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We are thrilled to announce that Cloudveil and Black Diamond both garnered the coveted Gear of the Year awards this year in Outside magazine’s winter gear guide. Both clients have been with Backbone for over ten years and continue to produce incredibly progressive product collections on the cutting edge of outdoor industry technology, as proven by this great award.

The Black Diamond Justice won the award for Best Backcountry Ski- Testers said “For such a light ski, the wood-core Justice has remarkable pop, guts, plus any of the dozen or so other words testers used to describe how lively and unflappable it performed in leftover snow. You can see how it saves weight: BD simple machines away core material where its not needed, which is why the topsheet looks like a contour map.”
Dimensions: (140/115/125, 9.2 lbs), $729

The Cloudveil FirsTurn Soft Shell took the award for Best Backcountry All Purpose Jacket. Testers said “One of the most versatile soft shells we’ve ever seen, the FirsTurn easily beat back steady 20-mph winds and driving snow…and also kept us comfortable on a sunny 40-degree day of backcountry laps. Ski, skate, run-the FirsTurn even held up on a cold and rainy bike commute. It was harder than giving up my woobie,” said the tester who was reluctant to give it back.

Congrats to both companies!