2010 Winter OR Gear Test

The Gear Junkie crew is in Salt Lake City for the Winter Outdoor Retailer trade show this week. Today we spent the day trying out brand new gear from a number of manufacturers at the All Mountain Demo at Snowbasin resort.

Snow was falling all day and the combination of the cloudy sky along with some light fog made the visibility around the mountain tough. Among other items, a new pair of Dynafit skis really stood out.

The Dynafit Stoke (130-106-120) combines an early rise shovel, beefy sidewall construction, an isocore paulownia wood body with stringers of beech and bamboo. I found the ski to have great float on top of the soft stuff and enough control in crunchy snow to get me where I want to go on the mountain.

The Stoke was particularly forgiving as I struggled in the low visibility to pick out terrain. Undulations in the snow were hard to track and the Stoke eased the needed corrections to stay upright. While I stayed inbounds today a number of us found huge swaths of untracked snow off the Becker lift and the skis really performed, giving me the briefest glimpse of dropping into a huge bowl of powder in the backcountry.

Dynafit (www.dynafit.com) employed Greg Hill, a respected ski professional, to work with its engineers to find way to shave weight and embody a ski that could be known for its all mountain reliability.

Availability: Fall, 2010 Retail Price: $800

Pat Petschel