Beck

Naw, the saw, plus the shovel handle, plus your arm length, is pretty sufficient in most snowpacks to cut everything except the back side of a rutschblock- bring a knotted cord to cut bigger blocks of snow. Use a ski if you need a smooth snowpit face , then use with a soft brush to accentuate the layers in the snowpack... you can always use an evergreen bough as a brush, if available...

whatever shovel you get, attach some way to carry it on your back and a way to attach the probe to handle (I use the rubber bands you get with broccoli and elastic 5/8" bungie as the shoulder straps) as a go tool- you want to drop your pack at a safe zone if possible before going out on a beacon search and is the way to have your shovel during those yo yos and plastic shovels break, are NOT that much lighter, and can't be used to hammer the s*** out of pickets or your tentmate nearly as well as ANY shovel with a metal blade. there isn't any real debate with the shovels, eh? But do get the snowsaw in the handle if possible... plus, used shovels can be found cheap, i got a Voile Telepro for twenty bucks last season because second ascent didn't realize the spring clip had worked its way UP into the handle.... they had it marked 'as is' for a Jackson and I knocked the spring out with a few quick raps with my palm before buying it!

...I had a half of a cold grilled cheese sandwich at lunch yesterday, and some leftover turkey, stuffing and brocolli reheated last night, was there some kind of holiday thing going on?

I am from the UP and learned to ski on cross country skis as transportation but when I moved to the NW I discovered Cascade Climbers.com. I find it easy to troll on. Do other people feel this way?

while, if you're going to Crystal there's the Snorting Elk? I'm sorry, is your question about Backcountry or skiing at a resort? but a good all day backcountry ski tour up by Crystal is to head up to Bear Gap, run the ridge south as far as you want, and drop back to the road in Bullion or Pickhandle basins or all the way back to Norse Peak and suchnot... if west slopes are bad, ski east slopes of cement basin or... have a nice ski!

It looks like a good overnight winter weekend with some freshies, lots of sunshine... perfect for a bivy somewhere...

in pow its all about riding the bases not the edges... think rubber bands or standing on a trampoline underfoot. shoot for equal weighting, feet close together, small wedges, smooth and subtle weight shifts, don't fear the fall line...

mtnfreak makes a good point about the distinction between the ski area charging for a rescue versus a county led SAR effort. rarely does a sheriff's department charge for SAR efforts for the reasons the Deschutes county sheriff's representative said in the news brief... they don't want to discourage people for calling for help.

Hi, Carolyn! happy great white north, eh? I always had good luck up there with mitts, for sure! OR or a nicer kind with leather palms, if you could find some trigger finger mitts with leather palms and removable liners, but as to gloves in general, Varmit mountain verks and other top gear manufacturers are working closely with offshore sweatshops to develop an extremely weak glove seam construction! This coupled with exceeding the 100 dollar barrier for gloves and hyping the "performance" of one type of handshue for this and another for that, I' bet some people have, literally, hundreds of dollars in handwear. I know I do! :lmao

that sounds like a big money maker for the ski area and quite profiteering...when does a search by ski patrol become billable? and when does it stop? when county SAR arrives?

my un PC goal for 2004, more hummers in the mountains! atlantic salmon, once they escape the farms and inhabit the nearby streams, it's goodbye native species as the atlantics take over the habitat, atlantic salmon return to spawn up to a half dozen times and are pernicious and disruptive in wild salmon habitat.

backcountry, with a cuppa hot cocoa, your bivy rig all out, and a welcome to SAR folks is different that wallowing in snow without bivy gear or safety equipment. I bet the kid was happy, happy, happy, to get out of the woods that night. If the kid used Bache lifts to access BC, Bache is liable. However, if he was lost inbounds, no charge would have been incurred. When he went OB and crossed the boundary, even though Bache brought him up there, didn't tell him to break the rules, so he now can incur billing for rescue. confusing, but appropro. leaseholders on federal land are liable if they are witting participants in someone's fu--ups, but not if the yahoos break the rules set by the leaseholders, i believe...

