they are both good skiers, and Kara also happens to be very good bootfitter who works at the Boot Doctors in Taos Ski Valley. Sascha has just gone through a pretty extensive process of trying to find a new boot that really works for her, so she and Kara talk a bit about that, and why Sascha ended up going with the Atomic Hawx Ultra 110 W.TOPICS & TIMES:Renoun Endurance 98 (1:42)Scott Scrapper 115 (16:15)Sascha & Kara's backgrounds (19:30)Sascha & Kara on the problem of women's ski boots (24:50)Atomic Hawx Ultra 110 W (30:28) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ON3P is releasing their entire new ski line early next month. So we talk to ON3P founder, Scott Andrus, about this decision, then go over every ski in the 18/19 line, including what’s new, what's unchanged, and what’s so new and experimental that Scott didn’t want to talk about it. (But we got him to anyway.) And you can also see all the new 18/19 ON3P graphics in the show notes to this episode on blister.TOPICS & TIMES:Why release the new line next month? (03:20)Kartel 96, 108, & 116 (05:06)Magnus 90 & 102 (08:16)Wrenegade 96, 108, & 114 (12:41)New *Metal* Wrenegades (15:59)Jessie 96 & 108 (20:47)Women’s Billy Goat? (22:34)Billy Goat - and the 2 skis that originally inspired it (24:24)Graphics & Scott’s all-time favorite ON3P graphic (26:26)ON3P Kid’s Ski: the Charlie Murphy + Scott’s cats (31:45)ON3P snowblades & ON3P monoski? (34:15)Cease & Desist (35:36)The Super Goat (37:25)Experimental New Project - The St. Lucas (39:46)Touring Skis: available “Tour” layups of the Kartels, Wrens, and Billy Goats (46:58) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We discuss a bunch of the brand new ski equipment we've been testing at Telluride, including the Line Sakana, ON3P Wrenegade 114, Faction Dictator 4.0, Rossi Soul 7, the new Atomic-Salomon SHIFT binding, and more.TOPICS & TIMES: A recap of Telluride, plus JE getting back on snow - and heli skiing (1:23)Rossignol Soul 7 HD & Blizzard Rustler 11 (5:00)Line Sakana (10:30)ON3P Wrenegade 114 (12:45)Faction Dictator 4.0 (15:00)Atomic / Salomon SHIFT MNC binding (18:55)Black Crows Daemon (23:20)Volkl Mantra M5 & Blizzard Bonafide (26:30)Renoun Endurance 98 (29:31)ON3P Kartel 108 (35:55) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We talk to the CEO and head designer of Moment Skis, Luke Jacobson, about Moment's lineup for next season — what’s new, what's unchanged, and what's tweaked — and we cover everything from touring skis, kid's skis, women’s skis and even … the Chief Commander.TOPICS & TIMES:On Moment athlete - and current Olympian - David Wise winning X Games SuperPipe (1:12)The 18/19 Moment lineup: the revised Deathwish (4:55)Meridian 107 & 117 (10:18)PB&J - “unchanged but changed” (10:42)Wildcat & Wildcat Tour (13:08)Commander 98 and Commander 108 (17:06)“Women’s” skis - Hot Mess, Sierra, Bella (28:58)The Carson (and Zephyr) - Moment’s kid's ski (31:34)Touring Skis - Deathwish Tour 106 & Wildcat Tour (35:40)Meridian Tour (37:25)The Chief Commander! (40:30) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We talk to blister reviewer, Paul Forward, about some of the powder skis he’s been reviewing recently in Alaska and Japan, including the Faction Prime 4.0, the Black Diamond Helio 116, and the DPS Spoon.And then we talk to Jeremy Cole, owner of Alpine Sports, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which is one of our Blister Recommended Shops. Jeremy and I cover 3 topics: new gear; some of his favorite price-point boots & skis, and some real-world issues surrounding boots, bindings, and bench test results.TOPICS & TIMES:Join us in Telluride the weekends of February 24, March 10, March 17 (2:11)Paul Forward on the DPS Spoon, Faction Prime 4.0, Black Diamond Helio 116 (3:01)Jeremy Cole, owner of Alpine Sports, Santa Fe, New Mexico (20:31)As a buyer, what were some of the most intriguing new products you saw at OR/SIA (21:52)Bang for the Buck: some of Jeremy’s favorite price-point boots & skis (27:02)Bench Test Results: real-world issues around boots + binding compatibility (32:41) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is a roundtable recap from the Outdoor Retailer / SIA show in Denver with five of our editors and reviewers about some of the most interesting new gear we saw at the show.We hope you’d been following us along on instagram, because we put up about a hundred Insta stories that captured pretty well the highlights of what we were seeing. So if you aren’t following us on instagram, you can find us at @blisterreview.For this round table conversation, I was joined by reviewers Sascha Anastas, Kristin Sinnott, Sam Shaheen, and Luke Koppa. We talk about a ton of gear, so check our show notes to this episode (below) or on your