Featuring the Union Contact Chasis, team highback, aluminum heelcups, open toe straps, PBR flag and the Union Lifetime Warranty, these binders are a nice set. While typical snow bindings come in a cardbox box with little else, the PBR bindings come in a very nice carrying case, which could double as a beer tote for beach or backcountry booter missions. In addition to the bindings, the box also includes a Spacecraft collab hat and a snowboard shaped PBR bottle opener—a solid package. I think having these bindings will knock seconds off your shotgunning beer time. 

Less than 200 pairs were and only distributed to your core snowboard shop. If you want a pair, start looking as these will not be sold for long.

From somebody that grew up riding the Baker backcountry via bootpack, accessing terrain with a splitboard and snowshoes was a nice treat. This was actually my first time using a snowboard-specific snowshoe and I was pleasantly surprised on how easy it was to hike and cover terrain much faster and easier than post-holing. In the past, one of my major concerns with splitboarding was that the skins sometimes did not stay on the board. It appears K2 has solved this issue with skins that attach to both the front and rear of the board when in ascend mode. Impressive—way cool and well done K2.

While ease of access and quality gear is a large part of the Backcountry snowboarding experience, safety certainly needs to be addressed and K2/Atlas was quick to mention this at every opportunity. Given the warm and snowing conditions and twitchy snowpack, it was good timing to check out a pit profile and learn a bit more about traveling in avalanche terrain. The American Alpine Institute is known to have one of if not the best avalanche safety courses in the Northwest and offers trips all over the globe to remote locations. Our media group was lucky to have a few hours of intense avalanche training, which included pit digging, terrain analysis, a run or two, and a group discussion over cold beverages.  

Thank you K2 Snowboarding, Atlas, AAI, Connor, Hunter and Ryan, for re-introducing me to the familiar Mt Baker backcountry with a new perspective on both equipment and snow safety.

Registration is open for the upcoming Crystal, WA and Kirkwood, CA tour stops. Check www.thenorthfacemasters.com for more info.

photo: Lance Koudele/MSI

Mens Top 3 Runs at The North Face Masters Snowbird, UT 2010 from The North Face Masters on Vimeo.

Womens Top 3 Runs From the The North Face Masters at Snowbird, UT 2010 from The North Face Masters on Vimeo.

When I arrived at the contest, I knew that TDDT was going to be a good one, but this show surpassed my expectations…Snowboy Productions, Lib Tech, Think Thank, Snowboard Connection and Ride Washington, Quiksilver and Pyramid Brewery went all out to put on a killer contest that brought mountain shred stoke to the urban setting--and handed out fittingly simple cardboard checks to the winners. You know it’s a good one when grown adults are fighting from swag in the product toss. Winter is on the way.

First Place: Nick Visconti

Second: Forrest Bailey

Third: Scott Stevens

Fourth: Johnny Lazz

Fifth: Ben Bogart

Best Trick: Jason Robinson

Photos: Matt Vaagsland

After some warm up beverages at the 21+ friendly King Cat Theater, a large crew of slightly inebriated shred heads rtook in Snowboard Connections local offering "As Good As it Gets" before the main feature. Solid riding from Northwest up and comers got the crowd rolling before Burtner got on the mic to present this year’s epic: a borderline feature-length film that traces the crew throughout the season, with a weekly update from a different rider. Diverse parts from newcomers Tim Eddy and dark horse Jason Robinson along with local heads Blair Habenicht and Matt Edgers added some flavor to the usual creative riding from Burtner, Genovese and the rest of the crew. Suffice to say everyone left stoked and smiling with winter on the mind.

Thanks to SnoCon, Summit, Lib, Burtner and all the others who helped put the event on. Another solid offering from Think Thank is in the books, go out and cop it for yourself.