plexus

Holy cordage!! Have a few ropes there. I have four and feel like a hoarder.

Nice. Nothing wrong with hitting places you wouldn't normally hit. Hell, I did it here last year after our big dump. Why drive that far when you can find the same kind of skiing closer?!

All I know is when I was married, I avoided posting pics of my wife in such poses. Those pics are for personal viewing pleasure, not to be disseminated to the masses. It reeks of chest-beating, which will eventually lead to huberis. Own up to it to your fiancee is the thing a decent mate would do.

It better give me that warm fuzzy feeling when I sit in the belay for that kind of money!

Went there for my honeymoon. Loved it, plus the locals are friendly. Go during non-tourist time and you'll practically have The Baths to yourself. During tourist time, it is a zoo.

I got my eighth day yesterday. It's evenly split between resort and backcountry as well, with each getting four days. My goal for this season was to get 30 days skiing. While it does seem very reasonable, I will be missing almost two weeks in Costa Rica. So what's other people's tally so far?

Hitting the Sierras for a week in June/July. Thinking about the Evolution group. Also climbing Cerro Chirripo in Costa Rica in March.

I'd love to have the form of the next to last skier in the video.

I'll just say the powder I was riding in yesterday, it wouldn't have mattered the width/length of ski, unless it had hydrocraft abilities. I do know after riding both my alpine and backcountry setups a few times each this year (8 days out four on both resort & backcountry) my Shuksans handle the offpiste much better. And each pair of skis have similar dimensions.

I second that. Did that when I was out visiting a couple weeks ago and had a great time in there.

If you pay like I did, make sure you have an attentive person as opposed to the absent-minded blowhard that did mine. I get blisters like a whore gets STDs - that's even with taping. Wildsnow.com also has some good tips on doing it.

I just ordered the Marmot gloves the other day. Hoping they get here today so I can try them out in the backcountry tomorrow.

So of course singing its praises, I broke the strap on one of my BD flintlock poles today. Are those tabs easy to get a hold of? Anybody know? BTW, the powder was incredible at Loveland today. A balmy 8 degrees with winds from 40 mph headwind on Chair 4 to non-existent in the trees.

I was out at Source Lake the day of your trip and I can attest, the snow was flipping horrible. I thought I was going to break my skis a couple of times. The photos are magnificent as always - especially the hoar shots. I have to ask though, do your climbing/skiing partners ever get impatient with your shutterbug-itis?

Flintlock hands down. I got rid of my REI poles because the twist locking gets effed up way too easy. Happened to my last pair after 12 times using it.

I can't believe I was gullible enough to click the link. I've only used the kid sleds around the Cascades and they wear out pretty quickly. I can check with a friend to see what he used on Denali.

Lost a pair of OR shell mitts out of my pack on Thursday up on the slopes leading down to the Source Lake trail at Alpental. Given that I flew back to Denver yesterday, give them a good home. The conditions were horrible for my AT skis and I now must make amends to them by getting them a tune and a wax.

The pack will only throw off your balance and restrict your movements. Stick with what feels comfortable for you. Get some beaters used, spend very little on them and use that as your benchmark for a season of bc. That's what I did and I am glad (and less poor) I chose that path. Plus I think I became a better skier (which isn't saying much) turning on beaters as well.

Demo some skis. If you live in Utah there should be some demo days at some of the resorts coming up soon. I know being here in Colorado there has already been one and not all of the resorts are open. I prefer a shorter ski myself. But my backcountry skis are actually a little longer than my downhill skis just because I like that extra float on the approach but it's not so much I have problems turning them on the way down.

I did just that and my email got bounced back to me. I just find it odd that one can last five years and then I have gone through three in two years; the last one not even lasting four months and not with hard use either.

Got my first one about six years ago. It lasted nearly five years before it was getting rather wrinkled and untrustworthy. Since then I have gone through three of them; my third developing a slow leak from an indiscernable hole near the nozzle. Anybody else having these problems? Did they change the thickness of the plastic on the bladders in the past few years, because I abused my first one?

The month on the calender means less than the conditions that are present. How close can you get? How much slogging are you going to be doing? Do your research, keep tabs on what the weather has been like and what the conditions will be like up there. Keep in mind you are getting less and less daylight as I was reminded a couple of weekends ago.

If I want lift skiing, I can get it here and now in Colorado. Scary considering how dry it's been. Just was bringing the Shuksans for a couple days of touring with a good friend - something we haven't done together for a few years.

Remember to bend your knees, lift with the legs. I have a copy of Joyce's Ulysses as well anybody can have. Tried reading the bloody thing three times. Each time I get about 100 pages in I ask myself, "What have I just read? What's going on?" It's a shame because I really enjoy Dubliners.

Kinda concerned looking at pics and talking with friends. Coming out the first week of December and the dearth of snow is making me apprehensive. Was gonna bring my skis with me to get a couple of days of backcountry crud. Can somebody do a snowdance for me?