Top 5 bits of kit for 14/15

This week the mist has been hanging over Bozel lake in the morning and the Grand Bec is sporting a dusting of snow up top which means only one thing - winter is on its way!

With this in mind here are my top 5 bits of kit for the coming winter:

1 Whitedot Skis Ranger Carbonlite

Super-light, wide enough for great float in all snow conditions, but stiff enough to maintain great grip when the going gets firm, these skis became my go-to weapon of choice last winter. Stable at speed yet surprisingly manoeuvrable at slow speeds and in tight spots, the torsional stiffness also made them very comfortable on the uphill, particularly skinning on refrozen spring snow when often a wider ski can feel like it is about to break out sideways on every step.

2 Dynafit Mercury boots

The touring boot market has really come on leaps and bounds since my first pair of touring boots (red Denalis... fortunately I missed out on the TR9s and other delights!) and Dynafit really hit the spot with the Mercury - beefy enough to drive big skis hard, but with great ankle freedom in walk mode and all at just 1.7Kg per foot. The 3rd buckle (the missing link on the TLT5) gives for great holding power, keeping the heel locked in the pocket, and the simplicity of the walk/ski lock mechanism is great, particularly on wild & windy changeovers when you want to minimise faffing!

3 Silva Expedition 4 compass

No batteries to run out when you most need them, a compass (and map) is your best friend if you do get caught out in poor visibility. Of course it helps if you know how to use it properly, but then, you did learn how to navigate using a map and compass before buying that GPS, didn't you? And no, a smartphone is no substitute for a dedicated navigation device...

4 Terra Nova bothy bag

Not the smallest item in my pack but now a regular feature after this incident 2 years ago... Looking after an injured skier in a Norwegian blizzard hammered home the benefits of having a proper, decent-sized shelter. If you need to cover a casualty lying down + one rescuer then a 4 person version is the minimum to get really good coverage without having to move them too much (they will thank you if they have a broken pelvis...).

5 Snow

OK so its not really a piece of 'kit', but here is hoping for some fantastic light fluffy (and relatively stable) snow for this coming winter!

On the subject of kit, I now have a pair of Tech 250 crampons in transit from the USA so will post up a review as soon as they arrive and I can get out to test them out...

***Edit on 16th October***

To add to the above list, all I want for Christmas is an LED lightsuit!:

AFTERGLOW - Lightsuit Segment from Sweetgrass Productions on Vimeo.

Review - Dynafit Mercury boots

Recently I took the plunge and splashed out on some new touring boots - the intention being to get a pair in the 1.5 - 1.7 Kg bracket which increasingly offers boots which will drive a big ski really well while not being too heavy for the uphill/climbing.

Last winter I was mostly skiing Dynafit Titans (big and beefy, but heavy), Head alpine boots (Raptor 120), and also spent some time in Dynafit's TLT5 Performance boot (super light, but a bit narrow for my foot even with some shell-stretching, and in my opinion missing a third buckle for good heel hold - full review here).
Seb at Sole Boot Lab in Chamonix took care of boot selection and fitting and I have now skied a pair of Dynafit Mercurys for a week so can offer some first opinions...

Weight. No matter what the manufacturer's blurb tells you, there is no substitute for getting the scales out - the results are as follows (for one size 28.0 boot):

TLT5 - stock liner + superfeet 'green' footbed: 1.253 Kg

Titan - Palau liner + Superfeet cork footbed: 2.087 Kg

Mercury - stock liner + Sidas footbed: 1.734 Kg

- just slipping outside the 1.7 Kg upper limit I had set, but still feel relatively light on the foot - only a big uphill day will tell though!


The Mercury is a 3 buckle boot - though the 40mm booster strap more than happily doubles for a 4th buckle on the cuff. The buckles remain low profile when closed - should be fine for climbing/boot-packing. In the open position the cuff buckle has a hinge point to enable it to sit closer to the boot shell - one of the downsides of the TLT5 was the buckle which stuck out a long way in 'open' position - check out the photo below to see the difference between the two:

Fit-wise I have a narrow ankle, high arch, and wide forefoot. The Mercury's fit out of the box is not bad for me, though I will need to widen the toe box a little for maximum comfort. For comparison they feel narrower than a Titan, but substantially wider than the TLT5

Conditions in the French Alps are a little scratchy at the moment, and most of my work last week was on piste (for once) so I haven't tried these out with any fat skis yet - last week I was skiing some Fischer Watea 88s and the boots were quite happy to really crank it out on piste. Good support, great heel hold, and a progressive flex pattern. The cuff height is similar to a Titan (see photo below - from left - TLT5, Mercury, Titan):

The boot sole length of 314 mm (for a 28.0) is only 8 mm down on the Titan (as opposed to 307 mm for the TLT5 !), so if you are swapping down from a bigger boot this should fall within the adjustment range of most tech bindings (eg Dynafit Vertical/Radical or Plum)

Downsides? During thermo-forming one of the liners developed a crease just above the heel on the instep - manageable this week as my heel has been locked down in ski mode, but could be an issue on the uphill and I will be heading back to the shop for a re-form or new inner. Apparently this has been a regular problem with the stock Dynafit liners!
Just like the TLTs, the lock mechanism for ski mode is integrated into the cuff buckle so a cover of some sort will have to be DIY-ed to enable light closure of the cuff without locking the boot for more technical climbing

So far I am really happy with these boots and can't wait to get out on some bigger skis and see how they perform...