Reviews by User: Noah Howell (12)

Warning, this may read like a bad infomercial, but I'm really in love with these skis. How do you make 4" feel like 8", 8" feel like 16" and over 2 feet of snow the most fun you've ever had. Behold the Megawatt! Hands up, or hands down the best powder ski I've ever had the pleasure of playing with. We've had some really deep days this winter and it's nice to finally be on a ski that I can say is fat enough. No more wallowing and poling your way out when the slope flattens, these boards bring the fast flotation. The front rocker helps in several ways. The ski turns quickly, it eliminates the classic tip dive tele tumble and makes crusts, upside down pow, and variable snow a pleasure. Accidentally ended up not skiing powder one day and it was a big surprise to find they actually rail on the hardpack as well. They have acquired the nickname "Mega-what", due to all the questions folks ask when they are seen touring around the backcountry. With big skis comes more weight to lug around and I'm down with "light is right", but these are worth every pound and they come with me whenever there's fresh snow on the ground now. If I wasn't clear, I like them very much and highly recommend them if you ski powder often.

The lines are blurred between resort, backcountry, frontcountry and sidecountry skiing. If I want to do a little of everything, in the same day, in the same boot, I can. This is high performance stability and control for taking the tele-turn to this next level everyone keeps talking about. With a free-pivot binding (the O1 perhaps) I don't mind the lack of a touring mode on the uphill and it leaves me thinking yipeee on the downhill.

Anybody remember 'The Animal'? It was a toy truck that when the going got tough it had claws that would pop out of the tires and it would climb anything. Tag line was 'Can anything stop The Animal'. Sorry for the tangent there, but that's how I feel using the Whippets. When the climbing gets steep, sketchy, icy or rocky these poles are a lifesaver. I've hooked trees, plugged em into moss, mud and rock. It's also nice in steep chutes to jam the picks in the snow and clip your pack, skis or other gear into the straps so you don't drop anything. I don't think they should be called 'self arrest poles', I think they are more of a climbing tool. I've taken some big long nasty falls and while attacking the slope for all I was worth the poles didn't arrest me. It seems your only chance is right at the moment of loosing control and the snow must be firm enough, but not too firm. Nice to have even then, but don't count on stopping yourself. These really are a must have for ski mountaineering.

I'm constantly changing over from skinning to skiing to filming and my hands get exposed and cold. It's nice to throw the Guides on and know my hands will warm right up. They have been my glove of choice for the past 2 seasons on the local slopes and distant expeditions. The long gauntlet style keeps the snow out and the leather gives good grip on poles, rock, rope and whatever I can get my hands on.

This helmet has all the great features like vents, fit, style, but they are all secondary to the main purpose, keeping your melon intact. And I've often wondered how these lightweight lids would really hold up to impact with a rock or tree. Managed to tumble through some cliffs head first the other day and I'm gladly here to say the helmet held up really well. Cracked, scratched and dented I think it will make it through the season unlike my skis. The only negative for me was that before head butting the mountain I managed to break off one of the vent sliders. This was really annoying, but it may just have been operator misuse?

Warm and really light weight. I used this for a quick and light overnight last fall while skiing in patagonia. I fell in love with it during out first night together. I'm 6'2" and there was plenty of room in the Long to stash boot liners in the bottom and a few layers I wanted to keep warm and some gear i needed to dry out through the night. The neck baffling is really cozy and allows you to keep your face warm without breathing into your bag which makes your bag damp. There are few pieces of gear I find that couldn't use some improvement, but I really can't find any issues with this bag.

Toasty warmth and durability earn this piece 5 stars and a place in my pack. I've taken this bad boy to AK and Patagonia over the past year and it's been awesome. This is a good expedition/winter camping jacket. Packs down small enough to haul around for day touring and then makes a great pillow at night. Key piece in the winter arsenal.

I believe in the quiver and the Havoc rounds out the skinny end of my tool bag really nicely. This is the ski for slicing and dicing in the sketchy steeps. I love how quick it is to come around and grab hold of the slope. It's light and we all know that's right, but she'll also rip fast and solid once things open up. I find it's too narrow for pow, but I'm a big fella trying to make tele turns and I need a bigger platform underfoot. Size=185cm, I'm 6'2" 190lbs, skied with O1 binding and Scarpa T1 or T-Race

Big fan of the titanium spork. It's really strong and won't break like too many lexan utencil's I've tried. The only draw back is that it's really cold to eat of metal in freezing temps. Can double as a tent stake or a rappel anchor in a pinch.

The Detonator fits well, reveals the terrain in low light and won't fog unless I'm really working hard and don't have the vents cleared. My friend Dylan says, "If you can see over it, ski over it", tough to do if your goggles are foggy. Great to watch a small company grow with hard work, good customer service and innovative technology.

This shirt breathes, sheds light snow and fights the wind, those are good things. I wear this top skiing everyday with just a light t-shirt underneath and I don't have to fuss around too much with layering until I'm finished hiking and ready to ski. It's a simple layer that does a lot.

The "puffy", a key piece in the "hey I go in the mountains" look. Well, the Phantom will actually be of benefit when you make it out into the hills. If light is right then this is the jacket Dick Cheney duck hunts in. And at 800 fill it's nice and toasty while you're waiting for the paramedics to come while thinking up excuses for shooting your friend in the face. I wear the sapphire because it really compliments my eyes.