Off-season. It’s as good a time as any to restore your ski gear back to its former glory. Correction: to let <em>other</em> people restore your ski gear back to its former glory. Preferably these people. Because they’re the best. And at least one of them is named Griz. Moving on...
Someone is about to slice your snowboard in half. And that’s a good thing. Because that someone is an engineer in Utah with a custom jig used for turning snowboards into backcountry splitboards. If anyone’s going to manhandle your gear, it damn well better be an engineer in Utah.
Meet Griz. He writes guidebooks on mountain biking. And sharpens ice gear. And is actually named Griz. Anyway, send your dullest crampons, ice picks and screws to him, and he’ll lovingly hand-file them to perfection with tools usually reserved for jewelers. Might as well ask for a monogram.
Your skis deserve to be pampered. Giving them a hug: acceptable. Sharpening and polishing them: getting there. Shipping them off to a $100,000 Austrian tuning machine that’ll sharpen and polish them with a stone belt grinder and ceramic edger: closer still. No, wait. That. Exactly that last one.
The art of kite repair seems to have gone the way of the dinosaur. Sad. Tragic, even. Kind of. Anyway, here’s WindFire Designs—a studio full of kite whisperers dedicated to keeping the craft alive. They’re going to make your snow kite good again. So hopefully you have a snow kite.
A deflated down jacket is a sign of weakness. And these outdoor-fabric specialists understand that. They’re trained in the highly specific craft of... restuffing feathers into coats. And waterproofing them. And patching up any stray holes. Hey, whatever your coat needs to feel young again.
