Dynafit Get Stoked Dealer Camp in Whistler

Eric Hjorleifson at the Dynafit dealer camp

This week I had the privilege of attending the welcome night of Dynafit's Get Stoked Dealer Camp in Whistler. The evening was not a product knowledge session, but a series of presentations on ski touring culture and its various incarnations.

Michel Beaudry gave an insight into today’s resort culture and stressed how we are at period of transition in the ski industry.

“These days there are a lot of folk looking beyond the resort experience. Disillusioned baby boomer skiers are tired of the same old, as well as younger locals who have exhausted the resort’s terrain and are now looking for the next challenge. We need to stop blowing up mountains and cutting down trees to install ski lifts as we have done in the past. In the 21^st century we should looking to how to expand resorts within the mountain’s natural setting”

For years the only way to efficiently ski the backcountry was switching to telemark. Getting back to this original ski method and freeing the heel gave people the ability to climb mountains efficiently with light weight gear. But this gear also limited how safely skiers could navigate steep and icy terrain safely. There is now equipment that climbs as well as it descends.

Enter the Canadian Ski Mountaineering team. With hardened experience after competing against Europe’s best last year, these guys know the advantages of light gear. For example, the McBride Traverse (a 70km traverse near Whistler) is traditionally a 6-8 day traverse with faster parties pushing to do it in 3-4 days. Last year Keith Reid, Alex Wigley and Craig McGee managed it in 18 hours and 21 minutes, breaking the previous speed traverse record of 48 hours.

While these 3 fellows are fitter than majority of the ski touring community, the McBride result could not have been possible without the gear. Suffering in the mountains isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but the point to bring home from the ski runners is that with the lightest and most efficient equipment, so much more is possible.

To finish off the night we got hear from the other end of the ski touring spectrum – freeride. Last season whilst filming for Matchstick Productions, Eric Hjorleifson tested the Vertical FT 12 Binding and the Titan boot. All of the footage from Alpine Meadows Lodge near Golden, BC was self propelled and the terrain lent itself as an excellent testing ground. http://www.4frnt.com/index.php/en/component/myblog/golden-alpine-holidays-msp-film-trip-report.html

“Until I tried out the Dynafit gear I’d been skiing on practically the same boots and bindings since I was 15. Racing equipment just hasn’t changed. My days of skiing the backcountry in stiff downhill boots are done. I just can’t handle standing in their fixed forward lean for 12 hours while I’m out there shooting. 

Until this past season all of my touring was done on my modified Alpine Trekkers, I had no confidence in the alternative touring bindings available and I needed the security of my alpine bindings for the descents.

With Dynafit I can get up the hill fast and shred downhill with confidence, all while being more comfortable than ever before. I can never go back”       

 Click here for a look at the new TLT 5 Boot

 Some of the Q & A from the audience:

What kind of terrain were you skiing at the lodge?

EH: Mainly in the trees, lots of pillow lines with multiple big impacts. There were also lots of fun cliffs. It was pretty deep powder conditions while we were there.  

What is the biggest drop you’ve done on the FT 12?

EH: I think the biggest one I did on that hut trip was about 30 feet. That was straight air, no spinning or anything. I’ve yet to try any tricks on the Dynafit bindings.

Do you ski with the binding locked out?

 EH: Yeah pretty much the whole time. I know you’re not supposed to because they won’t release. But with the way I ski I find it’s necessary, I can’t afford to pre-release.

Note: While some skiers may wish to risk injury by skiing with the toe bindings in touring mode (i.e. locked out), Dynafit DOES NOT recommend this as it may cause knee injury