Podcast #62 – Skiing Things

 

Weekly Flavor

• Mario: Palo Santo Marron, Dogfish Head Craft BreweryAmerican Brown Ale, 12%ABV. Unfiltered, unfettered, unprecedented brown ale aged in handmade wooden brewing vessels giving it unique caramel and vanilla complexity.
• Brian: Carrier Mild, Lawson’s Finest LiquidsEnglish Dark Mild Ale, 4.2%ABV. Brewed only once, this rare brew has a raisin fruitiness with coffee and a hint of cherry skin. There is some roast bitterness, but it is held in check.

Frank’s Find of the Week – Blue Cheese

Blue Cheese is an indica cross created by crossing a Blueberry male with an original U.K. Cheese (a Skunk #1 phenotype) female. The sweet and savory smells of berry and blue cheese combine to create a creamy, unique flavor reminiscent of the original Cheese. The heavy indica effects will help you feel relaxed at the end of the day and can provide relief for muscle spasms, pain, and stress.

Ski News

• Whistler Gets First Snow of the Season

  Whistler, B.C. got it’s first snow today.

  It’s still officially summer, and the ski season is still a ways off, but we love seeing this early season snow. It just gets the stoke going all over North America.

  More snow is forecast in Whistler throughout today and on Monday/Tuesday.

   

• 11-YEAR OLD FALLS FROM NZ CHAIRLIFT

  Jack Clulee slipped from the lift in Mt Hutt before his father could lower the safety bar. Quick thinking ski patrollers saved the boy from injury.

  As the two borded the lift the boy slipped and his father, Kevin, grabbed him and was able to hold on to him by his jacket.

  The lift coninued and the child was left dangling 10m above the ground.

  He would undoubtedly have been seriously injured in any fall.

  Quick thinking ski patollers grabbed the safety cushions from around a nearby pylon and held them in place underneath the boy with the help of passing skiers.

  He fell into it to a round of applause from others who had stopped to help.

  The whole ordeal lasted a minute and a half.

  “It was pretty scary. I was just thinking to myself I didn’t want to fall because it was quite high up,” Jack told the NZ Herald newspaper.

  After the incident he skied down and re-joined the queue.

  “Jack hanging out at Mt Hutt. He all good,” added his father on Facebook.

   

• Warren Miller Find His Freedom

  Attending a film screening of Miller’s was like an underground gathering for the ski world. The finger was always on the pulse. It was fun and inspiring.

  The new book “Freedom Found” by Warren Miller and Andy Bigford tells the story of this master storyteller, spinning the tale of his life with the unique skill he honed over decades.

  From a dysfunctional and unhappy childhood, Miller ultimately built an entertainment institution that took him to fantastic heights of both society and geography but also the ocean-deep lows of personal nightmares.

  “Life was wonderful as long as I was not at home,” Miller recalls of his upbringing. “My early life did help me grow one talent: it sharpened my sense of finding ways to make money through entrepreneurship, though we didn’t know the word at that time. Hunger is a great training tool.” Along the journey, he ate any way he could.

  Freedom Found: My Life Story by Warren Miller

   

• Where are they now? Tommy Moe

  Moe, now 46, relocated to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in 1994 and is currently employed as a mountain ambassador at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, giving private lessons into the accessible backcountry. He splits his time between the Tetons and the Tordrillos in Alaska, where he also co-owns, operates, and guides at his heli-ski lodge, the Tordrillo Mountain Lodge. Moe has always found solace in the mountains, so POWDER recently caught up with him to hear about the transition from champion downhill racer to big-hearted backcountry guide, and how he’s continued to shape his life around creating memories at high altitudes.

  Here are the bums and some fans with Tommy Moe in the backcountry of Jackson Hole!

  

   

• Michael Goldberg Receiver for Jay Peak Resorts Declines $93 Million offer from Bellwether Asset Management and Elicits Further Investigation

  In the spring of 2014 the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) began investigation and a trial against Bill Stenger and Ariel Quiros. Stenger and Quiros are two major developers who took part in a large portion of the redevelopment for Jay Peak Resorts and its affiliates as well as other projects in the Northeast Kingdom and facilities throughout New England including a biomedical research laboratory. Together they gathered hundreds of millions of dollars worth in funds through the federal EB-5 program, which allows overseas investors to move to the United States in exchange for creating jobs and stimulating the economy with their direct investments.

