Optimal mounting positions for SCARPA’s tech-fitted ski boots

Posted on 10.27.2011 by Brian

Within SCARPA’s Alpine Touring and Freeride ski boot fleets, including NTN telemark boots with tech fittings, mounting procedures and positions aren’t the same across the board. With different lower cuffs, scaffos, as described by the Italians, SCARPA has different positions for optimal pivots within four touring categories.

Gord McArthur’s open invitation to go mixed climbing with him in Bull River Canyon

Posted on 10.21.2011 by Brian

SCARPA athlete, Gord McArthur, has discovered a plethora of potential new routes in Bull River Canyon outside of his hometown of Cranbrook, B.C., and the temperatures are starting to drop. Gord is looking for other interested parties to help explore and develop some mixed climbing routes in the canyon. “For years I had been staring [...]

2011 Ultimate Groove Hjorundfjord Trip

Posted on 10.03.2011 by Brian

SNA athlete Heather Paul Featherman lead a team of 11 women into the fjords of Norway to sail and ski. The combination of salt air and corn snow was magical.

SCARPA Maestrale, TX Pro win Backcountry Mag 2011 Editor’s Choice Award

Posted on 08.25.2011 by Brian

Here in the more northern parts of the country, there are many signs that – despite it still being summer – ski season is most decidedly on the way. The nights are getting cooler. Bars conversations inevitably turn to what gear you should be on this season. And the ski mags’ gear guides are starting [...]

Unaweep Wall

Posted on 08.24.2011 by Brian

Rob Pizem, a member of SCARPA’s rock climbing team, has plans to free climb Unaweep Wall in Colorado this coming weekend. In Rob’s words: “Unaweep Wall lies on the west end of Unaweep Canyon just outside Grand Junction, Colorado. It is a granite and metamorphic gneiss, an overlooked and underused rock climbing mecca. Most of the noteworthy and [...]

Will Gadd first to paraglide across four western Canada mountain ranges

Posted on 08.22.2011 by Brian

Calling it “the trip I’m most happy in my life to have gotten done,” Will Gadd, climber, paraglider, and SCARPA athlete, flew almost entirely self-supported from Vernon, British Columbia, to Canmore, Alberta, a distance of well over 200 miles, earlier this month. What’s more impressive than the distance, though, is the number of firsts: Paragliding [...]

SCARPA in the Field: Adventure updates from SCARPA athletes

Posted on 05.11.2011 by Brian

The month of May finds many of our SCARPA-shod friends scattered around the globe. Here’s just a sampling of where they are and what (altitude) they’re up to: Climber Eric Weihenmayer landed a spot on a new Mark Burnett-produced reality show, called ExpeditionImpossible. Eric can’t share too many detailes but he did reveal that he [...]

SCARPA Gecko Guide field review by Jim Donini

Posted on 04.28.2011 by Brian

Jim Donini (via Wikipedia) – (born 1943, Philadelphia, PA) is an American rock climber and alpinist, noted for a long history of cutting-edge climbs in Alaska and Patagonia. He was president of the American Alpine Club from 2006 to 2009, and a 1999 recipient of the AAC’s Robert and Miriam Underhill Award. “I’ve done a [...]

Backpacker Magazine highlights SCARPA Terra, Luna for ‘cushy comfort’ in a full-leather hiking boot

Posted on 03.23.2011 by Brian

Backpacker Magazine’s annual spring gear guide just hit the newsstands, and SCARPA was once again honored to earn another strong endorsement for its footwear from one of the most core magazines (and probably the most rigorous testing process) in the industry, this time for the new Terra (men’s) and Luna (women’s) hiking/backpacking boots. The Terra [...]

Field Report: NTN Demo at 36th Annual North American Telemark Festival (NATO)

Posted on 03.16.2011 by Brian

To: Chris Clark, Field Marshall, SCARPA North America From: The Franconia Group, New England Represent! Date: 3/13/11 Event: The 36th Annual North American Telemark Festival, Mad River Glen, Vermont Weather: Windy, overcast with occasional snow squalls and temps warming up to the low 30’s Snow Conditions: Very firm, icy even by New England standards.  Rained [...]

