GEAR:30

Too often, passionate skiers have to mourn the discontinuation of our all-time favorite ski designs. So Marshal Olson started Heritage Lab Skis to fix that. In this conversation, we talk with Marshal about all things Heritage Lab, including how it got started; how it’s going; their ‘smokin’ rocks’ warranty policy; order updates; and what’s next. TOPICS & TIMES: What is Heritage Lab Skis ? (4:3...

Matt Manser, Atomic’s ski boots product manager, is back to discuss the current lineup of Atomic ski boots and what’s new for this season; running through airports in ski boots; Tom Cruise; the Atomic Redster CS vs. the Hawx Ultra Professional; and more. TOPICS & TIMES:  Scotch & our upcoming CRAFTED episode (5:06) Overview of Atomic’s current boot lineup (8:28) Redster talk (12:19) R...

Kristin Sinnott and Kara Williard caught up with Kjerstin Klein, co-owner of Willi’s Ski and Board . They dove into Kjerstin’s adventurous background as a model and sponsored snowboarder (among several other amazing things); and what it looked like for Kjerstin and her husband Greg to take on Willi’s and maintain it as a family-owned ski shop. Kjerstin explains how to successfully jump into a fami...

Kristin Sinnott and Kara Williard talk with Blizzard-Tecnica’s Women2Women program founder and ski legend, Leslie Baker-Brown, about her background in ski racing, and her remarkable 32 years of work for Blizzard-Tecnica. They dive into the origins story of the W2W program, including how it spans beyond women-specific gear via community-building, scholarship programs, and more. Leslie explains Bliz...

Just in time for our Blister Recommended Shop, Powder Hound , to celebrate its 10-year business anniversary, Kara Williard chatted with the owner and founder, Eric Helmbrecht. They dove into a bunch of topics as a reflection of the 10 years Powder Hound has been a staple shop in Girdwood, AK, including how skis, boots, and bindings have progressed; the ways in which the industry has changed; what...

For the fourth installment of our Very Deep Dive on Bootfitting, we talked with Jake "Fasa" Nelson, who not only works at the Moment Ski Factory, but also happens to run one of the best bootfitting shops in the Reno area. Fasa runs us through what a “big-mountain freeride” approach to bootfitting looks like; how his background in running informs his understanding of feet and biomechanics, how to w...

Eric Hjorleifson is back on GEAR:30 to answer questions from our Blister Members about gear; his tinkering process; coming to the Blister Summit; how he trains for an upcoming season; mental preparation, and … we get some bonus questions from Markus Eder, too. (We also announce our new “Blister After Hours” sessions — that’s our working title — so learn about that and let us know if you have bette...

We talk with Skip and Mac Beitzel, the owners — and father / son duo — from Hickory & Tweed , located in Armonk, New York. We go over the history of the shop; Skip’s background of ski ballet and hot dogging; seasonal lease programs; personal ski quivers; & more. TOPICS & TIMES  Hickory & Tweed story (3:21) Ballet & hot dogging (11:12) Seasonal lease program (19:07) East Co...

A bunch of our reviewers discuss why our 22/23 Winter Buyer’s Guide is still unique and still the best resource for your winter gear; what’s new & different this year; some of our personal favorite gear of the season; some industry trends and speculation; and why pumpkin-flavored pastries make Drew Kelly sweat. TOPICS & TIMES  What makes the Blister Buyer’s Guide unique? (3:36) What’s...

For Part 3 of our Very Deep Dive on Bootfitting series, Kara Williard and Kai Palkeinen, Founder of Pulse Boot Labs, dive into the intricate topic of stance balancing and canting ski boots. Kai explains Pulse Boots Labs’ analytical approach to getting it right, his refined methodology of “red light, green light”; the multi-step process of looking at the foot, insole, liner, shell, and then potenti...

Folsom builds custom skis in Denver, Colorado, and they have a LOT going on these days. So we discussed it all with their head ski builder / owner / CEO, Mike McCabe, including their 22/23 lineup; new shapes; new construction materials; their very cool Junior Skis Trade-In Program; Blister Labs ; and more. TOPICS & TIMES: Folsom & Fatherhood (3:25) Folsom Spar series (11:26) Completo, Cash...

Those waterproof & breathability ratings on the tags of that rain jacket or those ski pants you’re about to buy: where did they come from? What’s the history? And how relevant are those standards? We discuss all of this and more with Dr. Lauren Cooper, who heads up our Blister Labs work on technical apparel. TOPICS & TIMES: Dr. Cooper’s background (3:37) History of standards & ratings...

In the second installment of our “Very Deep Dive on Bootfitting” series, Blister reviewer (and bootfitter) Kara Williard is joined again by Master Bootiftter, Sam Tischendorf. But this time it is all about you, the audience, as we make our way through a bunch of your questions. Sam and Kara explain some of the technical mysteries — and at times, controversies — within bootfitting, such as forward...

