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Ski+board February/March 2011
February/March 2011
Britain’s most popular snowsports magazine
Blade runner
40 years of Wiegele’s whirlybirds
A Ski Club of Great Britain publication
We’ve got TWO ski holiday prizes
Racing demons!
Rushing downhill in Italy – and UP hill in France
DONKEY RIDING
Morocco’s low-speed quads: Skiing by mule!
Boarding party
Check out the new year’s top models
in our snowboard emporium!
£3.90
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It’s a win win
situation!
A Ski Club of Great Britain publication
6/1/11 11:45:45
Our ski test team and Ski Club staff have an
enviable task trying out the latest skis – but how
about their own gear? They spend a lot of hours
on the slopes, so who better to pass on tips for
kit? What’s their favourite ski equipment or
clothing - and why? Some of their answers may
surprise you, says Holly Junak.
A few of our fav
Stockists:
Conform’able: 01539 725817 www.sidas.com
Columbia: 01189 220 130 www.columbia.com
TRX: 0117 980 9212 www.trxfitness.co.uk
Arc’teryx: 0114 258 6688 www.arcteryx.com
Heatmax: 01480 210 908 www.heatmaxuk.com
Scott: 01670 712129 www.scott-sports.com
Scarpa: 0191 296 0212 www.scarpa.co.uk
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Mark Junak - www.junakandjunak.co.uk
Snowpulse: 08000 323 505 www.anatom.co.uk
Products
Rowena Philips, one of our longest standing testers, who
Hot on the heels (excuse the pun) of Rowena,
works in Zermatt as an instructor with Stoked Ski School, says:
Alyn Morgan, the Ski Club’s Information Manager,
“The winter product I’d struggle to live without is
who looked after the club’s test team in Bormio, also
boot heaters. Despite the advances in boot technology,
with variable flex, custom-made liners and booster
straps, no other developments have been made to
keep your feet warm. Those now available have small
batteries that clip onto the side of your boot and last all
considers warmth essential.
“Probably my favourite (and least expensive) pieces
of kit, which I always have in my bag, are Hot Hands 2
and Toastie Toes” he says. “They’re air-activated (singleuse and disposable) hand and toe warmers which can stay warm for six-to-ten
day, keeping your feet toasty. If my feet are warm, the
hours, and they’ve been a total saviour. At that price you can afford to keep
rest of me stays warm too.”
spares, in case one of your friends gets cold fingers or toes. Pop them out of
Conform'able Pro Boot Heater Pack: £199
the glove into fresh air, and they can get seriously hot. Winner!”
Comes with a universal charger, two lightweight
HeatMax Hothands2: £1.50 and Toastie Toes: £2.09
and compact lithium batteries, and a pair of custom
Both come in packs of two - the toes with adhesive, so they’ll stick to your
insoles with thin, flexible heating elements that can
socks. Features:
be fitted to any type of insole.
• Individually sealed with shelf-life of six years.
• Odourless, disposable, non-toxic, environmentally friendly.
ourite ski things
Arnie Wilson, Ski+board’s editor, likes warm feet too, and is enamoured
with Columbia’s Titanium après boots. He tried them just before Christmas.
“The snow was at least a foot deep, so I hauled on my wonderfully warm
Pete Davison, a keen
member of the test team, runs
one of Britain’s most established
and comfortable Omni-Grip boots (which cost an arm and a leg, but at
sports shops, LD Mountain
least the legs are warm) and walked outside” he says. “Where to next? Boot
Centre. He likes to keep in shape
room? Ski room? Après ski? Well no, actually. Garden in Haywards Heath, to
for the winter, working hard
feed the birds. I should have been traipsing through the snow in Cervinia,
to maintain the strength of his
but we all know what happened in the UK in December. Snow. Yup, the
knees, which have taken some
stuff we normally welcome unless it stops us getting to the airport. So my
punishment over the years.
brand new boots had to make their debut not in the Aosta Valley but in
“I’d go for a suspension
West Sussex. They worked beautifully. And by the time you read this I will
training kit” he says. “It’s an
have tried them out in a proper ski area...Yongpyong, as it happens. That’s in
easy-to-use fitness product
South Korea. Almost back where they came from. Yes, like so many items of
that’s highly portable, so a good
clothing and footwear these days, they’re... made in
workout can be achieved almost anywhere with fine tuning for specific ski
China!”
muscles and balance. There are lots of good reviews about it, and it works
Columbia Bugathermo heated boots: £230
for me”.
Thermal electric technology offering up to five
TRX P2 Home Bundle: £167
hours of warmth at the touch of a button.
The suspension training kit to help you build
Features:
• Thinsulate lining, waterproof thermal rubber shell,
waterproof nubuck and split suede leather upper
and Omni-Grip traction.
• Built-in rechargeable batteries.
• Three temperature settings.
• Rechargeable through any
USB point.
strength, increase flexibility, spot-train and fit
in a comprehensive, healthy workout anytime,
anywhere.
