Howdy, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Gear 30 on The Blister Podcast Network.

My name is Luke Kappa. I am the managing editor at Blister, and you can check out everything we are doing and reviewing over at blisterreview.com.

There, you can read all of our latest reviews, listen to all of our latest podcasts,

become a Blister Plus member, and a whole lot more.

Speaking of, I wanted to give a shout out to some of our newest Blister Plus members.

This week, we've got Jennifer from right here in Crested Butte, Colorado,

Martin from Rutland, Vermont, Adam from Cumberland in my home state of Wisconsin,

Eric from Bellingham, Washington, Beck and Kevin, both from Draper, Utah, Brendan from Lake

Tahoe, California, and David from Moab, Utah. If you are interested in becoming a Blister

Plus member yourself, head to the links in the show notes of this episode.

There you can find all the info about our Blister Plus outdoor injury insurance, why we think

anyone listening to this podcast should have it, and all of the other great benefits that come

with the membership. Now, on today's episode, you, our prestigious Gear 30 listeners, are providing the questions,

while Jonathan Ellsworth and I are providing the answers. We've got some great topics for this

Q&A episode, and they spark several really interesting conversations. Jonathan and I start with

our personal go-to backpacks for ski touring, including some very new models and some very not new ones.

We also get into the big brand versus small brand debate, and specifically how a given company's

size, location, and their brand ethos factor into our own purchasing decisions.

Then we cover a frequent question among our audience,

what skis to get if you're looking to make the most of slower speed, groomer laps?

That's an interesting one.

We also get into ski boot liners, how long you should expect your stock liners to last,

...