GEAR:30

Blister editors Jonathan Ellsworth, Luke Koppa, and Sam Shaheen talk about the making of our 18/19 Blister Winter Buyer’s Guide , the current state of Buyer's Guides in general, some of the “Best Of” award winners, and our Product of the Year. And if you have any comments or questions about the Guide that you’d like to see us address on a future GEAR:30 episode, feel free to email us or leave a qu...

Today we're discussing the wonders and weirdness of Interbike, 2018, with Blister's bike editor, Noah Bodman. Noah gives the rundown on Interbike's new digs (it moved from Las Vegas to Reno this year), what he saw, what he didn't see, and what he rode. And we open with Jonathan Ellsworth giving a bit of an update on our 18/19 Winter Buyer’s Guide, and revealing some sketchy details about his parti...

We talk to Boston-based Parlor Custom Skis co-founder, Mark Wallace, about the origins story of Parlor; the very successful “Build Your Own Skis” class they offer; the new models in their 18/19 lineup — including Parlor snowboards and splitboards; and several trends on the East Coast ski scene. And if you’d like to hear Mark talk more about custom ski building, check out our Round Table on Custom...

We are back with round 2 of Bikes vs. Skis, where our bike editor, Noah Bodman, and I ask the question, “Which particular bike company is most like which particular ski company?” And the response to Bikes vs Skis, Part 1 certainly warmed our hearts, since we learned that a lot of you wonder about these sorts of questions, too. Noah and I talk about a number of your suggestions in this episode, so...

We talk with DPS Skis founder, Stephan Drake, about DPS Dreamtime ; the new DPS Wailer 110; the DPS Spoon, Lotus 138, and 124; and some very big news about DPS Phantom, the ski and snowboard base treatment that DPS introduced this past season. (If you’d like to learn more about Stephan’s own background and the history of DPS skis, you should check out Episode #38 of the Blister Podcast. And if you...

Which ski company is most like which bike company? Who is the Moment Skis of the bike world? And which ski company shares the most family resemblance with Yeti? Or Transition? Jonathan Ellsworth and Blister's bike editor, Noah Bodman, have been having this conversation for years, and they're now taking the debate public. So give it a listen, then let us know in the comments section of the show not...

We talk with Blister editors, Luke Koppa and Sam Shaheen, about the recent Alpenglow Mountain Festival and running with our hero, Courtney Dauwalter. Then we talk about some of the key things we learned during our ski testing this spring, including the correct thing to think about Domino's thin-crust pizza, dumb gear, and great gear. TOPICS & TIMES: Luke's recap of the Alpenglow Summer Mountai...

Jonathan Ellsworth sat down with Mike McCabe at the Folsom Skis headquarters in Denver, Colorado, to dial in "The Hammer" that they have been discussing for a long time now, and that's based on the  Folsom Primary  Jonathan reviewed last season. They then talk about three other new skis that Mike's recently developed, the Spar 88, some new editions of the Rad Dad, and...

Jonathan Ellsworth and Blister senior editor, Sam Shaheen, discuss a number of new skis they've been reviewing recently, including two skis from Prior Skis — the CBC and the Husume. They then discuss the new Atomic Bent Chetler 100, the K2 Wayback 106, the Scott Super Guide 105, and Sam offers his thoughts on the ski that is serving as our reference ski for the lightweight AT binding comparison re...

It seems like everyone who hasn’t been to Alaska dreams of going, and those who have been dream of going back. So today we’re talking about spring skiing and biking in Alaska with Eric Helmbrecht, the owner of Powder Hound ski shop in Girdwood, AK. Eric and I talk a bit about some of the inbounds and touring gear that he thinks works particularly well in Alaska’s maritime snowpack and unique terra...

G3 (aka, Genuine Guide Gear) is introducing a new touring binding — the Zed — that they’re calling the lightest fully-featured AT binding on the market. So we talk to G3’s engineers about their design philosophy and development process, current trends in AT bindings, and the compromises inherent in any AT binding. TOPICS & TIMES: Introductions (2:15) When did work begin on this binding, and wh...

We just finished testing a bunch of skis at Taos, and because of a closing-week snowstorm, we ended up getting on everything from very heavy, modified race skis, to a new, extremely light big mountain ski. So Blister editors Sam Shaheen and Luke Koppa join me to go over a number of the highlights, including the new Atomic Bent Chetler 100, the HEAD Supershape i. Titan, a new carver from DPS, the B...

We're talking about new backcountry gear and some of the changes to backcountry ski culture with the founder of Bentgate , Greg Floyd. Greg founded Bentgate in Golden, Colorado back in 1994, and Bentgate has become a cornerstone shop in the front range of Colorado for all things skiing and climbing. TOPICS & TIMES: How Bentgate got its start (2:20) How Greg has watched backcountry skiing cultu...

