Hacking My Way Through the Winter
Outdoor Retailer Show
By Todd Kipfer
I just came back from spending several days
in Salt Lake City for the Winter Outdoor Retailer (OR) show.
Honestly, I shouldn’t have gone in the first place. A week
earlier I left the comfortable Colorado Front Range and relocated
to Bozeman, Montana. In terms of priorities, I was supposed to
look for a job. And I hadn’t even skied much of late. Moving
and related took time. And why in the world would a good old
hack tele skier go to OR? I put on skis to find balance from
the grind of modern life. Industry events are for industry folks,
right?
Well, thank goodness, reality didn’t
kick in her heels and ride me down the road of expectations.
On a foggy and cold Wednesday morning, I loaded up the old Civic
and headed off to Salt Lake City to meet a bunch of telemarktips.com
people I barely knew. I wasn’t even sure what I was supposed
to do once I got there. Mitch, the publisher of telemarktips.com,
had set up a crew of skiers to attend OR and scour the gear,
atmosphere, and hype. Mitch and Laurie seemed like nice folks
online, but there was that nagging worry; they live in Laguna
Beach, not your typical hotbed of skiing. Even if all was amiss,
I had my skis and there was some skiing to be had in the Wasatch,
or so I had heard.
I showed up at the doorstep of John Lee’s
house, not sure what to expect. John’s partner Linda opened
the door, handed me the phone, and told me to talk to John. Caught
up in work, he wouldn’t be home until late. He might not
be able to ski the on-snow demo tomorrow at Park City. And he
wasn’t really sure what we were supposed to do either. Linda
and I made some espresso and then rid ourselves of caffienated
nervous energy with a hike. Later that night, we talked to Mitch
on the phone. The California crew was staying with Mary. We made
a plan for meeting in the morning and agreed upon a frequency
for the radios. I was in Salt Lake City and OR was about to start.
The next morning, we awoke to fresh snow,
and John, Linda, and I headed to Park City. It was a shaky start.
Most of us were meeting each other for the first time. We lost
Linda trying to find registration. Mitch hadn’t received
the registration packets until just before he left, and he was
missing two, mine included, but he also had two extra so it worked
out. There were long registration lines. Tents and people crowded
the area. The snow continued to fall. The buzz was overwhelming.
We were ready to ski.
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Things settled down, and after some generic
how do you do talk, we were ready to test some gear. Mitch, Laurie,
Photo John, Mary, John Lee, Linda, and I were the Day 1 telemarktips.com
contingent. Heather was a no show, and Jon was coming tomorrow.
We grabbed skis and explored Park City. Interestingly, none of
the locals knew much about Park City skiing. Apparently, the
skiing in the Cottonwood canyons is so good that Park City doesn’t
hit the radar very often. The skiing started slowly. This lift,
that lift, low visibility, some groomers. There was a maze of
telemark skiers on every sort of gear imaginable. I spent the
morning on a pair of 190cm K2 Super Stinx with Targas and 198cm
Atomic 10.EX with Chilis.
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Everyone was a strong skier, each with
his or her own unique twist on technique. And everyone had a
different take on the skis they wanted to try. We skied and skied
and sometimes talked. All the company reps were friendly, and
Atomic felt comfortable enough to remind every telemarktips.com
person that they weren’t happy with our advertising for
Telemark Pyrenees. And back among the tents, our stomachs growled
as we smelled brats and burgers cooking on the Yostmark grill.
Our hunger quickly faded and our eyes widened as Russell Rainey
showed off his new Hammerhead binding to an admiring crowd. This
was getting fun. |
Proud Papa: Rainey and the Hammerhead |
I skied the afternoon on K2’s prototype
twin ski, the Piste Pipe. Mitch grabbed his video camera, and
we were constantly getting directions. “Start over there
and ski through those trees.” “Why don’t you ski
down to those trees and then hike back up.” And so on. Never
mind that most good camera angles were not always good ski lines
and good light usually meant good hard tracked crust under a
layer of cut up fresh. And of course, not every ski was up to
the task. But it was all good fun. We laughed and joked about
that being what editing is for. Mitch just laughed and kept at
it; he was starting to get into full telemarktips. com promo
mode.
