In the first part of our 2015 SIA awards, we mourned the loss of a few good skis, laid out some questions about a couple new ones, listed the gear we most wanted to steal, etc., but there’s more to reflect on from SIA, starting with some of the most interesting outerwear we saw on the show floor…
• ‘Intriguing Outerwear’ Award •
Black Diamond Mission Pro Jacket and Pants
For the 15/16 season, Black Diamond will be introducing their first line of freeride-oriented outerwear, and it looks quite good. The men’s Mission Pro Shell and Mission Pro Pants (shown immediately below) are made from Gore-Tex Pro, and use a 150-denier face fabric that’s thicker than what’s found on most outerwear we’ve tested.
Several of Black Diamond’s new freeride pants will be equipped with a large pocket for your beacon, which will have features making it easily accessible, protected, and secured.
Black Diamond will also offer Mission Jacket, which is a little less burly than the Mission Pro, as it uses a 70-denier face fabric. The Mission also uses Gore-Tex’s standard 3-layer waterproof / breathable shell material (instead of Gore Pro like the Mission Pro), but it will be the lighter, more packable option.
And while we think the men’s line looks good, Black Diamond’s women’s outerwear kits look excellent, too. We look forward to checking them out.
Sweet Protection Supernaut Forged Jacket
Another newcomer: Sweet isn’t only coming strong on the helmet side of things, their outerwear looks to be on point, too. The Supernaut Forged jacket incorporates 150-denier fabric in the arms and shoulders, and 70-denier fabric across the torso, while all the features appear to be well thought out. The high-end, technical outerwear segment appears to be getting some fresh competition.
Arc’teryx Lithic Glove
Arc’teryx is very excited about the latest project in their glove line, the Lithic, and we think they have reason to be.
To our knowledge, Arc’teryx is the only brand in the world to make gloves like the Lithic using fully taped, 3-layer Gore-Tex shell fabric, and the patterning of the shell material used on the Lithic is extremely refined and well thought-out. The result is a super comfortable glove with extremely impressive dexterity—wearing the Lithic feels more natural and comfortable than any other glove we’ve worn—and this comfort and dexterity doesn’t appear to come at the expense of durability, as the glove’s fingers and palms are covered in a 330-denier face fabric.
While it may be overkill for a mild day of resort skiing, for storm skiing, for multi-day backcountry outings, or for anyone who spends a lot of time working in the snow (patrollers, guides, etc.), the Lithic could be a great piece to own.
Of course, these are just our initial impressions, and we look forward to putting the Lithic to use in the mountains.
Next: The Most Innovative Award
first thing that came to my mind when I saw the gunsmoke was “looks like a lego ski”, second thing was “nah, a lego ski would be nicer”
Holy shit those Blizzards are terrible. Meanwhile, every chick I know will be buying those snowboards.
Voormi — must test. Potentially paradigm changing technology.
There’s no doubt that the new Gunsmoke, Peacemaker, and Regulator are ugly. On the plus side, they’re no worse and possibly less brutally hideous than the current ones, so at least there’s that? Either way, it’s too bad because they’re all great skis, but graphics matter. When it came time for me to put my money where my mouth is, it was between a Peacemaker and a SFB. They’re roughly equivalent skis made to do pretty much the same things, the main difference being that one wasn’t ugly. So I bought the SFB.
Blizzard needs to get their twin tip graphics together, there’s no excuse given what they’ve done in their freeski lineup. Do graphics matter? Judging by how I’ve seen piles of these skis glued to the wall this season despite shop staff and reviews raving about them, I’d say they do.
There’s a lotta truth in that there comment…
I actually don’t mind the new graphics, they are certainly better than last years. Cowboys and indians on my top sheets, no thank you! Regardless the peacemaker is one of my favorite skis ever and I would gladly rock the strung out bull all day long.
Blizzard Gunsmoke, Peacemaker, and Regulator – The graphics would be alright if the bull was scrapped.
Bindings should not be allowed on the Capita snowboards. They are too beautiful to be sullied in any way.
Blizzard graphics = South Park Cows.
Re those blizzard grahics. A can of plasti dip would take care of those steers, the rest looks good.
I also agree with Paul in that if you would ditch the cow the Blizzard graphics would actually be pretty good.
Thanks for the article guys. I noticed that the Tecnica Mach 1 boot has a low volume model now. Do you guys know the actual volume in the heel/ankle? As in, like the R9.8 98mm volume, or the cochise 98 mm volume?
Thanks
I just asked through instagram, it appears the low volume version is the same volume as the Tecnica R9.8, definitely a plus for low volume feet!
Yep, the Mach 1 lower is basically a slightly tweaked R9.9 lower. (!!!) I’ve worn the boot, and the initial fit was very promising. Should be getting the Mach 1 on snow soon, very excited to check it out.
Can’t help it, kinda digging the Blizzard “Southpark” style cow graphics. With those on your feets you have to ski stronger to stand up to the ridicule! Maybe PSIA should adopt this into their instruction program, all of my students would instantly want to get good enough to ski off piste so that the deeper snow would cover the top sheets. Brilliant!
I can only imagine Cartman hacking big drops and landing switch on a pair of Peacemakers!
While I absolutely agree with Scott Andrus` perception of Will’s decision I would still love to read the Kartell review. Maybe somebody else could review the ski.
Any idea when we can expect the review?