PaulB

If you were planning to head to Squamish before the long weekend crowds show up, there was a massive rock slide last night just north of Porteau Cove and the road is expected be closed for a couple of days. CBC story here. Road updates here.

BD Sabretooths work great with tele boots (my Scarpas, at least). It's not an ideal setup for long pitches of steep ice 'cause your front points are extended further than when using regular boots, but it'll get you up a pitch of WI3 without causing your calves too much grief.

C'mon now... with modern gear, a decent tele skier can go anywhere an AT skier can. Yes, they may have to work a bit harder, but they know that going in. As long as they aren't slowing down their partner(s), who cares what gear or technique they use? I'm pretty sure that 3 of the 4 primary participants in the Coast Range Ski Traverse used tele gear (and pretty basic gear at that, T2 boots and Voile 3-pin cable bindings). Sure, they weren't ripping 45 degree slopes, but they were definitely traveling through "real mountains". [historical rambling] The turning technique changed before the binding did. The transition from telemark to wedge, stem and stem christie turns happened in the late 1800s, mostly because they were easier to teach and learn. Increased speed and control on steep slopes were a bonus, and thus Alpine skiing was born. Free heel cable bindings were still the norm, albeit the heel was held pretty close to the ski as ever stronger springs were utilized. The first true fixed heel binding didn't appear until the mid 1930s, and shortly thereafter the first releaseable bindings as well. The move away from the telemark turn was mostly the result of smart marketing of the stem turns by Alpine resorts which had a lot of empty beds during the winter. The modern extension of this would be the invention of shaped skis to even further shorten the learning curve. [/rambling] With the new Nordic center in Whistler, I'm seriously considering checking out biathlon. There seems to be a good market for TRPs. Rottefella doesn't make 'em anymore and they have a bit of a cult following. I had no problems selling a set of TRPs a couple of years ago that came on some used skis I had bought. I got more for the TRPs than I paid for the skis + bindings.

Yes, when in free pivot mode they behave just like an AT binding. In the situations you describe, you can choose to leave the binding in "ski" mode and the resistance of the springs will keep the skis from flopping around. A free pivot is sweet when doing a lot of climbing for long descents or lots of laps in a day, but for simple "point A to point B" touring and when dealing with bush, streams, etc. I prefer the versatility of the traditional tele binding.

Dude, "AT Apostle" on TTips has beat this dead horse into the ground multiple times. Get a new schtick. That being said, I'll take the bait.... Yeah, some tele skiers enjoy playing up the "look at me" factor, especially when riding the lifts, but there are plenty ripping it up in bounds and in the backcountry who couldn't care less who is watching. Smart tele skiers will use whatever turn is appropriate for the terrain.... you can do tele jump turns in a tight chute, but parallel turns would make more sense. Only the "televangelist" insists on making tele turns in all situations, and is a less accomplished skier for it. There's no doubt that the turn itself is more work than parallel skiing. For some, that's the whole point... they enjoy the extra workout and/or the satisfaction of learning a new skill and executing it well. As for touring efficiency, with modern free pivot tele bindings it's pretty much the same as with most AT setups (excluding Dynafit, which is indeed the cat's ass). It's also worth noting that AT and tele boots are starting to look very similar. You can get AT boots with bellows and telemark boots with Dynafit inserts. A binding which allows for both tele and fixed heel turns will probably appear in the not too distant future. It's already been done by mixing and matching existing binding components. Choice is good. Ski what you like. The freshies will be back in about 4 moons! We will now return to the regularly scheduled spraying.

Leading a climb in the Gunks years ago.... after a blind reach to a ledge I mantled up to find a copperhead snake less than a foot from my hand, and another not much further away to my right. They stared at me and I stared at them before quickly moving upward. This was after being assured by a local the day before that "...there's no snakes around at this time of year...". Leading an ACC trip to Welch Peak.... Upon getting up onto the south ridge, a not unattractive female club member decides that she and her boyfriend don't want to go any further and will head back to their car. She then strips down to a very revealing string bikini to do a little suntanning first. The rest of the group reluctantly continued the ascent. Aid climbing a route in New Brunswick and having a chopper from the nearby Canadian Forces base hover a few hundred feet away while the crew watched us.