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We skied and filmed up in Jupiter Bowl
until patrol kicked us out. "This area is closed for the
day, you folks have to move on down."
After the skiing ended, we all decided to
head to John Lee’s house and eat takeout Mexican food. Another
telemarktips.com regular, Edgar, showed up for the festivities.
Tired and filled with various adult beverages, we talked and
talked. I liked this group. |
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The Day 2 on-snow demo was a bit more focused
on skiing. I tried a shorter 191 cm length with the Atomic 10.EX,
sailed with Rossi’s new Mega Bang in a 195cm, and finished
with Tua’s new 112 Cross Ride in a 185cm. Along the way,
we met up with “Tele Ned” Ryerson and enjoyed some
quick tips. There was always someone else new to ski with. Back
in the tent city we spent more time fondling the Hammerhead,
talking with the good folks from Tua, and losing and finding
each other. And then back to skiing.
We hiked up and skied a nice couloir just
before raging winds closed it due to an increasing avy risk.
Mitch continued with his video camera and handed out telemarktips.com
stickers to everyone he met, while photo John was clicking stills.
We all experimented with mono-marks and tele spins and reverse
teles and biffs. Later Photo John, John Lee, Linda and I finished
up skiing run after run in Jupiter Bowl until it closed. Our
legs were fried. And at the end of the day, we met the Professor
(Kenny), Lemon Boy (Ryan), their friend Shane, and some of the
Linken folks. Mitch told them he had made plans to cover the
Tele Free-Skiing Comp at Brighton the next day and Professor
and LB said they would see him there. It was another good day.
The following morning John, Linda, and I awoke
to big winds and massive snow drifts. The avy report was not
favorable. Our plan for backcountry skiing wasn’t looking
as appealing; Friday would have been the day. We decided to venture
off to join the group at Brighton. The venue was excellent, the
competitors ripped, and we spectators froze. John Lee and photo
John hugged cliffs and trees to get some good shots. Mitch was
ever present with his video camera and radioed updates to the
still-photo crew, “he’s heading skier’s left down
through the trees.” On a lift I was lucky enough to get
a quick informal interview with Mike Roddy, the eventual event
winner. The comp was outstanding, and there was support and encouragement
for all competitors. Very impressive. Afterwards, Shane loaned
me a pair of skis with Linkens, and I was finally able to test
the hot new binding from Norway. We left the event feeling good
and, still in our ski wear, toured the floor show at the Salt
Palace. Gear overload. Yet again, another good day.
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So I suppose I was there to do a job. What’s
up with the gear? I really liked the Atomic 10.EX and Tua 112
Cross Ride. The Rossi Mega Bang was fun, but a bit soft for me.
Once I found the sweet spot, the K2 Super Stinx was a lot of
fun. The Piste Pipe was interesting but a bit lacking off piste.
In truth, every ski I tried had worthy qualities. If the ski
fits the purpose, it would be hard to go wrong with many of the
current skis. New construction techniques, modern materials and
the improved designs have have rocketed tele skis forward. |
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But the big news was bindings. New and refined
bindings took the spotlight. Rainey’s Hammerhead looked
real sweet; quite a refined product. The stepin Linken was impressive
and apparently quite durable, surviving big air from folks like
the Professor and Norway’s Ronny Dahl. The Chili and Voile
bindings now have cartridge compression springs like the G3 Targa.
Voile showed off a prototype plate binding. And, somehow, I never
made it on a pair of Skyhoy IIs, although I saw lots of skiers
on them with big grins. There were numerous other items that
caught my attention. Beacons, packs, coats, probe poles, shovels,
boots, and so on. There was more gear than one could test in
a lifetime.
Although I’m a gear geek, the big news
of this show for me was the people of telemarktips. com. We were
everywhere, and unlike most, we weren’t your typical industry
types. We were skiers there to connect and experience. Gear geeking
is fun, but skiing rocks. From my home in Bozeman, I am constantly
reminded of skiing as I look out over the Bridger Mountains.
Telemarktips.com is a success because the site and most importantly,
its people, are like those Bridger Mountains. Telemarktips.com
is about skiing, and that’s the buzz.
Todd at his summer job hacking his way through
a burning forest!
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