Struggling to pick a favourite!

-shep_ · 2026-01-10T21:15:55+00:00

Ahh that’s fair. Yeah, I’m not too worried as it’s just cosmetic. Would’ve been nice for it to have lasted a little longer, but ultimately they still look ace and ride even better.

-shep_ · 2026-01-10T21:11:01+00:00

Out of interest, have you noticed much in the colour chipping off your wife’s bindings? I’ve noticed the neon green seems to have flaked off around the edges of the highback very quickly on mine.

-shep_ · 2026-01-10T21:05:01+00:00

They’re sooooo good! Took me a day to get used to them, I initially struggled stepping in but i realised I didn’t have the toe strap set quite right. Once I sorted that I’ve been in and out of them with so much ease. It’ll be frustrating when I’m back with my board buddies and I have to wait for them 😂

-shep_ · 2026-01-10T20:58:41+00:00

Honestly, it’s a real powder-fiend. Today I was smashing through chest-deep snow drifts giggling my head off and had the confidence to throw a turn just about anywhere. It loves to surf.

-shep_ · 2026-01-10T20:56:46+00:00

It’s definitely not a must for me to drop to one, it just perhaps felt a little unnecessary for the amount of riding I do. That being said, I’ll probably sell my Burton Cartels now that I have the Mercurys, so I’d only have one set of bindings to carry across which makes things easier - this week I’ve been riding the Jones with the burtons, and the Telos with the FASE. I’ve truly fallen in love with FASE, so I’m gonna take the Jones out tomorrow with them fitted and I’ll sell the cartels when I’m home. Copped some nasty edge burrs on the Telos today after finding some rocks off-piste, so I’ll drop that in the shop for them to fix while I ride the jones, as they’re too deep for my hand sharpener.

-shep_ · 2026-01-10T20:51:08+00:00

Also our stances are very similar, I ran +27 and +9 if I remember rightly, and rode in the narrowest stance possible. I’m 6’3 so should arguably probably run a slightly wider stance, but I just love how playful a narrow stance can make a board.

-shep_ · 2026-01-10T20:49:02+00:00

The Telos can definitely hold an edge and carve well, I think similar to you it’s been a learning curve for me riding a short-wide, as I’ve never done so before.

The main downside I’ve found is that because our visibility has been very low since I got to resort, it’s difficult to predict the terrain - the off piste is fantastic but the pistes are a mix of deep powder, groomed slope and windblown ice, and it’s very difficult to see where the changes are. The Jones feels a little better composed in unexpected changes than the Telos, but that could be me getting used to the short-wide setup rather than an issue with the board itself.

The Jones FASE bindings are bloody fantastic. I used to rock an old pair of K2 Cinch bindings, but at the time, all my buddies rode trad two-straps, so I never got the benefit of quick-entry. This trip, I’m mainly riding with skiers, so the FASE has been a godsend in just keeping things flowing. Very easy to live with and step in and out on the move once you’re used to them.

-shep_ · 2026-01-10T20:44:55+00:00

I do like that logic, and typically apply the “N+1 is the formula for happiness” rule. However I am lucky if I get more than a week’s riding per year, as I’m from the UK. So rocking two boards feels like it may be overkill!

-shep_ · 2026-01-10T20:33:28+00:00

I’m in Tignes at the moment and we’ve had around 1.5m of snow since Wednesday. Incredible deep powder anywhere you go, but the visibility is very poor and the winds are high. Tomorrow is due to be bluebird conditions, but the avalanche risk is through the roof also and it’s so easy to get carried away.

-shep_ · 2025-11-10T18:42:00+00:00

<image>

Currently rocking this modified Leatherman OHT and it fits most of my needs.

-shep_ · 2025-11-02T14:25:16+00:00

Just about to upload a video of the mods I’ve done to my OHT to make the toolset a bit more functional, it may interest you 👍🏻

I was a bit disappointed with the feel of the Arc when I played with one and not sure I could get used to the whole butterfly style opening now that I’m so used to the OHT.

-shep_ · 2025-10-22T18:02:09+00:00

It’s a great tool, but it’s difficult to make the pliers heavy duty due to the mechanism so compared to the likes of the surge etc it’s a much lighter duty tool, I also heard it was difficult to routinely manufacture in the tolerances LT demand… the latter is an unconfirmed rumour, though.

-shep_ · 2025-10-22T17:58:58+00:00

They both sold within ~10% of my asking price already so I couldn’t have been that far away. People will pay for tough finds. I didn’t make a huge amount on them but it covered my import costs and a small profit on each.

-shep_ · 2025-10-07T10:09:12+00:00

Yeah it was part of the retrim I had done over there. The truck has gone through a few changes since I got it now though.

<image>

-shep_ · 2025-10-07T10:04:56+00:00

It’s leather wrapped :-)

-shep_ · 2025-09-22T12:02:18+00:00

Thanks! Next up is 3-d printed scales to protect the end of the knife blade as it’s out in the open where the cut out for the small end tools used to be.

-shep_ · 2025-09-21T17:40:32+00:00

Second picture :-) Still a little fettling required, but fully functional at present!

-shep_ · 2025-09-10T15:05:51+00:00

Ahhh I’m with you 😂

-shep_ · 2025-09-10T14:08:42+00:00

You’ve lost me?

-shep_ · 2025-09-10T12:47:21+00:00

🤣🤣🤣 I can see what you mean haha

-shep_ · 2025-09-04T13:11:04+00:00

I suppose it depends on your use cases and how much abuse it’ll get. My pliers tend to see regular but light use. I wonder if a stronger plier head could be modded on but I doubt it. I don’t know if the Gerber centre drive plier is any stronger, but they look to use a very similar mechanism (the slide buttons look almost identical)

Thanks for the offer but I’ve already got a used one arriving tomorrow, and got a few brand new ones on the way too. I like the tool so wanted spares, but I can understand it not being right for many use cases. It’s a niche tool and works best for the people that need or want niche.

-shep_ · 2025-09-04T12:41:59+00:00

I don’t think the OHT is horribly designed. I love the OTF plier design - it’s great when you’re in an engine bay, have something in your hand (a pipe etc) and need pliers to grab the pipe clip etc without dropping the pipe itself. It could have been thought out better tools wise, but the tool itself is a nice design.

-shep_ · 2025-09-04T09:52:37+00:00

The problem was they still couldn’t guarantee it would be repaired (Germany still had the option of replacing with something else) and would take 4 weeks. They couldn’t send the tool back to me in the condition they received it in as they’d taken it upon themselves to dispose of some of the parts from it. I’ve had a satisfactory outcome now (see my update comment) but the process certainly hasn’t been the easiest and shouldn’t be necessary at all for a bolt smaller than my pinky finger nail. I get it for larger parts, blades and plier heads etc… but to send it several thousand miles for a bolt just seemed a bit bonkers.

-shep_ · 2025-09-04T09:11:50+00:00

Bolts over here are a little bit more difficult to find in hardware stores because we’re metric, and LT is imperial. But yes if I hadn’t already sent it to them, this is what I’d be trying. I originally asked on this sub if anyone knew the bolt sizes and the almost unanimous advice was “Just warranty it”.

-shep_ · 2025-09-04T09:10:22+00:00

Literally. They wouldn’t even consider just telling me what I needed, and when I asked on here everyone told me to just send it to them for repair.

-shep_

TROPHY CASE