phone if you want to jump around in our conversation.TOPICS & TIMES:Thoughts on the new combination of OR and SIA (2:10)Trade Show Awards - They're Still Dumb (7:00)Women’s ski trends (8:20)New developments from Gore (11:18)Tecnica’s new Zero G boots (14:00)Mogul Skis (16:48)Lightweight Inbounds Ski Boots: HEAD Kore LYT, K2 Recon 130, Hawx Ultra 130, Nordica Pro Machine (17:11)Lightweight AT Boots: HEAD Kore boot, Fischer Ranger Free, Rossignol All Track LT (20:48)Ski Bindings: G3 Zed, Marker Alpinist, Black Diamond / ATK (23:06)New Skis: Volkl Mantra M5, Rossignol Experience 94, Atomic Vantage 97, Armada Invictus 99, Blizzard Rustler 9 & Sheeva 9, Armada Trace 98, new Line Pandora (26:18)New Light & Playful Skis: Atomic Backland 107, Scott Scrapper 105, Atomic Bent Chetler 120 & 100 (31:16)Products We’d Most Want to Steal (33:11)Outerwear: the most intriguing pieces we saw (39:46)New Avi Pack: the Scott Backcountry Patrol AP 30 (46:15)This episode is presented by Marble Brewery Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Part 2 of our conversation with Black Crows co-founder, Camille Jaccoux, and head ski designer, Julien Regnier. Here, we get into the topic of women-specific skis, then go over what’s new in the Black Crows 18/19 lineup before it gets unveiled in Denver next week at the SIA tradeshow.You can check out Part 1 of our conversation with Camille and Julien about the history and trajectory of the Black Crows on the Blister Podcast (episode 64), and here is Part 2:TOPICS & TIMES:The Black Crows approach to “women-specific” skis (2:12)The Black Crows Arto and Vertis (12:50)The difference between the 16/17 Atris and the current Atris (13:27)Julien’s take on mount points (21:39)The redesigned Corvus (24:19)The redesigned Camox Freebird (25:45)The new Solis (26:55)Camille on the new Black Crows apparel (29:37)This episode is presented by Marble Brewery. Check out their Reserve Ale that we talk about in the intro. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Back in 2010, Sebastian Steinbach had the crazy idea to go against traditional European ski culture and open a freeride-specific shop in Munich, Germany. Black Sheep Sports became one of the first dedicated freeride shops in Europe, and it has since evolved into one of the best freeride and backcountry shops in the Alps — which is why Black Sheep is on our list of Blister Recommended Shops.Blister senior editor, Sam Shaheen, was in Munich earlier this season to talk with Sebastian about how Black Sheep got started, the ski culture in Europe vs the ski culture in North America, and about some of Sebastian’s current favorite skis and boots for skiing in Europe.TOPICS & TIMES:Justin Bobb on his favorite Marble beer, Marble Red Ale (1:23)Why the name "Black Sheep"? (7:50)The crazy idea of opening a freeride shop in Europe (11:16)European race & ski touring culture vs freeride culture (14:56)Off-Piste Skiing & Resort Boundary Lines — US vs Europe (18:49)For skiing in the Alps, which skis & brands are you currently high on? (25:21)Which ski boots are you most excited about? (32:48)Interlude: Breakfast Beer! (36:12)Back to ski boots & ski bindings (36:48) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we are talking about two new alpine-touring bindings from Fritschi, the Tecton 12, and the Vipec Evo 12. We’ve just put up full reviews of both the Tecton 12 and the Vipec Evo 12, and we wanted to go deeper with Blister reviewers Brian Lindahl and Cy Whitling about their experience with these new products, and how they would rank them against some of the the other most popular alpine touring bindings on the market.TOPICS & TIMES:Brian's extremely memorable tour on the Tecton (1:35)How Brian first got interested in the Fritschi Vipec very early on (3:00)A/B-ing the Tecton with the Marker Kingpin (8:15)A/B-ing the Tecton with an alpine binding (17:40)On the Fritschi Vipec Evo 12 (22:39)Updates to the Vipec Evo (24:43)Fritschi Vipec Evo vs. Dynafit Radical 2.0, G3 ION, and Marker Kingpin (27:38) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Volkl is unveiling today the new Mantra M5, the fifth iteration of the Mantra that Volkl originally released back in 2005. A lot has changed in skiing since then, but the Mantra is still one of the most recognizable and most iconic names in the game.Last month, Blister editor Sam Shaheen headed to Germany to ski the new Mantra M5, to tour the extremely impressive Volkl factory in Straubing, Germany, and to speak to two key designers at Volkl: Tobias Heil, the head of R&D at Volkl, and Dominik Grunert, the lead designer on the Mantra M5 and the women’s version of the Mantra, the Volkl Secret.This is a really fascinating conversation — and an extremely uncommon event. In 90+ years that