Trends, Favorite Gear, and Most / Least Durable Products, with Eric Helmbrecht of Powder Hound AK

GEAR:30

BLISTER

Arts, Design, Skiing, Snow, Snowboarding, Sports, Outdoors, Bike, Technology, Gear

4.9 • 809 Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2019

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Alaska is a place where your gear really needs to hold up. So we talk to Eric Helmbrecht, owner of Powder Hound Ski Shop in Girdwood Alaska, about the trends he’s seeing in skiing and snowboarding; the gear with the most and the least durability issues; some of his favorite gear; the most Alaskan thing ever; and more.

TOPICS & TIMES

How Powder Hound has evolved (2:30)
Trending: Resort skiing vs. backcountry skiing (7:00)
What gear are you most psyched on? (9:58)
Ski boots: heat molding shells vs. traditional boot work (15:37)
Favorite bindings? (19:53)
Some favorite skis for Alyeska / AK? (24:29)
Gear with the least & most durability issues (31:32)
Eric’s take on “Bang for your buck” products (35:23)
Favorite new outerwear (40:55)
Powder Hound’s growing snowboard business (43:17)
The most Alaskan thing ever (51:08)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Gear 30 on the Blister Podcast Network. I'm
0:10.7	Jonathan Ellsworth, the founder of Blister, and as always, you can check out everything we're
0:15.5	doing and reviewing over at blisterreview.com. The owners of great shops tend to have their fingers on the pulse of what gear is
0:24.8	holding up well, what gear isn't holding up well, and they tend to get a constant stream of
0:30.3	feedback from their customers about a whole variety of products.
0:34.1	So in today's conversation, I'm talking with Eric Helmbrick, the owner of Powderhound Ski Shop in
0:39.8	Girdwood, Alaska.
0:41.5	And since Powderhound is located right at the base of Aliaska Ski Resort, Eric and his crew are
0:47.2	often getting that customer feedback pretty instantly, right when skiers and snowboarders are
0:52.8	getting off the mountain.
0:54.9	So today, Eric is going to share with us some of that feedback he gets from his customers,
1:00.1	and then also what he sees as the most promising product developments.
1:04.8	He lets us know which gear keeps coming back to his shop broken, what equipment he himself
1:10.3	is opting to use this season,
1:12.3	and we wrap up by talking about what might be the most Alaskan thing ever.
1:18.4	Before we get started, I want to remind you that our next Blister speaker series at Western
1:22.8	Colorado University will be taking place this coming Thursday, March 28th, at 6 p.m. on the campus of Western
1:30.6	in Gunnison, Colorado. And our guest is going to be one of our favorite people here at
1:35.7	Blister, Dan Abrams, the president and co-founder of Flylo. As always, this is a free event that is
1:42.4	open to the public, and we would love to see all of you there.
1:46.2	And now, let's talk about AK and new gear and stuff that breaks and stuff that doesn't break with Eric Helmbrick of Powderhound Ski Shop in Girdwood, Alaska.
1:58.9	Eric, how are you doing today?
	...

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