Kingswood Skis is a custom indie ski manufacturer based on the South Island of New Zealand, and we caught up with Kingswood founder, Alex Herbert, as the southern hemisphere ski season is getting underway to talk about ski materials, sidewalls, cosmetics & construction, base material thickness, and Kingswood’s rather unconventional Race Department.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• New Zealand & Covid-19 (2:09)
• The southern hemisphere ski season (8:41)
• The quick Kingswood backstory (15:31)
• Ski materials (17:09)
• Sidewalls & cap construction (25:13)
• Cosmetics & Ski Repairs (28:20)
• Base material thickness (32:57)
• Ski shapes (39:59)
• Being 100% made to order (49:26)
• Kingswood’s Race Department (53.08)
• What We’re Celebrating (56:53)

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Luke Koppa and Jonathan Ellsworth answer your questions and discuss our preferred gear for skiing funky spring / summer snow; what we’re reading; ski knickers?; mountain bike shoes; ski boot liners & durability; and more. 

TOPICS & TIMES:

• On our current state of affairs (1:03)
• Eating Food vs Photosynthesis? (6:33)
• Ski-Touring Knickers? (10:07)
• How long should a ski boot liner last? (13:7)
• What is Jonathan reading? (19:44)
• The best type of ski for funky, summer snow? (24:36)
• Mtn Bike Shoes (30:40)
• Climbing Skins 101 - upcoming article (34:06)
• What we’re celebrating (34:38)

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We’re talking with the founder of ON3P Skis, Scott Andrus, about the new ON3P lineup for the upcoming season. There is a lot of new and interesting stuff going on at ON3P, and we break quite a bit of news in this conversation. Check it out.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• How are things in Portland, OR? (2:19)
• The movie Dead Alive (4:17)
• ON3P’s new cores (6:36)
• Directional: Wren 102 Ti & Wren Pro (9:52)
• All-Mountain: Woodsman & Mera series (14:47)
• Freestyle: Jeffrey & Jesse series (18:56)
• Park: Magnus series (23:15)
• Touring Skis (26:03)
• 50/50 Skis (Custom) (31:16)
• What else? (34:26)

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Last week on our Bikes & Big Ideas podcast, we got the backstory from 28-year-old Adam Miller about his founding of Borealis Fat Bikes, Why Cycles, and Revel Bikes, and you can hear the whole fascinating backstory on our Bikes & Big Ideas podcast, episode #25.

And today we are airing the 2nd half of our conversation, where Adam dive deep into the details about Revel’s new wheels — that he claims are the strongest wheels on the market — and this thing they’re using called “fusion fiber.” We talk about what it is; why Adam believes these wheels are the strongest; their recyclability; the unique production process; other applications of fusion fiber, and more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Materials & Adam’s background (2:20)
• Types of carbon fiber (5:57)
• Testing prototypes (13:20)
• What is Fusion Fiber? (15:37)
• Recyclability of Fusion Fiber (18:54)
• The claim: strongest wheels on the market (21:53)
• Development & production process (28:08)
• Other potential applications of Fusion Fiber (31:56))
• Environmental considerations (36:34)

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In celebration of episode #100, of course we had to have Hoji back on, our patron saint of GEAR:30.

We discuss all the tinkering he’s been doing during quarantine; what ski gear has the most room for improvement; snowmobiles; climbing skins; the Pomoca & 4FRNT collab; monoskiing; and then one of the best big-mountain skiers of all time talks about one of the greatest basketball players of all time.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• What have you been up to? (7:52)
• What gear have you been tinkering with lately? (9:46)
• What ski gear has the most room for improvement? (13:10)
• What other outdoor gear has room to improve? (18:04)
• Snowmobiles (23:50)
• Climbing skins (30:15)
• Pomoca & 4FRNT collab (38:34)
• Still skiing with your boots unbuckled? (49:57)
• Hoji on monoskiing, teleskiing, noboarding & snowblading (54:14)
• Hoji on Michael (1:01:05)

