GEAR:30

Are you one of the many people who have ever wished that your ski touring boots were a bit stiffer or more comfortable? Well then listen up, because the bootfitters at Pulse Boot Lab in Revelstoke have come up with a number of innovative ways to achieve both.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Pulse’s “mathematical” approach to bootfitting (2:12)
• The Pulse Fit Assistant App (5:26)
• New tools for shell modifications (8:30)
• Thermo-moldable vs. injection-style liners (11:12)
• Biggest trends in bootfitting (17:24)
• What is the Pulse Proflex? (18:48)
• And how exactly does it work? (22:24)
• Why did they choose to work with Pebax? (28:10)

The Pulse ProFlex Kickstarter Campaign

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We talk to K2 ski designer, Jed Yeiser, about the 13 new skis that make up K2’s brand new “Mindbender” series.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Background: the Mindbender series (2:55)
• The individual skis: Mindbender 85 (9:20)
• Mindbender 90C (10:50)
• Torsional stiffness and design controls (12:21)
• Mindbender 90Ti (16:50)
• Mindbender 99Ti (18:55)
• Mindbender 108Ti (22:40)
• Mindbender 116C (29:10)
• Mindbender vs the previous Pinnacle series (32:25)
• Men’s line vs Women’s line (35:03)
• New “Powerwall” Tech (38:10)
• Mindbender Jr. Ski (41:22)

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We discuss the latest skis and outerwear we’re reviewing, including the Black Crows Corvus, Rossi Black Ops, Parlor Cardinal 90, Argent Skis Badger, Flylow Baker Bibs, and Patagonia Micro Puff Storm.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Rossignol Black Ops (1:40)
• Black Crows Corvus (6:35)
• Parlor Cardinal 90 (13:41)
• Argent Badger (18:51)
• Flylow Baker Bib (plus bibs vs. non-bibs) (21:33)
• Patagonia Micro Puff Storm (25:03)

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Caleb and Morgan Weinberg are brothers who founded Romp Skis in Crested Butte, Colorado, so we sat down with them at our headquarters in CB to discuss their backgrounds, what it specifically means to them to be a “custom” ski building manufacturer, how they ended up building skis for the 10th Special Forces Group, and more.

Follow Romp Skis on Instagram

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Finding their way to Gunnison / Crested Butte (1:18)
• Why the name “Romp”? (9:25)
• The early days: figuring it out (10:25)
• What does the word “custom” mean for Romp? (18:13)
• Their approach to shaping skis (29:35)
• Thoughts on ski weight & related tech (33:20)
• Building skis for the 10th Special Forces Group (42:35)

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Today we are making good on some past promises, so I sat down with Luke Koppa and Sam Shaheen at our Blister headquarters at Elevation in Mt Crested Butte. We start by talking about 3 skis that just missed the cut from earning a Best Of award from us this year. Then we turn to talk about a number of new skis we’ve been getting on or are about to get on, including the Folsom Trophy Carbon, Rossignol Black Ops 118, the HEAD World Cup Rebel i.Speed Pro, the Dynastar PR-OTO Factory, and the Moment Commander 98 and 108.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Prior CBC (2:06)
• Fischer Ranger 102 FR (5:00)
• Dynastar Mythic 97 (8:30)
• Folsom Trophy (9:10)
• Rossignol Black Ops 118 (9:53)
• Head Worldcup Rebels i.Speed Pro (13:05)
• Dynastar PR-oto (15:48)
• Moment Commander 98 & 108 (18:43)
• Blister Showroom (23:45)

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Today we’re talking with the one and only Eric Hjorleifson about his brand-new boot, the Dynafit Hoji Free, what’s new with this boot, and how it differs from the current Hoji Pro Tour.

Then you’re going hear Eric talk about trying to improve and refine the latest iteration of his favorite ski, the 4FRNT Renegade, and finally, we wrap up our gear geekery by talking a bit about outerwear and Eric’s work with Arc’teryx.

And if you somehow missed it yesterday, we ran over on the Blister Podcast platform what was basically Part 1 of our conversation, where we talk to Hoji about his new film, “Hoji.”

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Hoji on the Dynafit Hoji Free. (3:00)
• Differences between the Hoji Pro Tour and Hoji Free. (5:50)
• Did weight play a factor in designing the Hoji Free? (22:32)
• Hoji Free crampon compatibility? (27:12)
• What’s new with the 4FRNT Renegade? (30:55)
• The problem with updating for the sake of updating. (37:55)
• Does Eric geek out on outerwear, too? (43:30)

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Last week we talked to Will Ritter, the founder of the biggest splitboard binding company in the world, Spark R&D, about the origin story of Spark R&D, and some of the milestones and setbacks that the company has achieved — and survived — along the way.

This week we’re running Part 2 of our conversation, and Will and I discuss some of Spark R&D’s current products, discuss the old hard boots vs. soft boots debate, talk collaborating with companies like CAST Touring and 22 Designs, and using solar power at the Spark R&D factory.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Sparks’ new "Pro Series" of bindings (1:05)
• Should we expect any drastic changes in Spark's splitboard interface? (4:43)
• Thoughts on Karakoram’s new interface? (14:02)
• Hard boots vs. soft boots (15:48)
• Will the next biggest innovation be in bindings, splitboards or boots? (21:30)
• Spark's collaborations with CAST Touring, 22 Designs, Phantom, etc. (29:31)
• What’s the best question I haven't asked you? (35:54)
• Using solar power at Spark R&D (38:45)

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Will Ritter is the founder of Spark R&D, the largest splitboard binding company in the world, and Spark R&D designs and manufactures all of their products in Bozeman, Montana. This turned into such an interesting conversation with Will that we are presenting it in two parts. Here in part 1, we talk about the history of Spark R&D, and whether or not you’ve ever ridden a snowboard, if you have ever thought about starting any company of any kind, listen closely, because I promise you that you will glean some very real insights into what actually goes into starting and running a company.

And then we will be posting later part 2 of our conversation, where Will and I went deeper into Spark R&D’s specific products, we discuss hard boots vs. soft boots, how much room Will thinks there is for splitboards to improve, and more.

But for now, let’s get the origin story of Spark R&D, and listen to Will kindly share some real words of wisdom for anyone thinking of starting anything.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Trick or Treating & the myth of the Sugar Sprite?? (1:44)
• When, where, and why did Will start Spark R&D? (3:48)
• The many products Will worked on as an engineering consultant (5:25)
• Working on the MFD ALLTIME touring binding with Jason Prigge (7:27)
• The move from consulting to factory production (10:06)
• The backcountry touring scene back when Will started Spark R&D (14:05)
• "Making One" - and other major milestones (23:35)
• How to have Zen get beaten into you (35:35)
• The state of Spark R&D today (46:35)

STAY TUNED FOR PART 2...

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Blister editors Jonathan Ellsworth, Luke Koppa, and Sam Shaheen talk about the making of our 18/19 Blister Winter Buyer’s Guide, the current state of Buyer's Guides in general, some of the “Best Of” award winners, and our Product of the Year.

And if you have any comments or questions about the Guide that you’d like to see us address on a future GEAR:30 episode, feel free to email us or leave a question in the comments section to this episode’s show notes on the website.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• On the Print Buyer's Guide & Other News (2:12)
• Our Guide and the state of Buyer's Guides in general (5:31)
• Our Product of the Year (9:12)
• Some of our "Best Of" Award Winners (11:56)
• What we'll be discussing in Part 2 (29:06)

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