Volkl has been around, rarely (if ever) has a review publication been granted this degree of direct access to Volkl R&D and Engineering, and Tobias and Dominik were extremely interesting, candid, and knowledgeable talking about the Mantra M5 in particular, and about the guiding design principles at Volkl in general.So you can check out Sam’s conversation with Tobias and Dominik here, then head over to blisterreview.com to read our accompanying writeup and Sam’s initial on-snow impressions of the new Mantra M5.TOPICS & TIMES:What were your trying to achieve with this 5th version of the Mantra, the M5? (2:28)Changes and the guiding design principles (3:38)History of the Mantra (6:55)Will this new shape and / or construction make its way into other Volkl skis? (9:35)The women’s version of the Mantra — the Volkl Secret (10:08)Which skis on the market is the Mantra M5 set to compete against? (12:20)Of the 5 different iterations of the Mantra, which are your personal favorites? (13:38)Dominik on the Volkl 100Eight (16:30)Rocker Profiles & Flex Patterns (17:50)Weight — what is Volkl’s position on construction & weight? (23:03)The possibility of bringing back a limited run of the metal Katana? (25:35)Predictions: where is ski design headed in the next 5 years? (28:15) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The new SHIFT MNC 13 from Salomon & Atomic represents a significant leap forward in binding design. Check out our conversation with Salomon's Cody Townsend Chris Rubens, and Benoit Sublet, and our initial on-snow impressions.TOPICS & TIMES:Introductions — Cody Townsend, Chris Rubens, Sam Shaheen, and Ben Sublet (1:58)What does this binding do, and what makes it different? (5:45)Which boots work with this binding? (11:15)"No compromise" safety (14:23)How & when did the idea originate, and why was it controversial? (15:10)How long has the current version of the binding been tested? (23:33)The big breakthrough: carbon-infused plastic (27:09)Downhill Performance: Salomon STH2 vs. S/LAB SHIFT (29:20)What was the most difficult element of this binding to design? (34:23)How the toe works (37:10)How often and in what scenarios will Cody & Chris use this binding? (39:40)Uphill performance (and why "touring steep is stupid" (47:48)Icing Issues? (52:08)Durability & the question of consumers as Beta testers (55:30) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We discuss the making of — and our takeaways from — our 17/18 Winter Buyer's Guide, including our "Best Of" awards, our Blister Spectrums, our ski quiver selections, and some of the strangest claims we saw in some of the other buyer's guides out there.TOPICS & TIMES:A very cool thing we did recently at marblebrewing.com (2:16)The blurring of ski categories (3:15)What we talk about when we talk about “Frontside” (8:56)The pros and cons of the growing category of “50/50” Skis (13:57)17/18 Season -- the year of the binding? (22:15)“Stated Range of Motion” numbers on AT boots & the Scarpa Freedom RS (23:07)Head-scratching claims we saw in other buyers guides about the Blizzard Rustler 10, J Skis The Metal, and ON3P Billy Goat (29:03)Our “Blister Spectrums” (35:37)Our Ski Quiver Selections in the Buyer’s Guide (38:19)The rationale behind our Blister “Best Of” Awards + some specific winners: Patagonia MicroPuff; Scarpa Maestrale RS; and K2 Ikonic 84 Ti (42:52)Almost “Best Of” Award winners: G3 SENDr 112, The North Face Ventrix (51:46) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dynafit is introducing today their new Hoji series of boots, so we went very in-depth with Hoji himself about the boot, what makes it unique, and what's potentially still to come. (And there's more information in the show notes to this podcast episode on our website.)TOPICS & TIMES:Welcome to our new GEAR:30 podcast (0:00)When and where the idea of Blister was born (1:10)What were the design aims of this boot, and what is unique about it? (2:52)The “PDA” design of this boot (15:42)The various iterations of the “Hoji” boot (18:07)Weight of the Hoji (23:32)The width of the boot + Hoji’s sizing recommendations (27:18)Fit of the Hoji Pro Tour vs. Fit of the Dynafit Vulcan (31:15)The buckles & ankle retention (35:30); Crampon Compatibility (39:58)Range of Motion - Forward & Rearward (42:05)Durability - Bushings & Cables (44:33)Hoji’s approach to boot testing (53:20)Where would you locate the Hoji among the Vulcan, Beast, and TLT 7? (1:00:15)Where would you locate the Hoji among non-Dynafit boots? (1:02:31)Flex of the boot (1:07:17)Why Eric thinks you should try skiing with your boots unbuckled (1:12:58)Any plans to work on a new AT binding? (1:16:05) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to GEAR:30. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.