Though marketed for “competitive ski mountaineering,” and complying with the minimum requirements of the International Ski Mountaineering Federation, I have a feeling that its featherweight design will attract more than lycra-clad rando racers. Who wouldn’t want to shave a few more ounces from their packs?
Having spent numerous ski tours climbing and skiing steep, bulletproof terrain, I found myself wanting some added security in the often-precarious ski mountaineering environment. The latest model of the Black Diamond Whippet provided what I was looking for.
A recent perusal of Mark Twight’s self aggrandizing (not to mention downright brilliant) “Kiss or Kill” brought me to the following passage, in which Twight references partner Barry Blanchard’s out of body experience on the mountain: “I assumed it was a benign hypoxic hallucination, remembering a story in which Ed Webster saw a taco truck pull up next to him on the South Summit.”
