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quote: Originally posted by pope: Seems I once read that closed-cell foam is always warmer since what really counts is "dead air", not thickness. Open-cell inflatables (like the Therma-Rest) supposedly allow for little internal air currents which conduct heat away from you. It's kind of like a double-pane storm window. One might think that a bigger gap between panes would provide more insulation, but in reality, the warmth of the inner pane causes adjacent air (or some kind of gas) between the panes to rise, while the cool outer pane cools the adjacent air, causing it to fall. When the gap between panes is thick enough, a current sets up in which air on the warm side of the gap rises to the top and then shifts to the cold side and falls into the cold side of the gap (replacing the cold air that falls down). The falling cold-side air eventually shifts to the warm side to replace the rising warm air. Of course, this circulation takes warmth away from the inner pane and transfers it to the exterior of the home. Storm windows are actually designed with a very narrow gap between panes to discourage these little "heat-pump" currents. A thermarest is nothing like a storm window. When you are lying on a thermarest the warm side (you) is on top, the cold side (snow) is on the bottom. Warm air rises, so the dead air inside thermarest that you warm up stays at the top, the cold air stays at the bottom and there is no density driven heat pump. The only convection you might get is if you shift around a lot and mix up the air inside, but it's still always going to be warmer than ambient.

"Far, Far the Mountain Peak" John Masters, one of those epic 'waning years of the British Empire' The Far Pavilions style novels.

that photo doesn't do justice to Andy's ubiquitous red adidas pants. I met a guy hiking to Garibaldi Lake once, one snowshoe was the side of a milkcrate, the other was a window mosquito screen.

quote: Originally posted by Dru: that cause trad climbers got bigger racks yeah, I got lots of nuts and cams too.

I responded to a fatal accident last year. I wasn't the first on scene so when I arrived CPR was already in full swing. But when it became apparent that things were really serious I was asked to go speak to the victim's partner who was waiting nearby ... and at that moment I would have gladly traded places with anyone who was hand's on to the revival efforts.

a gri-gri isn't a panacea for shitty belaying skills ... maybe if you take the time to help her develop better rope control you won't be limited to easy sport climbs and short top ropes? It's not just your safety at stake, it's her's also. in any case good luck. I have always found that a good place to find info about the climbs available in areas is the guidebook for that area.

if you and I go on a trip and you forget your shovel then you get to carry mine (:

In the McNamara Yosemite Supertopo guidebook there's a chart of cam sizes showing the overlap between the major brands. also there's this:http://www.stanford.edu/~agcooper/ActiveProSizeChart.htmland this:http://home.datacomm.ch/leonhard.pang/climbing/slcd.html and I think a few years ago in R&I there was a Steph Davis article about crack climbing technique that cross-refs crack size (thin fingers, hand, fist etc.) to cam sizes. also I think (but could be wrong) that a #3 Friend is 3 inches across unretracted, and a #3 Camalot is 3 inches across when halfway retracted, and that this is a fairly general rule for those two brands. [ 02-25-2002: Message edited by: fern ]

the roof just below The Tree will do the chinese water torture down the back of your neck for most of the second pitch. The vegetation up there soaks up a lot of water too, so it takes a few dry days before the dripping stops. It's still climbable, but no way would you stay dry. Also you get no sun, so it can be pretty chilly. Watch out for rock and ice fall in that area.

quote: Originally posted by pope: I'm surpised that nobody ever suggests such activities for rest days, but it is a well-known fact that sorting gear in El Cap Meadows is a sure-way to meet girls. Some of them want to become intimate (yawn), but some of them can get you free showers and a pic-nic lunch! A girl sorting gear will quickly attract a group of guys, however it is immediately obvious that they cannot get her free showers.

care to elaborate on WHICH Liquidation World? there are several

hmm ... bilious green helmet, red red jacket ... waitaminnit, that's YOU on the bolt ladder trickster. did you get dan's addy? perrakis at u.washington.edu

