Pro skier Cody Townsend and I are gearing up to climb Jake’s Peak, a popular backcountry ski route on Lake Tahoe’s West Shore. Conditions are ideal—fresh snow fell across the Sierra a few days earlier and the north-facing trees off Jake’s should be holding light, cold snow. But first, I’ve got to learn how to use my bindings.
I’m here to test Salomon’s new and much-anticipated S/Lab Shift MNC Binding, which has been flying off store shelves since it was stocked this fall. Everyone in the ski industry has been talking about the Shift since it debuted at last year’s Winter Outdoor Retailer show. I took a first look at the binding last year, but I’d never had a chance to ski it—until now.