Needless to say I am beginning to understand the allure of sledding. With a push-button start and powerful four-stroke engine — SkiDoo Renegade RevXRs — the beast is a predictable ride. Sleds have come a long way over the years — less pollution and better mileage from four-stroke engines combined with sophisticated suspension and better-engineered innards have catalysed something of a sled revolution in backcountry access. Sleds are becoming the tool of choice for not only those who dig sledding in its own right, but for backcountry touring parties looking to explore the farther reaches of the Coast range. (As long as it’s not in the Whistler watershed or any Provincial Park: would-be sledders should check sledlink.ca for terrain.)

Sleds are certainly no longer the sole transport of frozen northerners; nor are they strictly the domain of “slednecks” — a rather self-explanatory term for the fearless riders pushing their machines to ever greater feats: cresting up fast on a hill (highmarking), jumping off cornices and cliffs, and surfing steep pow.

Tonight, I am just getting a better feel for riding my beastie. Canadian Snowmobile Adventures offers a range of guided sled trips, from the night fondue at Crystal Hut to the Yukon breakfasts at their Sproatt hut, with a variety of dedicated sled outings catered to riders from beginners to experts. As a non-owner, my experience has been limited to hanging on for dear life while someone else guns the throttle and/or learning to drive on the way to and from various backcountry operations, often on rutted and rolling roads.

But thanks to CSA, I now have a bit more experience tucked under my belt. A tour up Sproatt taught me the basics. Sproatt is that big hulk of rock and snow that divides the Callaghan from Whistler, perched on the western side of the valley; it is also home to a CSA cabin with stunning views over the Olympic Park and Callaghan Country. The morning began innocuously enough, sheltering frozen fingers in the shade: a series of FSR spurs lead on and up Sproatt’s southern side, and as we climb we practice rolling through tighter turns, descending through dips, and throwing our weight against gravity as we clung to side-hills. Like backcountry touring and steeps skiing, sledding is a skill to be mastered. By the time we are half-way up, the guide gives me the go-ahead to whip ahead for a photo-op. I gun the throttle, and see what the sled is made of. Thanks to the morning’s sled training I lean with the machine, keeping it under control, and soon a massive grin spreads across my face as I revel in the force of the thing.

Eventually we crest the top of Sproatt, and get the chance to explore the sunshine-soaked alpine. The trees thin to reveal meadows and a panoramic view of Whistler below. I try to surf the heavy beast in powder; it’s a trail machine, my guide says, and so not quite meant for it, but I start to get a feel for leaning the skids from side to side.

After whipping around in the untouched snow we pull in to CSA’s Sproatt cabin. Inside we stuff ourselves with a logger’s breakfast, devouring eggs, bacon and vegetables from a giant cook-up that has been roasting on an 18” frying pan sizzling over an ironclad, wood-fed stove. My fingers unthaw; out the frosted windows the view stretches dead across the Callaghan, where we can see distant tracks traced across the icecap.

FONDUE FROLICK
It is night, and I have just finished ripping up Blackcomb to Crystal Hut. The old triple-seater sits quiet, immobile against the stars, oblivious to its coming dismemberment this summer. I have downed an artery-hardening quantity of cheese, and my officially sanctioned single glass of white (CSA is careful not to let anyone rip around tipped). Beside me sit two fire-breathing circus performers who have just returned from Disneyland; my Swedish server, Liselotte, chats up an entire table of her stuffed kinfolk. And much to my perverse pleasure, Dave Morris of the Alpha Lake Three throws down a heart-throttling rendition of “The Man Who Sold The World” on acoustic guitar. (And thanks to popular demand, he is now working on expanding his catalogue to include Joy Division.)

As the evening winds up, we don our helmets and bundle up for the drive down. The return ride takes about half the time as the climb up; the efficiency of a sled in snowy terrain is evident. With engines growling, we prowl the way back home.

GETTING GEARED

Sledding in the backcountry is no joke, and should be treated with reverence and respect for the elements. Sledders remain the most at-risk group of backcountry users. According to the Canadian Avalanche Association (CAA), from 2000 through 2010 snowmobiliers accounted for 41% of all avalanche fatalities; backcountry skiers, 29%. But it is the trend that is somewhat disconcerting; whereas backcountry skiers have dropped from an average of 6 to 2.5 fatalities per year, snowmobiliers have risen from a low of 3.2 to 7.2 fatalities per year, with a noticeable spike beginning around 2007/2008 season.

