Beck

...i'm no expert nor unique, i know that. I started this info as an ajunct to the template thread. you don't need templates to mount bindings, and espically not missized templates downloaded off the internet. And snoboy, it's easy to make the mark on your G3 shim. Extrapolate. This post was to get cc.commers to think outside the box of what the manufacturer tells you how to do things. i like skiing, everyone should ski more. I ski lots. i used to ski to school where i grew up. we all cross country skied. there were ski tracks all over town. Grandmas skiied to the store if it was nasty out. people would ski on their lunch hour, down to the tavern. this doesn't make me better than anyone else, i'm just telling it like it is about the skiing, because i'm proud of how i grew up. this doesn't make me an expert, it makes me an old ski fart. mmm, skiing.... I'll mount anyone's bindings for ten bucks and a beer! Free if you let me mount them on my skis! give all unwanted telemark equipment to Beck... he will sacrifice it to the mountain god.....

that's a nice picture. Most obvious, belayer at TOP of toprope on a 35 meter climb. lets see, reality of surmounting a 35 meter vs. 60 meter rope question in these types of situations, if you need the extra length, use your cordalette to extend the rope for the first 15 feet of a TR, or have the belayer at an intermediate station either a bit higher on the rock, or ice at a little station , or in a tree with the belay device anchored to the tree, or climber climbs to rope, or extend the top rope anchor down with cordalette so that at the last 15 feet of climb you can jumar and use tools to climb the last little bit. lots of ways to do it safer. i'd recommend the belayer at the top on a 35 meter toprope if the alternative is what you were doing in the picture, fortboy.

Just be careful, Gort boy. lead it in two pitches? Your technique and rope management evident from that photo and your posts, while possibly life saving, are appaling. Absolutely whacky, wacky stuff. not to mention all your other posts. but, hey, go fer it, but be careful, gort boy.

I was out with gekko girl and dryad tonight, fellas, but I had some bad beta so they both hate me now, I'm sure. gawd, i really feel for your technique, cracked. And your enthusiasm, keep it up. But be careful, that picture and your comments sound really green about lots of this stuff.

Oh my gosh, I'm about ready to piss my pants, I'm laughing so hard! Send over GORT BOY!!! Oh my gosh, TR on two half ropes tied togther, he couldn't tie into the end of it, AND he's tied into some biners! LMAO! HILARIOUS! MY FACE HURTS! STOP IT GORT BOY!

I think he's tied into his belay biner! look at the angles...

Gortboy in love with sorry, you're not so much threating as irritating.

he's wearing gorts! I read four years climbing experience, with some of that in the gym. And he's been skiing one year. he's GORT BOY! nice pile coat too! let's climb ice in gorts and a pile jacket, that's it! oh, and he's annoying and immature and boastful and stupid.

ID Svarsky guides siltarp, sleeps 1-3 depending on comfort, 13 ounces. two peak tunnel vents. i'll sleep in it in the winter, but not much above treeline. Wintertime, I've dug it in a bit, set it up on skis, and had a standup shelter for two in no time. SHWEET! For that, there are a few four season tunnel tents that weigh under six pounds, thats three pounds a person for shelter. Respectable for Denali or Rainier mid winter. Single wall, non breathable tents will be quite damp, but if you get one, get the classic x-style frame, this will at least be strong for snow loads. Eureka makes some affordable lightweight DOUBLE wall x- tents. the four season hoop tents are still relatively expensive but very bomber if pitched correctly. or you could always go with the 2.2 pound betamid, a very stout single wall "tent" hope this helps

nowhere have I said expert skier, but thanks for the compliment, alpine k... you are the best skiieer in the wurld, boss... But i have been skiing since 1975. and mounted my first pair of ski bindings in the seventies as well. I cut tele turns in 1982 and sold my alpine boards in 1984 (partly to finance a trip to Lake Placid for the winter, but that's another story) and have never looked back at fixed heels. So maybe that's why I'm not an "expert" and I have no claim to such. I skied in the American West in 1986 when I lived in Nevada for a couple of years, and have been skiing the NW for a decade. I've always mounted my own bindings. well, since 1978 or so. and you, cracked, you youngster, how many years have you even been doing this kind of stuff? your website says, like four or five years? you might need to use a template. chord center on the riser for a G3, just line em all up and scribe the mark. easy as pie.

it is much easier to NOT keep a road open, fairweather. spend time listening to snowplow crews, this is the prevailing attitude towards a seasonal road. And this attitude is backed by administration because of fiduciary concerns. Not so on roads that are suppossed to remain open all year, like Donner Pass (very impressive snow moving operation) and Snoq passes. did you know, for every HOUR the pass is closed, Puget Sound business lose and estimated $485,000 in lost productivity (DOT figure) due to delays over Snoqualamie Pass alone. It's a shame about 20. no quick trip to Harts Pass to poach those bowls... Less plowing, more $$$ left in the discretionary fund.

it's closed, and they are going to leave all the debris, etc until after the winter. that will make opening up slower as rocks and trees slow down the snow moving equipment.

