Gearzilla » JT Holmes Pick

Tahoe Super Ski Pass

nborchelt — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 08:00:06 +0000

www.squaw.com/season-pass
Two Mountains, one pass, at a price that is a bargain at either one. I have had a Squaw Valley USA season pass since the ski season of 1982-83. To me, lift access at Squaw Valley is a necessity akin to oxygen, water, or shelter. Suddenly this year, my pass works at a whole other ski resort, the adjacent Alpine Meadows. Alpine Meadows has open boundaries where I can find fresh pow days after a storm, and my choices for groomers and tree skiing just tripled. Squaw’s KT22 will always be my favorite lift with it’s brisk, six-minute-and-42-second ride to 1,700 vertical feet of incredibly playful terrain, but the merger of Alpine and Squaw created a 6,000+ acre playground, making Tahoe Super Pass pass holders very hard pressed to not find what they are looking for.

-JT Holmes

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Five Ten Chase Shoe

nborchelt — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 08:00:51 +0000

fiveten.com, 14.7 ounces
This stylish parkour shoe has good ventilation and is extremely lightweight, yet it is rugged enough for demanding hikes. Stealth rubber provides unmatchable grip whether you are running up a wall and doing a backflip, walking to the edge of a 3,000-foot cliff in your wing suit, or just walking to class. Based on looks and comfort alone the Chase became my shoe of choice for day-to-day use. The soft soles and glove-like fit provided a blister-free environment for my feet for several hikes up Norway’s Trollveggen, and since they are lightweight and low bulk, I choose them as an approach shoe for backcountry ski missions where they will spend more time in my pack than on my feet.
-JT Holmes

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Smith Optics Showdown Sunglasses

nborchelt — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 08:00:49 +0000

www.smithoptics.com
I love aviators. I kind of feel like Maverick from Top Gun when I rock them. Smith’s Serpico was my all time favorite pair, incorporating a wrap-around curve that added function to the timeless aviator fashion. It’s shortcoming was durability. The answer? the Showdown. They’re so light you forget you are wearing them, yet, they stands up to significant abuse. The upgrades–barrel hinges with a slight overlap at the arm junction and new way of holding the lens in place–mean that the shades forgives my occasional dropping and smashing. Coupled with Smith’s $10 Zipper Case, I am able to leave these in my cargo pocket while I ski, and in my checked luggage when I travel. I even put them in my wing suit’s leg wing on BASE jumps and skydives. It rattles around in there, but they come out unscathed.
-JT Holmes

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Go Pro HERO 2 Digital Camera

nborchelt — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 08:00:49 +0000

gopro.com
A huge improvement on the revolutionary HERO camera, the HERO 2 boasts a feature that takes an 11-megapixel photograph every half second, a massive improvement from the original HERO’s two-second increment, and has proven to be an invaluable in capturing radical action POV still shots. In a 12-second base jump, I get 24 shots rather than just six, so it eliminates the luck factor. When I follow Timy Dutton straight-lining through a chute, I will capture that spray-free moment in the crux. Sure, at the end of the day I have taken 700 plus photographs, but the camera is extremely lap-top friendly, so I can trash all but the money shots before I load them onto my computer, so I do not waste any valuable space on my hard drive. The new firmware produces an image quality that is indiscernible from HD camcorders more than triple its size, and its ten-shot burst feature allows me to take a full sequence while standing by as my bros huck cliffs on skis, step off mountains and giving over to gravity, or slide a rail in the local park. The only downside is that I get so fired up capturing images of other people, I get far fewer shots of myself!
-JT Holmes

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K2 Pilchuck Kit Backpack

nborchelt — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 08:00:27 +0000

www.k2skis.com
I need a backpack that I can forget I am wearing, otherwise, I may choose to forget to wear it. K2′s Pilchuck Kit keeps my rescue shovel and aluminum avy probe close enough to my body that it does not affect balance or require removal on a chairlift. This is the pack that I use for in-bounds pow skiing and sidecountry skiing, often at times when I’d contemplate going with out. I now have no excuse for preparedness–and I don’t wish that I did. The included Rescue Shovel can lock the shovel blade at 90 degrees, which I use for digging out my car in the morning and testing snow in a pit, and the handle is long enough that my back thanks me after I finish building a jump take-off. It also has features that I hope to never use, like ability to build a rescue sled and a metal blade burly enough to hack through hard avalanche debris to save a buried friend. The avalanche probe is stiff, strong, and as light as anything on the market, and I hope to never use it. It all comes in a minimalist backpack that is strong and simple. I strap my skis to it for hiking, and stash an energy bar or two inside for when the powder warrants skipping lunch.
-JT Holmes

