Swagger Award
— Karakoram Splitboard Front Points
Dear Lord. Normally, we give this award to the most spectacular, over-the-top marketing copy from the show. But this year, Karakoram’s new splitboard binding crampons don’t even need words — which is truly the ultimate swagger. I mean, take a look:
Karakoram said that they have been testing their new Front Point splitboard binding attachments by climbing vertical waterfall ice — in snowboard boots.
If Batman was a splitboarder, this is what he’d use. And if Trump and Kim Jong Un issue in a nuclear apocalypse we’re betting on the survival of cockroaches and these crampons.
Extreme Makeover Award
— Line Chronic
After remaining relatively unchanged for years, the Chronic is receiving a facelift for 18/19. Line is tapering the tips, bumping the waist width up from 92 mm to 95 mm, and tweaking the flex pattern to theoretically improve the skis all-mountain performance.
The “We’re Finally Going to Review It Award”
Good news: we’ve actually already put a number of days on the Blend, so keep an eye out for our review in the next couple weeks…
The “Good Idea” Award
— Making Smaller Sizes of Ski Boots
Tecnica is making their new Zero G Tour Pro boot in sizes all the way down to a 22.5. That means smaller individuals (men or women) will still be able to use the stiffest version of Tecnica’s new touring boot, which we think makes a whole lot of sense. And the Lange Freetour XT now comes in a size 22.5 as well. And given how well that boot skied, we think this should be on the radar of a lot of folks with smaller feet.
— Black Diamond’s Removable Whippet
Black Diamond has been making the Whippet — a ski pole with a ice-axe style pick at the top — for years. It provides a bit more peace of mind while ascending steep, consequential terrain, but it’s also a bit unnerving trying to ski down that steep, consequential terrain with a steel blade sticking out from your hand. So, Black Diamond is introducing a redesigned version of the Whippet that allows you to remove the axe portion of the pole. Nice.
Intriguing Women’s Ski Gear Awards
— Tecnica Zero G Tour Scout W
Tecnica completely redesigned their Zero G boots for 18/19, and are not only offering their 130 and 120 flex version in sizes down to a 22.5, but are also offering women-specific versions with slightly softer flexes. The new boots use an all-new mold, lightweight buckles, a beefy ski / walk mechanism very similar to the Atomic Hawx Ultra XTD boots, and are coming in at an impressively low stated weight (the stated weight of the 130-flex Zero G Tour Pro is 1320 grams)
— Blizzard Sheeva 9
Blizzard introduced the Sheeva 10 and 11 (102 and 112 mm underfoot, respectively) this season, and for 18/19 Blizzard is introducing the 92 mm underfoot Sheeva 9. With a playful rocker profile and similar construction to the men’s Rustler 10 (and new for 18/19 Rustler 9), the Sheeva 9 looks like it could be a fun all-mountain ski when the snow isn’t stacking up.
— Nordica Pro Machine 115 W
Nordica is replacing the GPX series (top stated flex of 105) with the Pro Machine, and the women’s version has a top stated flex of 115 for 18/19. The boot will feature a higher cuff in the stiffer flexes, which also seems to be a good move. All the boots in the women’s Pro Machine line have a stated last of 98 mm, come in sizes 22.5-27.5, and range in stiffness from 115, 105, 95, and 85.
Most Intriguing Outerwear Awards
— Strafe and Flylow’s Proprietary Air Permeable Membranes
Both Strafe and Flylow released their own air permeable membranes at the show, with Strafe’s “Recon Stretch 3L” being used on their updated Cham kit, and Flylow’s “Perm” fabric being used on their new Cooper Jacket and Smythe Bibs. The fabrics look to be some interesting competition for Polartec NeoShell, eVent, etc., and we’ll be getting time in them soon.
— Woven Baffles / Quilting
Rab and Marmot were both showing new down jackets that, instead of using traditional baffled or stitch-through construction, the individual channels were actually woven together. These look very interesting, and seem like they could help decrease weight and increase durability thanks to the lack of actual seams.
— “Gore-Tex Fabric With Stretch Technology”
Despite having one of the least inventive names at the show, this new fabric from Gore is very interesting. It’s debuting on two new products for 18/19: the Mammut Nordwand Flex HS Jacket / Pants and Outdoor Research Hemispheres Jacket / Bibs. The fabric stretches at very low forces (Outdoor Research claims it stretches at 25% of the force required to stretch other waterproof fabrics), and after a quick fit test, the fabric definitely provides an impressive amount of stretch and mobility. We’ll be getting in the Hemespheres Jacket very soon to give it a thorough test.
— Really Burly Snow Pants
Snow pants go through a lot — they have to deal with sharp ski edges, trees and rocks, and the occasional (or frequent) tomahawk down the hill. So, it makes sense to design heavy-duty options — two of which stood out to us at the show. Norrona’s 3L Gore-Tex Pro Lofoten Bibs use a 200-denier face fabric, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a heavier-weight Gore Pro shell. On the less technical side, but similarly impressive is Patagonia’s Mountain Utility Pant, which uses a 1200 denier face fabric with the brand’s proprietary H2No membrane. The fabric on these pants basically feels like that of a heavy-duty backpack, and we’d expect it to hold up very well to season after season of abuse.
— Black Crow’s Outerwear
Many people know Black Crow’s unique design aesthetic from their skis, but they also incorporate their famous chevron designs on the interior of their apparel — even down to the seam tape on their 3L shells. If you’re looking for the ultimate level of coordination between your skis and outerwear, Black Crows is probably the way to go.
