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.

Lofoten-bound

All quiet on the ski front this last week as I have had my 'other' hat on, doing some work for climbing equipment and headtorch manufacturer Petzl.

This afternoon I am off to Lofoten for a return visit following last year's amazing 2 weeks. Sadly the snow doesn't look to be quite as good as last year (always the danger of going back to somewhere after a fantastic snow experience...), but from what my local sources are telling me there is still plenty of skiing to be done! If not then we may have to revert to cod-fishing and northern lights spotting (anything to keep away from the very expensive beer!).

In the bag are my Dynafit Mercurys, which I am still very impressed with (despite quite a bit of boot work to create enough forefoot space), along with the Whitedot Skis Ranger Carbonlites which are really proving themselves. During the Steep Vanoise week we did quite a bit of skinning on firm snow without ski crampons (some of the clients had forgotten theirs so I also didn't use them so as to judge how feasible the skinning was) - the torsional stiffness of the Rangers makes for very comfortable skinning on steep firm snow, as you really get a feel of good edge grip and a solid platform under the foot. On the downhill they still feel great and were performing well in heavy 'old' powder, on spring snow and on some quite rough wind-affected surfaces...

Here's hoping we find some more of this to test them out on:

Whitedot Ranger Carbonlite review

Whitedot Skis very kindly provided me with a pair of their Ranger Carbonlite skis this winter, and having spent a bit of time on them now here are some personal opinions:

First off, a bit about me (as no ski review is useful without knowing about the reviewer...):

Height 6'2", weight 83(ish) Kg, boot size 28.0, boot skied during review - Dynafit Mercury

Professional skier for 18 years, specialising in off-piste coaching. Ski mountaineering is what floats my boat on days off.

Personal 'reference' skis currently - Volkl Mantra (184), Volkl Gotama (184) - these skis for me are the standard by which I would compare anything else for off-piste, ski touring, ski mountaineering and freeride... (so many different words for one thing!)

Testing conditions: on piste & off, up to 40 cm of powder, chopped up powder, some crud
Turn types - everything from tight couloir jump turns to big arcs on open faces, speeds from very slow to 'giving it heaps'.

Test ski - 2013/14 Whitedot Skis Ranger Carbonlite - length 186 cm

Bindings used - Plum Yak (separate review to follow).

Testing conditions were 'OK' at times...

First impressions - these things are LIGHT! For such a big ski they weigh next to nothing and yet still feel solid in the hand and underfoot. Absolutely no qualms about going out for a big uphill day on these...

Mounting point: the skis come with one main mounting point marked, along with a mark 5mm either way - personally I thought the suggested point (marked by FR on the topsheet) looked quite far back for my taste (I don't like having a monstruously long tip and short tail) so they have been mounted at +15mm relative to this and this seems to work quite well (though without skiing another paired mounted bang on the mark its hard to tell if it makes any difference!).

The 'almost flat' camber gives the ski a nice smeary feel for tighter spots, or when skiing with slower clients - some reviews I had read suggested otherwise but I found the skis very easy to handle at low speeds.

About to test out the 'tight spot' capabilities of the Ranger Carbonlites:

Photo ©www.andypmountainguide.com

And opening up the throttle a bit:

Photo ©www.andypmountainguide.com

At higher speeds these skis feel very stable, helped along by the fairly long turn radius (28m according to the Whitedot info sheet) - the flip side of this is that on piste the skis really needed a wide slope for a pure carve... I am however a fan of 'not too shaped' skis for steep skiing as it avoids the possibility for tip and tail to be touching while the foot is suspended in mid-air in tight concave gullies.

One major bug-bear is the squared profile tip, extremely annoying when you are fitting skins - even the adjustable tip loop that comes with 125mm Black Diamond STS skins isn't wide enough, forcing me to buy (yet) another set of adjustable uber-wide tip loops and add to my collection of unused tip loops in the garage...

Of course, its important to test skis in the air as well as on the snow...taking the Ranger CLs for a test flight:

Photo ©www.andypmountainguide.com

For the record one ski + Plum Yak (no brakes) weighs in at 2.35 Kg (only 20g more than a 184 Dynastar Mythic Light (88mm underfoot) + Dynafit Vertical FT, and some 350g less than a 184 Volkl Mantra + Radical FT).

*Caveat* I am a firm believer that there are very few bad skis on the market these days, just poor choice of ski by the skier (or lack of skill to be able to adjust and cope with different ski styles) *

Having said that I think the Ranger Carbonlite is likely to find a firm foothold in the ski mountaineering world amongst those looking for a wider ski without taking a weight penalty and certainly gets a very big thumbs up from me! I am looking forward to taking these skis out for some real adventures as the season progresses...