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Build My Own FeedThe Journal is dedicated to the sports and people that make Black Diamond what it is.
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ski testing in Saas-Fee, Switzerland
July 2009 Saas-Fee, Switzerland 3500m above sea level The glacier high above Saas-Fee finally began to regularly freeze and the summer ski season went into full-swing just after the 4th of July. And while most of the skiers up there were eyeing the kickers in the funpark or the gates on the race course, Black Diamond Europe's own Thomas... [READ MORE]
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Consumer Question: What kind of skins should I buy?
Questions, comments, conundrums? You can always give our customer service crew a call or email and they'll get you dialed in with the proper info and beta on anything and everything Black Diamond makes. Heck, if you're lucky you'll make it into an upcoming Customer Question post here at the Black Diamond Journal just like this guy!... [READ MORE]
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BD athlete Hanna Mellin summits in Greenland
Black Diamond Grassroots athlete Hanna Mellin teamed up with six other Swedish climbers for a four-week trip to the famed towers of Greenland's Tasermiut Fjord, where she and Hilde Bjørgaas made what is thought to be the first female team ascent of the 800-meter Nalumasortoq as well as other climbs. Below is Hanna's report from her Greenland... [READ MORE]
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BORN TOO LATE: Are All the Great Alpine First Ascents Gone? By Simon Anthamatten
I get up, draw back the curtains and there she is: the Diva of the Alps, the Matterhorn. The sight of this mountain shouldn’t really fascinate me so much anymore. I grew up at the foot of this beautiful gneiss pyramid and have stood on its summit dozens of times. But fascinated I am. What must it be like to be the first to climb... [READ MORE]
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ROCKLANDS: Nalle Hukkataival visits South Africa's famed boulders
I woke up when the plane wheels hit the tarmac. The flight captain announced over the intercom: "Welcome to Cape Town, the most beautiful city in the world" After picking up my rental car I hit the chaotic morning traffic. Driving on the wrong side of the road definitely made things interesting, along with the fact that the only driving... [READ MORE]
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Winger For The Weekend #14
We'll be honest—we've been saving this Winger for awhile, waiting for the first flakes of the ski season to fall (Josh Rhea, our Associate Content Editor, sent it to us in March). Now that the Utah ski areas have sparked up their snow cams and on Wednesday Loveland in Colorado officially became the first ski area to open in North America this... [READ MORE]
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ONE VISION, ONE DREAM: Dodo Kopold’s quest for the High Tatras Traverse
The High Tatras Mountains are situated in the middle of Europe, on the border of Poland and Slovakia. Climbing in High Tatras has a long history—from 1921, when the first route was climbed by mountaineers, till now when the climbing has become very popular. But many extremly hard routes were climbed in the gold age 20 years ago by famous... [READ MORE]
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Flakes: the latest ski film from Powderwhore
The crew at Powderwhore have cranked out another stunning ski film for 2009/10, this one titled Flakes. Full of epic pow that's sure to get you frothing for the white room, Flakes is your must-see ski flick of 2010. Watch the full teaser here and go to their website to find showtimes and locations. ... [READ MORE]
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QC Lab: What is the strongest rappel knot?
I was climbing in Yosemite last summer and, while at a belay, was talking to a party from Bozeman, Montana. They noticed all the proto gear on my rack and deduced that I was from Black Diamond. My partner and I bailed (typical) and they were watching me like a hawk. I asked what they were looking at, and they said, "We want to see how the QA... [READ MORE]
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How-to Video: Glove Sizing
Think you know your glove size? Maybe, maybe not. Learn how to measure the exact glove size for your hand. How-to Video: Fitting Black Diamond Gloves and Mitts from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo . [READ MORE]
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Tommy Caldwell's 5 Favorite Pitches on El Cap
My body hangs limply in my harness, eyes drooping shut, hands bleeding, feet swollen; buffeted by the wind in a cold shady corner, 2800 feet off the ground. For 19 hours I have been fighting, screaming, falling and pushing my mind and body—hard—all in the name of free climbing another route on El Cap in a day. This time it’s... [READ MORE]
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Winger For The Weekend #11
Winger #11 comes from the Marketing Department's Randy Hankins (aka Rando, aka The Randmeister) who was narrowly edged out last week by the beer dominoes . Rando's nominee survived the cut this week, though, and, hey, look at that... it even involves climbing! (But none that we would recommend trying...) The video's key footage is around the... [READ MORE]
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Winger For The Weekend #12
It was a struggle to wade through the dozen or so candidates for Winger #12 that have been sent to us over the past five days. What did we want? Funny? Weird? Sports? Music? Animation? Naked midgets wrestling in a vat of pudding? We had them all to choose from. In the end we went for this little vid, a sweet little toe-tappin' number (sent to... [READ MORE]
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BD athlete Toni Lamprecht makes an 8a multi-pitch first ascent in France's Verdon Gorge
During August/September 2009, Black Diamond athlete Toni Lamprecht teamed up with Uli Strunz and Benno Wagner and spent several weeks in the Gorge du Verdon with the target to establish a first ascent on one of the amazing limestone walls in this area in the south of France. The result is Le Vieux et la Mer ("Old Man and the Sea"),... [READ MORE]
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Cheapest, most ghetto crampon ever?
