Archive

For the real deal reviews category

Real Deal Review: Boreal

1 Comment

Welcome to Boreal.  Main Line in view.

Boreal is the place you wish you lived across the street from.  The Big Boulder of Lake Tahoe, Boreal has a cozy 500 feet of vertical under the lights til 9 at night stocked with a smattering of jibs, wallrides, hips, side-hits, spines, and kickers.  Most lines let you hit around ten features in a row, with Boreal’s key strength being that the majority are shreddable by anyone with a decent handle on park skiing, and can be shredded hard by those with real talent.  Screw the kids – this is the park for working adults, with pretty low consequences for casing most of the features and the general intimidation factor of the setup pretty low.  Add in a high-speed quad chopping lap times down to seven or eight minutes and Tahoe’s standard soft, slushy snow and this place is pretty much the ultimate park for the 99%.

Continue reading this entry »

Real Deal Backcountry Review: Steps 4 & 5

No Comments

Ryan Dunfee of BroBomb.com covers how to establish dominance within your backcountry group by feigning a drug addiction, and how to abuse religion to bless your ski day.  Click for the full review of the SkiLogik Bomb Squads featured as a prop in the video.

Real Deal Review: Bluehouse Antics

2 Comments

In the park-rat-centric world I inhabit, skis fall into three big categories: butter skis, jump skis, and pow skis. It’s obviously a gross overgeneralization, but it’s not a bad way to cut through the marketing bullshit.

Bonus points for a legit topsheet.

To get to the point, Bluehouse Antics are pretty damn great jump skis. For the sake of a fair review, Dan handled the riding on the Antics as he has been known to use jumps as something more than a convenient wind-blocker to duck behind and light a cigarette.

Continue reading this entry »

Real Deal Backcountry Review: Step 3

No Comments

Dunfee covers proper avalanche beacon training techniques, how to display your backcountry knowledge, and reviews two key pieces of Backcountry Access gear. Whether or not BroBomb has enough credibility to venture outside of tight pants mini-park opinionating is up for debate.

Backcountry Access

Given BroBomb’s collective ignorance of all things backcountry (with the exception of one developing scholar), we’re pretty sure it’s illegal for us to recommend anything that has anything to do with wilderness survival. But not having a clue doesn’t mean you can’t have an opinion; here are our thoughts on two key Backcountry Access products you’ll want to look into this winter.

Continue reading this entry »

Real Deal Backcountry Review: Steps 1 & 2

No Comments

Dunfee explains proper layering and what you should be packing into the backcountry and follows it up with Real Deal Reviews for First Ascent’s KaraKoram Down Parka, First Ascent Guide Gloves, and First Ascent Downlight Vest.  Backcountry nerds unite.  Full reviews after the jump.

Continue reading this entry »

The 2011 x 2012 Backcountry Real Deal Reviews

No Comments

BroBomb isn’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind when you think of  the backcountry. But while BroBomb’s PA-based brethren may not be able to distinguish between a flat box and a couloir, Dunfee’s wild upbringing in suburban New Hampshire, far from the conveniences of running water, protection from wolves, and loving parents, has taught him how to select the best gear for use in the wild white yonder.

For the next couple weeks, he’ll be bringing you Real Deal Reviews of some of this season’s hottest backcountry gear including the First Ascent Guide glove and vest, Saga Anomie jacket, Moment Team 3L jacket and pant, Smith I/O goggles, Backcountry Access Squall pack, and Ski Logik Bomb Squad skis.

The 2012 Sub-$200 Gear Guide

3 Comments

Shit!  Skiing is expensive!  It seemed like not long ago (okay, ten years ago) that the best twin tips on the market were only $400.  New boots?  Sell your cat and the copper out of your duplex.  Fortunately, there’s a handful of less obvious and cheaper upgrades to your gear you could be making this season for under two hundo.  They won’t be badass hunter orange 18-DIN bindings or new skis, but they will help extend the life of your existing gear or replace more expensive purchases you might have had to make otherwise.  Yes, unfortunately this is serious advice.

Intuition Boot Liners

Photo caption: Intuition Liners: like sex for your feet!

Shin bang.  Dead toe nails.  Blisters.  Herpes.  All issues that tend to come up after you’ve worn your boot liners out after a few seasons.

Continue reading this entry »

The Real Deal Reviews Are Coming

No Comments

It’s that time of the year again…

Too Late? After Dark Review

4 Comments

Level 1 continues their tradition of having one part stand way above the rest. The original was David Crichton’s two-part segment in Forward that I will mention in every other blog post until I quit writing about skiing and start doing environmental work to soothe my guilty conscience. Then there was Corey Vanular’s part to another DL Incognito song in Long Story Short which, at barely 1:20 long, is possibly the best exercise of restraint in ski film history.

Continue reading this entry »

What the Trailers Are Telling Me

4 Comments

Anyone who has gone to a movie based solely on a slick trailer and then realized that either every punchline has already been spoiled or that some horrific acting was concealed by chopping each line into itty-bitty soundbites, knows that you can’t judge a movie by its trailer. That said, I’m about to do just that.

Continue reading this entry »