Last summer I moved from Texas to Colorado, accidentally leaving behind my trusty old ski coat. I say “ski” because I bought the coat before I started snowboarding. It always served its purpose well, so I never replaced it. However, I was due to leave for Chile and, without a coat at the last minute, I was forced to find something else. I hit a local shop and picked up a Sessions shell called the “Istodis Heather Jacket” (Hershey flavor). I only know the name because I spent the last 30 minutes looking it up online – it’s not printed inside the shell.

At first, I wanted to hate this jacket. I really liked the placement of the pockets on my old coat. It took me a while to adjust to everything being out of place. Once I got over the shock of something new and different, I learned to love this jacket.

First of all, it’s a “shell”. This means it’s designed to be your outter most layer. With the vents open, the Jacket allows for a fair amount of fresh air. With just a t-shirt on underneath, it’s good for those days that aren’t too terribly cold. Close the vents and put a hoodie underneath and you’re ready for some frigid days.

The jacket has an attached hood which I rarely use. However, when I need it, I love it. The sleeves include those snazzy cuffs that wrap around your thumb and go inside your gloves – keeping snow off your wrists. There are tons of pockets including an MP3 pocket (and a special collar that allows you to insert headphones into the jacket), a tucked away pocket inside the zipper flap, a variety of exterior pockets (both button and zipper), and a pocket with a goggle wipe velcro’d inside. There’s also a removable powder skirt with buttons that will latch to your pants… but not my pants, as they buttons don’t fit right with my belt loops.

The jacket is light weight and water proof. It looks snazzy enough to wear as an every day jacket. In fact, I recently wore my jacket camping in Alaska. It not only kept me warm and dry, but kept the mosquitoes from eating me alive.

The quality of the jacket it top notch. I’ve caught a fair amount of tree limbs and have never torn or scratched the shell. After stinking it up with fish and campfire in AK, a quick run through the washing machine (and hung to dry) left the jacket looking and smelling like new.

I don’t think this jacket is perfect. I personally would prefer a removable hood (which Session offers in other models) and I would still adjust the placement of some of the pockets. I’ve found that larger items (such as a radio, phone, or flask) can often hang right around the base of your rib cage – which kinda sucks when you fall just right. Still, the jacket is awesome enough that I completely forget I’m wearing it while I’m riding – which is exactly what I want.

Conclusion: Recommended

I’ve long lusted for an Arbor Mystic. Imagine my surprise last summer when I found one in a Texas shop at 50% off. I spent more time riding the Mystic 154 this past season than any other board.

Before the Mystic, I’d never experienced a true park board. If you’re considering a park board and have never owned one, you might want to demo one first. The first thing you’ll notice is a different edging. Where an all mountain board is sharp around the curves, a park board loses it’s edge near the ends as to not catch the snow while doing rotation tricks. This means you must have your carves on hard park dialed in a little better. You’ll also notice that a park board has a completely different flex pattern. The middle of the board tends to be springier while the ends are more firm.

The Mystic is one of Arbor’s bamboo core boards. Bamboo is lighter than carbon fiber and lasts twice as long. The use of bamboo also makes Arbor one of the most eco friendly boards on the market.

The base of the board uses a technology Arbor calls Struc Turn. From the website, “It prevents a vacuum from forming between the board and snow.” I quickly became aware of the effectiveness of Struc Turn on my very first ride. I thought a smaller board (I usually ride a 162) would be a bit slower. The Mystic accelerated much faster than any board I’ve ridden.

The mystic is a true twin tip. This is rather funny, as I set my bindings on the board backwards initially and never bothered to fix it. I spent a lot of time this season focused on improving my ability to ride switch. The twin nature of this board made it much easier. With my directional boards, it was difficult to tell what was different while riding switch – something I was doing versus how the board felt. With the twin, I could easily identify what I needed to focus on while riding switch.

Overall, the board is fairly light. It’s not as light as some of the new honeycomb boards coming out; however, you definitely won’t have to worry about a knee popping out of joint while riding the lift up.

Finally, the board just looks sexy. Traditionally, the Arbor boards have been mostly black with very classy and mostly green artwork. While the 04 artwork is, by far, my favorite – I still love my 07.

Conclusion Highly Recommended

I have a 10.5 sized shoe/boot which puts me exactly in between a large binding and a medium binding. The upside is that I can ride both. The down size is that neither is a perfect fit. I bought a set of large Missions for my park board and quickly found that they were a tad too bulky. Early this past season, I purchased a set of medium, high back, 07 Burton Cartel bindings to replace the Missions. I chose Cartel as I’ve been running 05 Cartels on my Custom for a few years and really like them. My 05 Cartels are solid bindings; the 07 are even better.

The first thing you might notice about Cartel bindings is the wide variety of adjustments available. I honestly thought I was going to have to return my bindings after my first few rides. Once I realized just how much the bindings can be adjusted, I was good to go. While the 05s are highly adjustable, the 07s are even more so.

The Cartels are listed as a mid-grade binding on Burton’s website. However, they are also listed as the most responsive binding in their class. Personally, I found both the 05 and 07 bindings to be extremely responsive. The toe strap runs across the front of the boot, pushing your heel deep into the base of the binding. Your feet are connect to the board for a solid ride.

I only have one complaint with my 05 Cartels. The forward lean adjustment on the back of the 05 binding has a flip latch to lock them into an upright position. This seemed both superfluous and annoying. I have to unlatch the back of the binding before I could flip it down when jumping on a lift. Apparently, I’m not the only one who thought this was a bad design decision as it was removed in the 07 model! The new design, instead, uses a nifty wing nut that allows you the adjust the lean of the binding’s back quickly and easily.

There are a few other minor improvements on the 07. The straps now have a bit of jell inside, making for a snug and comfy fit. Overall, the binding is also lighter than the previous model while still being just as solid. The straps themselves are attached using a new style of nut with a flip up cover. When flipped open, the nut can be taken out by hand – with no tools. This allows you to adjust the length of your binding straps on the mountain at any time you wish. It’s particularly handy when you want to let someone else – with a different shoe size – ride your board.

Simply put, the 2007 Burton Cartel bindings are the best bindings I’ve ever had the pleasure to ride.

Conclusion: Recommended