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What outdoor gear is in need of the biggest improvement? How old is too old to try your first backflip? If you had to opt for skis that are too long or too short, which would you pick? What should I do with my life? How does one start reviewing for Blister? Could you please provide an unbiased review and comparison of the Blister Membership, Deep Dive Subscription, and Blister Premier Membership? Luke Koppa and I answer these and many more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Jonathan’s review of PBR’s Hard Coffee (2:35)
• Skis, Ski Length, & Ski Brands (12:38)
• What gear needs the most improvement? (24:25)
• What’s your favorite quarantine apparel? (31:45)
• How old is too old to try your 1st backflip? (34:24)
• Preferred conditions to monoski? (36:25)
• Best anorak of 20/21 (38:24)
• What makes you happiest? (43:00)
• Deep Dive vs. Blister Membership vs. Premier? (53:05)
• What should I do with my life? (1:06:15)
• How do I review for Blister? (1:09:00)
• Luke’s review of Beastie Boys Story (1:13:45)

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In our “Reviewing the Reviewer” series, we ask various BLISTER reviewers questions about their backgrounds and gear preferences to give you a more complete picture of the people behind our reviews. And since we like to rank & review things around here, we also give a score to each of our reviewers’ answers, then come up with a cumulative review grade for each of them. 

In the hot seat today is mountain bike and ski reviewer, Eric Freson, and Luke Koppa and I recently subjected Eric to our regular gauntlet of reviewing the reviewer questions, but we also threw in a few questions specifically for Eric, including, How many times have you broken your neck? The story behind his co-founding the freeride team at Western Colorado University? And, of course, we ask him about a couple of Freson-isms, like “torksmash” and “smoking rocks.” 

You can also watch the video of our conversation on our Blister YouTube Channel. 

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Eric’s background (3:26)
• What sports did you play growing up? (7:50)
• Broken Neck? (16:30)
• How did you first get connected with Blister? (25:35)
• Eric’s bike & ski preferences (33:15)
• Who is your favorite reviewer at Blister? (42:50)
• Who is your favorite pro biker & skier? (45:00)
• What’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever done? (49:22)
• What are you better at than Sam Shaheen? (53:55)
• What gear are you most & least picky about? (54:40)
• Top 3 favorite books, movies, and musicians (1:00:09)
• Give us a random review (1:05:03)
• What’s the best question I haven’t asked you? (1:10:22)

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Mystery Ranch has a long history of working with and making packs for the US military, fire departments, and law enforcement. They also make everything from backpacks for everyday use, to packs for backcountry skiing, and the company has quite a unique culture. So we sat down with product designer, Alex Rich, to discuss what it’s like to design packs for US special forces; how their military designs trickle down to outdoor packs (and vice versa); how their design ethos reflects their sustainability culture; and more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Starting on the production floor (2:00)
• Durability & designing for the military (5:55)
• Resisting lightweight pack design (8:52)
• Durability & Weight: what’s the future look like? (10:20)
• “Supportive” vs. “Light” (11:50)
• Why designing for hunters is so difficult (13:45)
• Working with Special Ops (14:40)
• Urban Assault Daypacks (24:12)
• Saddle Peak Pack for resort skiing (29:25)
• Durability & Sustainability (40:22)

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Luke Koppa, Jonathan Ellsworth, and Luke’s mustache discuss the pros and cons of a number of current AT bindings, including the new Marker Duke PT, the SHIFT binding, Daymaker Alpine adaptors, frame bindings, and tech toe bindings. They then discuss four new touring skis: the J Skis Slacker, Sego Condor, 4FRNT Raven, and Volkl Blaze 106. Then it’s time to talk Tiger King.

TOPICS & TIMES

• Update: Luke’s mustache & cooking skillz (3:20)
• Marker Duke PT (8:12)
• Duke PT vs. SHIFT binding (11:08)
• Daymakers (and Frame Bindings) (22:53)
• Marker Kingpin & other tech bindings (31:28)
• New J Skis Slacker (42:28)
• A Rant (46:00)
• Updated Sego Condor 108 (49:12)
• Updated 4FRNT Raven (50:56)
• New Volkl Blaze 106 (53:51)
• Tiger King: Our Review (56:35)

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Since we now have to learn how to tele ski and shoot a tele video, we’re crowdsourcing a crash course in telemark technique (see Blister Podcast episode 125) and in telemark gear. So here in Tele Gear Part 1, we’re talking again with the artist, Geoff McFetridge; Flylow Gear co-founder and president, Dan Abrams; and Blister reviewers Paul Forward and Kristin Sinnott.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Geoff McFetridge (2:42)
• Dan Abrams (21:25)
• Paul Forward (30:50)
• Kristin Sinnott (42:26)

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