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Last year I whacked my head pretty good. I mean real good. Basically, I knocked myself silly and was thankful to be wearing my Giro G10 that i quickly fired off a thank you note to Giro. Basically, I dig Giro helmets. Cycling to snowboarding they've managed to keep my dome in one piece for many years. So I was pretty happy when they shot me a few pairs of goggles last season. I didn't get the opportunity to pull them out for testing until only recently so I figured lets give Giro their due.
The hardest part of reviewing the basis was that I spent most of my seven hours hiking. My body is like a furnace when I hike. I can wear a single base layer with a shell in 30 degree weather and still be too warm. So in my knit beanie there was some surprise when the basis didn't fog up. This was a very good thing. Plus one for Giro on giving the Basis ample opportunity to not fog up. This is my singles biggest pet peeve with optics, goggles that fog before you take a run. It's a simple fix and likely has as much to do with the rider as it does the goggle. The reality is though some cheaper goggles will fog up quicker. Luckily these did not in conditions I would expect them to become not visible.
If you haven't heard of YES (we can) Snowboards, you must be living under a proverbial snowboarding rock. YES popped out onto the scene last year during SIA and caused some serious buzz. Why? Because YES Snowboards was started by the former Uninc team when they were unceremoniously (missed marketing opportunity) cut from Burton. That's right: DCP (David Carrier-Porcheron), JP Solberg and Romain DeMarchi started their own board company. Rumor is that occasionally Gigi Ruff and Nicholas Muller also ride one.
First off, this board rips. I had the 154, which is an ideal park size for me, but I was able to mach it into some high-speed Euro carves. I suppose that's due to the Nidecker heritage. Board was pretty stable, predictable, and dare I say, dependable. Of course, it was easy to overpower the board if I really wanted to on those speed carves. But that's easily fixable by sizing up. Otherwise, it rode like a "sensible" snowboard, no crazy surprises, twitches or too stupid-light weirdness.
So with the AK line I'm often left wondering - are you just paying for the Gore Tex license? Because if you deconstruct the jacket and pants you're left with materials that don't expand upon a range of efficiency and protection beyond what you see in Burton's higher end Burton line up (2L &3L). Adding to this point ... the last few years, Burton has contracted with FYI Designs to help design the AK lineup, including outerwear, gloves and packs. FYI is based in the BC Interior, nestled in the mountains, with direct access to some of the best powder in North America. With FYI's pedigree as former designers for Arcteryx, you would expect this stuff to be functional and durable. But, more on durability later first I want to hack into pedigree ...
After scoping out and owning a few pieces of AK over the past five seasons I think its quite possible that AK has gone the way of sacrificing product efficiency for minimalism. Again, I understand the need the need to be lightweight and that is an essential of function but not at the cost of durability. My old Ronin gear hangs tough and in excellent condition after 15, 30, 50 days - hey today was day 76 for one pair of old ronin cargos and I've lost a belt loop over the time that's it. Around the 10 day mark all of my AK has slowly evaporated in the stitching, zipper function and actually developing stress points that tear. The final straw for me was last year when a pair of AK Stagger pants got torn in the backcountry and the was no W48 to cover it. I was lucky in the fact I got this gear off proform. Had I paid full price ... there's no chance I would buy Burton again.
Over the weekend (during snopocalypse in metropolis) I had the opportunity to toss rummage through the review closet to get out the gear DC had sent along this fall, aka the Helix Jacket and Tasch pant. The funny story is even with personnel changes and all sorts of sizes and colors not being available DC came through. They sat for hours on the other end of e-mail listening to me blather on about exacting specifications but patience is a virtue and if that holds true the folks at DC snowboarding are pretty virtuous. I'm not quite sure what that means and there's 98%* chance I'm now in the process of making up words but lets continue with this review.
