Beck

You guys actually fell for that Thermarest crap? Those were bogus from DAY ONE. Oh, three times heavier than a foam pad and prone to puncture, valve failure and they still get people to buy em! I've got some Rescue 8's laying around if anyone wants some , although I see a ressurection by Petzl for cavers called the PIRAHNNA. Oh yeah, and a three layer goretex mountain parka for sale, CHEAP. [ 12-13-2001: Message edited by: Beck ]

Why limit yourself to 250 bucks if you want a heavy duty goreplex XCR storm parka? most new ones cost 400 bucks. You can buy LL Bean's Marmot knockoffs for a lot less, but I still think they are more than 250- The Patagonia Supa Pluma's been my choice for about the last ten years but they cost 325 For Winter use, go SOFT SHELL- my $.02

Take a look at a more affordable Grivel axe as well, the Pamir. Still plenty light with a traditional spike that'll bite hard ice better, also the teeth under the Air Tech axes extend real close to the shaft, I think you mignt run the risk of damaging your rope in a boot axe belay.

Hey, Flebelebleb, There's a couple options you can use, but you'll have to look for them in the used gear shops. 1) Chouniard Equipment used to sell a toepiece that would fit their Riva cable binding that adapted the binding for use with mtn boots- not designed for lotsa turns. 2) NATO ski binding with adjustable toepieces are designed to fit any boot- I used these in the mid eighties with some (not fully rigid) mountain boots to tele at the lifts with, evebn took them to Colorado and they worked fine- after a couple hard seasons they degraded the welt a little bit worked just fine. Look fot these items on old tele/ski gear, you can make it work, man. [ 12-11-2001: Message edited by: Beck ]

Hey Erik,or anybody else in T town, I'll be in Tacoma Weds night if you want to slug back some brewskis at the Swiss- I'm going about 9:30

Sir Edmund Hillary was often heard saying (and I'm paraphrasing) "The best thing westerners can do for the Nepali people is ... stay home."

Do you all go out in the winter with a Texas Instruments Graphing Calculator stuffed in your snow study bag? or Duct taped to the shovel, ready to factor initial diameter for effective penetration at a moment's notice? Just DIG the DAMN HOLE if your buddies' at the bottom of the pile, I'd save the fancy math for your appointment with the auditor-

I carry the Ortovox probe and haven't found any problems with it yet in three years. Take colored electrical tape and mark it in 5cm increments if you want to use it as a snow ruler for snowpit analysis. Is 2.4m too short? Probably not. A beacon search will narrow your search area down by quite a bit, to where probing becomes secondary, quick, prefunctory canine like "find the stick, dig, dig, DIG" when the victim is wearing a transmitting beacon. Probes are probably and unfortunatly used more often in corse/fine search body recoveries.

Still looking for a place to live. I got a couple good leads off this post but they weren't quite right. Looking for a room to rent Seattle area, bike commutable to downtown, room to store gear and self. If anyone has any leads I'd really appreciate it. Beck

Anyone else ever have the pleasure of seeing a wolf in the Cascades?

Wow, fern, I think you just shot right over the heads of about 90% of your fellow CascadeClimbers... it certaintly dropkicked my melon into the outhouse, that's for sure. As another practical hint, there's some vector variance in deep burial tranciever searches that generally puts the victims upslope of the point of the strongest signal.

Washington FRESHIES rule!!! I've got 7 days in already this freshie season, and I work a full time m-f job!

The Guinness Book of World Records was actually created by the Guinness Brewery as a handy "settle the pub argument" type of resource guide, as well as a marketing tool. In 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver, Guinness high falutin' muckymuck, was engaged in a discussion over what was the fastest game bird in Europe and reckoned a rescource guide with this type of info would prove valuable. In 1955 the McWhirter twins published the first edition of the Guiness Book, and it soon found its' way into pubs throughout the British Empire.

Bring on the powdre! Last weekend was thigh deep fluffies in the trees, heinous soft slab above, but bring it on,old man winter! let's see the snow, skadi!

The M2 is an analog beacon with digital technology, this validates the manufacturers' clamims of being a dual digi/analogue beacon.

I'm going to second AlpineK on this one. Backcountry skiing SUCKS. It's a skin,skin,skin,slog,slog,slog, up the damn hill. You stop and get cold. You need to test the snow by digging a huge pit and stare at it for a half an hour, at which time you get a lot colder. The snow is always extremely variable and usually a breakable crust. Then, a whiteout occurs. In the interest in keeping the BC pristine, I recommend everyone stick to the lifts, you get a lot more vert with a lot less work.

Is 200 dollars too much to pay for a piece of safety equipment that could save your life? It depends on how much you go backcountry and how much you intend to in the future. Renting is a great option for occasional use. Keep in mind that at some of the ski areas here in WA ( and most likely, other areas in USA) REQUIRE partner, shovel AND beacon to cross the lines and ride the backcountry. One last tip. When you do get one, PRACTICE practice practice with your ski buddies, and make sure THEY now how to search for YOU. As to the cost, it is a bummer. Look how much new Gore XCR coats cost, 450 bucks?

Somebody needs to recon a place in Federal Way or thereabouts, I've only drunk at the 13 Coins at the airport and I don't think mgmt there would be keen on a bunch of dirtbag climbers! Anybody have any suggestions on a climber friendly roadhouse mid Sea-Tac ground?

Correction, dbcolin. The telemark turn was developed by Sondre Nordheim of Norway who invented (or popularized an ancient technique) the Telemark turn, the first modern ski turn. He might have been a ski yumper, I guess, but no one was skiing down hills and making it a sport before ol' Nordheim, and they didn't have their heels fixed.

There's a smell of FRESHIEZ in the air, boys and girls... who's going out to rip it up this weekend and carve some rightous powpow?

Did you cut some turns, Cavey? or were you just gaping?

With a look like that I might even consider dumping Teddy R! That friend of mine you were trying to pick up at the Owl & Thistle Tuesday would be heartbroken, though, Cavey, if you ditched her for Ms. Bigfoot-

I usually break in leather mtn boots by putting them under the wheels of your car toes first and back over 'em up to the heel counter and leaving it parked there for fifteen minutes. Don't back ofer the heel or you'll wreck the boots. Just be careful! Make sure you don't do like my friend Toivo, he wanted em' to fit real custom like, so he put his boots ON and had his brother Swen back over the boots WITH HIS FEET STILLINSIDE. That unlucky bastard,put him out of climbing for the rest of the season.

Cavey, that animitron is frickn HILARIOUS!

It's SHEL SILVERSTEIN, oh my gosh! I thought he had passed!