Beck

Beck will make his way up on Saturday AM to 5000 foot pub club- will bring euro delicacies, perhaps some procuitto, panne e vin blanc. Black Diamond betamid with vents. Con von spank, when are you two driving up? If no one else wants to go I don't want to drive it alone (Anyone?), do you have room in vechicle for dirtbag climber?

Teddy Ruxpin was always getting up in the middle of the night, sneaking out of the hut, and dialing the Guides DIN settings WAY LOW, man did he cause some spectacles in the morning!!

my latest season of gainful unemployment just ended today and am sorry to report I will not be bringing the cornichons and grand crus this weekend...DAMN my unemployed climbing stint didn't last nearly long enough, i was hoping to avoid work like I did in the eighties [ 10-31-2002, 12:04 AM: Message edited by: Beck ]

That's right carolyn and Dru, the less fleece the better... I wear a 100 weight stretch fleece with smooth face as mid under softshell in active sports, reserving a snuggy warmer piece for rest breaks and bivy

fleece=YUCK

check out Jim Nelsons' site if you need some help on this fleece thing

as adjunct to this topic, here's some more input on jacket choice. We all need a mountain hard coat for the conditions that hit, but for most winter forays the user wearing wool and a softshell winds up being drier throughout the day and that comfort level is there, regardless of how foul it was out. Do face plants with your buddies all day, you'rs still drier than if you wore shells. In my experience, after a day of hard skiing, all the people that wear Gore top to bottom are soaking wet and freezing themselves to death, while softshell users are almost uniformally drier (a LOT) and lots more comfortable. A soft shell with a quality laminate lightweight hard shell that lives in the backpack seems to be an enlightened way for winter BC travel

Patagonia Dimension jacket is burly, but maybe TOO burly. Pros: durable, more windproof than Scholler. Excellent hood design.great in colder temperatures. Cons:Coat not breathable enough, get a wetting from inside just wearing the thing during exertion. Encapsulated fabric makes coat feel moist more noticably than Scholler. Also, doesn't handle near freezing glop nearly as well Scholler. Heavy and bulky. I tend to grab my MEC Ferratta most any time of year as soft shell over the Dimension now, Dimension for colder temps/higher altitude/ full conditions.

being that dewpoint is a result of temperature varience, possibly. However, the relative thinnessof the bivy most likely keeps the depoint temp inside your bag still. It seems condesation occurs inside of bivies, eh, crew? There's some explaination of some sorts on MEC's site. in matter of temperature enhancement -Overbag vs. bivy for long trips, overbag. Bivy'll wet you out damn quick. you still need protection from the elements so this topic presentssome slippery vectors to gauge [ 10-30-2002, 11:16 AM: Message edited by: Beck ]

Barring me becomming gainfully employed,Cascade Climbers Pub Club bus of fun departing Seattle Nov. 6th at 10:00AM for a foray to the lands of our savage neighbors of the north.Meet the locals and their strange represtatives from the climbing community and get a chance to say "horsecock" at key points in Dru's speech. room for three, no room for gear- sounds like it's getting ripped a lot up there anyways. Visits to savor good gear selections at MEC and Granville Island or a hash bar. Complimentary touque with every round of beerhunter.Bus to return in a state of confusion that evening.

avenues are leaning in that direction...where all will you be pitching camp? Look for you there, praps. I'm trying to russle up some perpetrators of similar ilk for a weekend of lowgrade icebashing french footwork and frointpointing-anyone else?

DUDE, I wish...I've got a damn job interview at three or it'd be FRESHIEZ.. have a blast and be safe!

as Jordop states, something more breathable for active sports is the only way to go. a nice nubby harris tweed if you're out in typical NW winter crapola works better than gore or any other type of "storm" coat

on a technical note to second on Mattp's suggestion of a synthetic overbag. The addition of an overbag moves the dew point (the temerature that moisture condensates as liquid out of it's vapor state) out of your down sleeping bag and into the outerbag. this keeps your down drier because H20 stays vapor in the down and condenses in the overbag. you get a better transpiration rate and moisture movement out of down bag into next layer. This will keep your down drier than having a full winter temp down bag and one arguably reccommended for extended trips.

I'll bring the Camembert and cassoulet up there this weekend for some french technique any one up for going up there this weekend?

Dru, you shameless self promoter, you! Five bucks? Is that in loonies, or will you give us South of the boarder types the good ol' quebecois exchange rate, too? I'm down with a road trip to see the infamous Dru and his tall tales- can we drink DURING the slideshow, or do we just show up drunk?

The sooner they all go to four cycle engines a lot of these problems you legitimate backcountry users have about them will go away. The particular type of socioeconomic culture that gives rise to ORV's as recreation, never. They get taken care of by natural selection (Avalanche deaths by snoriders now surpass skier deaths)not that that's a good thing- or as follows, from my youth, a regular dialog over the evening newspaper. (spoken with that lilting Scandinavian tone, ala "Fargo") Dad: "Oh, that's too bad, now, isn't it?" Mom: "Now what is?" Dad: "Oh, here is another, a snowmachiner, he run his snowmachine into de trees there outside a Gwuinn, on his way home from da bar there. Oh." Mom: "Now, that, sad, eh. So sad." Dad: "Sure, now, here, the sherrif, he says he musta been going eighty,ninety..." Mom: "Jeez." Kids(in unison) "Cool!" Probably happened half dozen times a season.

You'ver never lived in snow country, have you, E-rock? DUDE, lighten up. Sure, snowmachiners are a particular breed, but they're expressing their interests in a perfectly valid manner and having as much fun as everybody else- sure, I don't want to see snowmachines on top of Baker I mean COME ON, NFS or cruising up SilverStar off highway 20, but a sled comes in handy for a lots more things than ego inflation by rednecks. If I lived up in Nunakavit I'd want one. I want my ski area ski patrol to have access to one. A snowmachine is fun when you're on it, too. Lots of time saved on the approach (personally, no thanks, 'im skiing in) Of course, this is coming from someone who, when the skidoo rolls over, thinks, "cool, we're rolling the sled!"

...oh, yeah, I forgot to mention the black ice "issues" like sudden, unexplained falls when the bike would be possessed by a flailing gremlin and just slide out from underneath you while pedaling-

Nice sounding ride, freeclimb- don't forget the pvc pipe skiholders for the back rack! Riding a bike on snowy roads is FUN- you can do graceful tailskidding countersteer turns in slowmo like speed and never let your trailing foot touch the ground- FREAKS OUT all the drivers when you come through an intersection certainely livens up the morning commute! We also used to get away with sneaking our rides up the ski lifts when our buddies were working and doing some downhillin'-

regarding liability in climbing related lawsuits, wasn't the sale of Chouinard Equipment the result of: A client on a guided climb in the Tetons failed to doubleback their harness buckle after a bathroom break out of sight of the Guide? ...ironicallly, in earlier days YC was deadset against harnesses "Chouinard and others are positively oppossed to harnesses and such contraptions, but as a consession to Frost..." 1972 Chouinard Equipment Catalog

a classic stich plate with spring modulates real well, no autolock as in these belay plates pictured above

All I know's that when a cougar attacks, you're going to be wrastling. BTW, the mask on the back of the head is a culturally upheld tiger safety device in India, it probably works on the raucous coug!

Sorry, Jordo, you've got those routes confused with more indegineous Northwest ones like cattails, potatos or wild leek. Best to stick to these routes in the NW. My flavor in routes run to high grade low class stuff that keeps the crowds down. I even saw a woof once!

Good point, Ballard/phinney's closer for me anyway, just being centrist.