Since 2010, increased education in avalanche awareness and proper rescue equipment has begun to take hold in the sledding communities. Training courses oriented to sledders have been developed by guide organisations so that the information is relevant to mechanized means of travel and recreation in the backcountry. All sledders should undertake the minimum of an Avalanche Safety Training course (AST-1) and carry with them all the tools of survival and rescue, including a shovel, probe, and beacon — and always travel with a partner carrying the same. A list of certified AST providers along with avalanche hazard and terrain info can be found at the website of the Canadian Avalanche Centre (CAC), avalanche.ca.

And for reasons that we can’t quite fathom we’re just discovering the CAA Widget. For those of you out there with sites, consider embedding this little widget in your sidebar, which provides a drop-down list of live avi forecasts courtesy of the Canadian Avalance Association (CAA).

This is because the binding sits on a moving plate, and allows for elasticity, thereby transferring impact energy through the system instead of against the boot as in the more rigid Radical / FT12 series. I gather the reinforced heel has to do with the boot being locked solidly into the heel piece, as there is no gap between heel and pin as in current Dynafit designs.

The toe rotates side to side, much like modern downhill toepieces; in short it’s a knee-saver. And overall the binding has not only been designed to take freeride abuse, but the mishaps of the resort hill: as in harder, more compact, icier, dryer, and bumpier conditions than the comparative softness of the backcountry. It’s meant to be a competitive do-anything binding for those wearing tech-compatible alpine touring boots of some sort. For a serious run through, check out Powder 11′s post over on TGR; the man put the Beast + Vulcan combo through some serious stomp tests.

Such a binding is needless to say heavier than the Radical, clocking in at 1850 grams per pair to the Radical’s 1200. The Beast is 1000 grams lighter than the Duke, but this binding will only work with tech-compatible boots, of course. Check out Lou Dawson’s post for a few shots of the parts, too; there’s a lot of pieces to the Beast, and check out Powder’s column for the most detail I’ve seen so far.

I dig this video, by the way, for what it reveals of Hoji’s involvement with the design. Anyone who has watched Eric craft his frankenboots over the past few years has realised that Hoji is one hell of a craftsman; the Dynafit Vulcan boot is born from not only his vision, but his R&D with his own boots (at one point these were modded Dynafit Titans with oversized Salomon Ghost straps and Scarpa tongues). Needless to say the man brims with ideas. If you find yourself in a chair or a liftline with Hoji, do say hello and pick his brain; I’ve always wondered what he’d be capable of inventing should he turn his attention to much larger questions beyond outdoor equipment.

Keep an eye out for footage from Blackcomb’s CBC trees burn; the skiing is from Monashee Powdercats while the blaze is a controlled burn from Lake Louise.

What makes these gloves so special is that they are seam-sealed GoreTex Proshell, built like a jacket, with a removable liner. You’d think this would be a no-brainer, but creating a GoreTex seam-sealed glove like this is much harder than it sounds; constructing the articulation for a glove is very tricky business, and doing so with a Gore membrane and seam-sealing even moreso. Previous to directly bonding the membrane to the shell, the membrane was a separate insert. This meant that water became trapped between the shell and the membrane, creating heavy, water-soaked gloves that would take days to dry. Needless to say, Arc’Teryx cracked the problem of directly adhering the GoreTex membrane to the shell (so did Mountain Hardwear, with their own glove membrane technology called OutDry, which I’ll mention again below).

The result is a glove that truly does breathe freely. This is especially apparent when touring. Most of the time I wear Hestra Army Leather Heli-Ski gloves with a removable liner. These are classic leather and nylon shells. For the most part these are fantastic for day-in, day-out powder skiing, given you can dry them out at night in the hut or house, for the leather and shell soak through after a day’s use, even when wax-proofed. They also sweat hard when you get hot. In West Coast conditions, they’re often too warm, and often not breathable enough. The Alpha SVs are a huge step up in this respect: they breathe well, dry very, very fast, and retain warmth when damp. They are also lighter, and less bulky in the finger tips. They aren’t quite as warm as the Hestras, at least not initially; but once they warm up they retain their warmth quite well.

