PaulB

I crossed the Neve this weekend, it was excellent!!!! Travelling conditions were fantastic, except for the lake, which has a good layer of slush at the north end. We were crossing late in the afternoon, and ended up punching through the slop in a few spots and getting wet feet. It's probably OK early in the day, but I suspect that in a couple of weeks it'll be impassable. Travelling along the western shore would be possible, but very inconvenient.

Does anyone have a guess at how far up road 1152 you could drive these days? I've never been into Shuksan from the south, but I'm thinking of going next weekend.

I called the Glacier ranger station this weekend, and they said the road is clear to mile 7. The Heliotrope trailhead is at mile 8.

I'm heading towards making this decision as well. Check out the Lasik Centre in Vancouver. They have lots of good info on there.

I've had my Super Mountain 9 Guides for 4 years and use them for everything.... general mountaineering, alpine and steep ice. My only complaint is that the Contagrip rubber they use for the sole is quite soft, and wears quickly. That being said, I took them to a dealer last fall, and got them resoled by Salomon for only CDN$50.

I seem to recall reading a story once about Joe Josephson rope soloing on ice, and taking multiple whippers while doing it.

This guy's luck obviously ran out.... From Canada.com: CROWSNEST PASS, Alta. -- Three weeks after out-running a massive Fernie avalanche, a snowmobiler misjudged where the mountain ended and plunged more than 400 metres to his death. Barry Strandquist died after his snowmobile broke off a cornice, and triggered a snowslide near the Crowsnest Pass. Snowmobilers in the group of seven on the Good Friday outing say Strandquist, a 42-year-old father of two, simply misjudged where the mountain ended and the outcropping of snow started. Just three weeks ago, Strandquist survived a fatal avalanche that killed three of his friends in Fernie, B.C. On March 26, Strandquist was sledding in the Fairy Creek Meadows, near Fernie, when an avalanche slammed into his group, killing three people, including Darren Drake of Crowsnest Pass. Stranquist managed to survive the accident with only minor injuries by outrunning the avalanche on his snowmobile. On Friday, all members of Strandquist's group were equipped with avalanche transceivers. They split up before making a final ascent to a ridge with a breathtaking view of a valley in the Andy Good Peak hiking area, near Crowsnest Pass. As many of the riders reached the peak, Strandquist approached from the opposite side, likely intending to rejoin the group at the top. No one saw the fall, but Dale Linderman, who was part of the group and one of Strandquist's best friends, said they knew right away what had happened. "They could see where his tracks went and we doubled back to where he fell," said Linderman, who had stayed behind to fix his machine but remained in constant radio contact. "I guess he thought it was still the mountain but it was an overhang (of snow) and it just broke loose and fell." Buried under about half a metre of snow -- the sledding group disputes reports that Strandquist triggered an avalanche. They say the conditions were safe before the outing. "Ninety per cent of the snow that fell was from the cornice," said Linderman. "We were 10 times more careful than we usually are because of what happened three weeks ago. We stayed out of every area that was bad." However, RCMP say two separate avalanches were triggered by the group. One was set off by Strandquist after a cornice broke off underneath his sled. The other was triggered by a sledder in the group who went up the slope to investigate after Strandquist disappeared, said Const. Kim Stone of the Crowsnest Pass RCMP. Friday's accident marks the 28th avalanche-related death this year, matching a 1965 record high for the Canadian Rockies.

New England and upstate NY are pretty good places to live if you are a climber. Lots of crags for rock & ice, and of course bouldering. Mountaineering options are limited, but Mt. Washington and Cannon Mt. in NH, and Mt. Katahdin in ME can dish up some good challenges. Most of America's top alpine climbers have spent time in the Northeast due to the training potential. To get a feel for the history and current scene, check out the video "Uncommon Ground".

Here: NPS Morning Report Check the April 17th report for the Swain item.

I liked the story in today's report about "special agent" Todd Swain busting another park employee for embezzlement. I'm assuming this is the same Todd Swain of Red Rocks and Gunks guidebook fame.

Ahh......so you were the guy on the bench. I was one of the two who headed up onto the Neve after your solo friend. We lost his track in drifting snow and zero vis at about 6700' heading up to the Tent. We turned around shortly thereafter, once we realized were caught in one of the wind cirques, and couldn't see how to get out of it other than to follow our tracks back downhill. Another (VOC?) group that managed to come over from Garibaldi Lake said they didn't see anyone heading in the other direction, but thought they heard someone calling out at one point. Hopefully your friend made it through OK.