Most Intriguing Base Layer Awards
— Craft Sportswear’s FuseKnit Base Layers
For 18/19, Craft is introducing “FuseKnit” across most of their line. Essentially, this refers to products that have areas where different types of knit structures (e.g. a tight jersey knit and an open mesh) connect without using a seam. Though Craft has been using seamless construction for a while, their 18/19 FuseKnit pieces look really interesting, and the degree to which they can change the structure of the fabric without seams is seriously impressive.
— Patagonia Capilene Air
We were big fans of the original Patagonia Merino Air Hoody, and now they’re bringing it back under the new name of “Capilene Air.” Check out our review of the Merino Air Hoody for more on this unique base layer.
A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words Award
We’ve got a tie this year:
NEXT: In part 3, we conclude with our “Favorite Person We Talked to; Good or Bad Industry Trends; Best & Worst Graphics; Most Innovative Product; WTF is That? Award, and More…
Lots of chatter from industry dinosaurs now trying to catch up to new trends.
What happened to Blister’s love for Indy brands?
Huh? Seems like maybe you wrote that before we’d rolled out all 3 parts of the awards? Furthermore, there were a number of notable indies that weren’t presenting at the show. Finally, as we published in our Manifesto back on day 1, just because you’re indie, doesn’t mean you’re awesome. Being small doesn’t guarantee you’re great. Neither does being big. We’ve been over this.
Skitest of the 2019 Corvus in Vemdalen – new reverse camber profile and the waist shrinks from 109 to 107. You can see the reverse camber profile at 3:43 minutes in the video and apparently it will have the 2/3 of the length titanal sheet, so it will basically become a wider deamon!?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GueX2pmJ8SQ
Seems like the new MX99 could fill the void left by the departing Monster 98. Any plans to get on that ski, or anything else from the Kastle lineup? (MX67!)
You might be on to something there, Mike. We are supposed to be getting on the MX99 this spring, so we’ll certainly weigh in on it vs. Monster 98. (But I’m still not sure that anything out there goes all the way to 11 like the Monster 98…)
And not sure yet about the MX67 … but yeah … that would be fun…..
Awesome. Big fan of the MX line and would be stoked to hear your thoughts (especially on the MX84, 89 or 99).
New show, I dub thee ORSI-ASS! (That’s fun to say…)
Ha. We’ll see if that sticks…
RE: Goretex stretch: They made some stretch garments about 15 years ago, but they suffered from horrible durability.
(I have some pants and the indes of the 2 layer fabric shows the membrane basically shredded in any spot where it stretches.)
Curious to see how they do on the at front this time around.
Re: frame bindings, if I might submit a humble theory … I bet that if those do go into a decline (which I doubt), it will have less to do with the performance of pin bindings than the availability of dual-compatible (pin + traditional alpine) boots. Based on the people I ski with, a lot of folks only have the budget to replace either boots or skis in a season. Until pin-compatible boots that could work with their old skis started hitting on the market, pin bindings just weren’t an option! I’ve noticed a bunch more of those boots available now, so I wonder whether we’ll see a delayed uptick in pin binding usage. Could be a good topic for a feature article…
But I think the question isn’t *whether* we’ll see a decline in frame bindings, it’s simply a question of how quickly that change will come about. Because you’re definitely right about the fact that not everyone can or wants to upgrade boots AND bindings at once. But we’d maintain that the writing is now officially on the wall.
Sure, I’ll just be curious to see how it plays out around me. It’s looking like it won’t be long before people buying alpine boots are able to get tech-compatibility without really seeking it out, and then they might turn around the next season and decide to try out tech bindings on their next ski. We’ll see!
And, to be clear on where I’m coming from – I’m a happy convert, bought the Tecnica Cochise last season so I could still use my old alpine stuff, and mounted a new pair of skis with the Tecton this season. Everything feels super solid, which I think is a testament to the newer tech.
– You don’t want to be seen, but you want to be seen. You know?
– Yes, nothing is what I want.
(A true zen saying.)
Such a shame to see the Monster 108 go away. I use mine more than any other ski!
There is a void developing in the 108mm-wide-true-charger category. As I wrote above, I don’t know that we’ll ever again see something as heavy and as stiff as the Monster, but I do think we’ll see some new developments in the next year or two for some company to take a serious crack at this category. We shall see.
Currently, we’ve got the Cochise, the revised Armada Invictus 108 (which we are very eager to ski) … and good news … we’re very shortly going to be getting on the 189 cm ON3P Wren 108. The 184 Wren 108 is definitely a bit less ski than the Cochise; the 189 should fill the gap a bit. But the Monster 108 is still a very different ski.
RIP-Volkl Nunataq….no taper, big sidecut, stiff consistent flex pattern and affordable. Carbon fiber is great, but these skis are great without the eye-watering price tag for the black stuff.
And….there are fewer backcountry skis in particular with this much horsepower being pressed regardless of cost.
Good call, Maciej. I never got the chance to ski it, but the shape always looked fantastic to me.
With a lot of breakage problems with the Kingpin (see Teton Gravity) and the junk show of the Beast, I don’t think frame bindings are going anywhere yet
Any thoughts on the new Brahma construction? You gave the old ones such high marks, I’m interested to know what you think.
Did you get hands on the 2019 Kastle MX99? I saw a vid online with Davenport hyping it. The tip and tail shape look awesome. I demoed the MX89 yesterday. Take that ski, add a cm of width and a touch of tip rocker and I might have my next firm condition ski to replace my E98s.