Bronco

The weather don't get no better than it was this weekend. Consequently, I repainted the trim on my house and did yardwork while daydreaming about dry granite and mountains. Next weekend, the weather's looking good too. I'll probably do my taxes and paint the shed. Anyone get to Index? How about Triple Coolers? How many ascents did the N. Face of Chair get this weekend? How was the skiing?

here: http://maddox.xmission.com/ I'm a pirate!

trask is so imature. I'm glad he's gone. I think that if he were to promise to post at an 8th grade level instead of grade 6 or 7 we could get along, but otherwise, no dice pole-smoker!

"We're not off route!"

The Ruskies were still there Tuesday afternoon talking about going for the summit. Hardcore! The wind also swung around on us when we turned around to make sure we had a headwind coming and going.

Me and JayB headed up toward Muir on Tuesday. Ran into one team below Panorama point who camped there because of bad visability the day before. Another group was camped on top of Pan point. We made it to the toe of the snow field before turning around in high winds and low visability compounded by the freezing mist on our goggles and clothing. Heres a photo: Snow conditions were varried windslabs and scoured out stratagusi/ice. Good times!

2 years ago, I was anxious to get some more leading experience and found myself speeding out to Index trying to stay out in front of the rain in Monroe. Me and my buddies Gene and Brian hiked up to Private Idaho and I set my sights on Senior Citizens in Space, a pretty sweet looking 5.8 crack in a dihedral that appeared damp. As I racked up, the drizzle set in so I took one last look at the crack and decided there was no need for any cams smaller than a #2, it was all hand jams. As I scampered up to the first ledge, I placed my smallest cam and started jammin as the drizzle turned into a steady rain. I slowly came to the realization that what appeared to be a hand crack from the ground was really a great finger crack and it was now pouring rain. I figured I would be able to protect the route with the single set of nuts on my harness. As I made my way up, the crack was filled with pine needles and mud and gushing water making any nut placements suck, despite my attempts to garden out a slot. With hands completely numb, I lurched for the top with one rattley nut placed between me and the first cam I placed 40' below. As the rain turned to hail and my hands slowly lost the battle with gravity, I contemplated defeat and prepared to whip. I glanced down to the ledge I would impact when I fell, then glanced up to the wall of mud, moss and water I was slowly sliding off and realized I was only about 8' from the top. With one last surge of adrenaline I clawed through the mud to find a couple of holds and hauled my soggy butt onto the ledge at the top of the route. I peered triumphantly down to my partners slowly shaking their heads at me through the pouring rain. Good times!

During the first overnight tour I took my Dynafit "Comfort" bindings on I managed to break the front binding riser plate, the red heel elevator and pop a pin out of one brake. I had skied them inbounds and on some daytours previously. I swiped one of my wife's bindings to go ski yesterday and didn't break anything. I'm small and weak but all breakage happend while carrying a heavy pack. The jury's still out on if I think they are reliable.

good read on beacons and avvy courses here: http://www.adventureplus.org/avalanche.htm

I have a friend in Montana who gets by with just a small wind turbine (maybe 3' propeller) and 4'x8' of solar panel. Makes me wish I'd gone that route.

Last night I woke up from a dream that a crack head had broken down my front door and was in the process of entering the house. I awoke standing in our bedroom, fists up shouting "GET OUTA HERE YOU MUTHA F@CKER!!" Thankfully nobody woke up to see my display of macho manliness.

Burn your Schoeler clothing. Wear one piece cotton long jonns, cotton briefs, cotton socks, cotton gloves and rubber rain gear including a rubber fisherman's hat and converse high tops. Discuss..

I did the same thing right after arriving in Dublin. Those hosers all drive on the wrong side of the road!

Ok me and my little brother used to do this, I'll see if I can remember how it goes. I know you are but what am I? I know you are but what am I? I know you are but what am I? I know you are but what am I? I know you are but what am I? I know you are but what am I? I know you are but what am I? I know you are but what am I? I know you are but what am I? I know you are but what am I? I know you are but what am I? I know you are but what am I? I know you are but what am I? I know you are but what am I? I know you are but what am I? And finally, sticks and stones may hurt my bones but names will never hurt me. Not very much anyway... Take it back you bastard!

Is Dave Schuldt's title anti-woman? Discuss.

Peter: I think being within 10lbs of "healthy" is not bad. If you are really concerned about it, go get your BF level tested. I hear that the old dunk tank is still the best indicator over electrical impedance and calipers. I have no idea where you can get this done. I think BMI is intended for the average Joe to see if he needs to lose a few pounds, not necesarily athletic types who might be carrying more dense muscle mass.

Sounds like a party to me!!!

I'd have cut the rope and trundled stuff down so he didn't have to suffer so much.

I have a pocket rocket stove by MSR. Cheap, light and dependable. I've used it at 10,800' on Rainier and for winter camping as well. The other stove I considered was the Brunton Crux. Folds up to fit in the cavity on bottom of a butane cannister. I decided against it because it was new on the market and not proven.

I just thank God you weren't kidnapped and held for ransom by the METH DEALERS! Can we get a new METHLAB REPORT FORUM

Wow that must be really embarasing. Strange stuff in the woods, hmm... Found a hermit camping in an old schoolbus miles from a driveable road. Said he just found it there, but, I think he really knows how it got there. METH DEALERS!

This expression always reminds me of Fozzy the Bear from The Muppets.

What can I say? I'm a really ungraceful wiperouter. I also snapped the red plastic heel elevator thingy on the other binding. Durrable does not necesarily equate to indestructable. I wonder if the idiot who installed them did something wrong?

Yeah right! We know exactly what you're up to CRACK PUSHER!

About halfway to Colchuck Lake I managed to take a good twisting fall with my binding locked in touring mode. Fortunatly, the base plate blew into several pieces instead of my ACL. I continued to slog along with the binding effectively in ski mode. It only released when traversing a tree well or making an akward traverse or whenever you really don't want your binding to release, but, anywho, it occurred to me (today sitting at my desk) that this may have been field repaired with the bit of ductape left over from "field repairing" the loop that holds the skin to the tip of my ski. That fix worked ok and had I done it sooner, I would have avoided breaking the base plate. The loops that came with the skins were a tad too big and the skins would work down my skis to form a big wrinkle of skin, glue, snow and little bits of lichen and branches (a big brake pad) that caused a couple of intense faceplants, including the one where I busted the base plate. Anyway, the fix on the binding would entail some rolled up ductape (maybe the size of a cigarette butt) placed under the prongs that "lock" the tour mode with a bigger piece of tape carfully slapped across the top of the ski from edge to edge to secure the "rolls" under the prongs. It may not have been perfect but, it might have prevented several inopportune releases and survied five or six switches between tour and skiing. Now I'm thinking I might just try the ductape fix and give it at field test (NOT!) Here's my question for the seasoned skiers. Obviously, there's a lot of moving parts that could break and turn your tour into a sufferfest. A repair kit would be handy but, what (besides ductape, duh) do you need specifically for a two - three day ski tour? I took an allenwrench that fit my length adjustment and a leatherman tool. Does anyone carry quick set epoxy? A little baling wire for broken boot buckles? Wax? Zip ties? Slide ruler? Jumper cables?