  Stenger and Quiros proceeded to misuse and wrongfully allocate their holdings towards personal gains and debt created by previous development causing continued and pending development to fall short of its marks. The SEC has now announced federal fraud charges against the developers and has continued to seize information and freeze assets pending further investigation.

  All of this along with the current case against Quiros and Stenger, which remains open, leaves one extremely skeptical about the offer made by Bellwether. At any rate, Jay Peak Resort will remain open and operational and if forecasts are correct, should be doused in wonderful white flakes before too long!

   

Main Topic – Skiing Things !

Labor Day has come and gone, so now it’s time to shift our focus to skiing. All the gear reviews are out, so here’s what to look for when you’re looking for new skis.

Skis – What Are They and What Makes Them Different

• Ski Construction

  • Plastics
  • Fiberglass
  • Carbon
  • Core Material
  • Metals
  • Fiberglass
  • Rubber
  • Steel Edges
  • Base Material

   

• Sidewall Construction

  • Cap – top sheet folding over the edges of the core materials. Provides weight savings due to a lack of heavy sidewall materials.
  • Halfcap – cap on top and sandwich on bottom.
  • Hybrid – fusion construction that employees cap at tip and tail, lowering swing weight while upping durability.
  • Sandwich – Unrivaled power transmission

   

• Turn Radius

  Ski’s sidecut and stiffness establish the size of the turn. Stiffer materials combined with less sidecut yield a larger turning radius (or circle), while softer materials and deeper sidecuts create the opposite.

  • 16 meter and under – quick, snappy turns.
  • 17- to 22-meter are geared towards manuevering over various parts of the mountain.
  • 22-meter and up are best for huge arching turns down steep faces.

   

• Sidecut

  Curviture of the ski’s edge from tip to tail which affects how the ski will turn. For a sharper, tighter turn, you want a deeper cut, while a shallower cut is better for those who prefer long, drawn-out turns.

  • Traditional – ideal for carving deep into hardpack.
  • Reverse – Excel in deep snow. Less edge contact means more floating.
  • Multidimensional – combination of traditional sidecut underfoot with tapered tips and tails.

   

• Sidecut

  Curviture of the ski’s edge from tip to tail which affects how the ski will turn. For a sharper, tighter turn, you want a deeper cut, while a shallower cut is better for those who prefer long, drawn-out turns.

  • Traditional – ideal for carving deep into hardpack.
  • Reverse – Excel in deep snow. Less edge contact means more floating.
  • Multidimensional – combination of traditional sidecut underfoot with tapered tips and tails.

   

• Core Construction

  The main ingredient in any ski is wood and different types of wood will provide different results. Softer wood is more lightweight, but doesn’t absorb vibrations as well. Heavier woods are more ridid, but also require more effort to manuever.

  From softest to most ridid

   

  • Paulownia – springy and lightweight. Found often in backcountry skis complemented w/ metal or carbon to increase strength.
  • Bamboo – very light, but requires a lof ot glue to hold it together. Used in stringers du eto it’s amazing flexibility.
  • Aspen – lightweight and high energy, it’s often used to complement denser woods to rduce eright.
  • Poplar – very similar to aspen.
  • Fir – lighter than maple, heavier than aspen. Used for dampening and binding retention underfoot.
  • Ash
  • Maple – dense and durable, maple is used in many big mountain skis. It’s ridigd and lacking in forgiveness.
  • Beech

   

  Manufacturers frequently bond other materials to the wood for different characteristics

  • Titanal – aluminum alloy that helps dampen vibrations and beef up rigidity.
  • Fiberglass – more affordable that titanal and provides similar results. Strength of fiberglass correlates with the way it’s weaved. Biaxel and Triaxel denote the number of ways the fibers are running. More fibers mean increased rigidity.
  • Carbon – high strength/weight ratio, but also cost. Often implemented in lower-cost strips called stringers.

   

• Taper

  The reduction of tip and/or tail. Rocker skis tend to have shortened effective ski edge length, they’re often built with tapered extremeties. This helps avoid hooking in deep snow

   

• Rocker and Camber Profile

  • Regular – slight upward curve in the shape of the ski. Thus, in a turn, the ski makes full contact w/ the snow.
  • Reverse (aka – Rocker or early rise) – less contact with the snow making easier to pivot. Early rise makes it easier to initiate turns and float in deep snow.
  • Hybrid – most popular on freeski market, having early rise in tip and tail while having traditional camber in the middle. This allows enhanced manueverability of the rocker and the amazing edge control of standard camber, together.