Can engineering actually help us discover real-world characteristics about products that will be meaningful to end users? Or, when we incorporate quantitative data, do we mostly run the risk of having that data leading people astray? To lay out the concerns, stakes, and potential rewards, Jonathan Ellsworth talks with Thomas Laakso, the vice president of product and operations at DPS Skis , and Dr...

Few things in the world of ski gear are as complex, important, or misunderstood as bootfitting. So in this 1st episode of our new series on bootfitting, we dive into the basics with Sam Tischendorf, Masterfit University instructor, former clinical podiatrist, and lead bootfitter. TOPICS & TIMES: Sam Tischendorf’s background in Clinical Podiatry (4:56) How She Got into Skiing (8:41) Her Current...

Greg Vanderbeek is back with a Blister Labs update on our mountain-bike-wheels testing. We discuss why the dynamic modeling we’ve been doing in the field is a critical component for ongoing testing back at Western Colorado University ; what our test results are revealing about carbon vs. aluminum wheels; and we talk about the joy of new tires, the magic of espresso, and more. TOPICS & TIMES: T...

You do your research when it comes to your ski & bike & trail gear. But what about your eyewear? Julbo CEO, Dave Crothers, makes the case that there’s a whole lot more to lens technology that everyone ought to be considering, and that lenses are not all pretty much the same. Hear him out. TOPICS & TIMES: Julbo & Dave’s background (4:08) The Eyewear Industry Today (17:55) Difference...

On the latest edition of our Reviewing the Reviewer series, our resident ski reviewer, bike tester, boot fitter, and sustainable farmer, Kara Williard, is in the hot seat. We cover everything from ski and bike gear preferences to scorpion-eating chickens; Kara’s stint as a Tall-Tee-clad park rat; whether goalie gloves smell worse than sweaty ski boots; and much more. TOPICS & TIMES: Kara’s bac...

Luke Koppa, Kara Williard, and Jonathan Ellsworth talk about our upcoming test, where we’ll be mounting up more than 20 pairs of the same ski with more than 20 different alpine bindings in the attempt to find out what really separates the most popular alpine (and 50/50) bindings from one another. TOPICS & TIMES: Teasers (0:30) Our Reference Ski: K2 Mindbender 99Ti   (5:30) The Binding Lin...

A few years ago, Kitsbow undertook an incredibly ambitious plan to move to Old Fort, North Carolina, and bring all of their apparel production to the United States, after years of working with overseas factories. In doing so, they not only found a way to adapt to today’s challenging supply chain logistics, but they also trained an entirely new workforce and spearheaded the revitalization of their...

We talk to Naked Sports Innovations’ president and co-founder, Lindsay Dakota, about how the concept of “simplexity” drives Naked’s design process; growing a small brand sustainably; the future of footwear; and how ski racing influenced the design of their new trail shoe. TOPICS & TIMES: The Naked Sports’ Running Band (8:01) Simplexity (11:13) Fit (17:26) Sustainability (19:42) Expanding Naked...

Blister reviewer, Drew Kelly — the man with the best turn in Crested Butte — is in the hot seat today, and in this insanely wide-ranging conversation, we talk about choss monsters, cave trolls, geek beaks, Drew’s dating profile, birding, Sweet Nasty, the universe, gear preferences, and more. TOPICS & TIMES: Meet Drew Kelly (2:52) Growing up in New England (4:38) Music, Writing, & Film (12:...

In this Blister Labs update, we sit down with Greg Vanderbeek to talk about how he chose his grad school based on proximity to climbing; starting a custom motorcycle business; what we’re currently working on with respect to mountain bikes at Blister Labs; and more. TOPICS & TIMES: Figuring out Greg’s Title (3:49) School & Custom Motorcycles (7:03) Climbing & Mountain Biking (17:25) Ski...

Luke and Jonathan discuss Jonathan’s travels across France & Italy; his visits to the Lange factory and ATK bindings factory; provide updates on our Mtn Bike Buyer’s Guide and Winter Buyer’s Guide; and more. TOPICS & TIMES: Italian vs. French Food (2:18) Update: Our Winter Buyer’s Guide (15:20) Update: Our Mtn Bike Buyer’s Guide (22:01) Lange factory & ATK factory (24:51) What We're Ce...

Few people spend as many days as we do testing skis on snow. But Rossignol’s AJ Kruajitch definitely does. So Jonathan Ellsworth spent a day at Les Deux Alpes going through AJ’s testing process, then talking with him and Jake Stevens about the similarities and differences in our approaches. TOPICS & TIMES: Introducing Jake & AJ (2:51) Brand development since 1907 (17:13) The testing proces...