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Karakoram:
[ ]complicated
[x]innovative

Voile: cassette tape
Karakoram: mp3

but I'm sure you're "keeping it real" and rocking an 8 track

Seriously, I don't get you. Do you think rider progression and technology are separate?

Shit, Norman Clyde bagged all kinds of first ascents in the Sierra rocking hiking boots. So why is Dean Potter not using them when he's speed soloing El Cap to show the masses he's "core"???

bGNIGHT If cool if you dont get me, Im not tryin to bromance every dude on SB.com, Just throwin my opinion out to the masses. And I have checked out Karokoram(the kloster bros are cool dudes) and I do believe they have somethin goin for them (I love the Tool box clamps) But I have also seen the bindings in pieces with a ton of nuts and bolts, and I believe that is what may fail with hard abuse. We will all see next season how advanced the karokoram system really is Im thinkin more like a minidisk with room for improvement.

Really amazing work Russ and crew! I've drooled over those lines for many years from the first time I saw reports on them from the late great Ben and the Hummels. So sick. You are rightly stoked and you did a great job of documenting it too! I wouldn't want to be around when those icefalls went.

edit whiney stuff

Not that anyone asked but here's my

Trip reports should be trip reports and not gear reviews/ promotion.

Here we have a kick ass trip with incredible adventure and stoke and it get polluted with gearmance.

There's separate forums for the gear junkies.

What about pizza promotion?

SInce this thread has already been hijacked to hell...


As far as rider selection, products need all levels of testing... I think the klosters are just making sure their stuff is idiot proof.



Ok, i'm kiddin. Utah must have really pushed some buttons.I didn't think you could get Russ mad.

Roid ragin' Russ?

Still a sweet line. And I am not taking it off my list just cuz you guys side slipped it all to hell.

Great TR Russ. Stoked for ya that you got that line.

As to thread drift.... I get where Utah is coming from. If you don't get it then you don't get it. In the end anyone is free to say what they want and if they want to hype a product so be it. I think it distracted from this TR, IMO.

With more split specific companies coming out, there will always be allegiances to certain ones. Let's face it.

I want to see all these companies make a good product, make money and compete in this tiny market. - and that may be the real core issue. One companies profits means less for others and that is difficult to accept.

The Klostler bros are cool guys, good riders and their product is probably all that it is hyped to be. A lot of the same banter was coming up before and right after Spark's came out. It is the nature of the beast.

Russ - my honest take on this is that you continue to hype Jones and Karakorum to the point that I think it is gettin' old. I think it may be a little over the top. There is no denying that you're stoked on the sport and the gear. Nothing wrong with that.

I think the Klostler's need product hype and you are waving their flag for them and I'm sure they appreciate that. In the end, they do need to get a pair to BCRIDER and others becasue your will start to loose credibility, esp. if every time we hear from you on this forum it is about the bindings.

I'm all for innovation, the new split world order and all that shit, but you gotta have respect for innovations before and the riders who we're gettin' it done and progressing this sport before us.

Not saying you don't Russ, just sayin'.

ahhhh, - yeah feels like the old Couloir forum days, eh.
BTW- is any of that forum archived anywhere. There has been no mention about the Couloir/Backcounty forum going away. - I need to relive the old days.

It's all making sense now

+ + =

WOW, surprised for all of the bad blood here, hey, remember, this is splitboard.com! Chill out a little.
Russ, hey great TR and nice descent of Adams, a very beautiful mountain. I do not have my Cascade Alpine Guide at hand, and am curious why you guys chose not to climb the line? Personally I would have preferred to climb a line like that before descending.

As for Karakoram, well, this is still a backwards solution to me-the best way to save weight and get better riding and climbing performance is a well dialed hard boot system, especially for snowboard mountaineering, but, to each his own, but I can understand how some would not want to make the effort involved in getting a hard boot system totally dialed.

WOW, surprised for all of the bad blood here, hey, remember, this is splitboard.com! Chill out a little.
Russ, hey great TR and nice descent of Adams, a very beautiful mountain. I do not have my Cascade Alpine Guide at hand, and am curious why you guys chose not to climb the line? Personally I would have preferred to climb a line like that before descending.

As for Karakoram, well, this is still a backwards solution to me-the best way to save weight and get better riding and climbing performance is a well dialed hard boot system, especially for snowboard mountaineering, but, to each his own, but I can understand how some would not want to make the effort involved in getting a hard boot system totally dialed.

Really? It hasn't drifted enough, but hey lets have the hard vs. softboot debate? OK then, here's my

Better riding performance...tell that to Tom Burt who's ripping with his hardbooting buddy Jim Zellers huge Back country lines. Everyone rides and buys what they prefer to ride and buy, it's only backwards because they aren't developing the one YOU prefer.

There's no "bad blood" imo.
Snowboarding culture has always had an edge to it. I think it's good to talk shit amongst bros. If we all want to sniff patuli and group fondle, why don't we just leave here and go to tele tips?

As for hard boots....yeah, I think I'd rather just ski.

CAN'T WAIT FOR IT TO SNOW!!

Holy SHEEYAT everybody!

I like what Barrows said..... this is SB.com! Why are we all hot and bothered again??

About hyping on bindings, this is NOT what I'm trying to do. The whole thing behind Karakoram is that hype takes away from true product development. Quality engineering and testing should sell the product.... Not zippers and gangster tags... 50 degree steeps do not care how much bling you have...

This TR was really meant as a way for me to reflect on the trip, and to give the bindings a true, personal test. If anything, for myself! Everybody has their own ideas of what works best and that is a wonderful thing. For me, I'm very much stoked how the Karakoram binding rides, and tours. As more people get to try it, we ALL need to hear about their experience. Its part of the evolution.

As for sending all sorts of proto bindings out "to the old dudes who really deserve them", keep in mind that Karakoram is still very, very small.

Duh, cause its summer...and not snowing!

The technology should shout or whimper for itself.

As for the 'old dudes' and being deserving, I think you are missing the point. IMHO it's about testing the gear from the same vantage point on similar terrain/snowpack/environment by which the predecessors were challenged. Then hopefully one gets an accurate assessment/comparison between the evolving gear and that which paved its way.

But then, I probably shouldn't be chiming in...been inside for far too long

That said, I really appreciated the TR. Nice work!