Pep Olle, our sales agent in Spain, sent us the following email and photos of what has to be the cheapest, most ghetto crampon set-up ever. From: Pep Olle Subject: worst crampon Date: Donnerstag, 17. September 2009 16:33 Hello, I met two Argentinians on the way to Aneto—the highest summit in the Pyrenees.... [READ MORE]
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Justice ski wins Outside Magazine's Gear of the Year Award for Winter 2009
GREAT NEWS! Our new Justice ski has been awarded the prestigious Gear of the Year award from Outside Magazine in their annual Winter Buyer's Guide. The Verdict won Gear of the Year in 2007, and in 2009 the winner is the Justice, a ski born from the groundbreaking powder-specialist geometry of our Megawatt but with a toned-down performance... [READ MORE]
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Video of real-life avalanche burial and AvaLung usage
On a heli-ski trip out of Haines, AK in April 2008, experienced backcountry skier Chris Cardello was prepared and knew the risks. He was also wearing a helmet cam. This footage is an intense first person perspective on being caught in an avalanche, riding it to burial, breathing through a Black Diamond AvaLung and being rescued by trained... [READ MORE]
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How-to Video: AvaLung Packs
Get the run-down on Black Diamond AvaLung pack features, fitting and proper use. How-to Video: Using a Black Diamond AvaLung Pack from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo . [READ MORE]
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Winger for the Weekend #13
“I'm out today at 1PM. I'll be back on Monday. Have a great weekend and enjoy the splitter weather! Super stoker!!!” That was the last thing we heard from our esteemed Journal editor JT, as he headed out the door for some epic weekend climbing. Not even an hour later, we realized: he hadn’t left us with a Winger for the Weekend.... [READ MORE]
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Abond climbing in the limestone paradise of Yangshuo, China
Liuyong Bang (aka, Abond) calls sport-climbing mega-zone Yangshuo, China his home and with all that primo limestone around it's no surprise he's become one of Asia's strongest climbers with a host of 5.14 ascents to his credit. Check out this video Mike Call and Boone Speed made of Abond sending in Yangshuo. Abond... [READ MORE]
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World record paragliding flights in the Karakorum
While not necessarily a typical climbing expedition Black Diamond would support, once Thomas de Dorlodot from Belgium gave us the full details of his planned trip to the Karakorum with Ramon Morillas we knew we’d want to help them out with gloves, harnesses, helmets, tents and piolets for such a wild adventure. Their goal: break the... [READ MORE]
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Customer question: What kind of ski poles should I buy
We often get the following question from friends, family and strangers alike: What Black Diamond ski poles should I buy? Simple question, complicated answer. Black Diamond specializes in adjustable poles that are more versatile than fixed length poles, especially in the backcountry, and we have a wide range of price and feature options if... [READ MORE]
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How-to Video: Setting up BD Telemark Bindings
Get your tele kit dialed: learn how to change your Black Diamond binding cartridges, adjust cartridge tension for your boot size and use the O1’s resistance-free touring mode. How-to Video: Using the Black Diamond Telemark Bindings (O1, O2 & O3) from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo . [READ MORE]
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BD Wallpaper: Hot-Forged Biners
No, those are not Polish sausages. HotWire biners emerging from the Black Diamond hot forge oven. Choose a size to download: 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 [READ MORE]
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THE MARTINIS INVADE GRAUBÜNDEN: Martin Webrant and Martin Söderqvist ski epic powder in Switzerland
Pow, more pow and even more pow! Every freeriders wet dream: a winter with fresh cold snow on big mountains day in and day out. A dream you seldom get to live, but for us this winter the dream came true. After looking at snow-reports and webcams troughout the fall and beginning of the winter, there where no doubts that there was tons of snow... [READ MORE]
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BD athlete Nico Favresse and team make 5.13 A1 ascent in Baffin Island
Nico Favresse has been sending us sporadic reports from his two-month expedition to Baffin Island (read updates #1 , #2 , #3 , #4 and #5 ) and has now just returned with great news of a near all-free 5.13 A1 ascent of the 850-meter west face of Mount Asgard. Favresse, teamed with his brother Olivier, Sean Villanueva and Stephane... [READ MORE]
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Video Tour of Black Diamond HQ
Black Diamond Equipment found a home at the foot of the Wasatch range, in Salt Lake City, after moving from Ventura, CA in 1991. Since moving in we've gradually adapted a Bavarian-style commercial complex of retail shops, offices and grocery store into a state-of-the-art facility for the design, testing and manufacturing of climbing/skiing... [READ MORE]
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Upgrade to stainless video: the benefits of stainless steel crampons
