Beck

i found a dead guy by the montlake cut bridge once & Grady's is cool. (two unconnected comments)

Dru, wipe your chin, you drooling bastard- then a serviette'll come in handy! I paid a Damn high price for canadian bacon the other day- $6.50 (US) for a half a kilo. I think the US should turn our foreign policy AWAY from Iraq, and North Korea, and instead flex our muscles and invade Canada to ensure fair prices on AC & C's, cheap beer and back bacon. a goal of the campaign would be to ensure that Mountain Equipment Co-Op sure will ship climbing gear and skis to us! BTW, the G3 probe recall was because they forgot to tie a knot in the cable! Duh! where's the QC?

Scholler WB-400 is the hands down winner for winter all mountian use- chair lifts or skinning all day, the WB-400 fabric is a great winter fabric. Too warm for summer, but an incredible, strechy, all-in-one layer.

That snow has been FINE! Ohmigod, it's truly chest deep powder out in the cascades this weekend, so rare- Snorkel alert is right! never have i seen so many people, INBOUNDS, sunk up to their necks after an augering crash renders them completely helpless. All day long, seeing just peoples' heads and shoulders sticking out of the snow, saying "I'm stuck, I'm stuck" over and over again! The snow is way dangerous right now, though- by saturday afternoon where i was at, the snow off piste was setting up into cohesive soft slabs, shooting cracks and releasing in big blocks. Glad I was in the trees, but this makes the tree wells doubly dangerous, every little terrain trap was loaded and ready to release, i hope for the best for anyone out in the backcountry today.

I've got to work the Andrew Maclean slide show at Marmot till 10ish, I'll sweep by afterwards and see if anyone is still hanging out after that.

so, they gave the winner of the citizen class race category a pair of dynafit tourlite tech boots. She came in to get fitted for them on Monday. I think thats a pretty nice first prize for citizen class racing.

The MSR Fury is their renaming of a classic Walrus tent- i think it was called the Rapide- it is a 3-pole body, like a classic I-tent with an extra pole in the shoulders. It's a totally bombproof, smallish interior, double wall tent. It is still a seven pound winter tent- there are better options out there weight wise- it depends what you need it for- the Fury would be great for two months in Alaska but way too much for most trips in the Cascades. We just got the new Black Diamond Betamid lite in at the shop- under two pounds, packs up the size of a 1 quart water bottle- sleeps two, solid wind / weather shelter. you'll want to put in some tunnel vents at the peaks to reduce condensation though.

She's Piste is definetely a softer ski- next year k2 introduces a new womens ski, the IN STINX also softer than the mens counterpart ski have ski tested them both I would love to have skis with a big flower print(i guess its the hippy showing thru) for a non k2 "womens friendly" ski, look to the Tua SUMO, nice softer flexing ski lots of women are happy driving.

I've got a Russian made titanium dutch oven I scored off Ted R., weighs about 12 ounces and doubles as a deadman or an offwidth bong on the technical bits. it's come in handy plenty of times on Mount Si as a makeshift helmet. Don't forget to wear your plastics!

Following this thread has raised some very reaching looks at the way mountain rescues are perceived in the Northwest. Some points, in no particular order. It is correct, most SAR actions in the northwest involve nonclimbers. Even Mountian Rescue units get called up for a lot of non technical searches, looking for grandpa alzhimer out in the woods. the public greatly enjoys tales of high adventure and drama in the news, and seeing tales of "emergency" situations. This "thrill by proxy" is not an uncommon emotion, whether it is about mountain rescues, or big boat sailboat racing, or the BAM race, so news groups are not wrong in running these stories big- they are big crowd pleasers in the sense of thrilling newsworthiness. Matt P's last post is correct. The prevelance of cell phones in the wilderness (and on mountains in particular) does lead to some peoples' idea they are their safety net if the shizzy hits the fan. In being involved in the periphery of Mount Rainier the last five-six years, I've seen this to be the case. I recall being at the mountain and getting beta on climbing parties that were okay, with no injuries or even off route, calling up to request a rescue because they "didn't want to climb in this weather anymore." and could the rescuers come get them? instead of waiting out the weather. This has happenned more than once. Also, some solo hiker/climbers seem to think Family Radio Service radios are a safety net. (who would carry a two- way radio on a solo trip?) but these have led to the rescue of two mountian travellers in the last two-three years. One soloist on mount Stuart that who pleas for help were picked up by a girl in her backyard in Wenatchee, and the hiker lost above the lunch counter on Mount Adams in bad weather who got some hunters to rally a search for him. There are more and more wilderness travellers out there. People live vicariously through what they see on TV. TV News knows the importance of an impactful broadcast. Most people searched for in the Northwest are not climbers. Climbers get perceived blame for costs of rescues, whether at Hood, or at Rainier, when it is the nonclimbers searches that waste more of the counties (or Parks') budget. Oh, and one time as a teenager, me and a buddy went winter camping. We left friday, had a pickup time of noon sunday. Canadian clipper moves in over the weekend, 2 feet of snow and fifty mile an hour winds. Me and buddy snug as a bug on top, in VE-24, drinking whiskey and smoking the greens. We come out 11:30 AM Sunday to find a SAR in force at the lot. We go up and offer our assistance. It seems two campers were out, unprepared, and the sherrifs were out at the request of one of the family members to search for the two obviously frozen youth. We state we didn't see anyone, but would be happy to go back the way we came and help with the search. Sounds good, the sherrifs say, lets get you boys signed up for the search. Okay, and we go to sign up on the roster, only to discover- we were gettign ready to search for ourselves. The sherrifs office screwed the pooch on that rescue, we were a half an hour early to the pickup time.

