Jeremy

I'd say 15-20K or a nice 15-20 miles of touring does a pretty good job. I've found that skiing them downhill for a few thousand vertical speeds up the process considerably. Especially on hard-packed or groomed snow.

That's true, they're pretty up-front about the fact that this is designed to meet ISMF regulations. But, the fact is that there are a lot of naive consumers. I think it's fair to be very clear about this shovel's limitations. If it's mentioned in your description and again in the review I don't see that as a bad thing. It's great to tote around for a race, but I see this easily finding it's way into backcountry packs of the ill-informed because it's just so light and fun to pack! I have the shovel. I ...

This is a fine ultra-light shovel to stick in your race pack to meet 'full sized shovel requirements' imposed by most skimo races. How this satisfies risk analysts at the insurance companies that cover these races I'll never know. This is a "wink, wink' I've-got-a-shovel-shovel." Am I glad to race with it because it's so light? Yes. Would I have any confidence in having my life saved by a buddy using this shovel to find me? No. I suppose it's technically better than nothing and you could move some sn...

Camp USA is great about offering demos of their equipment at numerous COSMIC skimo races throughout Colorado. For this reason I've ended up using this helmet in races on about eight occasions. I do usually take the demo helmet over my bike helmet, but then an hour or so into the race I kind of wonder why I do so. There is nothing special about this helmet other than it's lighter than most other helmets you'll find. If that's the selling point, score one for Camp. That said, if this is supposed to be a ...

These skins are awesome. If you plan to race with them, buy two pair and put a bunch of miles or vertical on them prior to racing. The glide difference between these skins new and these skins sufficiently broken-in is amazing and substantial. If you race long enough, you're bound to lose a skin mid-race and my disappointment usually lies not in screwing up that particular race performance, but in losing a well-used Dynafit skin. You buy new and you feel slow. I skinned with two pair of these pretty har...