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Brooks Range Alaska - Winter Classic Trip report
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 4:20 pm
by captainswallowtail
Howdy, its been a while.
Here's TR from last April. Enjoy!
https://ericparsons.exposure.co/2022-wi ... ss-classic
Re: Brooks Range Alaska - Winter Classic Trip report
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 4:56 pm
by spopepro
Thanks for the great write up!
Man... gotta get serious about a plan to do this sometime. Sounds amazing out there.
Re: Brooks Range Alaska - Winter Classic Trip report
Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2023 9:08 pm
by Nick BC
That looks like an awesome endeavour, well done! Great photos too. It looks like Dvnafit toepieces on the later Glittertinds. Did you have a heel piece too - or go full Johnny
Re: Brooks Range Alaska - Winter Classic Trip report
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2023 4:47 pm
by captainswallowtail
Yep, Just toes pieces on BC55's. The heals are simple plates with a wire riser.
Locking the boot cuff is enough to survive most things.
Re: Brooks Range Alaska - Winter Classic Trip report
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2023 6:57 pm
by fisheater
That is one heck of an adventure! Thank you for sharing. It was wonderful reading about your adventure and seeing your photos. It also makes me a little proud to be a part of this community, where adventures such as yours are posted.
Thank you
Re: Brooks Range Alaska - Winter Classic Trip report
Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 8:15 am
by Transplantskier
It looked like one person in your group was using NNN BC, which I know are typically not advised by the people into the Winter Classics events. How did his boots seem to do versus the AT toe piece approach?
Re: Brooks Range Alaska - Winter Classic Trip report
Posted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 9:45 am
by lowangle al
Great TR, I love the Brookes Range.
Re: Brooks Range Alaska - Winter Classic Trip report
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 3:57 pm
by ochotona_ak
spopepro wrote: ↑Thu Jan 26, 2023 4:56 pm
Man... gotta get serious about a plan to do this sometime. Sounds amazing out there.
No time like the present! Still got a few months to train too
http://www.scsalaska.com/skiclassic2.php
Re: Brooks Range Alaska - Winter Classic Trip report
Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2023 2:18 pm
by captainswallowtail
Transplantskier wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 8:15 am
It looked like one person in your group was using NNN BC, which I know are typically not advised by the people into the Winter Classics events. How did his boots seem to do versus the AT toe piece approach?
Yes, John was using the Alfa polar boots with intuition liners. The good is his feet were warm and did not need overboots. The bad is poor edge control and torsional stiffness. He struggled skating and managing an edge on the river / overflow ice.
And - of course his boots still froze into the bindings. He's not going to use them again this year.
My theory is a lot of the Scandinavian expedition focused gear that is more widely available like Alfa, Asnes is really geared towards flat slogging, crossing Greenland, Antartica etc. When you have more diverse mountain conditions the setup suffers.
Re: Brooks Range Alaska - Winter Classic Trip report
Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2023 2:28 pm
by JB TELE
captainswallowtail wrote: ↑Fri Feb 10, 2023 2:18 pm
Transplantskier wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 8:15 am
It looked like one person in your group was using NNN BC, which I know are typically not advised by the people into the Winter Classics events. How did his boots seem to do versus the AT toe piece approach?
Yes, John was using the Alfa polar boots with intuition liners. The good is his feet were warm and did not need overboots. The bad is poor edge control and torsional stiffness. He struggled skating and managing an edge on the river / overflow ice.
And - of course his boots still froze into the bindings. He's not going to use them again this year.
My theory is a lot of the Scandinavian expedition focused gear that is more widely available like Alfa, Asnes is really geared towards flat slogging, crossing Greenland, Antartica etc. When you have more diverse mountain conditions the setup suffers.
I wonder if the new xplore binding has solved the issue with icing up.
Also wondering what options there are for super warm non-plastic boots that have good support for downhill turns.