ski! If i was ripping it up on the lifts in fixed heel gear, i'd recommend real live downhill equipment. save the AT for the BC, eh! i've seen and felt the flex, just ski behind someone with fritchis on the groomers and watch the heel pieces flex before the ski rolls on edge

one other reason to ride appropiate equipment, aside from fritchis' flex at the heel and are not nearly as rigid laterally than a silvretta or a proper downhill binding, but more importantly, AT bindings don't release in as many directions! no up release from the toe, no twisting release from the heel! Skiing on AT gear at the lifts, besides being a terribly posey thing to do, is not as safe as downhill equipment... i get a chuckle whenever i see lifties with AT gear and no safety equipment, or even skins! HAHAHAHA I hope you don't go that route, TLG, but hey, you're so pretty it doesn't matter what you do! have a nice winter, TLG!

voucher for Crystal I won't be able to use, only good th-fr-sa-su, free to good home, PM me if interested

how about around christmas or the weekend after? i am still training at crystal this weekend...

those'd put some blisse in the glisse on the piste, nice sticks! schuss !

I am saddened by the loss of life over the weekend here in WA state in the name of recreation.. a caveat about snow science "the snow doesn't know if you're an expert" but proper study of the avy forecast before the trip, terrain reading, and having everyone in the party equipped and knowledgable in beacon locating techniques will go a long way in increasing safety for a party exposing themself to avalanche terrain. Constantly observing the snowpack...testing with pole punches, hand test, v cuts, stomp tests, etc, throughout the tour, observing snowpack. hasty pits and shovel shear tests are indicators, (shovel shear not quite as acurrate as an actual full size rutschblock)- it is invaluable to keeping testing the snow while on the move across it. is it safe to cross a loaded avy slope? possibly. is it safe to ski in conditions of considerable danger? sometimes. but as a contrary example, the Rudi B./SME tragedy in Canada this last winter shows how even guided groups doing textbook "safe travel" techniques wound up getting caught in a series of sympathetic slides that day, with tragic results... this weekend, though, it was obvious while observing the snowpack throughout that the danger was building all over the place... you could see foot thick soft snow layers cracking off, it was soo in the face to see... just looking around at treewells, and snow on logs, etc, showed cohesive soft slabs forming. every v-cut i tested collapsed on me as a slab block by saturday afternoon. soft slabs were releasing easily around tree wells this weekend. yesterday in the backcountry it showed little settlement, and continued cohesive soft slabs were easy to trigger...but great skiing. my heart goes out the the families of the victims, and it is unfortunate that this tragedy occured, but perhaps it may make others realize the dangers in backcountry winter travel. I hope we all stay safe this winter season.

i'd recommend trying the crossbows in the BC, these are some deadwood feeling planks, more suited for piste than off IMO, was also talking with a tele rider sunday at crystal that was experiencing this same feeling, felt better in the bumps and crud than surfing pow. that said, ski length? whatever...

...I'm saving up my pennies, TLG! back to the lifts after a near solid two decade hiatus, I'm glad to get a cut rate on my first season's pass since 1984! and there's plenty of "lift assisted BC" skiing at Crystal....mmm, freshies today, freshies Wendesday...ahh...the snow is so fluff right now...

I got my picture taken for a season's pass at Crystal yesterday...total price- $5.39! that'll work out to a low cost per ride!

i pushed some slabby stuff loose in the trees on Saturday, hopefully the conditions will stabilize some for BC on sunday, but i doubt it (w/o calling 526-6677), but i'm lift skiing for ease of powder delivery. also because i have to, but its going to be rocking! go get some fluffies!

using a piece of 2x8 long enough to clamp the skins to helps wonders, and both the torch and the paper bag method work pretty good, the bags are a bit slower to use to remove the glue. you can now buy glue in sheets to put a new glue layer to the skins, that's a nifty improvement, but multiple thin coats of ascension gold works just about as good as skins right out of the factory..

I believe the limmer standard is a wood lasted, rigid soled boot that will last you 30 years once you get them broken in. good luck!

you're ALL a bunch of biatches, sloppy , anyone?