Etopo sells scanned images of the standard Canadian topos. These can be printed with any imaging program, but they come with calibration data for use with Ozi Explorer. Spectrum Digital Imaging also sells Canadian topos on CD. I found that the Spectrum maps were higher quality images (they've been touched up after scanning), but I bought the Etopo ones because the price was better in terms of maps per $ spent.

Neoprene is indeed waterproof! Wetsuits work by warming up a thin layer of water between your skin and the neoprene. The water enters through the neck, ankle and wrist openings.... not through pores in the neoprene. Many dry suits are made of neoprene. What makes them "dry" is the latex cuffs and neck seal, and the fact that the suit is slightly pressurized.

I don't know much about their backpacking tents, but I've had a Eureka Timberline (3 season, a-frame, canoe/car camping tent) for about 15 years, and its still in great shape.

While I was at Intuiton, I discussed this with Robert (who was very helpful), and his main argument against having footbeds in the liners is that they take up too much space. They feel that getting the liners molded to your feet is just as effective as getting custom footbeds, with the benefit of it all being one piece.

So for those who are interested, here's what happened. I spent the last week walking around my apartment trying out two different sizes (UK 9 & 9.5) of Alphas. The difference being that the 9 has a "9" shell and the 9.5 has a "10" shell. The idea of down sizing double boots doesn't seem to apply to Alphas, since my "street" size is a UK 8.5 (which would also use a "9" shell). I took both pairs over to Intuition to see about getting a pair of their liners, and found that I couldn't comortably get a liner into the 9. The Intuition foam is much thicker than the standard Alpha liner, and the Alphas are very low volume boots. I did fit a liner into the larger shell, but the bulk of the doubled foam around the ankle made it hard to tightly lace the cuff. Not so great for front pointing. So in the end I returned both pairs of boots. The 9 shell seemd like the perfect size, but was a bit tight with the standard liner. The 10 shell was comfy, but too big and sloppy feeling. Nice boots, but unfortunately they don't seem to fit my feet. A 9.5 shell would have been perfect.

The show in question was a NOVA episode called "Everest:The Death Zone", which was filmed by David Breashears. It featured Breashears, Viesturs and a couple of other climbers. They underwent brain scans and cognitive testing in Seattle, and repeated the testing at various altitudes on Everest and when they got back to Seattle. It was a bit scary to see these world class climbers giggling their asses off while trying to answer test questions at altitude. The comment on Ed's brain scan was that compared to what the docs considered "normal", it appeared that over the years his brain had atrophied, presumably due to so much time at altitude. I don't believe that they implied he had suffered any long term mental degeneration. If you haven't seen this show, it's worth tracking down. Lots of good scenery, none of the Hollywood climbing hype and a sobering look at what altitude can do to even the best climbers. Two thumbs up

I've used Superfeet, custom footbeds and orthotics. Superfeet are a good value, and a good place to start. If your feet still hurt with Superfeet, then you might want to consider orthotics. In the end, whatever you spend to get comfortable feet will seem worth it.

I called Intuition, and was surprised to find out that their climbing liners are only $120CDN. They said that using their liners would let me go with a smaller shell (as per Twight doctrine), and still have warmth and wiggle room for my toes. The other surpise was that they don't recommend putting a footbed or orthotics inside their liners. Anyone have comments/experience with this?

The fun part in the UK is that while they are officially metric, many speed signs are still in mph, while most distances are shown in km.

In any case, people are laying down the $$$ for arc'teryx. I was at Whistler yesterday, and I couldn't believe how many people were wearing their jackets and pants. Granted, Whistler isn't the best example of "normal" consumer spending habits. As for CMS, I picked up a pair of Scarpa Alphas for $300CDN this weekend, which I thought was a pretty good deal.

I've been trying on Alphas and have settled on a size that seems to be right, but may be a bit snug. Has anyone with these boots found that the liners packed out? If the Alpha liners pack out as much as the ones in my T2's have, the end result should be an excellent fit, but if not, I think they'll be too tight for cold weather. Thanks in advance for any info.

For anyone heading across the border in the near future, you might want to check these out: WA Border Cams BC Border Cams According to the radio its about a 2 hour wait if you're heading north this afternoon.

I have an Expedition-25, but I haven't sat out any major storms in it, so I can't comment on its performance in crappy weather. It has enough room for three people, but for a long trip I'd probably only want to have two in it. On the other hand, it's a bit too bulky and heavy for just two people to carry. The round doors are probably good from a structural point of view, but are a pain when getting in and out cause you have to step/crawl over the "sill". That also makes cooking in the vestibule a bit inconvenient. For what I paid (I got it for slightly more than dealer cost) I'm happy with it, but I went with Moss when I wanted to get a two man tent.

It's amazing how the precipitation stops right at the Canadian border.