Written by Mike Shaw | 23 March 2010

A normal Wasatch winter makes it hard to get to work on time. It's the same principle that makes the U of U a 5+ year school - too many deep days, too few adrenalin filled lecture halls. Not this year though. El Nino forgot about us, or maybe just decided to give us a season long dose of everybody else's normal. Normal ain't bad - groomers at Alta and the Bird have been excellent - but the soft stuff has been measured in inches rather than feet. It's out there if you want to earn it - and why not get your cardio in the back country instead of the gym? - but a persistent weak layer has pegged the avalanche danger for almost the entire season. High danger = low angled tree skiing. Wa, wa, wa, another day of  tree skiing? Like my Mom used to say - beats a sharp stick in the eye!

With that being said, there's still work to do - insole shapes to evaluate, liner modifications to test. Check out a typical test session. This is why I try to get to work on time:

The small production run of liners we did this season proved out our overall design, but also gave us a few things to think about for generation II. The main tweak will be increased hold down power in the heel and ankle area. As is, it's adequate for many combinations of foot/shell/skiing styles, but I think it needs to be more positive for an even larger cross section of skiers. We also want to expand the ability of the liners to interface with snowboard and AT boots. People buy things for lots of different reasons, and you can't always count on a resulting perfect/proper fit. That's the point of custom - to make up the difference between imperfect and improper.

The easy way to get hold down is to add material. We'll do that - a little in the HD, and even a little more in the softer FX - but will also add two additional mods: a lace system, and proprietary external pads. Laces are an effective way to secure everything during the molding process, and they work great for minimizing heel lift without resorting to excess material and bulk. They'll be a huge plus for snowboard and AT boots, both of which require a more active foot than alpine skiing. On the downside, it becomes a little harder to get a boot on and off, so they'll be removable for those who don't see the need for them. The external pads will be trick, plain and simple! More on those in a future post.

Today's setup: a DFP Podium custom insole, inside a DFP FX custom liner, inside a Garmont Radium shell, clicked into a Dynafit Comfort binding, mounted on a K2 Coomback ski. Easy on the up, smooth on the down.