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onthebelay

Two days exploring the Tena Valley.

Over the last weeks I’ve been completely overfed with great freeride sessions. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t really complain; I love the feeling of ungravity while drifting in powder, but the mountains in winter offer other amazing experiences that I was starting to miss, especially climbing on Ice and ski touring on the big mountains. However, the Val d’Aran decided to throw us again a meter of snow in two days and a half rising the avalanche risk to 4. Of course. I called my friend Carlos, who lives in Sabiñanigo and knows pretty well the mountains of the Tena valley.Read More »Two days exploring the Tena Valley.

Complex avalanche rescue situations with Manuel Genswein and Lauegi.

This week we’ve had a luxury visit in the Val d’Aran. Baqueira-Beret together with Lauegi, the center for avalanche forecasting on the Val d’Aran have organised an advanced rescue seminar with Manuel Genswein, an eminence in the field and representative of http://mountainsafety.info . The mission of Mountain Safety is to gather information and defining protocols under a scientific approach for optimizing avalanche situations.

Read More »Complex avalanche rescue situations with Manuel Genswein and Lauegi.

ISPO 2018 the good, the bad and the ugly.

And once again, Onthebelay attended the ISPO ready to rock! ISPO is the biggest european outdoor industry gathering and a great chance to see where the industry is heading, check the new products and get to meet small manufacturers that are doing interesting things but that we don’t hear that often about them. Well, and beer, Munich is always a great excuse to get one too many beers.Read More »ISPO 2018 the good, the bad and the ugly.

Testing the smartest active down jacket of the season. Helly Hansen Odin Veor.

There’s been a big buzz lately with the new Odin veor Jacket by Helly Hansen. You’ve probably read about the “air conditioned puffy jacket”, the “ultimate airflow jacket”, “the intelligent jacket” and so on. Well, I’ve been testing it intensively over the last two months, mostly on ski touring days, overnights in refuges (non heated), alpinism and just one day of climbing.

Read More »Testing the smartest active down jacket of the season. Helly Hansen Odin Veor.

About climbing a big corridor and dropping to a North face in the storm. (WITH VIDEO)

There is a mountain that we were seeking to tick off the list this season. The problem; it’s gigantic, quite alpine and faddy. Even though I’ve climbed a few times, it’s not all that easy to have everything on your side. We’ve been waiting since november to have stable enough conditions and saturday was that day.

Read More »About climbing a big corridor and dropping to a North face in the storm. (WITH VIDEO)

Testing the new P.RIDE airbag technology by ABS.

There is a big buzz around the new airbag system by ABS, the P.RIDE and I’m glad to be putting it to test over the next weeks. The most revolutionary technology of this backpack is the ability to put it in group mode, and tune the group mode according to different situations. Is this all? Well, in my opinion there is a lot more about this backpack. I’ve taken it now a few days touring and a few days freeriding from the lifts. I will keep updating the test as it will go forward.Read More »Testing the new P.RIDE airbag technology by ABS.

Light and tough. How well does this apply to the backcountry freeski planks?

There is no doubt that touring gear is been taking giant steps on the last seven years. It’s crazy how every other year a new game changer innovation keeps hitting the market. We are getting to the point were planks are excelling both in technical uphills and downhills, all achieved at really reduced weights. However, the truth is that we still have a lot to do, especially in terms of durability. In this article i’m going to review some personal experiences involving plank destruction and my criteria for choosing gear has evolved after those experiences.

Read More »Light and tough. How well does this apply to the backcountry freeski planks?

About avalanches and Mountain safety. Practical cases through video and images on a big day of pow.

Today I’ll be writing about avalanches and mountain safety. I’ve already gone through this topic in different posts and the truth is that there is great literature on the topic out there. Actually, last spring I wrote a pretty detailed article with Lauegi, the avalanche patrol of the Val d’Aran and one of the most reputed in Europe. However, this week I am going to do it on a different tone, way more practical and graphic.

Read More »About avalanches and Mountain safety. Practical cases through video and images on a big day of pow.