Backpacker Magazine Names The DYNAFIT Radical Speed Turn Editors’ Choice

DYNAFIT Radical Speed Turn Continues to Win Over Backcountry Skiers Across North America

Boulder, CO, October 7, 2014 – Every fall, Backpacker Magazine’s Editor-In-Chief- Dennis Lewon and his staff bestow the Editors Choice Snow Award to the product that best withstands the rigorous testing and performance process. Dynafit’ s new Radical Speed Turn binding received the recognition as the best new Winter gear for 2014/’15.

The Radical Speed Turn Binding was born from the legendary TLT Speed which for over a decade was the go-to backcountry binding. The New Radical Speed Turn keeps the same basic design yet yields a modern facelift at 1.8 lbs. per pair and a $350 price point.

“At any price, Dynafit’ s combination of innovation, design , and thirty years of tested durability would make the Speed Turn attractive to any backcountry skier, said binding test manger Crystal Sagan. “But the pieces’ extraordinary value was what really clinched their award status. We felt that the performance they offered equaled (or exceeded) the many higher-priced ‘tech’ bindings we tested”.

Each year at the Outdoor Retailer show, retail buyers use the awards announcements as a must-buy shopping list, knowing that their customers will be asking for these products in the Winter.

All winners must excel under extensive field-testing conducted by Backpacker’s team of editors, who take hundreds of new products every year into the backcountry to put them to the test. This rigorous process ensures that the performance of the winners is truly worthy of distinction and meets the guiding principle behind the program: gear that is of real value to the readers of Backpacker magazine, who are very active, long-term outdoor enthusiasts.

The Backpacker Editors Choice award is the second editorial award that the Radical Speed Turn has won this Fall. Recently, Backcountry Magazine recognized the binding with an Editors Choice award, calling it solid and reliable, simple and strong plus Outside Magazine selected the Speed Turn for the coveted Fall Buyers Guide.

Eric Henderson, Communication Manager adds, “We would like to thank Backpacker Magazine for recognizing the passionate efforts of our entire team, including designers, testers, developers, and manufacturers. This award recognizes the combination of innovation, dedication, and deep the experience on our team, and we are extremely proud to accept it.”

The complete list of Backpacker’s 2014 Editors’ Choice Snow Award winners will be officially announced to the general public in the magazine’s Fall Gear Guide & November issues, on newsstands.

About DYNAFIT North America

DYNAFIT, the world’s only full-time, full-line backcountry ski brand, is a subsidiary of Salewa International, based in Bolzano, Italy. Salewa International is a family-owned business with global operations, specializing in premium outdoor consumer products. Boulder, Colorado based Salewa North America manages the USA/Canada sales, operations, marketing, distribution, and customer service functions for the Salewa brand, along with DYNAFIT (based in Munich, Germany), Pomoca (based in Aubonne, Switzerland), and rock climbing brand Wild Country (based in Tideswell, U.K.)

About Backpacker:
Backpacker (www.backpacker.com) brings the outdoors straight to the reader’s doorstep, inspiring and enabling them to go more places and enjoy nature more often. The authority on active adventure, Backpacker is the world’s first GPS-enabled magazine and website, and the only outdoor media whose editors personally test the hiking trails, camping gear, and survival tips they publish. Backpacker’s Editors’ Choice Awards, an industry honor recognizing design, feature and product innovation, has become the gold standard against which all other outdoor-industry awards are measured. And the magazine recently launched mobile media applications that allow users to text-message hiking maps and directions to their phones. In the last five years, Backpacker has won five National Magazine Awards, the publishing industry’s highest honor. In 2008, the magazine won the NMA for General Excellence, joining The New Yorker, Mother Jones, GQ, and National Geographic as top winners in their respective size categories. In 2009, it won three awards, including General Excellence Online. Backpacker has also won numerous other print, design, and digital awards, and its writers have been recognized in prestigious contests and best-of-the-year anthologies.