Features:
• All-new modular anchoring interface for
quick setup and take-down.
• TRX Door Anchor, 65-minute basic
training DVD.
• Full colour 35-page workout guide.
• Two bonus workouts: Endurance Circuit and Metabolic Blast.
• Storage bag.
There are other bundles in the range.
Ski+board | 91
Products
Mark Jones, the talented leader of our team of ski testers is a Level-4
BASI trainer. He is a director of ICE, a training centre which runs gap-year
courses, instructor-training and performance courses in Val d' Isère.
“Everyone always gives me a hard time about it, but I have this
ancient Arc’teryx rucksack which I’ve been using for 10 years” he
Amanda Pirie, a versatile ski
coach who runs her own racetraining clinics, is part of the BASI demo
team and a world-ranked racer, treasures clarity of vision.
“My yellow Scott goggles are bright and the lens is so
says. “It's absolutely battered but it fits 'just right' and I feel we have
versatile - I can wear them in fog and sun and still see really
an emotional bond. It’s bullet-proof, and I use it for off-piste skiing
well” she says. “They also have an excellent field of vision.
and whenever I'm travelling.”
They’re helmet-compatible. And I love that the lenses
Arc’teryx Silo 30 backpack: £140
are mirrored so I can check out the talent without
Snowsport-specific pack with backcountry features:
them knowing!”
• Built-in slots for shovel and probe.
• Wrap system for carrying skis or snowboard.
• Several pockets (will also fit a 17-inch laptop).
• Hydration compatible.
• Watertight zippers.
Scott Hustle goggle: £65
With silver-blue chrome lens, anti-fog
treatment, pivoting strap clip for
improved helmet fit, air control
system and double lens.
Roddy Willis is a ski coach with Alpinemojo in Verbier, and strives to
help his clients achieve their full potential in skiing. He keeps his finger on the
pulse with his vote for the SnowPulse AirBag system (some readers will recall
we reviewed it last season when it first came out) and says:
“Snowpulse is my favourite thing: it’s lighter than an ABS, easy to maintain,
and the new version rocks! Airbags at the moment are viewed a bit like
transceivers 30 or 40 years ago - but in the very near future everyone will
have one to ski off piste with”.
Snowpulse LifeBag 30L: £679
The Snowpulse airbag is activated in under three seconds by a pullhandle stored in a shoulder pocket in the pack, which is connected
Holly Junak. I write the Ski+board product reviews – and also
photograph the ski testers alongside my husband Mark. My favourite piece
of kit is my Scarpa Gea touring Boots. Not only one of the lightest four-
to a cylinder of compressed air (unlike the ABS airbag which is
buckle ski boots on the market, but they work well for my low-volume foot.
filled with nitrogen).
They’re the first boots I haven’t needed a custom foam for, thanks to the
Features:
• Protection: the Snowpulse’s unique airbag design protects the
Intuition liner. And they have decent flex capable of driving the transmission
head and thorax, and floats the victim’s head upwards.
Scarpa Gea Ski Touring boot: £400
• Improved design: because the airbag is stored between the
shoulders, it leaves more backpack space available for your gear.
• The canisters use compressed air – accepted on planes and in
helicopters. There’s also a 45L version.
Nicko Braxton was a first-time ski tester last season
to the ski.
Lightweight Pebax construction, asymmetric tongue for easy entry and exit,
100 flex, heat moldable Intuition liner, walk mode, pin binding compatible.
Men’s Maestrale version available.
Weight approx 3.1kg per pair.
Mark Junak is a ski-test team photographer,
and a great attribute to the team. He’s a ski coach in
and with more than 28 years of ski photography
Val d' Isère with The Development Centre. He had
under his belt, he’s done some miles on the
two types of ski-pole favourites for off-piste and on.
slopes. His favourite item is his skis. He says:
(We featured the off piste Leki poles in November this season,
so check them out.) He says:
“There’s nothing quite like a good lightweight pole when you’re
“Best ever are my Scott Cruisairs. I carry a lot
of heavy equipment, so it’s a joy to have these
lightweight carbon skis on my feet – strong, easy-
skiing on the piste, and I would never have anything but the best,
peasy to ski, and I can get to backcountry areas
which these Scott race poles are. Off piste it has to be the extendable
with the integral skins that go with them. Fantastic
Leki - great for touring and a good old big retro basket for the
all-round ski!”
powder! The really weird thing is that I hate skiing with either of them
Scott Cruisair skis: £630
on the ‘wrong’ terrain (slalom poles off piste or vice versa).
Laminate carbon construction, with carbon fibre
Scott WC slalom poles: £70
topsheet. Available in 166cm, 176cm, 90cm
Highest aircraft-grade aluminium with left and right straps. Made to
underfoot and turn-radius of 18. There are
withstand the racecourse whilst retaining a light and subtle feel. The
two other skis in the range: Powd’air 100mm
race basket minimizes wind drag.
underfoot, and Xplorair 80mm underfoot.
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