The Tasch pant had a bit of weight to them making me think they would be a sponge but just the opposite. Warm, dry and efficient as f*ck. When it comes to pants I tend to prefer the looser fit and DC does not hold back on giving you room to move. Now they weren't insanely baggy but certainly let you get around. What really stood out was the cleaner line and the effort to hide any Adjustable length drawstring was a nice touch as well when hiking up through snow.
first up, I actually have boards to mount up & ride this year Not sure why but the Burton Malolo was calling my name with all the snow. Admittedly a bit over over kill but with graphics by Thomas Campbell - epicly fun.
After thinking I was going overboard with the malolo I quickly reverted my position at about 8 am as it was puking snow.
First break in the snow around 1 pm and time to hike from the homestead.
The break in weahter was a whopping 15 minutes and quickly it began puking again. So off I hiked the 1.5 mile to the top of Wilson and Mckinley and then back down to where Mckinley picked up for a 1/2 mile downhill.
A few runs and a good slashes but not nearly as fast as one hopes for. I managed to grab this pic as I loomed in on a snow drift for a slash.
The first few I spent just pulling a manual down. Backseat!
Bottom of the run in had been packed down by god knows what and after a few runs was kind of fast. Enough to ollie and slash out 5 or 6 more turns.
So this was after a few runs and I began sizing up another side to the run in which gave me a faster/longer line. Enough for few slashes and then some ollies over stumps etc. This is where it started to pick up and get really fun
After the runs started to pile up A friend came by to visit on a well deserved break! Captain T to the rescue!
Ahhh more turns and fun
After a few solid hours of hike n' ride it was time to hang it up and head home. Miles of smiles for getting out and making something worthwhile of a few feet of snow. Like I said earlier the riding was fun and for lack of vertical drop it was amazing to get a pow turn in a few blocks from my house.
Bust more importantly there was North Shore a movie about a kid from an Arizona wave pool who travels to the North Shore and experiences the life. It's high on cliches and unintentional comedy. I mean seriously whoever thought up this plot (or didn't think) had to basically know where the studios execs hid the bodies. Only explanation how this movie got made but then again everything was silly in those days. Plus, you get to see Occy and Young Laird Hamilton act - epic. Again, not really.
Sometime sit just takes the painter awhile to find the right canvas. That's what went through my head at 5:45 am ET when I brought up Westword.com. Maybe it's because I had been watching a movie about Jackson Pollock recently but the canvas quote definitely came to mind. See, writing is tricky business you end up selling not just your ability but your reputation and credibility along with it. Lets use me as an example: I'm a hack. I n=know digital media products, skateboarding, snowboarding, cycling, the lifestyle product genre I would guess and fair bit about surfing. I'm pretty good at mashing those together. That's a skill - writing is an art form. I'm no artist. I know this. Colin Bane, a good friend from DC, he's five times the writer I could hope to be and it shows.
Colin made the jump back to his home state of Colorado a few years back and has been picking up freelance writing steam ever since. Breaking into the action sports space isn't easy. You basically have to do it with a relentless passion that is equal parts opinionated, passionate, political and above all else credible. I once heard one action sports writer had referred to another as a "tourist". Which is why you either need a thick skin or really just not care about what other people say. The weird thing is though Colin is a different animal than most people whose names you see grace the pages of ESPN Blogs, Transworld or Thrasher. Colin is actually a professional writer - he's written for alt weeklies, scientific journals, magazines, and long lead stories for newspapers. Going back to that credibility point - it's about being able to produce.
Did you hear? Washington D.C. actually got snow this past weekend. That means skating outside - no go. Riding a bike outside: frigid and painful. Those sneaky Saturday sessions milking the oncoming winter swell? yeah, best of luck with that. I hope you have a 6/5/4 to keep your bones marginally temperate. But, since I really focus on my bike and skating this time of year (we have about 2 more weeks before slopes really get cranking) it's a good opportunity to touch base on the finer things in life.