We’ve got 2 parts to this episode — first, I talk with Blister reviewer, Sam Shaheen, about the most unusual ski we’ve ever reviewed (and the ski that nearly caused Sam and me to fight), the Renoun Endurance 98. And then Sam and I wrap up with an update on the Scott Scrapper 115. Then I talk with Blister reviewers Sascha Anastas and Kara Williard about women’s ski boots and the prob...

ON3P is releasing their entire new ski line early next month. So we talk to ON3P founder, Scott Andrus, about this decision, then go over every ski in the 18/19 line, including what’s new, what's unchanged, and what’s so new and experimental that Scott didn’t want to talk about it. (But we got him to anyway.) And you can also see all the new 18/19 ON3P graphics in the show notes to this episode on...

We discuss a bunch of the brand new ski equipment we've been testing at Telluride, including the Line Sakana, ON3P Wrenegade 114, Faction Dictator 4.0, Rossi Soul 7, the new Atomic-Salomon SHIFT binding, and more. TOPICS & TIMES: A recap of Telluride, plus JE getting back on snow - and heli skiing (1:23) Rossignol Soul 7 HD & Blizzard Rustler 11 (5:00) Line Sakana (10:30) ON3P Wrenegade 11...

We talk to the CEO and head designer of Moment Skis, Luke Jacobson, about Moment's lineup for next season — what’s new, what's unchanged, and what's tweaked — and we cover everything from touring skis, kid's skis, women’s skis and even … the Chief Commander. TOPICS & TIMES: On Moment athlete - and current Olympian - David Wise winning X Games SuperPipe (1:12) The 18/19 Moment lineup: the revis...

We talk to blister reviewer, Paul Forward, about some of the powder skis he’s been reviewing recently in Alaska and Japan, including the Faction Prime 4.0, the Black Diamond Helio 116, and the DPS Spoon. And then we talk to Jeremy Cole, owner of Alpine Sports , in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which is one of our Blister Recommended Shops . Jeremy and I cover 3 topics: new gear; some of his favorite price...

This episode is a roundtable recap from the Outdoor Retailer / SIA show in Denver with five of our editors and reviewers about some of the most interesting new gear we saw at the show. We hope you’d been following us along on instagram, because we put up about a hundred Insta stories that captured pretty well the highlights of what we were seeing. So if you aren’t following us on instagram, y...

This is Part 2 of our conversation with Black Crows co-founder, Camille Jaccoux, and head ski designer, Julien Regnier. Here, we get into the topic of women-specific skis, then go over what’s new in the Black Crows 18/19 lineup before it gets unveiled in Denver next week at the SIA tradeshow. You can check out Part 1 of our conversation with Camille and Julien about the history and trajectory of t...

Back in 2010, Sebastian Steinbach had the crazy idea to go against traditional European ski culture and open a freeride-specific shop in Munich, Germany. Black Sheep Sports became one of the first dedicated freeride shops in Europe, and it has since evolved into one of the best freeride and backcountry shops in the Alps — which is why Black Sheep is on our list of  Blister Recommended Shops ....

Today we are talking about two new alpine-touring bindings from Fritschi, the Tecton 12, and the Vipec Evo 12. We’ve just put up full reviews of both the Tecton 12 and the Vipec Evo 12 , and we wanted to go deeper with Blister reviewers Brian Lindahl and Cy Whitling about their experience with these new products, and how they would rank them against some of the the other most popular alpine tourin...

Volkl is unveiling today the new Mantra M5, the fifth iteration of the Mantra that Volkl originally released back in 2005. A lot has changed in skiing since then, but the Mantra is still one of the most recognizable and most iconic names in the game. Last month, Blister editor Sam Shaheen headed to Germany to ski the new Mantra M5, to tour the extremely impressive Volkl factory in Straubing, Germa...

The new SHIFT MNC 13 from Salomon & Atomic represents a significant leap forward in binding design. Check out our conversation with Salomon's Cody Townsend Chris Rubens, and Benoit Sublet, and our initial on-snow impressions. TOPICS & TIMES: Introductions — Cody Townsend, Chris Rubens, Sam Shaheen, and Ben Sublet (1:58) What does this binding do, and what makes it different? (5:45) Which b...

We discuss the making of — and our takeaways from — our 17/18 Winter Buyer's Guide, including our "Best Of" awards, our Blister Spectrums, our ski quiver selections, and some of the strangest claims we saw in some of the other buyer's guides out there. TOPICS & TIMES: A very cool thing we did recently at marblebrewing.com (2:16) The blurring of ski categories (3:15) What we talk about when we...