The articulation of the Alpha SVs is superb, by which I mean the dexterity of the fingertips and joints. The gloves are carefully sculpted and shaped and allow for manipulation of most buckles and zippers. That said, I feel the sizing could be more precise. The sizing difference between a Men’s medium and large is subtle; it appears to be just the length of the digits, and I can fit either size. By comparison, Hestra offers a numbered sizing system which allows for a much more precise overall fit.

When I first saw the Alpha SV design several years ago, my first question to the Arc’Teryx rep was: where’s the leash? At the time he scoffed at the idea, saying it would add too much weight, so I scoffed at him: a $300 pair of gloves needs some form of leash! I am a frequent leash-user: I throw off my gloves, expecting them to stay on my wrists. All quality gloves are built to be used with leashes. Well, this production season (2012/13) deadbird has included – gasp! — leashes. This makes some sense given that the gloves cost $150 per hand. Which brings us to the question of price: are these gloves worth the cost? Three hundred clams can purchase all kinds of kit. But gloves?

The Alpha SVs certainly perform well, especially in the backcountry. Their fast-drying performance will be welcome most during multi-day expeditions. But even during daily outings, the difference is substantial: I have yet to see the Alpha SV let me down. Indeed, this one pair of gloves has replaced having to carry two pair on longer tours. But the real test is durability. How will the leather palms hold up? The GoreTex membrane? The liners? The dye? For these answers, I’ll write back here in 12 months. If the gloves deliver year after year, then yes, they are a worthy investment for dedicated outdoor users who will be putting these gloves to the tests of abuse they were meant for. Quite simply, they might just save your fingers in dire situations; they might just keep your fingers warm the next day when a less-savvy glove will be soaked and/or frozen through.

Mountain Hardwear Outdry

In the meantime, there remains significant competition in the field, not just from Hestra, but Mountain Hardwear and Outdoor Research, both who make very high quality, well articulated, dextrous gloves at lower price points. Mountain Hardwear undertook some especially awesome innovation with their blown-in waterproof breathable membrane called Outdry. I have a few pair of MH gloves that perform just as well as the deadbird, but at 2/3rds the price; the difference is in the construction. The Alpha SVs are, quite simply, bomber built and better articulated.

The classic Hestra Army Leather Heli-Ski.

In a single season, he completes the first ski descent of Denali; skis Peru’s Huascarán; establishes direct and technical extreme skiing descents in Chamonix; and pioneers first descents in Norway. But it is not just the skiing here which is captivating — though the helmet cam footage is, quite simply, some of the most compelling I’ve yet seen — but Fransson’s reflections, as he narrates excerpts from his diary that meditate upon his own mortality, upon suffering and revelation, struggle and mental balance, and the death of his best friend.

At least in North American media, it is rare that the freeskiing default of gnar & stoke is shattered to reveal its flipside, that of ski mountaineering, and its turtle-paced negotiations with the paralyzing fear of problem-solving in the steeps. This is the true heritage of extreme skiing, as pioneered in the Alps — alpinism with skis. Technical descents, rappels, jump turns on ice, fatal exposure, shattered nerves, altitude sickness, solo missions.

Beautifully shot and edited, Tempting Fear establishes Mike Douglas, the Salomon Freeski TV crew, and filmmaker Bjarne Sahlén as among the best adventure documentary filmmakers working today in the realms of snow, skis & ice. Douglas’ directorial vision is capable of capturing the many sides of skiing, and he’s now taking us deep into the world of the vertical, exploring not only its images but its existentialism. Sit back, sip some tea, and watch this.

Pinstripe fury. 20–23m turning radius. 1510mm effective edge. 1.9kg per ski (!). 480mm tip rocker. 384mm tail rocker. Stiff as nails.

So what are my first impressions? This ski be a stiff, serious charger, but with the playful attributes to be expected from a rockered design, while maintaining the DPS weight class of a light ski with incredible torsional rigidity and reactive force, thanks to its Pure (pre-peg) carbon + poplar core construction. To be sure, this is not a damp, heavy ski — it charges not because of sheer weight alone, but because of its design & carbon strength. To get it screaming, aggressively nose it down the fall line, drive it forward, stay off the heels, and let it plane up and ride above the mank, chop and slop. If you backseat the ski in the turn, or backseat at all, the tails will kick your ass, keeping you firmly locked (at least compared to the Wailer 112RP) — and possibly sending you careening off course.