My experience with Atlas snowshoes lead me to the conclusion that they are complete crap. Don't expect to get more than a dozen days of moderate-to-heavy use out of them before rivets start popping and straps break. This conclusion is based on the failure of several pairs, not just one. There are a few things I don't like about the MSRs but they are very durable and pretty cheap. There are other rigid plastic brands out there too for similar $$ to the MSR. A friend has a pair that you can lock the heels down which is nice for steep deep snow, I think the brand is 'TSL' or somthing. If you want something a little more sporty, MEC is selling 120cm twin tip mini skis for $99CDN

quote: Originally posted by David Parker: There are a few things I don't like about the "If you want something a little more sporty, MEC is selling 120cm twin tip mini skis for $99CDN " How would these skis work with silveretta bindings and either plastic or leather ice climbing boots? For example, I have done the approach to Chair Peak 2twice, once with snoeshoes and once with tele skis. I much prefered coming out on skis but I don't like having to carry and switch boots.<snip> I am perplexed about what there is to like or not like about that quote, I mean it had a smily and everything ... (hmm hmm, the internal struggle, shall I be facetious or helpful ... la la la ) ... I think the preferred way of making them 'work' is to mount the bindings on the ski, insert the boot into the binding, and point 'em downhill. Whether or not this would 'work' for _you_ David is beyond my ken, as I know nothing of your abilities or joie-de-vivre. I don't even know if it would 'work' for me, but it looks like hella fun. I have seen it done by other people, they looked cheerful.

what difference does it make if the XX and XY courses are the same gradient and length if the men and women aren't competing against each other? should they do away with the 'men's' and 'women's' qualifiers altogether and throw everyone in the same race for the same medals? ... yeah! cut the whole Olympics in half in one go, then we can get back to the good TV (:

be careful using a gri-gri for soloing on less than vertical rock. I took a stupid ground-fall from about 25' up because #1) I am dumb, #2) when I fell I was skidding down with the gri-gri between me and the rock, so there was no room for the cam to swing out and lock up. The gri-gri slid down to the back-up knot which put enough rope into the system for me to kiss the ground. #3) I am dumb.

you can see whether or not it's in from Hwy 12 and from the Texas Ck Road. When it is in it's pretty good value, although there's nothing there harder than WI3ish.

fresh snow fresh tracks

is this ebonics or something?... where'd I put my jive dictionary...

I think part of the problem is that the 'pleather' patch on the underside of the tongue gets cracks in it, so it's hard to seal it down. Try gooping a bunch of vaseline (or sunscreen/butter/whatever's handy) in there and then cinch the laces down tight. When my Scarpas were newer I once skied 5km across Garibaldi Lake under 6inches of water with dry feet before the tongues started leaking. But now they're a little worn and they get damp faster. Supergaiters work too, but they're a little sweaty for PNW type conditions.

quote: Originally posted by Ibex: I recently went from dual points (on BD switchblades) to trident points. They are basically a mono, but with 2 short, closely spaced stabilizer points on either side. The idea is that you get the penetration, etc of mono's but also the lateral stability of duals. Note, this is the same end result as the BD Mako. Some folks are prejudice against them, and there certainly are a lot of die-hard Grivel fans out there, but I would have to recommend the Mako/trident point setup. It feels very precise and sensitive, but at the same time very stable. <snip> I have tridents on Switchblades, I hate them, I am going to sell them. The tridents are an improvement on the standard Switchblade points, but overall the crampons bug.

This is really sad. Brent was the instructor on my first avalanche course, which was one of my first experiences in any sort of backcountry adventuring. I couldn't ski worth shit but he still let me take the course and was incredibly patient even though I could barely keep up.

quote: Originally posted by Dru: made every attempt to ... minimize the hazard to themselves. hindsight=20/20, I-wasn't-there-how-could-I-possibly-know, speak-ill-of-the-dead, etc etc etc, but I find it very hard to reconcile this statement with the fact that 3 people were caught by the same skier triggered slide. I feel the same way about the 3 park wardens caught a couple of weeks ago. One of the most basic tenets is to minimize the number of people exposed, and if >50% of your party is caught how can you claim to have done that?

quote: Originally posted by Dru: Yes Laurin the German ice god sent No Deductable he says that's probably the hardest pitch he's ever lead ... I told him it's only M2 and he's just weak

quote: Originally posted by hakioawa: There seems to be a new breed this year at the resorts. They spend the extra $$ and use AT gear and ski groomed blue runs. Most of them have the new Diamir II bindings and wear scarpa Lazers and the closest thing to the back country they get is the upper parking lot at Alpental. I've seen them at Cypress Bowl, skinning up the greens. Must be training for Denali or sumthin' quote: Ask them and they will tell you that is cool beacuse its light (i.e. breakable and unstable at speed) and you can do either a tele or a parallel turn. ha ... nonsense. You can sorta parallel on tele-gear, but you can't tele on AT gear, and why would you bother anyways?