   

 

Skis of the year

Powder Magazine

• Nordica – Enforcer 93
• Salomon – GST 106
• Moment – Meridian

 

Freeskier Magazine

• 90-99mm Freeride: J Skis – Masterblaster
• 100-114mm Freeride: Nordica – Enforcer 100
• 115mm + Freeride: Black Crows – Anima
• 90-99mm Freestyle: Armada – ARV 96
• 100-114mm Freestyle: Blizzard – Gunsmoke
• 115mm + Freestyle: Armada – JJ 2.0
• Women’s: Moment – Armada – ARW 88
• Park: Faction – Candide 1.0

Under the Ropes

• Rev House – Ultra Luxurious House Boats

  Infinite freedom. Endless possibilities. No compromises. A penthouse lifestyle on the water. Rev House makes every moment unforgettable: from relaxed sundowners to celebratory dinners, weekend getaways and exclusive soirees. We guarantee a unique lifestyle wherever, whenever and however you want.

   

• How to Watch the NFL Without Cable TV

  Pretty much everyone loves football. Cable TV? Not so much. So with the 2016-2017 NFL season starting up this Thursday, you might be wondering if you can ditch your cable contract and still catch all the action. If that’s the case, you’ll be glad to know that there are more options than ever to watch football over-the-air and online.

  Let’s take a peek in the cord cutter’s playbook.

  Free Ways to Watch

  You know that whole idea that nothing’s truly free? Well, when it comes to watching football without cable, the saying doesn’t hold up.

  1. Use an antenna.While an antenna doesn’t help much for many sports that have sold rights to premium and regional sports networks (I’m looking at you, MLB/NBA/NHL), the NFL is a completely different story.
  2. Log in to TV Everywhere Apps for Individual networks.Pretty much every network has an app these days. These apps typically offer on-demand content, and in best case scenarios, they’ll have a live stream of the network. Here are the network apps that will be streaming NFL games live this year:WatchESPN-Monday Night FootballNBC Sports-Sunday Night Football and several Thursday Night Football gamesFOX Sports Go-Sunday Regional NFL Games
  3. Go to Twitter.
  4. Find a pirated stream (at your own risk).

  Cheap Cable TV Alternatives

  If you don’t mind paying a little bit, there are a few good cable TV alternatives that could prove useful for live streaming football.

  1. Sling TV

  The NFL Network on Sling TV. Image: Sling TV

  Sling TV is a live streaming service that starts out at $20 per month for Sling Orange, which includes ESPN, making it an easy way to watch Monday Night Football online. In some markets, Sling carries FOX and NBC, but you need the Sling Blue package for those ($25 per month). Sling Blue is also the first cable-less option for NFL Network (and NFL RedZone for $5 more per month with the Sports Extra package).

  1. PlayStation Vue

  PlayStation Vue works similarly to Sling TV. You pay a monthly fee that starts at $29.99 per month, and you get to stream live cable channels without the cable contract. Also like Sling, Vue has local broadcast networks in select markets.

  1. PS Vue on the Roku. Image: Roku

  Vue also recently added NFL Network and NFL RedZone to its offerings.

  While Vue offers more channels than Sling TV, it’s worth noting that you’ll likely pay more as well. In markets where local channels are offered, the base package begins at $39.99 per month. But if you want NFL Network, you’ll need to bump up to the next tier at $44.99 per month. And RedZone will also only available with a $39.99 season pass. Maybe add something like, at these prices you might as well start considering paying cable

  1. VIDGO

  So this one’s not out yet, and admittedly, the details are a bit sparse. However, rumors indicate VIDGO will be launching soon with NFL Network and a bunch of other channels that should make the NFL season easy to follow.

  1. Watching with a VPN

  The NFL offers its own streaming service, NFL Game Pass, which provides access to the entire regular season. Unfortunately, it only lets you watch games on demand. So unless you’re someone who has to work on Sundays and can’t watch until later, NFL Game Pass probably isn’t a great option for you.

  The Options Will Only Get Better

• One of America’s most famous highways is about to become an awesome science experiment.

  Designated in 1926, Route 66 traversed almost 2,500 miles, starting in Chicago, Illinois, and ending in Santa Monica, California. It was the most direct path for many folks traveling west during the Dust Bowl in the 1930s.

  As such, it was one of the first official highways in America.

  After 90 years, ol’ Route 66 is making history – again.

  It’s about to become the first public roadway to receive a solar panel makeover, thanks to Idaho start-up Solar Roadways.