As to be expected, the ski is quite simply less forgiving, but that’s the point: this is an expert ride for Mach speed. In soft snow, the ski exhibits decent slarve and awesome platforming. The stiff tail nails the landings — I found it as stable and predictable as the larger Lotus 120. As for speed, where the Wailer 112RP begins to top out (which is at about 65% of my comfort-speed Mach level) the Wailer 112RPC begins to shine; I have yet to find its speed limit (in short, I get scared before the ski does). It’s not a slow speed ski, nor even a medium speed ski; it requires speed, and demands it, for the ski to shine. Is it a tree ski? In soft snow, yes; but in harder, more complex snow, this is not the ride for a slash-tail smearfest in tight woods. It will need to be aggressively handled — in short, charged.

As for mounting, I threw it down at +1.5cm as I prefer a neutral stance when riding. Mount it on the line if you charge knees forward and/or ramp your boots. Put it at +2–2.5cm if you want to try and make it more jibby and ride ahead of the sidecut.

The ski is beautifully light, at 1.9kg (4.19 lbs) per ski. Definitely touring class for serious missions. I threw on Salomon Guardians, which I’ll write up shortly (I find them to be a really, really solid ride for a touring-capable hybrid, but as of this writing I have yet to ski the new Duke EPF).

In any case, don’t just take my impressions for it. There’s an excellent write-up over on TGR by Superchicken. I too agree the ski should be called something like the Lotus 115 as it’s basically an entirely different ride than the W112RP. And it’s not 112mm underfoot, so at least the Wailer 115. The ski is a limited edition this year, available during DPS’ Summer Dreamtime preorder only, and totally sold out, with a full release slated for 2013/14.

One Baron, one pair of RPCs, one pair of Spoons, and Mr. Blue

It’s not everyday you catch the DPS Baron parked in Whistler’s Marketplace. A few lads from the DPS crew were in town to catch the early season and ski around with a few media types. Besides getting in on Whistler’s storming action, the soft conditions also provided a chance for an all-mountain debut of the production version of the much-anticipated Spoon.

Nearly wider than your average snowboard.

The Spoon is a 190cm long powder machine, with dimensions at 158/148/151. Yes—that’s 148mm underfoot, and an even bigger shovel. But there’s still sidecut. Though DPS targets the ski exclusively for offpiste use (catskiing, heli, powder mission touring), in a big resort like Whistler when it’s storming, the ski can keep its own. But this is no mere fat ski, or fatter-than-anything-else-ski either. Check out the convex shovel. Not only are the shovel and tail rockered nearly to the centre of the foot, but the shovel has 3-dimensionsal convex shaping, allowing you to smear and slice the entire ski across the fall line with wild and creative abandon.

DPS Spoon Convex Shovel

Word on the street is that the Spoon is now in production. Those who caught the earlier iterations are probably wondering where the cleats went. As DPS honed and refined the design, they dropped the cleats in favour of a more precise approach to the “spooning” of the ski, thereby creating an overall more versatile shape (or as versatile as you’re gonna get, given the size and purpose of this inventive piece of kit).

These two bases never shall meet.

The Spoon is made with DPS Pure construction technique, nano + carbon + poplar/x-wood, which eliminates heavy epoxy and sandwich construction, using instead pre-peg carbon and a molecular resin in the core, along with poplar/x-wood and the S.S. dampening + stiffening technology (which includes two vertical strips of titanal among other subtleties). Word is the Spoon also uses some new tech that DPS will announce in early 2013…

The base is true flat until it progressively curves toward the edge.

The topsheet of the shovel reveals the three dimensional shaping.

Rockered tails with a bullet inshape for slicing & dicing.

Better believe it. The Spoon features DPS’ new matte textured topsheets, comes in Pure construction only (nano + carbon + poplar) and unbelievably weighs less than the Lotus 138 Pure (even though bigger).

Yes, ~130mm brakes can be bent to fit the Spoon. But there ain’t no jig big enough for these puppies. Freehanding is a must.

And here’s some handy links, because some of you might need them as the season heats up (as in: cools down and snows like f*ck):

Canadian Avalanche Centre / Sea To Sky Bulletin

Whistler Blackcomb Backcountry Bulletin

More bulletins at: AVALANCHE.CA 

While you’re at it, it’s time to start practicing beacon searches too… as well as crevasse rescue. The Whistler chapter of the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) throws down transceiver practice sessions / check it out here. Upcoming sessions will be posted on the calendar here and cost $2 for non-members.