Hey everybody and welcome back to Gear 30 on the Blister podcast network.

Case you hadn't guessed by now, this is not Jonathan Ellsworth and it's not Luke Kappa.

Today you're here with Tara Williard and I'm coming to you from Elevation Hotel where we

have our Blister headquarters, which is located in Mount Christabute, Colorado.

You can check out the wide variety of things we are doing and reviewing over at blisterreview.com.

Well, for today's conversation, I got to talk to one of my favorite folks in the ski shop world, and that is Eric Helmbrecht, who is the co-owner

of our blister recommended shop, Powderhound, located up in Girdwood, Alaska.

Today, Eric and I recap what turned out to be an amazing El Niño in Alaska, starting with a huge

unprecedented storm in November, and it just kept up from there.

We also talked through some of

Eric's favorite gear this season, as well as some of the gear that I brought up to Alaska for a

trip a couple of weeks ago. We touch on topics like Aliaska Resort now being on the icon pass.

We get some local insider information on planning your trip up to ski in Gurdwood, what

ski racing looks like in

Alaska, and a whole bunch more. Then we pivot to what might be an often overlooked topic when

it comes to ski gear, and that is bindings. So we dive in on alpine and alpine touring bindings,

and we get Eric's perspective on both binding reliability and longevity, and he comes at it from

a ski shop and technician perspective doing this year in and year out. So it's very interesting

to hear what he has to say. We also discuss Eric's binding preferences, some of the trends that

he's noticing, and a whole bunch more. Eric's expertise definitely shines through on this one,

and it's a good reminder that before you make that next purchase, be sure to check out our list

of Blister Recommended shops, which are located around the globe, and talk to someone like Eric,

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