PaulB

Years ago, the owners of the Cayoosh Creek campground, right in town, didn't mind if you set up a tent there in the winter. No facilities, but it was more convenient than driving out to Marble Canyon after having dinner and some beers in town. Hanging out at Mugs & Jugs, drying gear in front of their fireplace, was often the best part of a Lillooet ice weekend.

The phrase "expect shenanigans" should be in more guidebook descriptions.

I've been skiing in a pair of MEC bibs made of Polartec PowerShield for about 10 years. Other than the DWR having worn off, they're still going strong. PowerShield rocks. Sadly, it's almost impossible to find proper soft shell bibs anymore.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at what you can climb in them. I've climbed up to grade 3 in two buckle T2 tele boots (traditional duckbill and much more flexible than TX Pros) with BD Sabretooths. Not ideal, but it'll get the job done.

Wigwam / Ultimax makes liners which are almost knee high. Thin liners plus a mid-weight sock has been my recipe for staying blister free on everything from touring for turns to 40km in a day death marches.

A slightly longer, but more casual with less bushwacking, approach is to park at the fork just past the bridge and hike to the end of the road which goes to the upper cut block. A very short bit of thrashing leads to more open trees on the ridge and away you go.

If you make the switch to NTN, you can get a $100 rebate when you by a pair of Scarpa, Garmont or Crispi boots and new bindings before January 31.

Trip: Mount Sloan - NE Ridge Date: 7/25/2010 Trip Report: Jordop & I used rare weekend passes from familial duties to make a trip across the Hurley River Road for an ascent of Sloan. We'd last been in the area three years ago for a trip to Vayu, so it was nice to make a return. The NE Ridge is well described in McLane's guidebook. Pretty good rock, as much exposure as you're comfortable with and most difficulties can be avoided on the left side of the ridge. Due to the unusually cool spring there is still a lot of snow in the alpine, and there was a small patch just below the summit to give a bit of variety from the 4th class scrambling. Five hours up from the bridge across Ault Creek to the summit and 3 hours down the descent gully on the south face, past the lakes and back to the bridge. We managed to find the trail on the east side of the lower lake, which reduced 'schwacking to tolerable levels. View from the approach: On the ridge: Summit view south-west to Sampson: South-east to Matier: West to Vayu: Jordop attempting to self-induce cardiac arrest in the upper lake: A great day in the hills for two guys who don't get out as much as we used to. Gear Notes: - Took a half rope and a handful of pro but didn't use it. - Ice axe was handy for snow patch just below summit and more extensive snow in descent gully Approach Notes: The Ault Creek road has waterbars that require 4WD-HC (mostly HC) if you want to get to the parking/bivy site below the lower lake. The spur road that goes from the bridge across Ault Creek to the toe of the NE ridge is blocked with lots of windfallen trees but makes for an easy approach hike (the spur would be drivable if someone went up with a chainsaw and cleaned things up).

And he was from BC. By all accounts, he was a great person.

The problem with mixing 11n and 11g devices on a single band 11n router is that when an 11g device (your iPhone) is connected, any 11n connections will slow down to 11g, and the 11g connection may also take a performance hit. If you anticipate extensive use of your iPhone at the same time as your laptop or PC you may want to consider getting a used 11g router (should be very cheap or free) and configuring it as an access point so you can keep the 11g and 11n traffic separated.

The ham only made it as far as the Bow Hut, where it became Easter dinner.

These waypoints are based on my actual GPS track from Peyto Lake to West Louise Lodge a few years ago: UTM Grid, Datum: WGS 84 WAPT1,11U,534083,5731666 WAPT2,11U,533245,5731068 WAPT3,11U,532903,5729426 WAPT4,11U,531739,5727348 WAPT5,11U,531429,5726106 WAPT6,11U,530719,5724209 WAPT7,11U,530869,5723858 PEYTO,11U,531319,5723909 WAPT8,11U,532348,5722325 WAPT9,11U,532929,5720779 WAPT10,11U,534491,5720494 BOW,11U,535419,5720509 WAPT11,11U,533919,5719759 WAPT12,11U,534519,5719009 WAPT13,11U,534769,5719009 WAPT14,11U,535500,5718877 WAPT15,11U,537136,5717743 BALFOR,11U,537419,5715909 WAPT16,11U,537413,5714923 WAPT17,11U,537719,5713809 WAPT18,11U,537648,5713336 WAPT19,11U,538419,5712008 WAPT20,11U,540336,5710882 WAPT21,11U,541364,5709587 DUNCAN,11U,541619,5708609 WAPT22,11U,540719,5706809 WAPT23,11U,540930,5706111 WAPT24,11U,541775,5704735 WAPT25,11U,542056,5703777 WAPT26,11U,541960,5703274 WAPT27,11U,542196,5702613 WAPT28,11U,542488,5701400 WAPT29,11U,542961,5699917 WAPT30,11U,543311,5699674 WAPT31,11U,544029,5699137 WAPT32,11U,544574,5698914 WLUISE,11U,545166,5699133

This month's Backcountry ski mag has a feature on ski mountaineering. It highlights some things to consider depending on your chosen mode of travel; AT, tele or split board.

Ditto on using Sabretooths with my T2s. It's definitely not as sturdy a platform as an AT boot would be, but it's probably as good or better than what people were wearing ice climbing 20 years ago.

Soloing the big three Trophy Wall routes in a day always stood out in my mind as a massively impressive achievement. I've met folks from the Prince George section of the ACC who told me that Guy would sometimes help with their weekend ice climbing clinics. As the rope gun for setting top ropes he would casually mention to his belayers before starting up, "don't be alarmed if I don't put in any screws".