GEAR:30

Near-death experiences, avalanche airbags, and changing risk tolerance — this week we talk to mountain guide and Mammut’s safety expert, Doug Workman, about life and survival in the mountains.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Doug’s background in the mountains (2:18)
• Does safety gear affect risk assessment? (3:55)
• How an airbag saved Doug’s life (12:15)
• Are airbags becoming “required” backcountry gear? (22:34)
• An unfair hypothetical: airbags or transceivers? (25:12)
• The importance of good partners in the backcountry (29:40)
• Doug’s favorite guiding experiences (32:33)

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Sam Shaheen, Luke Koppa, and Jonathan Ellsworth talk about new goggles; new skis; which ski companies made the biggest impressions on us this season; funniest answers so far to our BLISTER Survey; and more.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• New Goggles: high-end, price-point, and awful ones (5:50)
• Armada ARV 106Ti & 96Ti (16:00)
• Which ski companies stood out the most to us this season? (14:25)
• Some favorite answers from our Blister Survey (29:40)
• Some very random reviews (35:10)

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Avalanche beacons might not be as sexy as other ski & snowboard gear, but their proper use and design can be the difference between life and death. So we sat down with the co-founder of Backcountry Access, Bruce Edgerly, to talk about avalanche transceiver design, backcountry safety research, and the most important — yet often overlooked — aspects of a rescue.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• BCA’s transceiver design philosophy + a new Tracker (1:21)
• Improving backcountry strategy & increasing your safety (7:24)
• Scenario: multiple burials (13:59)
• Ski media & backcountry safety (16:28)
• How old is too old when it comes to transceivers? (18:50)
• The changing backcountry scene (20:31)

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Alaska is a place where your gear really needs to hold up. So we talk to Eric Helmbrecht, owner of Powder Hound Ski Shop in Girdwood Alaska, about the trends he’s seeing in skiing and snowboarding; the gear with the most and the least durability issues; some of his favorite gear; the most Alaskan thing ever; and more.

TOPICS & TIMES

• How Powder Hound has evolved (2:30)
• Trending: Resort skiing vs. backcountry skiing (7:00)
• What gear are you most psyched on? (9:58)
• Ski boots: heat molding shells vs. traditional boot work (15:37)
• Favorite bindings? (19:53)
• Some favorite skis for Alyeska / AK? (24:29)
• Gear with the least & most durability issues (31:32)
• Eric’s take on “Bang for your buck” products (35:23)
• Favorite new outerwear (40:55)
• Powder Hound’s growing snowboard business (43:17)
• The most Alaskan thing ever (51:08)

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Blister editors Sam Shaheen, and Luke Koppa, talk about the enormous amount of new apparel that has arrived at our HQ over the past few weeks. Sam and Luke are both serious nerds when it comes to this stuff, and their conversation highlights a ton of new apparel, from crazy new tech all the way to head-turning casual pieces. Let the geek-out begin.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• The most sustainable shoe ever? (2:15)
• Ultra-comfortable hardshells from Patagonia & Flylow (5:32)
• Super warm, super shiny, and super “extra” Mammut Anorak (14:24)
• What Holden’s Jacket has in common with wine corks (17:18)
• The recent anorak takeover at Blister (20:46)
• New Brand Alert: Forward (25:06)
• Update on the product Sam wanted to steal (27:58)

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We talk to Prior’s head snowboard and ski shaper, Dominic Morin, about the origins of Prior, their philosophy of ski and snowboard shaping, their craziest designs, their new shapes for 19/20, and the legacy of Chris Prior.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• The origins of Prior (2:15)
• Why Prior shapes cores by hand (3:43)
• What’s the craziest custom design you’ve done? (8:08)
• How do your snowboard designs influence Prior’s ski designs? (12:13)
• Why is there a wider variety of snowboard shapes than ski shapes? (15:38)
• The Prior CBC and Husume (20:23)
• The Prior Northwest 110 and 100 (26:06)
• Why Prior has several niche models (31:12)
• How does Prior respond to trends in snowboard shapes? (33:37)
• Chris Prior’s lasting legacy (42:21)

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We talk to Moment Skis CEO, Luke Jacobson, about next year’s lineup of skis; space movies; Ryan Gosling; Tyler Curle’s ski preferences; the “Google Bump”; and … more Ryan Gosling.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• “Freestyle” collection: PB&J, Meridian, Wildcat 108, Deathwish, & Wildcat (5:00)
• The inspiration behind Moment’s space-themed 19/20 graphics (17:00)
• “Freeride” collection: Commander 98, 108, 118, & 124 (24:00)
• Moment team rider and ski builder Tyler Curle’s ski preferences (27:50)
• How the Commander 124 differs from the rest of the Commander series (36:20)
• Luke & Jonathan’s suggestions for alternative ski names (39:43)
• “Tour” collection: Wildcat Tour 108, Deathwish Tour, & Wildcat Tour (41:22)
• “Women’s” collection: Hot Mess, Sierra, & Bella (46:00)
• Moment’s collaboration with Google and the “Google Bump” (53:00)

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Today we’re talking about a whole bunch of skis, including the new Line Outline and new Sir Francis Bacon; the new Nordica Enforcer 104 Free; the 4FRNT InThayne; and the J Skis Friend. We also talk a bit about Luke and Sam’s article on caring for outerwear; and Jonathan Ellsworth makes a quasi-apology / mini confession about his previous stance on lightweight, inbound skis. Finally, there is a MASSIVELY IMPORTANT teaser about a forthcoming GEAR:30 episode.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Line’s Outline and new Sir Francis Bacon (3:24)
• Nordica Enforcer 104 Free (11:33)
• 4FRNT Inthayne (16:36)
• J Skis The Friend, 183 cm (19:29)
• Change in perspective on lightweight inbound skis (23:30)
• Luke and Sam’s article on outerwear care (26:10)
• Sneak peek of an incredible upcoming episode (30:10)

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The Outdoor Retailer / SIA show ended yesterday, so we sat down right after to debrief and discuss some of the most notable trends we saw, talk about the products we’re dying to try (and were most tempted to just steal), and some of the other odd and / or noteworthy people and things we saw at the show.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• New trends in apparel and skis (1:10)
• What we’re most curious to try (8:29)
• Gear we’re most tempted to steal (16:31)
• Weirdest thing we saw (25:44)
• Swagger Award (27:05)
• Best graphics (30:57)

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