Technically Speaking: 5 Of The Top Ski Gadgets For 2015

It can be tough to wade through all the tech talk out there. The ski industry is busting at the seams with little tricks and tools to keep you warm, dry, safe and stylin’. Most of the time, trendy new equipment hits the market and reeks of gimmick. Here, however, are a few ski gadgets that deserve to become staples in every rider’s arsenal.

1. Abom’s F-BOM goggles
$250, http://www.abom.com/
First of all,  I can’t believe nobody thought to use this technology before now. It seems simple enough or, at least, not that original. Upon closer Google searching, however, I think this is the first goggle to use a warming layer between lenses to combat fog the way we do with our car’s rear windshield. Better than a fan and definitely better than the hem of your undershirt. There are even different modes: you can turn it on and off, which is incredibly useful when heli skiing, coincidentally; or, if you’ve gotten yourself into a real hot mess, you can leave it on for up to 7 hours. Fog, be gone!

2. Leatherman’s Hail + Style PS
$45, http://www.leatherman.com/831784.html
I love me a good multi-tool, so the fact that Leatherman has teamed up with Signal Snowboards to create an honest-to-goodness snowboard-specific gadget makes my heart just about sing. Great for tweaking bindings and fixing stuff in general, there is also a bottle opener on BOTH pieces of the interlocking tool in case one half gets lost. Market research does not get more responsive than that.

3. RESQSKI
$130, http://www.resqski.com
Topping the list of things that are THE WORST is losing a ski in the backcountry. This nifty little gadget sticks to the base of your skis and sends out a little homing signal which can then be picked up by a small, card-sized tracker in your pocket. The scanner can detect a signal up to 30 meters away and a meter deep, allowing for a sizeable yard sale without actually ruining everything for everyone and having to buy all the beer at après. Obviously necessary bonus feature: it doesn’t interfere with avalanche transceivers.

4. Mophie’s Space Pack
$150, http://www.mophie.com/shop/space-pack-iphone-5s
Speaking of things that interfere with your avalanche transceiver, this iPhone 5/5s case doubles as a battery pack AND boosts your phone’s memory capacity to up to 64GB ($250). Now you can film it, store it and share it all without sacrificing juice or space. (Just remember to keep that business turned off and stashed safely if you head into the backcountry.)

5. Heated Everything
Every skier everywhere has at least one painful story of frostbite and after burn. It’s as if ruining the circulation in your extremities for life is a right of passage when learning to ski. Thankfully, we’ve come a long way since those little chemical packets that you had to break and shake to activate. Now they make heated insoles, heated socks, rechargeable boot warmers and even a battery-controlled vest thing that slips in between your base layer and outerwear. They also still make whiskey and hip flasks. So, that’s good.