When the fine Nevadans at Moment emailed me and asked if we’d be interested in making fun of some outerwear, I thought we’d end up with some castoff shreds of fabric that they found wedged under a scrap pile. What I didn’t realize, is that Moment had designed this kit in direct response to our Reno trip reviews of the past two years. Staring into the Skittlesy brightness of the Arlington jacket and pants is sure to leave you feeling like everyone in Reno looks: METH AS F@CK!
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For the real deal reviews category
It’s bit strange that when Eric Iberg first announced Like a Lion, many of us instantly assumed that it’d be an account of Tanner’s downfalls. He’s a skier with unmatched success in competitions and videos, but his on-camera gaffes and often over-the-top rasta mimicry seem to have left us all thirsty for blood (metaphorically, of course). Nonetheless, the hope was that Iberg would be aiming to ask some tough questions and offer some explanation of the behind-the-scenes Tanner Hall that his friends know and seem to love. The movie had no hope of being an objective account, and to Iberg’s credit, he seems to have realized as much.
Let’s get this out of the way up front—in case my clever, witty pun of a title wasn’t clear—I didn’t like PBP’s latest offering, Revolver.
That’s not to say that it didn’t have its moments, or even that most people won’t like it, but I just wanted to be up front in case you’re the sort that takes other people’s opinions personally, or if you have a woefully short attention span. Feel free to proceed directly to the comment box and tell me how wrong I am if that be you.
Round two of our impeccably rigorous fashion-smoking outerwear test brings you a kit from Holden‘s 2010-11 line. If you haven’t checked out their site, I highly recommend it. And if Orage is more your speed, check out the first installment.
We’re pumped to announce the release of Happypro’s new flick, DIO. The free vid will go live to the world Sunday following a premiere in Oslo, Norway. Be sure to check right here or Happypro for tomorrow’s release.
I got a chance to screen the video before it goes live, and this thing is totally worth the price of admission (even if there was one). The cynic in me watched with a sinister smile as one more brick was put in the why-would-anyone-still-buy-DVDs wall, but Happy abounds and delivers a pretty top-notch buddy-shred flick. The intro is a winner with a fat little Norwegian kid that proves there’s an Eric Cartman in every nation. Once the skiing and snowboarding (yup, it’s one of those) gets rolling, it’s obviously a film based on a crew of friends that enjoys riding together and is wagering that you might enjoy watching them have fun.
We hear Snus has taken over as the vice du jour in skiing, but we still see you dramatists out there fashion smoking it up. As far as we’re concerned, every slim kit should come with a pack in the pocket so you can get all Bob Dylan (or anyone else) and whip one out when the cameras are pointed your way. We got our hands on a nice slim setup from Orage and decided to put it to the test. If you’ve had a long day of shred, but the weather suddenly turns rainy, will your jacket hold up long enough for you to catch one more ciggie while the raindrops fall dramatically on your shoulders? I can hardly stand the anticipation!
The packaging for Level 1’s “Eye Trip” cleverly makes a few promises: there’s the take on Timothy Leary’s famous countercultural rallying cry, “Tune in, Turn on, Drop out” and the disc that looks like a wheel from a Viewmaster. It seemed too good to be true, but was this going to be Level 1’s retro “Trip” through the music and culture of the 70’s? Don’t you hipsters just wish.
It’s no secret that the BroBomb collective was less than blown away by Nimbus Independent’s 2009 project Contrast—a difficult admission as the Nimbus crew’s attitudes towards skiing and ski culture are so in step with our own. Where Contrast was overly-long and mired in philosophical meanderings of the “skiing as life” variety, En Route Nomads is a lesson in film making brevity and, fortunately for us, the shots themselves do all the necessary talking.
(lots of words, but there’s a video at the bottom)
Reno is a special kind of ski town. In fact, I bet many of the inhabitants of its casino and pawn shop lined streets would be surprised to hear it referred to as such. Continue reading this entry »
Skiing, like most outdoor sports, has seen countless advancements in equipment during the last couple decades. Plenty of these new technologies are gimmicky and worthless– useful only for those who have to own the latest and greatest gadgetry (I’m thinking of the ski-wheel they sell in SkyMall). Then there are substantial changes like sidecut, twin geometry, and new durable materials.
Through all of this, the most begrudged of all equipment, boots have stayed largely the same. There are lace-up liners; two, three, or four buckles; shock-absorbers; adjustable flex; and other bells/whistles, but the core concept is the same. We’re still sliding in a hard-plastic shell with a soft liner stuffed into it. I don’t pretend to be an expert on ski boots, but I’m pretty sure I can get an “amen” from the congregation on this one.
The most memorable recent modifications on the standard model have been of the DIY variety. Allen Lam came up with a system for V-cutting SPK’s and possibly Full Tilts for more mobility. I’m sure many of you are familiar, but here’s a shot of the finished product:
Like most things Allen does, this has garnered its fair share of hate, but I think it’s promising. I’ll probably pay the $20 he asks and send my old SPK’s to him to try it out. Nonetheless, it’s still just a modification of the existing technology. DIY will never get us truly new technology.
Here is where I introduce you, maybe for the first time, to Apex ski boots. They’ve developed a relatively thin version of a BOA snowboard boot and a carbon casing that gives it rigidity like a normal boot.
After trying them on, I discovered a few points that would have to be altered if this boot were to work for street/park skiing. First, someone else would have to make them. We spoke with the owner and reps, and they were completely oblivious to freestyle skiing. They described their ideal customer in marketing speak as someone who drives a Mercedes and owns a second home in Aspen. It’s no surprise, because the price tag is the second thing they’d have to change: they’re asking $1295 for a pair. Insane, I know, but I can’t see a reason why the carbon couldn’t be replaced with hard plastic and the entire price tag be brought back to earth.
I obviously didn’t ride on them, but just strapping in revealed a couple other problems. The buckle across the instep would need to be wider and more thickly padded. This is a minor change, and the parts already exist in most snowboard bindings. Otherwise some thicker foam padding would solve most other issues. I’m sure flex is on your mind, so check out the photo below. The black band and colored spacers are supposed to adjust the degree of flex. I wasn’t able to test them out, but the boot flexed a bit like original SPK’s without any adjustments.
I would encourage you to write them to show that the freestyle movement represents a serious market share, but these guys are so oblivious that I doubt it’d do any good. Maybe someone can pool some of that trust fund money everybody’s dumping into tall-sweatshirt companies and make us some comfy boots!
