Countervail is a visco-elastically dampened carbon fiber material

After 2 seasons of product development and testing with the Materials Sciences Corporation, Wagner Custom is pleased to announce that Countervail® (visco-elastically dampened carbon fiber) construction is now available as an upgrade on all of its designs.

The patented material, available for use in skis and snowboards only from Wagner Custom, is a structural fiber used to supplement fiberglass. It provides the smooth ride and stability of an aluminum or Titanal structure without the weight. In fact, Countervail® has the lightweight characteristics of carbon fiber.

Countervail®, developed to forestall flutter in the carbon-fiber control surfaces of supersonic aircraft, consists of a thin viscoelastic polymer cloth, with fine strands of carbon fiber woven along its length in a sinusoidal or serpentine pattern. Because the stiff carbon creates a two-dimensional pattern, it provides strength in both flex and torsional axes. The harsh reactive stiffness of the carbon is moderated by the viscoelastic fibers. The result: it’s a light, strong, whippy but self-damping structural layer. To get the same flex and vibration characteristics you’d need a heavier layer of aluminum backed up with a neoprene damping layer, or an even thicker sheet of very hard prepreg fiberglass.

The hyperperformance Countervail®, in short, gives you the speed and buttery smoothness of an aluminum or titanal ski, at considerably lighter weight and – this is critical – without the fatigue, bending or delamination problems common with metal skis.

Crossing the lake with the Grand and Nez Perce in the background.

These long approaches into the Tetons have made me super impressed by and thankful for my new approach skis from Wagner, and skins from Climbing Skins Direct.  For this year, the guys at Wagner Custom made my skis a bit wider and shorter, with a flat tail and more camber.  They’re also lighter due to an all-aspen core.  Snappy, with kick for the flats, and really light underfoot.  The skins from CSD are light and supple, and I’ve been shocked at how well they glide–it’s really unbelievable being able to kick-and-glide with skins on.

With these thoughts running through my head, the trip across Bradley Lake and up Garnet Canyon flew by.

Skinning up Garnet Canyon.

Before I knew it the sun had risen and we were staring up the Ellingwood Couloir–1500′ of 50-degree snow that tops out at the Dike Col.

AJ climbs the Ellingwood Couloir.

The climbing was fantastic–really firm frontpointing, with some short stretches of ice mixed in.  We hit the Col by mid-morning, stopping briefly to re-fuel as we looked over at our tracks on the Grand, just receiving the morning sun.

The upper East Face of the Middle Teton loomed above us in the sun as well, the last 600′ before the summit.  I had turned back from the East Face a few times in the past, so I was definitely chomping to finish it up on this day.  We traversed across a 50-degree powder slope to get to the gut of the climb and found soft, boot-top powder conditions.

Jake climbs through the steeps.

With the sun full on the Face it felt like climbing in a solar broiler–fortunately we cruised up it quickly and surmounted the 60+-degree pitch at the crest.  The East Face route culminates in a notch ~50′ below the summit; the final pitch to the top might be skiable in some years, but we found dry, slabby rock so we decided to call the notch our high point.

Sitting in the notch on a sunny, windless morning, looking down into Wyoming on the east and Idaho on the west, I felt supremely satisfied with our adventure.  Sure, it’s a ton of effort to get here and there are risks involved, but the reward is so sweet.

Soaking it all in at the summit notch.

And without calculating and managing risk would it be a worthwhile pursuit?  We let our sweat dry in the sun and chuckled about the enormous group that was rumored to be over on the Grand while we were the only party on the Middle.  Sometimes it all just works out.

When it felt like time to go, I put my boots back on and we rigged up for the descent.  The initial entrance onto the East Face was actually pretty sporty–no wider than the length of my board, really steep, with thousands of feet of relief below.  Whew.  I side-slipped and hopped my way down onto the crest of the Face and then made controlled turns down to the gut, where things eased off a bit.

Tiptoeing through the entrance to the East Face.

Jake side-stepped through the entrance–his skis were definitely longer than the space allowed–and joined me.  The trip down to the Dike Col was fun and brief–really just a few turns and a traverse, but in pretty great, moist powder.

And then we leapfrogged down sweet springtime corn in the Ellingwood, taking pictures, whooping it up.

Going heelside in the Ellingwood.

We had a variety of theories about how to handle the sluff that we brought down, but it seemed to work best for me to just ride faster than the sluff was traveling, making high-speed GS turns, laying it over hard.  Jake’s skis weren’t quite as fast, so he chose to vary his fall-line to stay out of his sluff.

Jake skis sweet corn in the Ellingwood Couloir.

Once we exited the bottom of the couloir a hard left brought us to the top of the Cave Couloir for another 1000′ of mellow turns down to the Meadows in Garnet Canyon.

The trip out was quick and uneventful and we cruised the trip across the lake and over the moraines, back to the truck.  Compared to the day on the Grand, I felt remarkably energetic after more than 7000′ of climbing and riding.  I wish I could have another month of Teton adventures like this, but I’m headed to Alaska next week for a month of guiding.  I’m stoked to have ridden these lines at the end of this season–maybe I can squeak in one or two more before I leave…

AJ Linnell breaking trail on Treasure Mountain using Wagner Custom approach skis

AJ Incoming

AJ scopes the entrance

The Boy Scout Couloir is so named because it is the only clean line through the 400′ limestone cliff above the Treasure Mountain boy scout camp. Steep, narrow, and perfectly plumb, the couloir is a deep and beautiful cleft through towering rock walls. Ultimately, the reason that I hadn’t ridden it before was because of the long access and the difficulty of finding it from above. But with us camped on the summit of Treasure Mountain, we were perfectly set up for a descent and didn’t even know it. It would mean a long skin back to camp, but what better way to wrap up this trip?

AJ exits Boy Scout Couloir

What a ride

Skinning home

The American Solar Energy Society featured Wagner Custom skis’ ultra-modern, clean and green ski factory in its December 2008 issue of Solar Today magazine.  Solar Today recognized Wagner Custom for its industry leading energy and recycling initiatives.

Wagner Custom is by no means perfect.  However, the company has several energy and waste reduction initiatives in place that help reduce the company’s carbon footprint.

Regarding energy, Wagner Custom first focuses on simple energy efficiency and conservation measures to minimize their overall energy loads.  The company’s entire factory floor is heated by a large solar thermal array (see image above).  To offset its electricity loads, Wagner Custom purchases high quality wind-energy credits that support farmer-owned wind turbines in the Midwest (see Native Energy Farmer Distributed Wind Projects).

Regarding waste stream reduction, Wagner Custom recycles it’s steel and plastic scraps while reusing (and selling) its wood core scraps as kindling.

The Solar Today magazine feature can be seen on page 25 of the December issue at http://www.solartoday-digital.org/solartoday/20081112/

Interested in getting a Winterstick board?  Visit www.Winterstick.com.  We’re currently accepting pre-season orders.