MEC sells a Mammut Supernova 10mm x 60m rope which does not appear anywhere on the Mammut website. It's specs are similar to the Galaxy, except that it's non-dry and only rated for 6 falls instead of 7-8. Anyone know what the deal is? Are these made special for MEC, or are they ropes that weren't good enough to become Galaxies and they just changed the name?

Here's a shot of the entire Heavenly Basin slide: From ACC link.

Good job promoting BC's adventure climbing potential. Will this set the tone for the rest of the climbing season?

The road to the parking lot is reported snow free.

The Buttress & DOA (the climb, not the ski run) looked pretty much snow free on Saturday. Might be wet in some spots. The approach might still be a bit dodgy until the snow pack settles out. Several slabs let go from the slopes in the area this weekend.

Canada too: GeoGratis

It'll probably be covered in freshies... it's puking snow in North Vancouver right now, at least where I live.

Going in, about the same... 2 hours. Coming out, you're looking at another 2 hours, while skiers could be back at the car in less than an hour depending on snow conditions.

I had a tick burrow into my back 5 or 6 years ago after thrashing about in the bush during a late season ski tour. I went to the clinic to get the leftovers I couldn't dig out removed and the doc said that it is actually pretty rare for anyone to get Lyme disease or anything else from them. He just gave it a good dousing with disinfectant and sent me on my way.

BD went down that road 10 years ago with the AerMet Stinger picks. In theory, they seemed like a great idea. It'd be interesting to know which of cost/price or performance led to them being discontinued.

I've broken one BD pick: This happened as I was starting to second the crux pitch of Night'N'Gale. Luckily, the ice was quite soft, so with some extra effort in my swings, I was able to bash my way up. If the ice had been cold and brittle it would have been a much bigger PITA. In this case, more than an inch of the pick broke off so it wasn't worth trying to save it. When I showed it to one of the mechanical engineers I work with, he commented that based on the shape of the fracture, it was likely caused by a hairline crack on the underside of the pick which got progressively worse every time the pick was removed, due to the up and down leverage. Eventually, the crack made it about half way through the pick, at which point it completely failed. Thinking back, the pick broke in 2004, but it was probably bought in 02 or 03. The original crack could have happened shortly after I bought it, but since I was only getting out a few times a season, it took awhile to fail.

Details here Dropped by this afternoon and the best deal by far was Naos and Acrux packs (lots of sizes) for $199. The rest was the usual collection of Gore-Tex, softshells, casual wear, etc. Didn't see any harnesses or Covert Scarves.

Depends who you ask.... - The Whistler bro/brah crowd will insist that you need 100mm at the very minimum - I'm quite happy with my 88mm Havocs - Lots of folks use boards around 80mm, especially for longer tours

From what I can gather, until a year or so ago, the road was in pretty bad shape and overgrown with alder. Having been reactivated, it is now as user friendly as an unplowed logging road can be. Note that Coast Range Heliskiing has a staging/refueling area near the start of the road, and they get bent out of shape () if access to their heli-pad is blocked by parked cars. On the other hand, there is no signage to indicate that they use it as such.

Avy risks aside, the biggest challenge with the Spearhead traverse is that you have to pass through a number of relatively small cols at high elevations. In good visibility, the route is pretty obvious, but when things go murky the navigation can become very difficult (even with good waypoints in a GPS), with serious consequences if you make a wrong turn. Its not uncommon for people to have to set up camp and sit out a couple days of bad weather before being able to either continue or retreat.

It takes about 10 seconds to change the datum on a Geko. Gekos support all the major datums. If all you need is a GPS to check your position once in awhile, or for the occasional bit of whiteout navigation, the Geko 201 & 301 will fit the bill.

The Squamish Forest District maintains a road conditions page. You could give them a call and see what they have to say.

Both sailboats and kayaks have been used. I'm pretty sure there is at least one account of a sailboat based trip in the CAJ within the last 5-10 years. Edit: See CAJ 1998, p.93 Sailing To The Sky: False Creek to Mount Waddington by Brian Pegg

Weird... my skins never come off the tails of my Havocs. If anything, they're so secure that its almost a PITA to take them off when you want to. I guess the radius of the turned up tail can make a big difference.