With Christmas right around the corner its high time we start recommending some gifts for the skiers and snowboarders in your life. Not your basic goggles or glove variety, that’d be boring. I’m talking oddball stuff. The stuff that fully wont expect but will fully appreciate.
First one is something I’ve been fawning after since I was a kid….a metal detector. Yeah yeah yeah, metal detectors are for dorks in socks and sandals that wear Blue Blockers and bucket hats combing beaches in the early morning hours before the crowds arrive. Well, that is quite accurate but they are also sweet if you if you live in the mountains. Here’s two scenarios where a metal detector would come in handy.
First one is kinda obvious, losing something like a phone or an earring powder. Basically gone unless you get lucky or have a really really good idea where it entered the snow. Or, you have a sweet lightweight waterproof metal detector that breaks down and can fit in a backpack like the Minelab X-Terra PRO ($259 on Amazon). If you drop your phone from the chairlift this is what you do: head to the parking lot, grab your rig, head back up and scan the area till you get a ping (might even find more than one).
Second scenario is once the season is over and you’re allowed to hike your local ski resort. Toss the X-Terra Pro in your backpack (total weight 2.87 lbs) and walk straight up the lift tower line and wait for the thing to start going nuts. Not saying you won’t hit on beer cans and loose change, but you could find some alpine treasures. Great excuse to get some exercise and lets face it…treasure hunting rules.
Anyway, totally sweet thing to find under the Christmas tree BUY HERE:
Next we got bear spray. The Venn diagram of ski country and bear country has a big fat football in the middle (maybe even rounder and bigger like a rugby ball). While you might think bears all sleeping while we head out for ski day, just look at a place like Heavenly where a skier nearly collided with a black bear on Sunday.
I’ve got a can of SABRE Frontiersman ($34.99) and I couldn’t be happier with it. There’s tons of options for bear spray but I’d say the most important thing to look for is dependability. If it comes time you need to deploy it, it better well work.
SABRE is the world’s largest pepper spray manufacturer and has SABRE Frontiersman comes with a holster, has the maximum strength of major capsaicinoids allowed by the EPA (2.0%) and a range of 30 feet. Nothing quite like a fat can of bear spray worn on a belt holster to give you bit of confidence while out in the woods. Fun to give, fun to receive…hell its fun just say Bear Spray. 35 buck, not a bad stocking stuffer.
Here’s a video of a successful use Sabre bear spray. Wildland firefighter and nature photographer, Curtis Matishwyn, actually scored an endorsement deal with SABRE (READ ARTICLE HERE):
The last one is on the serious side and is something everyone should know about…tourniquets. Got hip to the importance of carrying a tourniquet after covering a story a couple winters back about a high school ski racer kid who nearly bled out on the hill after getting his leg sliced deep by a super sharp ski edge. Luckily the ski patroller who responded to his accident had recently taken aย Stop The Bleedย course and was able to quickly intervene and save his life (READ ARTICLE HERE). Don’t really want to be dishing out any specific recommendations on medical devices but I will point you in the direction of Stop The Bleed’s recommendations HERE and you can find a myriad of options on Amazon HERE.
