So it is August and we are in the midst of a heatwave here in BC. What better time to have a box full of new merino wool goodies show up from Icebreaker Clothing! We decided that we would head to the mountains to see what we could find and test out the new product.

As expected, our enthusiasm far out-measured the abundance of snow as you can see by the greenery in the accompanying photos. None-the-less, Todd decided to practice trudging through creeks in the new Icebreaker GT200 zip. He seems seems to be the one to end up in them when we are on skis so the practise is good for him...

Next up was the new for this season Icebreaker RealFleece 260 Full Zip Top. Now this comes in hooded and non-hooded versions and is quite the sharp looking piece. It has refined, articulated stitching and fits amazingly. It is a little too warm out there in the BC backcountry to give you a full review of the latest offerings but when the snow starts to fall, be sure to check back for our point of view.

In the meantime, get down to your local Icebreaker Dealer and check out the new threads. Especially the RealFleece 260, the original release of RealFleece 320 sold out real fast last season.

Enjoy the rest of summer because winter is coming!

PS – sweet poles eh?!

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Thumbing through the pages of a buyer's guide for the 2010/2011 ski season and one thing is quite obvious: there seems to be a plethora of new ski companies designing the latest and greatest new skis. We love this new movement in the ski industry where small manufacturers are developing new shapes, using interesting materials and building a story into every ski. Ski Logik is one of the many new kids on the block and by our accounts, have the product to stay around for a while.

On a recent trip to Wildhorse Catskiing and Valhalla PowderCats, Dave Ellison (local Kootenay skier and Ski Logik rep) slid us a couple of sets of skis to try. Armed with a pair ofHowitzers and Dave personal set of Bomb Squads we hit the cat aiming at discovering what makes these skis special.

First things first, these skis are beautiful! Ski Logik hand-makes each pair of skis putting a little sweat and custom artwork in each pair. They don't have a traditional screened top sheet either. Instead, the have a unique wood veneer artwork placed on top of the full wood construction (sidewalls included!). I didn't want to scratch these babies, I just wanted to sit and stare at them. The style reminded me of my custom cedar guitar with darker wood inlays and mother of pearl up the fret board. Seriously, they are on to something with the look of these skis.

But looks can only get you so far...The real question always is: What do they ski like?

Let's start with the Howitzer. First impressions where light, quick, nimble, yet with tremendous powder to the edge. For skiing the steeps and deeps all day long there are wider options out there, but the Howitzer would be hard to catch on the skin up. (Plus, you would look damn good waiting at the top with your hot looking skis!). The Howitzer really felt like an all mountain machine. A one ski quiver if you will. It definitely held it's own in the powder and also had characteristics that would make it a wicked touring ski as well as an all round ripper at the ski resort.

Now, the Bomb Squad is a different story. This ski lives up to it's name. It is bomber tough. Skiing through the trees they begged me to go faster. Upon coming into an open powder field I had to let these babies run. And run they did. I spent the entire day trying to find the top end of the Bomb Squads and never found it. You can bet I want more days on a pair! Even though the Bomb Squad is a bigger profile it didn't feel big and cumbersome. It still had a hint of the nimbleness of it's younger sibling which I think separates it from alot of the other independent skis out there.

The hard facts:

The Howitzer

Size: 186 cm
Tip: 137 mm | Waist: 110 mm | Tail: 131 mm
Weight: 3900 g

The Bomb Squad

Size: 188 cm
Tip: 148 mm | Waist: 122 mm | Tail:143 mm
Weight: 4300 g

Would we ski em?

Heck yes! The Bomb Squad was the overall favorite for the powder hound and definitely the ski of choice if you are packing some muscle. The Howitzer suprised us and would be the perfect ski if you do some skinning or just want a super nimble and light set up. The wood construction is very tough and looks fantastic. Dave had about 40 days on his already and they looked almost new. It feels kind of cool skiing on a piece of art!

Where to buy?

See our friends at Union Cycle - http://www.unioncycle.ca/

Company Website: http://www.skilogik.com

The new Timex Expedition WS4 is a lot of watch: altimeter, barometer, thermometer, chronograph, alarm and compass. It even tells time! It's also unapologetically macho which not venturing too far into the land of overwrought wrist weights.

Its got the standard stuff you'd expect for other Timex sport watches, making it water resistant to 50 meters and lit completely by Indiglo. The default strap is rubber, but it can also be mounted to a fabric strap so it can be worn on the outside of heavy gear.

Source ( Boing Boing Gadgets )