Alaskan guide, New Mexico legend, and all around good guy Dean Cummings is launching his own line of skis under the H20 ATG (access the goods) brand. Cummings’ Alaskan ski adventure company is named H20 Guides, but he has also located H20 gear near Salt Lake City with the purpose of building an equipment, and then maybe an apparel brand.
As per Cummings’ big mountain career, these are big boards—the top of the line Karen Cito weighs in at dimensions of 165/133/149, a kind of deep sidecut fat board with a slimmer tail for schmearing in mixed conditions (or before the cliffs). The other skis, the Kodiak and Tazlina have dimensions of 151/120/132.5 and 137/108/124 respectively. As for big mountain credentials, Cummings is touting the use of full length wood cores, tapered sidewalls to protect from edge damage, and in what is becoming a big-time message for backcountry-worthy skis this season, flat tails to both hold in the steeps and also be easy to anchor for a bivy or rappel.
Dean-O himself is expected to stop in at the Gear Institute offices in New Mexico sometime this October. It’s very unlikely that we will have any snow to test the skis, but we can’t wait to sit down with the man to talk about why he built the line, and how he thinks it might grow.
Start the video below to see him testing the skis himself on a first descent down the Tusk.
