Gear - Plum Race 145 Bindings

Plum Race 145

Plum is a French skimo binding company that produces several solid looking products. Among their all metal bindings (no plastic bits to worry about breaking) is their race series, the flagship of which is the Race 145. The name of course refers to the weight of one binding in grams. Certainly in the same league as the lightest bindings available (the Race 135 is lighter but has a lower release setting), the Race 145 is built with a steel rear fork giving it a forward release of 8.5 and a lateral release of 7.5.

Gear - Black Diamond Drift Ski

Rogers Pass ski touring.

For the 2011-2012 season, the Black Diamond Drift was my go-to ski. Training at Elfin Lakes, steep chutes at Blackcomb, skimo races in the rockies and powder days on the Duffy Lake Road, I used them for everything. A light and fat option from BD's Efficiency Series (and bigger brother to the Aspect ski) the Drift is designed to make life easy when skinning and sublime dropping into powder stashes off Crystal Chair.

Gear - Suunto t6 Heart Rate Monitor

 
The t6 is Suunto's premier training heart rate monitor and has been on the market for several years. Thanks to its compact size, the t6 doesn't even look all that different from a basic sports watch compared to most bulky heart rate monitors, but when paired with its heart rate strap, it becomes a valuable training tool.

Gear - Wind Jacket Review: Houdini vs. Sirocco

I have been searching for a new lightweight wind jacket to use for running workouts and as extra insurance on ski days where the weather is likely going to be fine but I want a shell layer as well just in case.

Gear - Squamish Trail Map

Squamish is covered in a grid of amazing singletrack mountain bike and hiking trails that would take a lifetime to discover and explore on your own. Just like no one would ever come to climb in Squamish without a guidebook, runners and bikers should not go anywhere without this map.

The map is available in paper at most of the local bike and outdoor shops for around $11 and online as an iPhone App for $10. (Search for: Trailmapps Squamish)

The paper version is nicely sized with a large area view of everything between Black Tusk and Murrin Park while the reverse has the meat with all the Squamsh trails marked.

The App is easily worth the buy. With GPS running, it will show you exactly what trail you are currently on and makes it much easier to navigate some of the more confusing sections. Luckily, a large area surrounding Squamish has cell service (but not everywhere) so it is handy to use mid-run. 

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Whistler and Pemberton maps are also available and are just as cool.

Gear - Inov-8 X-Talon 212 Trail Shoe

Review: With over 100km, 13 hours, and 4600 meters vertical, my Inov-8 X-Talon 212 Trail shoes have been put through their paces. I have been testing them in the mud puddles and on the sandy beaches of the West Coast Trail, on granite slabs and snowpatches in Whistler, and on the smooth single track and rocky rooted trails of Squamish. The X-Talons are a lightweight and agressive, nearly minimalist trail racing shoe. The cleated sole provides excellent traction even in deep mud. Flex zones running across the forefoot of the shoe allow it to fold with the shape of your foot. Designed with trail in mind, these shoes offer very little cushoning - this goes a long way towards a lightweight shoe but it also means I needed to run with a bit more care the few times I hit sections of pavement. Over longer runs (>2 hrs) I also start to notice my feet compaining from hitting rock edges and pointy root ends.

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The shoe upper does a moderately good job off keeping out mud and sand but once saturated in puddles, begins to soak through. Can't really ask for much better than that. I don't notice pebbles or sand getting into the shoe so I suspect they fit fairly tightly around my ankle. The rubber around the edge of the sole/upper provides a bit of protection but you still have to be carefull not to stub a toe too hard. The laces are doing fine and don't seem to be wearing out too fast.

These have become my standard shoe when I know I won't be going on pavement (about 75% of my runs). They are durable, comfortable, and seem to fit true to size. Overall, a quality shoe that I will definitely keep running in.

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Gear - Newton Trail Running Shoes

A significant amount of foot pain has prevented me from running much lately. I am suspicious that using worn out shoes combined with running on lots of pavement is much of the problem. I picked up a pair of Terra Momentus shoes made by Newton. These are the trail running version with a bit more grip on the sole.

Cool colors and rubber "lugs" on the sole right under the forefoot makes the Newton stand out.

Newton shoes have one huge design difference compared to any other model shoe: the forefoot lugs. The sole of the shoe has large lugs under the forefoot that encourage you to land there rather than slamming down on your heel like a normal running show. While they seem to be marketed toward the natural running crowd, I do thing the design has some merit compared to some of the other barefoot shoe options. 

