Boulder just got one of our spring snow storms where it snows a fair amount and it’s completely gone the next day. Melissa had recently bought a pair of Pajar Icepicks and I wanted to shoot them. I didn’t want a static studio shot, so I took her out into Boulder Canyon and Nederland to shoot some product lifestyle. We confirmed that they boots are, in fact, waterproof.
Canon 85mm f/1.8 on Canon 5DMKIII, mostly at 1.8.
I sold my AT skis before I was ready, and RIGHT in the middle of powder season. Huge mistake. But, on the flipside, I was tired of skiing uphill with lead weights on my feet and turning huge powder boards on so-so snow.
When I buy gear, or anything really, I tend to do a lot of research. I’d been looking at the Black Diamond Convert for a while and had only seen glowing reviews. Coming in at just over 7lbs for the pair and combined with Dynafit Radical FT, they feel ridiculously light weight in comparison.
 |
| Radical FT tech binding. Photo from the Dynafit website. |
My old set up topped the scales at almost 25lbs including skis, boots, and bindings! That’s 12.5 extra pounds for every step you take. Simply too much.
I missed a couple weeks of great snow in the meantime.
Seventeen Pounds. Dynafit boots & bindings & BD Skis come in at 17lbs, a savings of 4lbs per foot per step, which is incredibly significant!
I took my new skis for test drive a Keystone Resort on a mediocre snow day. The groomers were fast, the moguls soft, but the trees were less than ideal. I was nervous using my tech bindings, two metal pins that somehow hold your boot in while you’re screaming down the mountain. I had had issues with being ejected once before on a pair of demo skis, but I had no such problems on this day.
They RIP!!! I had a blast carving at full speed on the groomers. I attacked moguls harder and faster than I ever have before, I think due to how light they are I can really throw them around. There were times when I thought I had lost a ski when I lift my foot only to see it fully connected with no hint of coming off. It was so light I just barely felt it. Honestly, I was psyched, except my first time in my boots, as with first time in any ski boot, was extremely painful (After 4 days in them they are MUCH better).
I went on a tour up to Hallitt’s Peak the next weekend. Holy Amazeballs! Going up is so easy! The Mercury boots walk so incredibly well, each stride almost twice as long as in my Salomon boots. With the tech binding you’re not lifting the back of the binding with every step, which saves a ton of energy. And everything is just so much lighter. Heaven.
 |
| By the way, Emerald Lake and Hallitt’s Peak are beautiful. |
 |
| ME! Getting some airtime on a cornice at the closed ski resort Hidden Valley in Rocky Mountain National Park |
I originally posted about this shoe back in May without reviewing it thoroughly. The Adidas Terrex Fast R Mid GTX has been my main hiker, adventure approach shoe, and by default, because it is my only GoreTex shoe, my winter/snow boot. I have worn it for a lot of short days, as an approach shoe in Colorado, where approaches to climbs generally take less than 30 minutes. I use it when running around in the snowy streets of Boulder and when going to ski in the mountains. But I hadn’t really used it for it’s main purpose, hiking, until recently.
Side note: I generally don’t like hiking just to hike. I want to be going somewhere. I want to hike to climb, hike to ski, hike to swim in some freezing cold alpine lake. Going hiking for…exercise? I can think of plenty of exercises I would rather do.
One thing that I appreciate about my family is that they’re all active. When we get together for a holiday we never just sit in someone’s house and watch TV. We go hiking or on bike rides. For New Years this year my family went to Reno to my oldest sister’s new place. There is quite a bit of hiking around Reno & Lake Tahoe. There was too little snow for good skiing, and even for snowshoeing. We hiked, everyday, a lot, in many different conditions.
In the week spanning the New Year I put a lot of miles on my Fast R’s. And I’ve never appreciated them more. When I first got them they were too narrow for my oddly shaped wide feet, but now they fit me like a glove, a testament to breaking in your boots. The traction grips on every type of terrain; the Continental Rubber sticky but strong, shows no signs of wear. Walking on uneven ground, aka every trail, your steps feel controlled. I didn’t know about the separated heel that helps to stabilize you on descents until I was looking up reviews of the women’s version for my sister. I didn’t know about it, but it works!
The lacing system took some getting used to, but now that I have it figured out I love it. When I’m just slipping the boot on to go around town in the snow I leave it loose and it’s super comfortable. When I’m ready to get into the thicket I can quickly dial in the perfect fit. You pull the loop, cinch down the plastic tab, and tuck the string into an elastic catch. No boots coming untied, ever.
