There's no time like spring for backcountry alpine adventures. These essentials will help you stay safely stoked.
Spring ski touring is absolutely sublime—and just the beginning of ski season (not the end) for those who prefer skinning up and weaving down pristine backcountry slopes on warmer days. In the mountains, conditions are never predictable, so the best spring gear needs to be both reliable and adaptable. It needs to cover a broad range of conditions while maximizing performance in typically heavier snow as well as safety in avalanche-prone areas.
Preparing for a successful ski tour always begins with solid avalanche training. It's essential to staying safe out there, understanding snow conditions, and knowing exactly what to bring and how to properly use it.
Your next step: Invest in these top spring ski touring essentials to ensure your next bluebird backcountry saga is a total blast.
Best Spring Ski Touring Essentials
1. ATK Haute Route 10 Bindings
If your spring objectives involve uphill performance, the Haute Route binding series is the way to go. Built for long tours, these lightweight bindings (165 grams) use their patented CAM release system that guarantees a lot more torsional stiffness and a better skiing experience. If downhill is your focus, ATK’s revolutionary, highly adjustable Raider EVO series is your best bet. The R13 EVO is the brand's best-selling binding in Europe and will be available in the U.S. this upcoming winter.
[$600; atkbindings.com]
2. Fischer TransAlp Pro Ski Boots
The balance between downhill performance and walkability is always the goal for touring boots. Fischer's found that sweet spot in an elegantly simple, lightweight touring boot that offers a progressive flex pattern and a whopping 80 degrees of cuff rotation. TransAlp Pro sits between stiffer, heavier touring boots and ultralight options, making them a perfect spring boot that can handle different terrain and conditions.
[$950; fischersports.com]
3. Dynafit Tour Vario Poles
The type of ski poles you take touring might seem like an arbitrary pick, but a good pair of poles can make your day skinning up mountains smoother and more efficient. A great pair, like Dynafit’s Tour Vario Poles, can even level up your touring effort.
Related: This is What Skiing 8-Feet of Snow In Two Weeks Looks Like
Aluminum is used in the upper section of the poles to provide more flexibility upon impact, while the lower portion is made of light, rigid carbon fiber for more nimble swings. Tour Vario Poles are adjustable, lightweight, and equipped with the best grip handles on the market.
[$130; dynafit.com]
4. Black Crows Orb Skis
Made with spring ski conditions in mind, Orb skis by Black Crows are playful, snappy, and lightweight with a 90 millimeter waist. Orb has a progressive rocker that can handle powder, while a strong base can charge in harder pack snow conditions.
[$800; black-crows.com]
5. mountainFLOW Race Wax
More often than not, backcountry skiers don’t tune or wax their skis—a shame since a good tune and wax can really make a difference in performance when touring. While making a difference for yourself, why not also make a difference for the environment by using mountainFLOW’s eco-friendly, biodegradable race wax.
Related: Coolest New Gear at the 2023 Outdoor Retailer Snow Show
Made with the brand's exclusive ceramic nanotechnology, Race Wax combines plant-based, non-fluoronated ingredients that keep your sticks sliding smoothly without having to worry about harmful chemicals leaching off into the snow.
[$28; mountainflow.com]
6. Pomoca Climb Free Pro 2.0 Skins
The one thing you can count on with spring skiing is that the conditions won’t be consistent. Colder mornings but warmer days are a typical scenario for a glorious spring ski touring day, but bluebird days can often mean it's time for lots of glomming, or clumps of snow stuck to the bottom of your skins.
Related: Best Skis of All Time
To avoid this performance-sapping spring touring snag, invest in Pomoca’s Free Pro 2.0 skins. They not only offer superior grip and glide, they're ridiculously lightweight and easy to store in your pack for your next laps.
[From $230; pomoca.com]
7. Smith Pursuit Sunglasses
With the sun staying higher for longer, the chances of cooking your nose increases in spring, especially when you're surrounded by light-reflecting snow. Smith’s new Pursuit glasses—designed with pro skier Cody Townsend—come with a removable nosepiece and side shields to help protect your eyes from the sun. They also enhance vision in changing weather, since the ChromaPop Glacier photochromic lenses were developed to adapt to variable light conditions.
[$299; smithoptics.com]
8. Sweet Protection Ascender MIPS Helmet
Made for going up and down, Sweet Protection’s Ascender Mips lid is a triple-certified, low-volume ski touring helmet that's both durable and lightweight. It's super breathable—with 108 vents—so you can leave it on, making transitions quick in tricky terrain. It also features a headlamp clip for lighting up those dawn patrol days.
[$220; sweetprotection.com]
9. Patagonia Nano Air Light Hybrid Hoody
Patagonia’s brand new Nano Air Light Hybrid Hoody is a versatile, breathable layering piece you can leave on all day. It's made of two classic Patagonia materials: technical R1 Air knit paneling and revolutionary Nano Air 40-gram insulation. Both materials are high performers on their own. But when body-mapped together for the perfect fit, they make a seamless, superior garment tailor-made for spring ski touring conditions.
[$299; patagonia.com]
10. Arc’teryx Rush Insulated Jacket
Temps are generally warmer in the spring, but you're still skiing on snow, which is cold. Having the right layers can really make or break your day. Arc’teryx's Rush Insulated Jacket is a ski- and snowboarding-specific layer that can serve as a transitional piece or a protective jacket that's both windproof and water repellent. Rush also comes with an embedded Recco reflector for added safety and visibility.
[$800; arcteryx.com]
11. Rab Khroma 30 Ski Pack
Rab's Khroma 30 backpack is an excellent summit sack for spring. It has a clean look but is jam-packed with technical features, including versatile ski carrying straps, streamlined compartments, gear loops, ice axe attachment points, and a comfortable hip belt. It's also tough enough to endure spills and brushes with rough terrain since it's made with Spectra fiber, an engineered textile that's 15 times stronger than steel.
[$220; rab.equipment]
12. Mammut Barryvox S Transceiver
The best avalanche transceiver (ideally with at least three antennas) is the one you're familiar with. Among the most capable transceivers on the market, Barryvox S is intuitive and clear to use. It boasts one of the longest strip search widths (70 meters) and has a big screen that provides clear distance indication, large prompting graphics, and easy-to-use acoustic search guidance. The shock- and break-proof transceiver is also able to switch from digital to analog when interference or signal overlap becomes an issue.
[$550; mammut.com]
13. Ortovox Kodiak Shovel
Unless you're doing a ski-mo race in a relatively controlled environment, having a hearty, compact aluminum shovel is worth the weight. Ortovox’s Kodiak Shovel is a powerful, easy-to-use tool that features a D-grip handle and a volume of 3.1 liters to move snow fast. It's a cinch to pack and has a sharpened cutting edge for busting through icy layers.
[$100; ortovox.com]
14. BCA Stealth 300 Avalanche Probe
The BCA Stealth 300 Avalanche Probe is durable, easy to use, and reliable. Is there really anything else you'd want from a probe? BCA’s Stealth series has a superior locking mechanism and comes in four lengths—240, 270, 300, and 330 centimeters—that remind us it's always good to have more probe than less probe. It'll make that marginal extra weight well worth it.
[$80; backcountryaccess.com]
from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/w60koDs
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