New Base Layer: Under Armour ColdGear

I've got a new base layer to try out in Morzine - it's the Under Armour ColdGear. For anyone new to snowboarding and/or not familiar with the benefits of wearing decent layers - it's important.

For the last few seasons I've been wearing Icebreaker base layers, made from merino wool. I've always been impressed with them, especially the upper body layers. Unfortunately I tore a big hole in the bottoms, so replaced them with the equivalent from Burton.

In fact, I've been meaning to write something about the Icebreaker products for a good while now. When I get back, I think I'll post my thoughts on both options, giving a comparison between the Under Armour and Icebreaker layers.

I'm expecting the ColdGear stuff to be pretty good, but the competition is tough. I checked out the website and they've got a bunch of different athletes representing them, one of them being Lindsey Jacobellis. I'm not really into snowboard cross, but I took a quick look at the recent X-Games finals and the race was insane. I didn't know the courses they race on have such big jumps...

I don't know how long it will stay around, but there's a video here, definitely worth a look!

Union Contact Bindings: Preview

So I've bought some new bindings. After considering the Burton Mission, the Ride Delta, the Union Contact and the Union Force - I opted for the Union Contact.

I first narrowed it down to one of the offerings from Union. They caught my eye, I liked what I saw, I liked the fact that Gigi operates with their bindings and I wanted to try something new.

My first thoughts were to get a freestyle oriented binding. Yeah I ride all over the mountain, but I jib around quite a bit, I've got a short board, fairly soft boots, so I wanted something freestyle-esque from my bindings.

But they were out of stock. Given my initial criteria, I was a little worried that the Force bindings might be a little too stiff for what I was after. Queue a healthy dose of procrastination, and I came to the conclusion that I would buy the Force bindings. If they were a little stiff, that's no big problem. I'd soon get used to them, and if/when I get around to buying a powder stick, I could set them up on that and get some softer bindings too...

And then... the Contact bindings were available again. So I was back to making a decision. I spoke to a guy in some shop and he was thinking the Contact bindings might be too soft, not responsive enough. Maybe they are too soft? I thought. Blah blah, I'm sure this part of the story is getting a little tired.

Conclusion: I bought the Union Contact bindings. I'll find out soon enough what they're like to ride.

So why did I call this a preview? Well, apart from some pics of the new bindings, which you can see on the Internet anyway, I wanted to mention something about the weight.

The Contact binding is supposed to be a "little brother" to one of their higher end bindings: the Force MC, which is dubbed as the lightest weight binding on the planet. Being considerably cheaper than the Force MC, the Contacts aren't quite as light weight, but light non the less...

How light?

Well, I put a small sample of bindings to the test: the new Union Contact, my old Drake MLBs and Ciara's current bindings, the Burton Lexa. All three bindings are Medium in size, although the Lexas are of course, a female specific binding.

Here are the results:

• Union Contact: 800g
• Burton Lexa: 860g
• Drake MLB: 920g

So they're lighter than my old bindings, and lighter than the smaller, female bindings :) Nice. Will I notice much of a difference? Maybe. They do feel a little lighter in the hand, but not by much.

As for the reverse-camber-specific design of the Contacts, it's hard to tell just by looking at them. I haven't strapped them onto my board yet. Also, there's the toe strap that can be worn either as a conventional strap or a cap-strap. I'll comment on these things later...

Here's the proof :)

Looking At: The Dakine Overhead

I've mentioned before that I'm quite interested in upgrading my "carry on luggage". The reason being that when I get on a plane for a snowboarding trip, my hand luggage includes a laptop, a camera and a video camera. Getting all of that into a regular backpack, along with a magazine, mp3 player, perhaps a book, and then my travel documents etc, is pretty tight.

If it does fit, you can bet that getting anything out that isn't right at the top, is gonna be a chore.

Something like the Dakine Overhead, which has a split design and a fairly large capacity would sort me right out. The specs say that it's 21 x 13 x 8.5 " [ 53 x 33 x 22cm ], and that puts it nicely inside the regulations for EasyJet.

Previously, I wasn't sure that airlines would always accept this size of hand luggage. I'm not worried about that now. And if EasyJet will take it, I can't see it being a problem elsewhere.

The only thing I'm not so sure about is pushing around two wheeled cases: this one and the larger Split Roller. Added to my current luggage setup, I'd be carrying a boardbag over the shoulder as well as pushing two cases, albeit one of them is pretty small.

Is that gonna be tricky? Do I need all that capacity? What luggage do you take?

New Goggles: Dragon DXS

So I've got some new goggles, and, contrary to comments in a previous post, I've gone for some Dragons, the DXS...

But here's the thing, when I looked at them I thought they don't look pointy at all. And they're not; they're just the shape that I like. And they're small too.

In fact, the "S" in "DXS" is for small (I think). Although I like smaller goggles, this nearly put me off getting them because everywhere online was making it explicitly clear that they are small. I don't want kids goggles or anything like that! As it happens, the Dragon packaging labels them as "medium/small."

In reality they're fine, a good size in fact, and they fit well with my lid too. They're not quite as comfortable as the Oakley Crowbars, but nothing to complain about. In the end, apart from a sale price, the thing that swung it was the free, low-light lens; something I've wanted in the past.