Send it: Will Gadd on Helmcken Falls Ice Climbing

Posted on 03.08.2011 by Brian

Perennial ice climbing junkie and SCARPA athlete Will Gadd is a busy man. This winter he spent weeks with partner Tim Emmett exploring his dream cave, Helmcken Falls, a unique cavernous, ice covered playground. Spray On is his current project, and the name fits. Drawing from the moisture from the nearby falls, the feature looks [...]

Catching up with…Polar Explorer and Climate Change Champion Eric Larsen

Posted on 02.24.2011 by Brian

This last November SCARPA athlete and polar explorer Eric Larsen completed his Save the Poles expedition – and epic trip involving reaching both the North and South Pole and the summit of Mount Everest in a calendar year to raise awareness of Global Warming. He placed himself in the some of the world’s most remote, [...]

Upcoming: Kootenay Coldsmoke Powder Fest at Whitewater Ski Resort

Posted on 02.23.2011 by Brian

This coming weekend be ready for the full Nelson, BC Kootenay Cold Smoke Powder Fest at Whitewater Resort. The 5th annual four-day fest draws all the kooks in the Kootenays as well as skiers from across Canada and the US for a grassroots backcountry festival rife with beginner to advanced clinics, contests, films and revelry—all [...]

Big Mountain Telemark Skier, Martha Burley, on Switching to NTN Telemark System

Posted on 02.18.2011 by Brian

By Martha Burley NTN stands for New Telemark Norm – an entirely new telemark binding system that also needs a matching new style of telemark boot – basically instead of turning at the toe one now can turn at the forefoot without twisting the boot or binding.  The NTN system has been around a few [...]

deep in pow or warm winter bouldering… SCARPA’s team is getting after it

Posted on 02.09.2011 by Brian

Vicariously experience the professional athlete/world traveler adventure life through our climbing and ski teams’ weekly trip reports. SCARPA tele ripper, Chris Erikson, sends in proof that he is, indeed, working hard with this mini-trip report from his shoot for PowderWhore’s Television. Adam U returns from an exploration of Japan with this trip report: “Every local [...]

Word: How and Why we Love our Sales Reps

Posted on 02.02.2011 by Brian

SCARPA’s sales reps are the invisible force that connects SCARPA HQ to your wonderful local SCARPA dealer. They are the ultimate champions of the SCARPA brand and the products with a depth of knowledge about the sports, the company and the gear that is unmatched. And while a life on the road visiting exciting resort [...]

Red Rock Rendezvous Registration is Now Open

Posted on 01.11.2011 by Brian

Registration is now open for the annual spring climbing pilgrimage known as the Red Rock Rendezvous. presented by Mountain Gear.com. Hundreds of climbers and dozens of manufacturers will converge on the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area for the weekend (March 18-20.) Located about 15 miles west of Las Vegas, Nevada the RRCNS provides easy [...]

World Cup Telemark Racing with U.S. Team’s Knee-Dropping Diva, Lorin Paley

Posted on 01.05.2011 by Brian

Lorin Paley is fast out of the gate. The former Alpine ski racer turned Telemarker, Paley found the love of drop-knee glory when a former alpine skiing race coach recommended Telemark for her cross training. She never looked back. The SCARPA-sponsored athlete began racing in the World Cup in 07-08, and has since has become [...]

To shred suitably…you have to nail your ski, boot, binding set-up

Posted on 12.21.2010 by Brian

What do you like to ski? Powder? Bumps? Backcountry steeps? All of the above? <check> While there is no single ideal setup that will shred in every situation, pairing the right gear with the intended purpose can be the difference between a decent winter and a great one. The trick is in being honest with [...]

Steep skin tracks: Hate ‘em? Andrew McLean says don’t

Posted on 12.16.2010 by Brian

If there’s anyone qualified to riff on skin tracks, it’s Andrew McLean. The guy’s logged more time on climbing skins than most. And if there’s one topic that some folks love to bash on in the backcountry (other than dog poop on route), it’s steep skin tracks. Andrew’s take: Dealing with steep tracks is a [...]