Price: $US30

The Lowdown: I’d never go riding without this multitool. The device is sturdy, and the screwdriver’s been helpful countless times I’d want to adjust bindings quickly. The handle and spring loaded release for the tool are easily useful with gloves on, and lock at 90 and 180 degree positions for more screwing speed or power. The tape measure is a bit short at 22 inches (55cm), so not that great for measuring between the feet when setting wide stances. The entire thing is extremely durable, except the plastic lid for the bits, wrench and pipe. The pipe itself works really really well, as you can see from the photos above where it is being demonstrated, packed, with basis leaves and pencil shavings. The aforementioned plastic shield working as a built in wind shield during lift rides. (You’ll still need a pipe lighter and not some cheap bic, though, on the mountain.) If I could redesign it, I’d lose the tape measure, and wrench and build in the lighter.

[Bakoda]

Gore-Tex’s most capable shell materials have always had to be stand alone, making them a little bit like wearing a crinkly sheet or garbage bag (without the sweat build up, of course). They’re taking their 3 layer shells and bonding them to interesting inner liner materials in an extension of their “comfort mapping” tech. So, if the chest and back need insulated, they can attach a piece of fleece there; or padded armour on elbows and shoulders; or antimicrobial liners on armpits. The sub brand isn’t new, but before, comfort mapping involved sewing, opening up the potential for unsightly seams and water leakage. Now they heat press the new layers in, so that there are no extra punctures in the outer layers, and things like pockets can be sewn now into the inner materials without causing punctures, either. The materials will be breathable, but not as breathable as the naked Gore-Tex layers we’re used to now. But it would be nice to have a jacket while peeling off a few undergarments. (I’ll take some pants with built in butt and knee padding, please.)

The other tech is called X-trafit. Most multi-layer gloves get some parts turned inside out when you take them off. Also, multi layer gore gloves have reduced mobility, grip and finger feel because of the slipping of each layer against another. X-trafit gloves fuse the inner and membrane together, while a grippy material between the inner liner and the outer shell makes the entire thing feel as if it’s one piece of material. The only downside is that these gloves are not going to be as warm as those with many different components.

Riding the new Peak2Peak Gondola that connects Whistler’s Blackcomb and Whistler Mountain summits, over 4.3km, must be exhilarating. But jumping off it is just insane.

Shortly after opening, these Two Red Bull sponsored lunatics rode a car to the mid point of the ride and jumped. That makes for a good preview of the fall, should one of these boxes full of 28 people ever fall out of the sky. (I couldn’t help thinking of this, I have a decent fear of heights.)

The Gondola itself holds records for its unsupported span of 3km between the two furthest towers, and for its rise, measuring over 400m above the ground at its highest point.

At 25 km per hour, it makes the traverse between the mountain tops, in 11 minutes. Contrast that with the usual ski down one peak, plus a drive to the base of the other, plus a number of gondola, chair and tow rides upward, which easily could take over an hour or three.

I’ve been to Whistler once before, and remember two things: a 45 minute run down blackcomb’s glacier to the village, and a Nintendo sponsored park. I guess I have yet another reason to go back.