And a report from Bend,- the Deschutes brewery was a great place for some drinks Tuesday, sorry I missed you guys. Last night, kegger around a bonfire in the woods for Freeheelers; tonight, kegger at our place and salmon dinner, too- these "paid to play" ski trips are rough!

Pub Club annex tonight! at the Deschutes Brewery, 1044NW Bond Street, Bend, OREGON. Several Seattle ne'er do wells will be in evidence at the Deschutes brew pub tonight in preparation for three days of test driving next years Telemark and xc gear at Mount Bachelor . Look for long haired fool in blue glasses.

I never can find Redmond, I think i need to look at a map or something- Icegirl, I was going to go to Pyramid alehouse tonight, but now I don't think I'm going to. Sorry to have missed you!- Bec k

I thought we were going to the Pyramid Alehouse across from Safeco Field for some celtic hoedown live music and good swill in a huge,cool, place? Kurt, it's a fifteen minute drive from Ballard on fifteenth. What's the big deal?

the first year we didn't even have free beer! Cascade Climbers Spring Schuss Fest, anyone?

those companion probes are totally lame pieces of equipment, plus when you're scrambling to get the probe out of your shovel in the heat of an emergency, the shovel blade goes skittering to the bottom of the debris pile. Whoever thinks a shovel works WELL as a stove holder is full of crap, even a foam pad is better. the shovel, you're going to want that available anyway while you're cooking so you can get more clean snow or custom out your kitchen. Don't buy a plastic shovel unless you never intend to use it to move avalanche debris.

why does someone sit during a glissade anyway? if you guys want some Marmot "Eskimo" shorts, they are designed for espresso runs in Summit County or boarding with your "buds" in the "backcountry" of the piste. These here Yates shorts, we're seeing some quality climbing gear, here.... comes with a built in fart arrestor that works like a Yates screamer...

Really, don't forget the fresh veges if you're hauling sledge... you can get a lot of food/booze/cds and boombox into basecamp on a pulk, I think 250 pounds still glides nicely on traces... but, for maximum calories/minimum effort, a block of ramen noodles, eaten dry with a big glob of butter smeared into it, is a fuel efficient way to get your expedition calories... mmmm, butter on dry ramen noodles...

added value springs from fritschi- ten bucks more!

All of the above are great reads, if you like the prison stuff try a book called "An American in the Gulag" buy ?? also try...Steinbecks's "Travels with Charlie" William Whartons "A Midnight Clear" or , if you can find it, "Scumbler" George Orwells' "Down and Out in Paris and London" Rainier Rilkes "All Quiet on the western Front" Rudyard Kiplings "Captains Courageous" (although it's a bit of a kids read) And the best adventure story of all, Rene Daumals "A Night of Serious Drinking"- there are plenty more great adventure reads as far as I'm concerned though, John dos Passos "America" or J.F. Coopers' leatherstocking tales, all worth reading, even Rabelais...

Inside track from BD rep says the same glue dudes that were cooking up that bad batch of Ascension glue wound up working the G3 skin shop; maybe that's just hype. We certainly don't have those on sale, the company cancellled shipments of them a month before xmas. The new Voile hardwires? We'vew got them, but wait until next year, there may be a new voile releasable unit widely available that will render the old Voile plunger obsolete. And we have the new O2 replacements. The inside story on that recall was 10% of the plastic risers and tail hooks being improperly cured by the manufacturing vendor; New structure, and a new approach to the curing process for the reissued 02 binding. W'eve got lots of Fritschi Freeride AT bindings in stock still.

Marmot's got the best selection of AT, Tele gear and snow safety equipment in the state. You'll find helpful AND lame service in any store. Martins really anti telemark.

a half a stick of butter, per person, per day. Some in the morning porridge, some eaten at break, the rest in the dinner gruel.

if you're bringing mules on a climb, doesn't that get kind of heavy?

for cheap skis, get some hagans. Or, You should be able to find an alpine midfat (<85mm waist) for cheap at a garage sale. I think a nice Head all metal ski from the sixties would be a nice retro touch. On pro deal, most skis will cut you less than two hundred bones, timmy. Just jump on in and get some Rossi Mega Bangs. I've skied the crossbow on hardpack, Crossbows are a great ski, BD seems to have someone shaping their skis right. There are better skis for going fast though. If you can wait for next season, there are some hot new skis on the horizon. Look for a new superlight k28611 weighing in at only 42oz per pair, a couple new ladies tele skis, (Karhu twin tip Jil and the K2 instinx) and a twin tipper from Black Diamond. More assymetrical shaping in the torsion boxes will add lateral rigidity to more skis in the coming season. 80 percent inbounds, better keep some alpine bindings mounted up on something. It is merely trendy to ski AT inbounds, dude.