Now, I've never been a big believer in a pair of shoes that you "chill" in. I've seen guys roll up to spots with two pairs of sneakers, change one out to skate and then change back into their other pair and split. Random. But, I do understand cold, wet, hurting feet. That I fully get ... it's the East Coast curse. So much to my surprise Santa came a little early in 2009.
Vans dropped a pair of the SK8 Mid SF in all the fleece lined fancy pants-ness off on my doorstep at the beginning of the week. Hello crummy weather, hellllooooo warm shoes.Strike what I said earlier about shoes to chlll in because these shoes met the need. Now, let me paint you a quick picture. 20 mile bike ride in 39 degree weather followed by 30 minutes skating around the only dry spot I could find. Once I got home my paws were nearly numb. The curse of liking thin shoes I guess. So a resolution was needed.
Rather than slip into my old man slippers and shuffle around mumbling about dang tre flipping kids, I shifted gears and jumped int the SK8 Mids. I forgot how loose the shoe was and after wearing Vans Eras for about a year the joys of a mid top. Warm, supportive but plush. Not the kind of fleece plush where it's super cushy and then packs down but just enough to hammer down some insulation. Would I skate in them? Too late, already did. But, it was more commuting to the metro to go meet a friend for beers type skating. That's the strength of the Vans surf line up which is the home of the skate fleece. It's warm, it's functional and to be honest the colorways are wicked smart.
Jonny's Note: So first up this is our official review of the iPhone app not to be confused with our heads up note from a last week. Hoon was going to dig into this one but life got a little busy for him. while Hoon knows surfing and has his little claws all up in Apple tech the decision was made to nerd out with a new contributor to SOTN: TCB.
First off make sure you have a good Wi-Fi connection because without it this app is dead to you. However…if you have a solid Wi Fi connection and think the Triple Crown is the shit then you are in the money. It took me a few minutes to figure out what the hell was going on with this app. There were the normal login, corporate sponsors, app maker credentials and then I was dumped into a cool screen with posters for the three competitions. The posters, which are really buttons taking you to coverage of each one of the Competitions that make up the Triple Crown (Reef Hawaiian Pro, O’Neill World Cup, Billabong Pipeline Masters.) In my opinion the posters are the best part of the app…but onward.
The most confusing piece of this whole app is the next screen once you enter one of the competition sections. The first thing you see is the event schedule, which assuming you know enough about the competitions, after picking the one you want on the entry screen, that had the dates it was running, which strikes me as useless. Overall this application is best used while the competition is active. There are a slew of features that make it useful for following the competition while hiding in your cubicle or sneaking in a check during meetings. A news feed, live webcast, results, are available for the hard core fans while video, photos and surf reports are available for those checking in off hours during their commute on the LIE (Long Island Expressway). There are Live Score and Watch Now buttons at the top of the application to get your quickly to your destination.
So after the sham, nay - the debacle, nay - the shambacle of Olympic uniform hype that seized the blogosphere the time is right post about something I actually like and use. After all Mrs. South of the North needs real holiday ideas and it looks like Santa's getting an itchy trigger finger on ye olde credit card. So why not dig into the few product from certain brands that seem to find their way into my closet over and over?
Above the waist is all well, nice and great but lets talk about the nether regions. I've always found pants to be the tougher sell but the Quik 10K pant is so reliable it hurts. Now looking good and having style I guess they have their place in the importance hierarchy but I'm after function first. So to See Quiksilver nail the 10k pant for the third year in a row (2008 Scorpion pant, 2009 Looks that kill pant 2010 the scorps pant) gives a good signal that the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" methodology is running. In this case that's VERY good. Bottom line: warm, dry, uber functional and now popping with more color than 2008's Grass green colorway (which I'm convinced other brands copied in '09 as a test in their womens line then went all in with their 2010 line) which was in a few pants and jackets. The purple colorway jumps right the hell out (which is good) and I know there's additional color ways that Quik never really gives full exposure to out there. Quik 10k pant - you won't be disappointed.
