Bronco

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?

Looks to me like the streaker disguised himself as a ref to get on the field unnoticed. I wonder if he went so far as to design tearaway clothes? Streakers are cool but it makes you wonder about the security at the event

Went in to just short of Colchuck Lake on Saturday, a little icy and a lot of branches down through the woods on the approach. It snowed 2-3" durring the night so the descent was pretty speedy with minimal wipeouts.

I was feeling pretty dumb about breaking the one window until the next week when my buddy went to another friends house and used 10 gallons of gas to start a brush pile on fire. They had major windows to pay for.

When I was a kid, me and a buddy decided we'd save ourselves the task of hauling a load of old wood and composition shingle to the dump and just burn them in our field. My friend guestimated five gallons of gas should do the job as a starter. Fortunatly we were "smart" enough to end up running a gas trail back about 20' to light it from a "safe" distance. BOOM! It knocked us both over and threw burning shingles everywhere. Durring the explosion, I remember looking at my buddy laying on the ground trying to run with his eyes squeezed shut, not realizing he was laying prone on the ground. We ran around stomping the little grassfires out until we noticed we were spreading the fires by running around with burning composition shingles stuck to our tennis shoes. Several neighbors came down to see how many windows we had knocked out of the house and yell at us. I proudly showed that only one big picture window had sustained a crack. Fortunatly my folks had put storm windows over the rest of them. One neighbor had a shingle land up in a tree that we didn't notice. Burned a big hole in his Juniper hedge. Found out it takes about as long for a pile of composition shingles to burn as a stack of tires. A week to ten days. Lesson learned: Hoses are aid.

http://www.dolfzine.com/page632.htm these guys know grip training!

I'm with TTT. Nothing get's you going in the morning like an exploding can of boiling corn around the campfire! HOTCHA! One time we scored one end of the can and set it with the "weakened" side down. When it blew, a geyser of steam and boiling nibblets shot the tin can 50 - 60' in the air. It was awesome! Camping with my old highschool buddies was always so relaxing. Everytime the fire crackled or popped, everybody dove for cover.

mount si?

Your system is too boring, how are you suppose to have an epic on toprope?

I like and have used Mattp's "discretionary" system in the rain at Index. Actually I think he got me started roped soloing at the only pube club ever held in Monroe. Bomber multidirectoinal pro below a "cruxy move" gets a knot. Not so bomber on easy terrain just a standard clip and go. Dru, why don't you see how hard it is to try to find a partner who wants to go climb for an hour after work when it's raining, dark and 34 degrees. Gene Pires and I think it's time for another Monroe Pube club. How's next week for everybody? Breaker breaker any takers?

Dave: I don't know who's SUPERBOWL parties you've been attending, but some of the funnest parties and family get together's I've experienced have been centered on the SUPERBOWL! I'm probably going to miss it this year, but, if for some strange reason, I do make it home in time, we're headed to a party that will include drinking, greasy fat food eating, visiting old friends and probably some halftime tackle football for those of us who haven't gotten too soft or slow (or drunk). Have a good weekend!

three days? What a bunch of pussies.

I er, he will let you know about that Monday.

uh, my "friend" has picked up AT skiing this season and seems to have developed an irrational fear of using snowshoes. Is this normal? Will pass with time or can we expect the condition to worsen?

I have some scarpa mountaineering boots (matterhorn) and endured a couple of heel blisters until they broke in. I think it's pretty common problem with a rigid sole leather boot. I have found that wearing a liner sock under my woolie will reduce friction. And get some superfeet insoles, those stock guys are so suck! After many miles, mine are fine now.

Sounds AWESOME!

I spent a gift card on the AC/DC '91 live album this morning. Rock your socks off! Someone gave me Hank Williams Jr.s newest CD recently and it's actually ok. Some of his recent work has been blah but he's got a great rendition of Jerry Reed's "Amos Moses" and a remake of "Devil in the Bottle" ironically right after "Can't we all get a longneck".

I saw the subject line and thought you were going to be taunting the sprayers who've recently departed.

This fall I was hiking up at Evergreen Mountain and heard a bunch of shootin. We came down to the trailhead to find a nice yuppie looking family shooting all types of guns at a paper target suspended from a little alder tree on the point of the hill. That is, they were spraying the entire valley below with bullets. Now being a "responsible" gun owner, I thought I'd better stop and talk to these folks. I mentioned that they were launching bullets all over the valley below which was probably crawling with hikers, hunters and campers, they just looked at me like I was crazy. I informed them I had grown up shooting guns and had taken some safty courses and was trying to help. I noticed most of thier guns were new looking old fashioned shotguns, lever action rifles and six shooters. I realized they were planning to just wait until I left to resume shooting so, I pointed out that there was a perfect hillside to safely shoot into just across the road. At this point, the father became somewhat indignant and said "those guys on TV dont shoot into hillsides" and muttered about potential ricochets. I requested some clarification and he divulged that his family has been watching "cowboy shooting competitions" on TV for a while and decided to get into the sport. They purchased some guns that week and drove from Seattle to have some fun and he wasn't going to let me ruin it. I told him that was fine, but those guys on TV were pro's and he might consider taking a basic gun course. I think at that point he mentioned that the guy at the gun store had shown him how to shoot the guns, what else could there possibly be to learn? Blah blah blah, I said I was heading out and calling the sheriff when I got some cel reception. He said go ahead they were leaving and thanks for being a jerk. I've also talked with a lot of guys shooting out near Sultan Basin (that's one of many places I've seen around East Snohomish County that look that bad) and most are from Kent, Renton, Bellevue, Tukwilla and Federal Way even. I don't know why they all drive out there, but, I get the impression MOST of the people who mess that place up are not "local". I know locals like HRoark use it occasionally, but the hardcores who rip it up are usually from the metro area. Kinda wierd. "They" should open a free shooting range in King county even though the reason most of those guys come out to the woods is because they can dump a refridgerator, washing machine or propane tank and shoot it up without any supervision. The other big deal greenies would be appalled at is the ORV's tearing it up there and in Reiter Pit. It's crazy enough that I don't go up to those places on sunny weekends. Contrary to what HRoark said, I have felt very unsafe out there several times. I don't really have a point, I just like telling stories.

Steve: I'm 5'8" (and a half!) and have the Short size. It fits good. I think my 3/4 ridge rest is 9 oz, so the weight savings are down to only about 1/2 pound. Hmmmm... To the original poster on this thread, you should do a search in the "gear critic" for sleeping bags. You'll get more info than you want.

I checked Pro Mountian Sports website (I think they actually weigh the merchandise on their scale) and it shows the short Khamsin 38 as being 2 lbs 9 oz so it looks like Arcteryx is off by half a pound. I wonder what the actual weight of the Ice Pack is?

Steven: My 44l BD Ice Pack is listed at 3lbs 9 oz and my 38l Khamsin is listed right at 2 lbs 1 oz. My pack with food and water was around 38 pounds.