best way to spend $1200 on gear

Hey all, tldr is I may get a grant of $2k through my college for a project and am spending it on taking an AIARE course/leadership in the backcountry. After the course fee and avy gear+new gloves, currently have around 1200 left in funds but not sure what would be worth spending on. I was thinking about buying a touring setup but not sure how much use of it since currently in the midwest so planning on renting a pair for the trip. Other ideas were a new pair of skis if possible or new pair of boots (rc4 zipfits for 7-800) since very zipfit curious, but have to justify how I would use the purchase towards the trip and can't really just justify the liners. Any ideas on best way to spend the money I'm missing? Already set on clothing for everything

I would definitely get some Heritage Lab skis.

Praxis Rx

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Originally Posted by Caucasian Asian

I would definitely get some Heritage Lab skis.

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very interested in r110s so really tempting. also dabbling in putting inserts in my ripstick 96s and getting a second mount for touring bindings, anybody have experience doing the same? not sure how doable bringing 2 pairs of boots would be for travel though


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What do you have now for hard goods, and are you planning to spend most of your time in resort or BC?</p>

I predict skiing my ROneTens for the next couple of decades at least. Other skis might come out, obviously, but these things are intuitive, easy, bomber, etcetera. It's a cult ski. HL is a cult brand. Invest now.

what do your buddies do most of? What are your ski goals
Figure that out, then decide the biggest gap between Now and Then. spend $ accordingly to fill the gap.

Yeah how about a fancy tent, backpack, climbing/ice climbing gear, etc? Whatever you could also use at home.

For the liners you could try to track down some GFTs, which would be totally justified for touring on your trip but I bet you could get them set up for your resort boots afterwards too.

Easy, hookers and blow!

^rudy speaking the gospel of Splat right there


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WFR training.

HL Fanboy advice aside... I still use my tent, sleeping bag, and stove from 25 years ago, too. In fact, I slept in my -ThirtyC Marmot Gore Dryloft bag last week in my car a blizzard in northern JP. Love that thing. Was eight hundred new back then, adjust for inflation.

Shells come and go with fashion and wear/tear, but insulation lasts decades.

Cool note-- my mom is sending my Spyder wool apres sweater from thirty years ago that she found stashed in the closet. It might seem dorky when you're younger but when you're older and you can revisit your vintage stuff, it's quite fun.

Go find the late season sales and think longevity over trendy.

It seems to me if you are taking a backcountry course, you should have backcountry gear (AT or 50/50 skis, boots, bindings) for the course. You have that correct? If you don't, I'd start there

If boots are on the table, I'd aim for getting a nice boot setup! Skis come and go, but getting a pair of boots/liners you love will last you for years and make everything better. Then you can probably find a pair of skis with the leftover anyways.

Depending where in the Midwest you are, a touring setup could be moderately entertaining exploring dumb little spots.

You could also buy a CAST setup or some Dukes and make your current skis work for the course while not compromising the downhill (and you can always reuse that setup on new skis in the future).

What are your plans after college? Seems like if you are doing something like this, you might want to own touring gear in the future…otherwise why are you doing a backcountry leadership/avvy thing?

Dude you could totally tour on rip sticks. You’ve heard of and seen Plake right?
Buy some HL R dimes and sweet boots. Zip fits at retail… eww that’s a huge chuck I’d allocate better.

Not sure how to multiquote so here&#39;s some replies
luke: Would love to tour on the ripsticks, just not sure about how to mount since would still want to ski them in the resort and need to figure out the at/resort boot. noted on the zf&#39;s, would like to find a slightly used pair but can&#39;t try them on really so not sure about which model/fit is right for me.
singles: I thought about cast but it&#39;s pretty $$$. I&#39;m basing the project around AIARE 1 course because 1. gear money and 2. I am genuinely interested in learning about the backcountry and would love to do some sidecountry along with touring but don&#39;t think I would get much use out of a full touring setup right now. Ideally I want to take a year off after finishing college and ski for the season, would love to do touring but just not sure if I would be able to use a full setup right now.
I have a closet full of nice backpacking gear from doing a season on a of conservation crew, could always use a rope for climbing. Don&#39;t have any softshell pants but basically everything else, resort setup is antero 2+ and baker bibs so that should last quite a while.
Noted on the first few replies, will think some more about everything. Thanks for all of the info, if there&#39;s any good resources for learning about touring or 50/50 boots I&#39;d love to learn more (outside of talking to a bootfitter)

Avi airbag?