Whether I’m playing in snow, hiking through the mud, jumping across a creek, I’m never worried about my feet getting wet, and because of the build, the boot breathes incredibly well. Oh, and this boot is LIGHTWEIGHT! I even did some trail running and the mid-high boot didn’t bother me at all.
I’ve been very impressed and even helped get a pair for my sister.
I did recognize one their weaknesses, but I had no idea of the extent: Crud. I got bounced around like a rag doll, precisely because of why I enjoyed them. They were too playful and couldn’t power through rough, choppy, end-of-the-day-on-a-Colorado-powder-day crud. Before last season I got a job selling skis at Boulder Ski Deals. Needless to say, I learned a LOT about skis I never knew before. I had never realized how soft my Maestro’s were until I compared to a lot of skis on the wall.
 |
| Hiking Alberta Peak at Wolf Creek Ski Area in Southern Colorado with my Cham 97’s on my back |
Dynastar’s Cham 97’s are completely different. They’re incredibly stiff skis, especially compared to my Maestro’s. These are crud blasters that won’t get bounced around by any amount of the rough stuff. They have a unique shape, with a large sidecut, fat tip with lots of rocker, and a flat pin-tail…tail. At 97mm in the waist, 133mm/113mm in the tip/tail and 16m turn radius, these things rip. (Sorry for all the tech talk)
With the 97mm waist and 16mm turn radius, the Cham’s are easy to rollover on groomers. I cannot overstate this, they LOVE to turn! You can make the turn anything you want, from long GS turns to quick slaloms. You’ll feel stable putting it up on edge. The rockered tip gives you easy turn initiation and grips along the full ski. Though, be warned. This is not a beginner’s ski.
Where I’ve really found the Cham 97’s shine is in powder. I’ve never felt a ski handle like this in the deep stuff. If you were out with me when I discovered this you would have heard a lot of “THIS IS AMAZING!” and “WOO HOO!”‘s. The narrower pin-tail stays low in the snow, making it super easy to keep your tips pointed up in the powder, even with your weight more forward. The wide, rockered tips float effortlessly. Making turns in this position is incredibly easy; I felt like I was barely pushing the tails to make grand turns. Skiing the powder was…bouncy. It felt so light and easy to maneuver. In contrast, I always feel like I’m dragging my tails in my Maestro’s.
So, in other words, I love these skis; they are fantastic. But that does come with a caveat or two. Jumping can be uncomfortable. No, scratch that. Landing can be uncomfortable, especially on hardpack. Where the Maestro excels in being springy and playful, the Cham’s are stiff and unforgiving. The extent to which this matters depends on your skiing style and preference. Secondly, the Cham’s are heavy. Weighing in at over 10lbs for both skis, you will think twice about making these part of your backcountry set up. They do come in a High Mountain version that reduces the weight by 25% but sacrifices some of the inbounds performance (this only really matters if you plan on skiing them inbounds).
Not surprisingly, the Dynastar Cham 97 won Outside Magazine’s Gear of the Year award in 2013. If you like to charge, ski the entire mountain, and want a ski that can do it all, I highly recommend this one.
I started ice climbing last year and fell in love with it. I didn’t get out nearly enough this year, but I got a few times in early in the season. I went to Vail with Kevin Kelly and Matt Lloyd last december and climbed East Vail Falls.
 |
| The Scotsman himself, Kevin Kelly hacking away, rocking my Marmot Silverton Goretex Pro Shell |
I bought the Marmot Silverton Gore-Tex Pro Shell as my main ski and ice climbing jacket this year and it performed wonderfully. I gave up an insulated shell and layered up much more this season. On most in-bounds skiing days a base-layer, a puff, and the Silverton were more than enough to keep me warm. On the coldest of days I’d add another midlayer and be fine. I never felt too swampy in the jacket, the Gore-Tex letting the heat vapors pass through. The waterproof zippers can be hard to pull sometimes with gloves on, but overall not a big deal. The pockets are well placed and HUGE. The removable powder skirt was useful on the rare powder day in Colorado this year.
 |
| Getting into it on Sleight of Hand (WI4) in Hyalite Canyon, Montana. |
 |
| Matt Lloyd soloing up the curtain. |
 |
| Low Key product photo of Adidas Terrex Swift Solo shoe. |
Also the Adidas Terrex Swift Solo approach shoe has been a nice addition. I’ve worn them while climbing 5.10’s and they’re comfortable around town. A bit lighter than the Scarpa’s and quite a bit more attractive, I think. I grab them for many different occasions.
Overall I’m happy to wearing a helmet this year and glad to have the Smith Variant Brim protecting my noggin.
