tongaroo

I bought the Insane's for BC touring because they're light, and of course, for powder days. They do both very well, but I was pleasantly surprised that they carve short-radius turns remarkably well on groomer runs. I'm tele'ing on them using BD O1's (FreeFlex cartridges), but I bet the Voile SwitchBack bindings would work well, too, and even save a little weight. I have many pairs of ski's, both tele and AT, and these are my favorite pair. They do many things well.

The Ticket's are my go-to tele ski 90% of the time. They're remarkably light for BC use, fat enough for powder, and really responsive and "snappy". The turn radius seems to favor faster, GS-type turns over short, slalom turns, but they WILL initiate turns quickly if you force it (might be the asymmetrical shape). I find I can make random shaped turns more easily with this ski than any other I own, so I love it in the trees. They're just plain fun, and without sounding too cheesy, you can really express yourself with these skis!

I have my Reverend's mounted with Dynafit bindings, and have spent several days in the steeps (45-60-degrees) with these. They are very rewarding skis when you let them run fast and really edge hard, since they seem to handle variable conditions and chop very well. They excel at speed. As mentioned previously, they also skin well, since they're really light for such a big ski. When you're tired or just don't want to ski at 100% effort, they're a handful, since initiating turns seems to take more effort than many skis (I may have a too-big ski at 185cm for my 180# carcass). Overall, an amazingly light crud and cement buster, but you have to be strong to initiate.

Wow, this boot is a monster. They're extremely responsive, and since the 4 buckles offer so much support and control, they're ideal for pushing big, heavy skis. The bellows took awhile to gain some suppleness, so the break-in period was a bear, but now these are definitely my favorite tele boot. I also have the Garmont Ener-G's, and I just vastly prefer Scarpa's overlapping liner over Garmont's tongue liner. The Scarpa's tend to pack out much less over a couple seasons compared to the Garmont's, too. One caveat: these are HEAVY boots, and make touring harder (my T-Race's outweigh my Ener-G's by over a pound for the pair). If you have a "Scarpa foot", you'll love these boots!

Okay, I love the F1's...don't get me wrong. For all-day touring (I don't rando race, or anything), paired with a light, soft-ish ski like the old Voile Carbon Surf's, these boots simply cannot be beat. The vertical feet just rack up, since these boots are extremely light. Just be warned: you will likely have to completely change the way you ski, since these boots offer little fore-aft support on the downhill. Not only will you have to be more balanced fore-aft, but left-right as well. You have to be much more "centered" on your skis. It took me a couple days in the BC to get used to it. Once you get the technique down, these boots are a real joy to use. I haven't tried pushing big, heavy skis, but I can't imagine it'd be very easy.

I've owned these boots for over two years, and I'm very happy with them. There are more and more 4-buckle Dynafit compatible boots coming out, and the Mega-Rides are still holding their own since the ratio of stiffness-to-weight is very high. I use them equally at the resort and in the BC, and they work well at both...still the gold standard of 4-buckle, Dynafit compatible boots, as far as I'm concerned.

If you're looking for a warm, down parka, this one is an amazing value. First, it's definitely one of my best looking ski jackets, with plenty of "steeze" (as the kids like to say). It's also amazingly warm, keeping me toasty during a particularly cold snap here in Tahoe when me and some buds were stuck on a chair for over 30 minutes due to a wind-hold. Keep in mind that this jacket runs BIG. My chest is around 44", which usually puts me in a L/XL, but the medium jacket was plenty big. For really cold days, I couldn't be happier with this parka.

These bindings seem custom-made for me! I'd previously toured with Hammerhead bindings in the #1 position, but found that switching from #4 to #1 to be time-consuming and difficult. The O1's switch to touring mode in about 2 seconds, then back to ski mode in another 2 seconds. They tour like a dream, and remind me of my Scarpa F1's and Dynafit Comfort's in effortless-ness. They're equally impressive in ski mode, feeling about as active as my HH's in #4. Bottom line: they're truly excellent in tour and ski mode, especially if you're looking for an active binding. PS-I've tried the Ridiculously Stiff cartridges, and they're aptly named. Unless you drive huge skis extremely aggressively with super-stiff 4-buckly boots, I'd stick with the MidStiff, or even FreeFlex cartridges. The MidStiff's are plenty stiff, and I'm a huge fan of heavy pre-loaded, stiff springs. For powder-dedicated boards, the FreeFlexes would make sense, too. One other interesting note: I wear a 25.5 mondo T-race, and they work fine with either the small or regular sized bindings. So, if you're near 25.5 mondo Scarpa's, you could get away with either size binding (whichever is available/cheaper).

I'm very impressed with the quality of this kit. The instructions are very, very clear, and the kit is high quality. Keep in mind: splitting a perfectly good snowboard is not for the squeamish, but for backcountry forays with a snowboard, there is no other way to go!