goods on the goods

Words by: Molly Hawkins
Pictures by: Wenarto
 

MSP has outdone themselves yet again with the latest add to their repertoire, “Push”.  I don’t know about you, but I have a love-hate relationship with this time of year.  Some of the sickest video premiers roll into town from some of the most amazing production companies.  It’s this time of year when every morning when you’re out the door you’re debating whether you should bust out your new jacket already or if its too early, all the while thinking to yourself, “Nah, it’ll get warm later this afternoon”… but you bring it anyway.  It’s this time of year when temperatures drop and the first snowfall across the country teases us intermittently… then the next week it feels like the summer again.  This time of year, all your friends and industry folk alike amass in one place to share the one undying passion for the VP.  That’s the love. 

On Friday, September 29, 2006, Seattle, Washington was lucky enough to experience an evening of emotional highs from what can easily be dubbed as one of the season’s most epic films.  I hadn’t even seen the trailer, and all I was going off of was friends saying, “Oh dude, I know some guy in a different time zone who just got out and said it was siiiiick”.  Yeah, thanks.  Anyhow, Fremont Studios was gracious enough to open its doors and roll out the red carpet for an evening of what I was soon to find out to be a night of awesomeness.  Pre-show, the mood was super chill, people slowly started to trickle in as the doors opened.  I actually looked away for a bit, then turned the corner and all of a sudden, mobs!  Lines ceased to mean anything and everyone was so stoked to get inside.  How can you blame them? Ingrid Backstrom herself was present and accounted for signing autographs and kickin’ it with co-star Sammy Carlson.  Eric Pollard?  Don’t think that I wasn’t keeping my eyes open for the Line Team Shredder, but he was no where to be seen that night except for on the screen droppin’ it hot as usual.

I don’t need to sit here and tell you how rad the flick was.  Okay, it was sick.  Before you run out to buy it though, I’ll giver a go at ranting about the After Party.  Following the movie, I was swept away with the masses as we took a short trek down the street to the nerve center of evo (www.evogear.com) a Seattle based retail and online lifestyle and apparel shop.  So at this point, we’ve got a mob of stoked skiers, an open bar, Vancouver Hip Hop legends Sweatshop Union, and well, you guessed it, from there the night transitions to non-stop ski talk, break battles, pulling out all the stops , and 6 empty kegs… and that was only night 2 of a 3 night movie weekend for evo!  Let the pictures do the talking! 
Photos
http://homepage.mac.com/wenarto/patch/

New to the Armada Skis website for the 06/07 season is a section showcasing the actual artists that have contributed content for this year’s product offering. This is really good to see, especially because this year’s Armada graphics are better than ever, and most of the competition is still producing the same mediocre images as past years. Admittedly K2 is doing a great job with graphics as well, but I was unable to find on their site a prominent call out to the actual artist.

Featured Artists on the site include:
Mark Paul Deren
Matty Thompson
Sabastian Larose
Mike Parillo

Each artist has there own portfolio with images, and a brief bio. In addition to the major contributor’s the artist page has a public gallery where all a free to post their own work, just as long as it’s in JPEG format and less than 250K.
Check which pieces ended up on the 07 Armada Skis…

So the new ski gear is out on the shelves and unless your one of the lucky few who were able to ski on the early production stuff last season you could use a little advice on how changes have affected the new products. Luckily there exists a group of people who have spent a great deal of time using the gear all last season. Evogear.com has a network of pro athletes that are contributing commentary on their own signature addition products. Check it out…

Seth Morrison on the Seth, on the AK Enemy
Shane McConkey on the Pontoon
Pep Fujas on the Fujative
Michelle Parker on the Nancy, on the Missdemeanor

Check out these same athletes at K2

Contributed by Bryce Phillips, K2 Team Rider, EVO Owner

Don’t hesitate on this one. I’m very serious about this. If you want a ski to truly change your life and the sport as you curently know it, you have to ride the Pontoon this coming year. Don’t let the shape and size scare you. Think about it. In hindsight, would you have skiied on a wider model earlier? Would you go back 10 years and not use a fat ski? Of course not. The Pontoon is the future. Shape as we know it isn’t changing, it has changed and for all mountain skis, things will never be the same. I received my Pontoons middle of last year. I skiied it every day in almost every condition. This ski allows you to carve with a bit of sidecut under the foot (not reverse like the Spatula) but it floats and is the smoothest turning ski that I’ve ever been on. You can smeer and butter a turn or carve one. You can ski it straight, sideways or switch. You don’t have to be a big mountain legend like McConkey to handle it either. When I first saw the 189, at only 150lbs I was leery and thought I’d wait until the 179’s landed. The first run on the skis I couldn’t believe how user friendly they were. McConkey took a revolutionary concept with the Spatula and worked out the kinks. This thing is incredible and we all owe it to him and the crew at K2 for changing the sport…again. If I could say there was one tough thing about the ski, it would be that it’s hard to completely stomp airs above 40 feet. The platform is pretty big and you don’t get the give that you’d get with a 100-110mm waisted ski like the AK Maiden or Chief. If you want a ski to make you better and the sport a lot more fun, get these, now. Don’t wait for your buddy to blow you away when he/she gets a pair first. […]

See All of K2’s 07 Lineup

This is by far the most innovative powder ski of the season, if not the decade. K2, with the help of Shane McConkey, has redefined the entire category with this ski. Traditional powder skis have differed from all mountain skis only in width. Aside from this, they have been constructed basically the same. The K2 Pontoon is much bigger than any of its predecessors, plus it has a tapered tail and a powder rocker design. This is a totally new ski…

Tapered Tail – the Pontoon’s dimensions are 160/130/120. Powder skis have become wider every season, but with a tip width of 160 the pontoon is the biggest. The Pontoon also has a narrower tail than waist. This allows the tail to sink in deep snow enabling the rider to maintain better body position and stay balanced regardless.

Powder Rocker Design – Deep snow is completely different than hardpack. Why should your powder ski have the same flex pattern, camber and construction as carving ski? With a rocker design the Pontoon has much more in common with surf boards and wakeboards than skis and snowboards. In order for a ski to work in powder it has to be bent into reverse camber (the tip and the tail are both bent up). The Pontoon is already in reverse camber, making it amazingly easy to ski despite its overwhelming size.

K2 is setting all the trends in freeride skiing. It is likely we’ll see similar constructions from two or three other manufactures in the coming seasons.

Bern was new to the snow helmet scene last winter. Despite not being widely available I saw the Bern signature model “The Baker” almost every time I went to the mountain. The Baker is especially unique among other snow helmets because of its integrated visor. I’m not sure how functional the visor is, but it looks pretty dam cool.

The key differentiator between Bern and the other major helmet brands, this being Red and Giro, is that Bern helmets are built to be four season. This means the skate version of the Baker is identical to the snow version, just minus a beanie or optional liner. The one exception to this is there water series. Bern water series helmets come with a different water liner.

This coming winter Bern helmets will be widely available both in retail store and online. Check out http://www.bernunlimited.com/ for more specifics on models, online dealer locator and updates on there team.
Shop for Bern Products

Rossignol has been making the Bandits for a number of years, and for a number of years they have been one of the most consistent performers in the big mountain and all mountain categories. Compared to earlier generations of this ski, the XXX, this ski definitely shows improvements. Changes from the XXX include a needed overall increase in dimensions, as well as change in the ski’s flex pattern. In particular the ski’s tail was softened while maintaining a fairly aggressive tip. The net result is a new B4 which is more confidence inspiring, but has less of a tendency to beat you up.