Learn about the performance advantages of stainless steel and how we have used it in the constuction of our crampons from Bill Belcourt , Black Diamond's Climbing Hardgoods Manager. Stainless steel is used in Black Diamond's Fall 2009 Cyborg , Sabretooth and Serac crampons. [READ MORE]
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BD employee Tanja Kulkies climbs east ridge of Switzerland's Piz Palü
Tanja Kulkies is Black Diamond Europe's marketing coordinator and also one of their most passionate climbers, spending most of her summer weekends scaling the high peaks of the Alps (not a bad place for a climber to work!). Below is a short email from her most recent five-star alpine jaunt, this time up the east ridge of Switzerland's Piz... [READ MORE]
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BD employee Thomas Hodel climbs the north ridge of Switzerland's Weisshorn
Thomas Hodel , the Product and Marketing Manager at our European HQ in Switzerland, recently sent us some beautiful photos of his quick trip into the Alps last week along with the brief note below. Looks like there's still quite a bit of snow in the high peaks of Europe! From: Thomas Hodel Subject: mountaineering in the alps... [READ MORE]
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Peter Metcalf explains the origins of the Black Diamond name and logo
The local television station in nearby Park City sat down with our CEO and founder Peter Metcalf for an in-depth interview. Here's one insightful clip from the interview where Peter details the origins of our company name and logo. [READ MORE]
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OFF-PISTE IN LA GRAVE: Ptor Spricenieks on a two-day backcountry ski trip into France’s National Parc des Ecrins.
It was a classic La Grave day. By the time we had coffees at Lionel’s Bar and passed by the BD Test center downtown, the crack of noon loomed on the horizon. But a wise man once told me that there’s always time for a second cup and so we let the day warm up a bit more while having another at the 3200 top station restaurant. Today we’d... [READ MORE]
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THE GREAT WHITE WAIT: Mark Welgos patience is rewarded in Canada
Here I was in Revelstoke, British Columbia, the powder capital of the world, with no snow. Great… after driving 1500 miles in two days I was bummed. Back in Aspen, where I had just departed from, the conditions were perfect and it left me wondering why I had even left. Revelstoke’s early season snow was followed by a long cold dry spell,... [READ MORE]
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Carabiner Testing Video
Our QA team breaks hundreds of biners a year during the design and manufacturing process. This video illustrates the three different configurations we use when pull-testing our carabiners; closed gate, open gate and minor axis. In addition to these batch tests every single carabiner is tested to one half of it's rated strength.... [READ MORE]
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BD donates 650 pairs of Gloves to Eastern Europe.
Charity knows no borders - that's the Mission Statement of the organization ‘Hilfe für Osteuropa' (Aid To Eastern Europe) of Todtnau-Seelscheid e.V., Germany. BD is supporting this charity organization with 650 pair of gloves that will be delivered to needy recipients in Romania and Moldavia. This way, the winter will bring more joy than... [READ MORE]
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Winger For The Weekend #15
Our technical illustrator by day and an accomplished artist by night (you'll see his illustrations regularly in Alpinist and Climbing magazines, as well as in a selection of limited circulation eastern European fetish publications and covers of Nora Roberts romance novels), Mike Tea sent us this William Shatner remix music video/tweaker... [READ MORE]
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Winger For The Weekend #16
Based out of Reinach, Switzerland with the rest of the BD Europe crew, Kathi Krause is our European Marketing Coordinator (and a serious 5.13 cranker). Kathi (pronounced "ka-tea") is a massive fan of the WInger For The Weekend, so we decided to let some of her German humor enter into the Winger mix by asking her for a video of her own choosing.... [READ MORE]
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BD Sales Rep Roger Strong on how to properly place an ice screw
The video below shows Black Diamond Sales Rep Roger Strong giving a clinic at Hyalite Canyon during the Bozeman Ice Festival on how to properly place an ice screw. Roger provides some great insight into what to look for in a placement, angle of placement and method of placement. Roger Strong ice screw clinic. from... [READ MORE]
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Efficient Power Technology: Inside Black Diamond ski design and construction
Our freeride skis are designed for the modern skier who demands maximum performance with no limitations. Watch this video as Thomas Laakso , our Ski Line Category Director, details the design philosophy and construction technologies used in our skis. Get more info on all of Black Diamond's skis at:... [READ MORE]
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How Rocker Affects Ski Length
“What length ski should I buy?” It’s a question we hear more than almost any other heading into each new ski season. Since the advent of fat skis and raised tails—two key factors that can dramatically alter a ski’s running length and surface area—the answer has been an ever-changing target. And over the past few years, yet another... [READ MORE]
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