Snow
DCP is a man of many continents -- based out of British Columbia, he's traveled pretty much everywhere, from Russia to Japan to Europe. Right now he's on his way to Chile in South America. In a strange twist, this land-locked 418 snow-ripper from landlocked Quebec has picked up a serious surf habit,...
While you're at home zombied out on video games this summer, other kids are up at Hood learning double cork nine-millions and playing games of SKATE. Want to know what else you're missing? This handy photo gallery will provide all the photographic evidence you need to show your parents all the fun...
New program for G3 Onyx, Ruby AT bindings applies best practices from alpine skiing to the backcountry world.
Vancouver , British Columbia (July 28, 2010) – This fall, G3, manufacturer of industry-leading gear for backcountry skiing, will become the first alpine-touring/backcountry ski binding manufacturer to offer a liability reduction and indemnity program to its North American dealers.
The program, the first of its kind in alpine-touring and backcountry skiing, is based off a system that is standard operating procedure among alpine-skiing binding manufacturers and retailers, reducing risk, and potentially cost, to G3 dealers in the process.
The basis of the program is that when G3′s Onyx and women’s Ruby alpine-touring bindings are installed and set in accordance with the company’s instructions, dealer agreement, and documentation requirements, G3 would take the lead in defending any legal case surrounding binding releasability or function involving a dealer and/or a sales rep. No other backcountry binding manufacturer offers such a program. G3 engaged risk-management attorney Jim Moss to develop the program.
“What we are doing is taking the best practices from the alpine-skiing world, and applying them to the backcountry world,” said G3 founder and President Oliver Steffen. “Given the very thorough process we use to test and document proper, precise releasability on every pair of bindings before they go out the door, we have extremely high confidence in our bindings, and extremely high confidence in stepping up to offer our dealers this added protection.”
The fact that G3 can offer this protection to retailers also speaks to and stems directly from the ground-breaking design used in the Onyx and Ruby, Steffen said.
The Onyx and Ruby are tech-style alpine-touring bindings with high-performance retention, dramatically reduced pre-release, and industry-leading releasability functions. They also offer the ability to switch from ski to tour mode without taking skis off.
For the coming fall season, G3 re-engineered and upgraded several components of the Onyx, including; increasing all release settings to 12; redesigning the brakes so they retract more fully; making the heel lifters more secure; and modifying the toe bale so it more effectively sheds snow. The Ruby is a women’s-specific version of the Onyx that is new this season.
The program also applies to G3 sales reps and retailers in ski-demo situations.
The question was the same every time, posed over the past two weeks to team managers and marketing executives working for some of the top ski manufacturers: Are you signing or parting ways with any big-name athletes this offseason?
And like the question, the answer never varied: No. "We're not trying...
Unified North American Avalanche Danger Scale to be launched for the 2010/11 season
Backcountry avalanche centers across Canada and the United States will be using a new avalanche danger scale for the 2010/11 season. The new scale reduces some of the ambiguity of the previous scale, provides more definitive travel advice for backcountry recreationists, incorporates risk by referring to typical avalanche sizes expected, and utilizes icons recently adopted by European countries.
“It was great to be able to build upon and improve an already successful leader and Avalanche Risk Specialist for Parks Canada.
“It was especially encouraging to work closely with our Canadian colleagues to come up with a unified scale. This will only help in our efforts to promote avalanche forecasting consistency and to improve safety for the many people who recreate in the backcountry in both countries” according to Karl Birkeland, the U.S. lead on the project and an Avalanche Scientist with the USDA Forest Service National Avalanche Center.
This danger scale is the first time that the two countries have used the same scale, and is the result of a multi-year effort by the Canadian Avalanche Centre, Parks Canada, the USDA Forest Service, and the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. The recent proposal by New Zealand’s Mountain Safety Centre to use the new scale starting in the 2011 southern hemisphere winter has further increased the international scope of the project.
The Norwegian film company Field Productions has just released the teaser for its upcoming fall feature, "Side By Side." Like most teasers, this one leaves a lot of blanks in the action for your imagination to fill in. My imagination is telling me that "Side By Side" is going to be awesome.
Tired...
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR) announces the launch of the new Grand Pass for winter of 2010-2011. The August price on a Grand Pass delivers an unrestricted Jackson Hole experience at a 25% discount over last year, a rate not seen since the 1980′s. JHMR is also introducing Youth and Student Grand Passes that provide unrestricted access the next generation of skiers and riders regardless of whether their parents are passholders.
