1: Dakine BC Utility Vest
Slim, compact and lightweight. This vest holds the essentials, carries your board or skis and lets you get the goods without lugging around a cumbersome pack. Snowboarding in particular sucks with a big heavy pack and this vest allows you to shred in style while still having all the backcountry gear you need to be safe and comfortable out there.
Gizmodo, Gadget Review, Mike Shouts
2: La Sportiva Spectre & Sparkle Backcountry Boots
La Sportiva claims that these are the lightest 4 buckle AT ski boots on the market, and I belive them! Packed with sweet easy to use features that allow you to enjoy the backcountry in style, comfort, with extreme performance and competitively priced at $599.
Outside Online, Skiing Business
3: Volkl V-Werks Katana
Take the super popular Katana big mountain freeskis and tweak them to the extreme with cost as no object. What you get is the V-Werks Katana, a stiff, light (15% lighter than the standard Katana) and backcountry ready ski ready to take you anywhere with ease. Set these up with the new Volkl silicone based glue-less skins (orange ones in the photo above) and you will be exploring the backcountry with more ease than you ever thought possible.
4: Zeal iON HD Camera Goggles
Zeal has put a sharp 1080p HD video camera into their top of the line iON goggles to give you the ultimate POV pow cam. You can even get 8 megapixel stills out of these goggles. The key is easily getting the video or photo without ever having to take off your gloves. The Zeal iOn HD Camera Goggles will run you $399.
Design Boom, Photo District News, Imaging Resource
5: Jones Splitboard & Karakoram Bindings
Jones offers a full line of splitboards that will allow any style of backcountry ripper to shred fresh pow all day long. If you combine a quality Jones splitboard with Karakoram’s backcountry binding you have the ultimate setup. You don’t even need to take your boot out of the binding when converting from board to split setup! No other splitboard system holds the board together as well to give you the best possible downhill shredding goodness. My choice for the optimal ride is the Jones Carbon Solution splitboard combined with the Karakoram Carbon SL binding (setup pictured).
6: Leatherman Hail + Style PS Snowboard Multitool
Small light and has everything you could ask for in a snowboard tool. Leatherman worked with Signal Snowboards to give you: lace tightener, base scraper, headphone organizer, bottle opener, file, screwdriver and so much more! The tool is even TSA compliant so you can use it on those international pow missions.
The Global Playbook, Gear Hungry
7: Shred Ready Eleven Snow Sports Helmet
Shred Ready brings its water sports helmet expertise to the frozen realm. This helmet is light, strong and features a magnetic chin strap closure. You also get a ton of quality graphics to choose from with the Eleven. The design above is called the “sick bird.”
Skiing Business, Backpacker Magazine
8: Marker Ampire Otis Snow Sports Helmet
Marker jumps into the helmet game this year with a full line of quality designs. The top of the line Ampire Otis is feature rich and includes the industry first integration of Ortema X4 Protection Pads. Basically this is a special foam placed in key areas of the helmet that absorbs impact and then re-forms into its original volume after each impact, greatly increasing head protection during a multiple impact crash.
9: NEW Gore-Tex PRO
Gore-Tex has been the leader in waterproof breathable garments for many years. This year they stepped it up another notch with their top of the line PRO membrane offering more overall durability, more durable waterproofness and 28% more breathability over the old PRO.
Transworld Snowboarding, Gear Institute, Macs Adv. Blog
10: MSR Deploy & Flight Backcountry Poles
The Deploy is a unique pole in that the full adjustment is controlled by the trigger just below the grip and it has a triangular shape that makes it super durable. In the end this isn’t the lightest pole on the market, but is super durable and convenient to use.
