I made it back to Jackson safety last night even though it was very slow going and snowing profusely over Teton Pass when I drove over around 10pm. Sure wish I was going skiing today. None-the-less, here are a couple new Black Diamond products that I thought were worth mentioning.

New 2010 Black Diamond Neve crampons.

I am a big fan of aluminum crampons. They are light and most models (one would hope) are durable enough to walk a bit on rocks without having to worry about dulling the points out too much or in a more extreme case…breaking them. For the past two years, I’ve been using Black Diamond Neve crampons and I am very psyched to see the updates to the spikes for fall 2010.

Hydroforming construction results in rounder shapes and sexier lines.

First off, the overall construction of the Neve has changed a little, and BD now uses a hydroforming process to make its crampons, as opposed to stamping them. This allows for more rounded shapes and corners, which adds strength and also uses less material than if something were to be made with sharp corners. Not only does this provide a lighter weight crampon, but also gives the crampon a very sleek look. Reduced overall weight is also achieved by changing the toe and heel bails (in the Pro, step-in model) from steel…to aluminum. The strap-on version now uses softer plastic and reconfigures where the straps are attached to the base, which insures a better fit to your boots and increases performance by keeping your toes from being too close to the front points. The secondary points are also improved and are made a bit more aggressive with serrations on its back edges that improve grip and overall purchase.

Another updated feature that is nice is the improvements to the anti-balling plates. In the past, they were kind of bulky, reduced the overall amount of usable points on crampons and rather heavy…since they used nuts and bolts to affix them to the actual crampon. The new versions are very low profile, light and attach without any extra hardware. The advantage is that the new Neve for fall 2010 felt to weigh the same with the anti-balling plates, as the this year’s model does without them.

Black Diamond Swift women’s alpine touring boot.

I know I’ve already mentioned the new Efficient boot line up here, but I wanted to show a picture of the new women’s Swift because I though it was much more sexy in person than in the pictures. They have a somewhat pearl-essence finish to them that really makes them look nice. Having skied on the men’s version, the Prime, I know they perform well and will be a hit with the ladies…especially since they look so cool as well.

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