With about 10 hours of running on these shoes, I am overall pretty happy and have noticed a few things. On roads, I find them great, easy to run in. They don't entirely prevent me from hitting my heel but they certainly encourage rolling forward onto my forefoot. Downhills I find it feels a bit funky but I suspect it will be normal soon enough. On trails, especially steep or variable ones, they really excel. I can bound from spot to spot and my heel never touches the ground. Downhills are fine until they get steep or slippery. 

One issue I have is that on rocks, especially wet ones on downhills, these shoes are treacherous! They do not work for me in scrambling terrain. The lugs act in the opposite manner as a climbing shoe. The edge of a proper climbing shoe is just that, a distinct edge to the flat sole. The lugged sole of the Newton is very rounded and tends to slide right off small rock edges. I realize scrambling was not the intent of the shoe but some of the trail runs in Squamish cross this type of terrain.

An approach shoe like the 5.10 Guide Tennie shown above has a very flat sole and distint edges. These shoes are great for scrambling. Compare the edge on the 5.10 to the Newton's rounded forefoot higher up.

Pros: 

• Reasonably light.
• Good grip on trails.
• Not too stinky yet!

Cons:

• Lugs are scary on rocks.
• No place to tuck the laces.

Overall, I am enjoying training in these shoes, especially on the road, and low key trails around Squamish. If I think I will be hitting really steep terrain or need to scramble over rocks, I will probably stick with someting a bit more traditional. The Newton seems to be a great shoe and a good training tool to improve form. I will definitely be using them in my day to day runs.

Gear - Snowpulse ProRider15 Avalanche Airbag

Review:

Snowpulse ProRider 15

Weight: 2.3 kg

Size: 15 Liters

I started looking for an airbag pack with a few criteria in mind. I know that I will be using the pack in very specific situations. For fast and light ski tours, an airbag is not only too heavy, but also unnecessary as avalanche terrain is usually avoided. For long distance, multi-day ski tours, a large overnight bag is required and the added weight of an airbag is not worth the effort as again, avalanche terrain is generally avoided. This leaves day trips to areas in avalanche terrain, either lift-served or accesed by skinning. These days usually involve one or multiple steep descents, my previous post on Mt. Fissile is a good example.

For these days, a small amount of gear is carried. A thin, low-profile bag is convenient for riding the chairlift when in-bounds. (My current bag is an REI Flash 18, a simple and light bag with an easy open/close top.) My two main criteria for choosing a bag were 1) a small, low-profile bag and 2) one that used the LifeBag system where the airbag inflates in a manner that completely surrounds you in order to protect your head and neck from trauma as well as burial. (See photo)

Though slightly skeptical about the cost versus usefullness of airbag packs, I picked up the Snowpulse ProRider 15 from The Escape Route in Squamish. The 15L size is small but I was still able to fit all the essentials for a full day of touring. Below you can see the bag fully packed and laid open.

The bag contains: Shovel/probe, hat, gloves, spare upper body layer, Nalgene water bottle, googles, camera, and my lunch.

Saturday and Sunday, I headed to the Duffy Lake Road for two days of tree skiing on Joffre Should and Mt. Chief Pascal. Between both days we skied 6 laps and over 2500m of vertical ascent.

The full zipper, allowing the bag to be completely unfolded was great for digging down to find things at the bottom. With a top loader like the REI Flash, this would require removing everything, an unpleasant thing to do when the wind is blowing and it is dumping wet coastal snow. Unfortunately, the zipper and the fabric around it is extremely stiff and it makes it hard to close the bag, even when completely empty.

The chest and waist straps are plenty beefy and easy to adjust but I found the shoulder straps extremely uncomfortable. Even on the first climb of the day I could feel them digging into my shoulder. With the LifeBag system, the airbag is partially stored in the shoulder straps in order to deploy around the body. Because of this, the straps are extremely bulky and hard. I believe this to be the reason for the discomfort. Even with the airbag system, my pack was one of the lightest in our group so weight should not have been a factor let alone cause shoulder pain.

Pros:

1. LifeBag System provides excellent protection.
2. Thin, low-profile - easy to ride the lifts, plenty of space, reasonable weight.
3. Good quality ice axe and ski attachment.
4. Easy to deploy trigger handle.
5. Fully unfoldable main compartment.

Cons:

1. Hard shoulder straps cause pain.
2. Stiff zipper difficult to use with gloves on.
3. Price (obviously)

Bottom Line: I returned the bag to Escape Route (they have a reasonable two week return policy) with the promise that I would be back. I plan to keep looking until I find something is either significantly less expensive or more comfortable but I dont want to compromise on both. I suspect this may be coming in the next few years.