Figger_Eight

The G-rides have a thermoliner in them - that'll make them warmer than your Degres. Also, if you have those boots sized right, wearing two socks might make them too tight, restricting circulation and actually making them colder. Hey...how's that tent by the way?

Northwest Outdoor Guides would be Scott'teryx's guide service.

"No...it's just ice cream."

I agree. Longer ropes would just cause a bigger cluster%@. Twin 60's are bad enough.

It happens more often than you'd guess. I think there were two fatalities on Rainier last year from cardiac arrest.

I wear orthotics in my shoes, but not in my climbing or skiing boots. Try replacing your orthotics with green Superfeet. I don't think theres enough space in your ski boots to accomodate orthotics, and the shell is not allowing your foot to expand when you put weight on them.

Good shortcut...I never would've thought of that.

The snow was so deep, you wouldn't have been able to walk far, and it would've taken a lot of work. The visibility sucked and he didn't have much backcountry experience. You can wander around back there in those conditions for days pretty easily.

I poo on your thread.

Good one

Did you have the orthotics in your thermoliners when you molded them?

If you run out of tp you can wipe your ass with it.

Ya gotta make sure your boots are compatible with Dynafit though.

Working hard and sweating makes you dehydrated. Water in any form (frozen or liquid) is only good. If you're overheating, eating snow is also a good way to cool down. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Word.

That's wierd...my mom used to say, "Drag your sorry little punk ass over here before I smack it to tomorrow!"

At Crystal they control within their ski area boundary. The 'backcountry' you refer to is actually a gate accessed part of the inbounds area called North and South Country. Just because it's ungroomed doesn't make it backcountry - you're still in the area. Outside of the ski area boundary, no control or patrol work is done. At Alpental you are actually considered "out of bounds" if you go past the backcountry gate - you have officially left the ski area. There's technically no "inbounds backcountry" there, unless you're counting an ungrooomed slope.

Absolutely the devil is in the details. Just because a run has a name doesn't mean it's "in area". Accessing the Great Scott Traverse to get up-valley, you have to go through a gate which allows you to LEAVE the ski area boundary without losing your lift priviledges. That's all a gate means. No control work is done in the backcountry, nor are there patrollers stationed out there. If the backcountry is closed to in-area skiers, I can still skin up there and go skiing. I understand what you're saying about what is commonly referred to as the ski area's "backcountry", but it's that way simply because of the amount of traffic based on the ease of return to the lifts. Is it lift served backcountry? Sure...but so is the west side if I choose to slap some skins on and walk all the way back around. Is there a difference between a "ski area's backcountry" and "real backcountry"? The risks are all the same, except that you get a ton more traffic at one simply based on geography. If it's a geographical issue...well whatever, but if it's because you think an area's backcountry is safer - well it's not...not really at least.

Crap... Remember - there are them crazy Cougars up at Mt. Si, too!

That's about as backcountry as it gets. What are you talking about?

I stuck Intuition liners in my Exped's and those worked fine, but did so because the original liners were packed out. The Exped's and the Degre's shells are quite similar in materials HOWEVER the Exped's are sized for more volume to accomodate the liner expanding at altitude. If you have Degre's that are sized snug for good frontpointing and alpine climbing, you might run into that problem. If you have to buy new boots, the stock liner in the Exped's will be fine if you stick an overboot over them for up high. My .02 cents at least.

ummmm...huh? Sometimes when I'm out screwing around I like to dig hasty pits just to see what kinds of layers are under there, that's all. If you're out skiing and you want to examine a slope you need to cross or you want to make tracks on, then you sometimes have to poke around on an avy prone slope. All I'm saying is if yer digging a pit just to dig a pit, you don't need to go to avy slopes to do it. You'll be able to see different layers of snow in the trees or on tops of ridges just the same.

I can't believe I just read this entire thread from the beginning. That's 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

Yup. The idea with a good pit is to find a representative slope and aspect. Sometimes finding the ideal place to dig a pit puts you in harms way. If you're just doing it for shits and giggles, stay high and in the trees.