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Originally Posted by I've seen black diamonds!

WFR training.

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This is the best suggestion I’ve seen in this thread. So many people take Avy 1, 2, etc. but very few people have any idea what to do once your friend has been pulled out of the snow. A WFR is some of the best money I’ve spent on anything outdoor related, period.


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Are you allowed to buy used gear and get reimbursed? Way more bang for your buck.

Renting avy gear for the course will be expensive and a waste of money. Doing a course in rented boots will also suck.

Find a nice 50/50 boot with a walk mode and tech toe inserts (any of the atomic hawx ultra xtd or prime xtd, or salmon shift boots or similar might be an easy button, and with heat molding the shells and liners there’s a decent chance you can get one to fit well). Can get them at big box stores like REI I believe, not sure what options you’ll have in the midwest to get touring type boots fitted.

Then get some shift bindings and skins. Mount those on your ripsticks. Will still ski great in resort and touring.

If you’re able to buy used you might be able to squeeze in a touring ski too


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i'm not sure if buying used is allowed (i hope), will ask about that. i do plan on taking a wfa class but that is a good point. i plan on buying the avy gear (looking at a barryvox package for $270 rn). will call my local shop to see what they have for touring boots or fitting them


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Having seperate resort and BC gear is well worthwhile. I would sooner have two sets of old used skis and boots, then one brand new set that has to do double duty. I've tried a few different versions of "one pair of boots for everything" and it just isn't great - it makes everything less fun. And while my burlier BC setup is fine in the resort (Majesty Havoc 110, Kingpin, XT3 Tour Pro), it isn't as much fun as skis and boots that cost half as much, and I wish I hadn't gone with Kingpins for the BC.

Spend your money on some perfectly fitting boots, in the Maestrale, ZGPT, XT3 Tour, Hawx XTD, Radical range of weight, skiability and walkability (truly whatever fits best... don't worry too much about feature differences). Whatever you have left over, buy a used setup. I sold a set of Armada Kufo 108 (predecessor to Tracer) w/dynafits and skins to a buddy for $350. Not the latest and greatest, but skis everything pretty well. There are similar or close sub $500 deals out there to be had.

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Lots of great thoughts on this thread, including Wilderness First Responder course. I would make sure there are no strings on the grant(s) funding your educational project, stating the school or grantor owns the equipment bought w grant money. If you can keep the equipment, then I agree w Muggy and others about buying used gear to get the most for your money, especially when first starting out (eg, unthrashed used boots w new Intuition liners is a good combo). I also agree that 2 sets of dedicated skis and boots, one optimized for frontside/resort and another lightweight set optimized for touring would be ideal w respect to performance. But 2 dedicated sets of skis/bindings/boots may not be within your current budget and/or goals. Also, whatever you get now likely wont be your endgame and will most likely be a stepping stone until your next upgrade. So throwing a hybrid 50/50 binding on your Ripsticks which are reasonable 50/50 skis (and btw, a buddy gave me his Ripsticks w alpine bindings, and I removed the alpine bindings and instead of plugging the holes I put inserts for both alpine and touring bindings in them, then toured on them for a few seasons), and getting 50/50 boots might be the right play for now, possibly without compromising things too much and would also minimize gear for travel. For example, even though I own separate resort and touring boots, I currently travel w a single pair of boots, Zero G Tour Pros w Zipfit GFT liners, since they ski both resort and backcountry relatively well. And before I got that set up, I was happy traveling with Lupos and Intuitions as my 50/50 boot.</p>

I’ve got a pair of minty shift bindings with a hundred brake at a good price. Also have quiver killer inserts, and screws to include. Lmk

mentioned to somebody in a dm but the proposal is due in april and plan on doing the class in march of '26 so not purchasing anything right now but i appreciate the offer


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