Here's a question: do any of you guys regularly switch lenses for different light conditions? I've only tried it once in the past, and it was a doomed effort as I had the wrong replacement lens which simply didn't fit! Scissors didn't help. Do lens swaps end up damaging the lens-goggle fit, or the lens themselves?...

Snowboards For The Pow

OK, I don't think I'll be buying a powder board for this season, but it is something that I think about often. In the past, I've owned a 158cm Rome Anthem, a freeride machine. But unfortunately, I replaced it before ever really experiencing a good powder day. How I regret that eBay sale. Since that time, subsequent fresh has been enjoyed on a range of different freestyle boards, with varying results...

So what would I buy if I took the plunge, and returned to carrying two boards with me?

I've looked on with envy at a friend's Fish - as it surfed its way through the deep, Fernie powder, entirely at home. For a while, I decided that as this second board would be for powder days only, that's what I was going to buy, a Burton Fish. But I can't get past what they've done with the binding inserts on their boards. Why?

A swallow tail? No thanks. I have zero authority on this matter, but I reckon I can shred the powder on a slightly more regular board, just fine. I'm not saying that a swallow tail isn't great in the fresh, but I'll still, most likely, be making my way through resort trails and runs on powder days and the swallow seems like too much of a restriction...

So it's a freeride board, or, big mountain as some people like to classify them. These are the characteristics I'd be looking for:

• Length. Somewhere in the range 158 - 160cm.
• Directional shape. As much as I aspire to being able to land tricks switch in powder and ride on, the truth is that 99% of the time I'll be riding forwards. So I want a board that's geared up for directional, powder use.
• Setback stance. Similar to the above point, I want the default stance to be at least 1" setback. I want it designed for powder.
• Nose and tail specifics: a 'scoopy' nose for sure and perhaps a tapered tail - but I'm not on firm ground with this second point.

What about the rocker design? Well, it's true that a lot of the freeride/powder boards seem to be coming out with rocker shapes, and this should help to keep the board floating... It's not that I disagree with this, or that I don't welcome it, it's just not a key design point for me. Yet.

Whitelines produced a decent summary of freeride/big mountain boards in their Buyer's Guide. I won't say review as quite frankly, I don't think the info given on individual products lives up to that. It's more like a catalogue.

Here are some of the bunch that caught my eye - all boards that I'd relish the opportunity to try on a powder day:

• Atomic Banger
• Capita Charlie Slasher Pow
• K2 Gyrator
• Option North Shore

Binding Update: Union

I was taking another look at bindings and came across two models from Union: the Force and the Contact. Union isn't a company that I know much about, I'm not familiar with any of their bindings and I have never considered them, until now.

So, I did a quick search for some reviews and found a couple of videos from the guys at Union. I was pretty impressed, so I'm posting them here. I kinda like the look of the Contact bindings - nice and freestyle - but the website I want to buy from doesn't have my size in stock at the moment. I think the Force still offers what I'm looking for in a binding, so I might get them instead.

I should add that Gigi rocks the Union Contact, and if it's good enough for him...

The Union Contact:

The Union Force:

Bindings And Goggles

New goggles, fall into the category of must-have. I smashed mine last season, so they need replacing. New bindings on the other hand, come under nice to have. My MLBs are great bindings, it's just the buckles play up on them now that they're old. I'll get by with them for another couple of weeks - worst case scenario I need to buy some new buckles in resort, or a new strap or something. But it would be nice to get some new ones...

I tried on some Oakley Crowbars at the weekend. I was surprised at how comfortable they were - although I haven't tried them with a lid yet, which I wear around half of the time. Can't say I've ever been a huge fan of the Crowbar styling, but they are designed to work well with helmets... They're an option.

I do however like the style that most Von Zippers have. My previous goggles (von zipps) were a good fit and had a good lens. I could get something like this...

Anon goggles also have a small, squarish style, similar to the Von Zippers. For example, I prefer this over the pointy shape of most Dragon goggles, or the over-roundedness of say, Smith goggles. Quiksilver goggles also have a nice shape, in my opinion - but they're harder to get a hold of.

So although I've never tried any Anon goggles, I would consider a set - especially as they seem to be fairly cheap...

Of course, I'm thinking mainly about the look here. A bit lame really when the comfort and visibility (lens) are more important factors. But if you order on-line, it's hard to judge the comfort, and goggle lenses can sometimes be a bit hit and miss. Anyone got a favourite brand, or know of some that they hear perform consistently well? Anyone always take a spare lens with them?

Bindings. Hmm. My approach to bindings always seems a little boring. With boards, I'm quite particular about a whole range of design features. I always want to try new boards - wondering how they ride. Maybe I'm naive when it comes to bindings, or perhaps I haven't tried as many different models as I have boards...

I'd always settle for some Burton Missions. They've never let me down and they're comfortable. The only problem with them is that Burton have hiked the price up. Lame.

The Drake MLBs have been exactly what I want from a binding. No nonsense, basic adjustments, not too stiff, average sized high-back and decent buckles! Unfortunately it's the last point that continues to be a problem now. The buckles get stuck. But to be fair, the straps in general are tired.

So, continuing on this theme, I might look to get some Burton Missions, or, I've been checking out the middle of the road, slightly freestyle oriented, Ride Delta bindings...