![]() ![]() Fortunately, its sister brand?Alpina?still offers the Telelite ($265) for purists who like a leather lower combined with the control of a plastic cuff. Crispi, for instance, has added a four-buckle, ultra-stiff race boot?the CXU ($595)?to its tried and true CX line. In the tele boot department, boot bellows will flex better, and you can now get all the support money can buy. Rossi?s Nordic Venture and the Mountain Venture models are sized up at 97 cm, sport a Posi-Track waxless base for climbing and steel edges for making turns down the backside, and they accept either the universal binding found on snowshoes or an NNN backcountry binding. “We think there are a lot of people using snowshoes that want to experience glide,” says Rossignol’s Hoefler. Rossi sees its new Gliding Snowshoe Concept as a way to introduce non-nordic skiers and snowshoers to cross-country. That “something,” she says is Karhu’s new “efficient snowshoe.” Actually a super-short (120-cm), super-wide (110-mm waist) ski, the hybrid creation comes with mohair strips for “controlled, slow-mo” descents, says Fitzpatrick. ![]() “Something new needs to happen to cross-country,” says Megan Fitzpatrick, Karhu’s marketing director. A few nordic equipment producers are hoping it is. Tua offers the Cross-Ride 112 ($525), the widest board it has ever produced.Īnd if you’re still looking for the perfect way to tour?or just have some kind of winter-sports personality disorder?the new gliding snowshoes might be the cure. K2 is pushing the new Shuksan ($450), billing it as the “optimal AT ski for nasty, softer snow,” yet one that still works well for touring. While nearly everyone has at least one ski heading in this direction, Rossignol takes the cake with “the fattest tele ski ever,” called the Mega Bang ($599), sporting a 90 mm waist.įor AT buffs, both K2 and Tua offer full lines of backcountry skis with built-in binding retention plates capable of accommodating alpine touring mounts. (For the rest of us, “phat” still conjures a sadly different meaning.) Following in the tracks of the alpine world, telemark and alpine touring skis are getting a whole lot wider. No fewer than three manufacturers?Atomic, K2 and Rossi?are making twin-tips (or at least performance models with turned up tails) for this small but growing youth market. Starting with sticks, expect them shorter, fatter and better for playing in the park?the greater alpine park that is. While there are no revolutionary products like the plastic boots or shaped skis of years past?unless you count sliding snowshoes?it doesn’t mean that the second coming of previous innovations can’t also be a good thing. And in 2001-02, the operative phrase for backcountry equipment?both telemark and alpine touring?is that good just got better. Before that, it was schuss, boom and hang on for dear life on any downhill. Long before Russell Rainey developed the SuperLoop, Sondre Nordheim fixed a cable to the back of a binding, which made it possible to lay down the first telemark turn. Throughout ski history, innovation has been a hallmark of the sport. So, you’ve been thinking about joining the backcountry club? Earn your turns, score fresh tracks, taste the freedom? Ready to bow down to the mountains, whisper to the Snow Gods, and pay homage to the pioneers of our sport? (Tell them the new fat boards rip! They’ll want to know.) Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! ![]()
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