2022-2023 BLISTER Digital Winter Buyer’s Guide

270+ skis, 50 boots, and 230+ pages of honest, accurate product reviews and comparisons. Order our 22/23 Winter Buyer’s Guide or become a Blister Member to read the Digital Guide NOW.

Our 2022-2023 Winter Buyer's Guide is restricted to those who have purchased the Guide or who are active Blister Members. To learn more about our Guide and Membership options, click here. If you’re already a Blister Member or have purchased the 22/23 Winter Buyer's Guide and are seeing this message, please log in and then refresh this page.
Drew Kelly reviews the La Sportiva Mutant for BLISTER.

La Sportiva Mutant

The La Sportiva Mutant is aptly named — it’s a shoe designed to shape-shift between a comfy trail cruiser and a sturdy, bombproof option for technical scrambling. There are plenty of reasons why it’s the first choice serious mountain runners reach for, and in our full review, we’ll explain each of them.
With Heady Topper, John Kimmich created one of the most sought-after beers in the world, and effectively created the profile of the modern IPA. In part 1 of this tour-de-force of a conversation on our CRAFTED podcast, we talk to John about his path to opening The Alchemist with his wife, Jen, in 2003; the business - and current landscape - of craft beer; what distinguishes great beer from mediocre beer; and more. Buckle up for this one, folks.

The Alchemist co-founder & brewer, John Kimmich, Part 1 (Ep.6)

With Heady Topper, John Kimmich created one of the most sought-after beers in the world, and effectively created the profile of the modern IPA. Here in Part 1, we talk to John about his path to opening The Alchemist with his wife, Jen, in 2003; the business — and current landscape — of craft beer; what distinguishes great beer from mediocre beer; and more.
Eric Freson and Dylan Wood review the Intense Tracer 279 for Blister

Flash Review — Intense Tracer 279

Update 9.13.22: Dylan Wood adds his initial impressions of the Intense Tracer 279.

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Can engineering actually help us discover real-world characteristics about products that will be meaningful to end users? Or, when we incorporate quantitative data, do we mostly run the risk of having that data leading people astray? We discuss with Thomas Laakso, the vice president of product and operations at DPS Skis, and Dr. Sean Humbert of Blister Labs.

Blister Labs: Product Manufacturers vs. Researchers & Reviewers (Ep.213)

Can engineering actually help us discover real-world characteristics about products that will be meaningful to end users? Or, when we incorporate quantitative data, do we mostly run the risk of having that data leading people astray? We discuss with Thomas Laakso, the vice president of product and operations at DPS Skis, and Dr. Sean Humbert of Blister Labs.
David Golay reviews the 2023 Santa Cruz Hightower for Blister

Deep Dive: Santa Cruz Hightower 3

We compare the Santa Cruz Hightower 3 to the Hightower 2, Guerrilla Gravity Smash, Santa Cruz Bronson, Yeti SB130, We Are One Arrival, Antidote Carbonjack, Orbea and Occam LT.

Blister’s Flash Reviews and Deep Dives are accessible to those who purchase one of our paid subscriptions

To get our comprehensive Deep Dives and our initial, unfiltered reports on new gear, become a member and receive many other services, deals, and discounts.

If you’re already an active member, please log in.

(If you're already logged in and a member in good standing and seeing this message in error, please refresh this page in your browser.)

2023 Santa Cruz Hightower

The Santa Cruz Hightower has long been a very versatile, well-rounded Trail bike, and with the new V3 bike, Santa Cruz hasn’t messed with a good thing too much. But they’ve still found things to refine and improve, and the Hightower remains a very good all-rounder.
Vaea Verbeeck at Proving Grounds 2022 (photo: Lear Miller)

Vaea Verbeeck on Just Going For It (Ep.134)

On this week’s episode of Bikes & Big Ideas, we chatted with Vaea Verbeeck about her long and varied MTB career, and along the way, we get into it about motivation & how to keep things fresh year after year; Vaea’s wild introduction to mountain biking and early run-ins with some of the biggest names in the sport; the upcoming Proving Grounds event; and much more.
David Golay reviews the 2023 Santa Cruz 5010 for Blister

2023 Santa Cruz 5010

The mullet-ification of Santa Cruz’s formerly-27.5’’ models continues today with the 5010, and Santa Cruz is talking a big game about the new bike, calling it “the best handling trail bike ever”.