Touring Pre-Season Checklist:

It feels like winter has arrived. Unless you're Jack Casey and all of this is still sitting in your entryway, it's getting to be time to get all the fun toys out of the garage! Here's your Zenith checklist to make sure the first day of the season is a success. Don’t be that guy making skins out of tree branches on day one!

  • Grab skis: scrape that summer wax you totally put on last spring. Quick check of the binding mounting screws with a pozidrive.

  • Grab boots: check the buckles work, the tech fittings aren't loose (yah that happens!), and that you put your insoles back in the liners.... ah how many seasons has my first tour of the year been without insoles? Too many to count... Finally check your bindings are adjusted for the boots and you didn't make them shorter for spring touring in lighter boots!

  • Poles and backpack! Just go put them in the car now.

  • Skins: make sure the attachment points that you broke last spring are replaced! Check the glue isn't a globby mess. In the pack they go.

  • Beacon: new batteries duh. Stick it in your boot now so you don't forget it.

  • Probe and Shovel: Assemble them (really). Sometimes those joints get sticky and wear out. Now's the time to figure that out. Stick them in your pack. Also if that probe is from 2001 and needs to be threaded or screwed together, it’s time to upgrade to 2025 and get a quick deploy model. Head on over to SkiUphill and get that thing into the modern age.

  • First aid kit and repair kit: most important for day one is that you check you have the correct driver/bit for your binding adjustment for your boot that you totally checked in step one but upon switching to downhill mode, you realize is still not adjusted properly.

  • Head over to our clinics page and get registered for an early season avalanche tuneup. November and December days are rarely epic season so get your buds together and come with us for some AvSAR practice.

Other than that - day one is all about remembering your systems. You're gonna forget something but if you get all of the above, your day is salvagable. It never hurts to have a spare pair of ski socks, gloves, and batteries in the centre console of the car. Chances are someone will forget at least one of those this season...