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Five Ten Impact Shoe

nborchelt — Tue, 29 May 2012 08:00:49 +0000

fiveten.com, 18 ounces
The Five Ten Impact (both the high and low versons) was the shoes of choice when it came to the serious business of shooting and training for the wing suit flying and BASE jumping segments of Transformers 3: Dark of The Moon. The super-sticky Stealth rubber soles provided critical grip as our team of five climbed onto the skid of the moving helicopter in our wing suits amidst the skyscrapers of downtown Chicago. The soles thickness and softness absorbed the impact of our urban parachute landings. The shoe has a rugged design and great durability that proved itself while our team did 70 training jumps in the Swiss Alps. We always jumped five men at a time from spots where failed footing would have had terrible consequences; the man who slipped could have taken out the whole team, or let down an entire production. The Impact in its high top version gives great ankle support, while the low top fits more cleanly under a wingsuit. Lately, I have been using the shoe for its intended use of downhill mountain biking, and it grips the pedal so fiercely that I feel clipped in, but know that if I bail my feet are instantly free of the bike.
-JT Holmes

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Smith Optics Maze Helmet

nborchelt — Mon, 21 May 2012 08:00:55 +0000

www.smithoptics.com, 11.5 ounces
Smith’s Maze is the world’s lightest certified snow helmet. I prefer it to any helmet I have ever used because it looks cool, keeps my ears and head warm, and it can be stripped down for warmer missions or for wearing a beanie or balaclava underneath. It has less venting and airflow features than other helmets, but that adds to its clean look and warmth in storm days. Often, airflow features open and get crammed with snow and ice in the event of blowing snow or high-speed tomahawks in powder. The straps are adjustable and allow me to cinch the forehead down for high-speed use like wing suit flying and ski racing, or to simply be sure to eliminate dorky looking “goggle gap.” We used these helmets during the filming of Transformers 3 while flying wing suits in downtown Chicago and we looked and felt pretty bad-ass when doing so.
-JT Holmes

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Kiehl Cross-Terrain UV Face Protector SPF 50 Sunscreen

nborchelt — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:00:09 +0000

www.kiehls.com
This is best sun protection for a mountain man on the face of the planet. I live with five-o’clock shadow and sunscreen creams just don’t rub in well, they make me look like a grey-haired ghost. Keihl’s Cross-Terrain applies quick and clear and comes in a burly hockey puck-style container that I can leave in my pack or pocket to get smashed around during a tumble or a long travel and won’t leak or burst open make a mess. Its viscosity provides protection from extreme winds and is a worthy lip balm, so I don’t have to carry two items. In a pinch, after weather forced a retreat from Half Dome, I used it to lubricate some extremely chaffed body parts and found some clutch relief. SPF 50 means I put it on once, even at the highest altitudes, during the longest surf sessions and in the most extreme elements.

-JT Holmes

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K2 Sidestash Skis

nborchelt — Mon, 07 May 2012 08:00:14 +0000

www.k2skis.com, four pounds, nine ounces
This is a one-ski quiver that will never let you down. Its 108mm waist is coupled with a traditional tail, giving it reliability on firm snow and on the steeps as well as a predictable landing platform, while the all-terrain rocker in the tip gives you enough floatation to hang with any crew on even the deepest powder days. I traveled with the Sidestash as my only ski while competing on the entire Freeride World Tour in 2010, and it got me through steep, boney French competition venues, heavy pow days in Russia, and icy groomers in Switzerland. At home in Squaw Valley, where I have an arsenal of skis to choose from, go still with the Sidestash 95 percent of the time because I know I can charge those first few untracked runs and not have to switch up to a skinnier, less-rockered ski for the afternoon crud.

-JT Holmes

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Garmont Masterlite Thermo Ski Boot

nborchelt — Tue, 01 May 2012 08:00:55 +0000

Editor’s Note: This is the first post in a running series where we ask professional athletes to highlight a few of their all-time favorite pieces of outdoor and travel gear. First up? JT Holmes–skier, BASE jumper, wing suit flier, outdoor pioneer, and all-around great guy.

www.garmont.com, two pounds, 11 ounces
At 1,150 grams Garmont’s Masterlite is one of the lightest ski boots in existence, and it skis above its weight class. It has a patented Pebax Webframe shell that is thin yet strong, rigid, and ultra-light. It comes stock with a liner that you custom mold easily in your own oven to provide a fit that is comfortable and surprisingly warm for the liner’s thinness. The diagonal placement of the lower buckle eliminates the need for a third buckle and adds to the boots ease of use and simplicity. Since I often tour with the extra weight of airborne toys, it is essential that the rest of my set up be as light as possible, but I can’t sacrifice the reliability on high-speed landings and steep skiing. The Masterlite is the first boot that I have owned that totally kicks ass going uphill, but does not give me “gear fear” for the descent. I credit the shim in the back that gives me just enough support in the back seat as well as the power strap, which they kept fairly normal, so I can crank it down just before I drop to achieve the support I need. The Masterlite won my heart when it provided critical landing support on fast and firm speed riding landings off the North Face of Aguille Du Midi and then allowed me to walk comfortably for a few hours while descending a dry forest and hoofing it back to town to eat and après.

-JT Holmes

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