This spray on this thread has been moved Beck has his own method for mounting bindings which may interest some, but his post seems better suited to spray. 2nd edit: Here's the goods.

templates not to true size, downloaded over the internet, will be a very inefficient way to mount ski bindings. It is general consensus in the ski shops that templates suck. for home mounts, simply: take ski, find chord center. extrapolate binding position on ski. use awl or center punch to place starter marks. drill with stopper. Don't forget to tap thry metal top sheets. And good luck. but don't even try to use a missized template unless you are an idiot.

I never felt wet the entire weekend fern! wool layers and a thin shell that isn't waterproof will usually keep you feeling drier. and wool as the base layer of it all is an amazing performer. I think that was my leprechaun costume i packed over to leavenworth this last weekend, though. but you're right, dryad, the irish and their little cousins have the wet weather figured out- I like a wool sweater as my outer layer lots of times. try it, you might be really, really comfortable at the end of the day.

make way thru steep hills on rock and ice and snow,then- topping out! Glorious. I still want to see in blossoms at dawn, the face of the mountain god.

the bigger the tarp, the better the ventilation!

Ski ascent of Rainier, monthlong ski vaca out to colorado, mt and wy circumnavigation of Glacier in eariy spring. spring high camp on honeycomb glacier. another ski bunny. and Forbidden traverse if anyone is game.

if you can get them, get them, they are handy to have in the bag. early morning, spring tours, they are also nice to put on when you've got just twenty or thirty feet to surmount a ridge line or feature after a long downhill run, much quicker to put on and off than taking skis off and putting on skins. and the points messner made about the energy expended by body posturing on steep icy traverses vs having ski crampons on is very true. I like them for many steep traverses on firm snow. you certainely don't need them much in feburary around here. and the skalps mount shweet for tele if you ride a short 6-10 mm riser plate vs the big 20 + mm that comes with many bindings nowadays. Voile 3 pin cable, rivas, straight 3 pin (they still work just fine) all can accomodate a skalp cramp quite easily. I have the half moon base plates on a couple of decks, just in case. case in point. june trip up over glacier peak and out via the dakobeds i brought ski cramps and left the full poons in the car. Steve B brought his poons but not ski cramps. I used mine on an icy traverse on the upper sitkum and climbed a steeper line as well, steve carried his poons and never used them and skied a lower angle track up the hill. I like my ski crampons.

i have a friend with a coca plant in his house, it's nasty stuff unless you chew on alkaline lime or something to counter their massive nastiness. I will wear a cotton shirt and cotton shorts for most summer. And I am experimenting more with less raincoat. over the ropeup weekend, i wore cotton and wool soft shells and never put on a rainjacket. yesterday, i walked around seattle in the morning in a wool coat and an oiled cotton and wool hat. again, no raincoat, and i was more comfortable than 10 minutes in a goretex coat. and as testimonial to wool working better as a base layer (this is subjective) on many winter patrols of Rainier, after a long hard day of skiing, i can stand comfortably in what i skied in all day and not experience any undue cooling. by contrast, those people skiing in polypro and their shell clothing began to go hypo and chill rapidly after our ski. usually i can wear the clothes i skied in while making dinner down at the cabin in longmire. another case for soft shells. Mount adams SAR in a blizzard and heinous winds. softshell all day (dimension jacket, cracked- go buy one now! LOL) Some of the other team was putting on their second, backup shell during the search. We find the guy and decomission the search. By the time we ate dinner at hood River, my jacket was dry and i used it as a throwblanket on the drive back to town. Try doing that with a goretex shell! so this soft, wool, and cotton approach does work. some troops like norwegian military use cotton as shell for artic conditions. nuf said.

sick! but if you dig that type of stuff, rent "attack of the killer clowns", a very bizzare, well done horror film... it brings a lot of signature effects of the genre into play in a bizarre, sick, perverted film that i couldn't take my eyes off of when my buddy put it on the tube. i don't even like horror films much, but this one was fascinating..

and jubelale at work is a rightous way to enjoy it! way to go, Timmay, I am glad to see some of us have a few priorities all sorted out at the workplace!

not a tranceiver tool, although my posture on this site is often confused with that personality... no, i think its a matter of how hard they've been abused, like dropped onto concrete, etc. I certainely use my going on six years old F1 and have no intentions of replacing it anytime soon. And my bad, i thought the M series had two antennas, but it is analog. I know that. the digi was just the display, it had no screening filters to manipulate the signals like the barryvox, the x1 and the SOS BCA. I will still talk to Minot. And, an F1 is a fine avy beacon with superior range, i would recommend to the original poster to spend an extra 30-50 bucks and buy a new F1... try the alaska avalanche education center and tell them you want to do a group order. you can usually get f1s for 10-15 % off

let's see... field test? comparing new to old? at Rainier on a avy seminar taught by one of the fellas at NWAC for park service folks? pretty much, seemed 60% ...

my five year old f-1 transmits at about 60% of original range and still receives at 100%