PaulB

I use 3-pin Hardwire CRBs for touring and they work great. No pre-release problems and they release both laterally and backwards. I figured that was a good thing since I'm usually carrying a heavy overnight or multi-day pack when I'm skiing on them. The 3-pin also allows for less resistance when climbing (but still much more than the free pivot tele bindings) because you don't need to keep the heel bail latched onto your boot. They are about half the price of 7tms once you factor in the cost of brakes, climbing heels, etc. They look godawful ugly, but they work and are good value for the $. If you do have any problems, Voile customer service is top notch. Rottefella's New Telemark Norm (NTN) binding was released this year and is being marketed as releasable. It isn't compatible with traditional 75mm duckbill tele boots, so you gotta be ready to throw down about $1,100 to get the boot & binding combo. As seems to be the norm with first gen tele bindings, there have been some issues. Most notably with the bellows in Scarpa's Terminator X boots being too stiff. Get on TTips.... there's more binding discussions on there than you'll be able to absorb.

This video has some footage of a long line rescue off Mt. Stephen in the Rockies.

When standing in a lift line at Whistler, it doesn't take long to see that A'T has taken over from The North Face as the fashionable brand of choice. Not that I can point fingers when I'm standing there in my Alpha SV jacket. Get on eBay... you can buy the "international" edition of many textbooks for less than half of their price here in North America. I'm taking a course right now and the school bookstore sells the textbook for $170. I bought it online for $70 including shipping from Singapore. The kicker is that book was printed in Canada to start with!

Perhaps, but a good instructor will help you out far more than any book ever will. Check around and I'll bet you can find an outdoor club, or even a guiding outfit, that offers backcountry ski clinics specifically for folks in your situation.

On a related note, the film Steep started playing here in Vancouver today. I think it's been playing for a month or so south of the border. A point that apparently comes home watching the Doug Coombs' interviews in Steep.

On a related note, has anyone heard/seen what condition the Ramp is in these days?

You can order Sinners direct from Bill Heath using this link. It doesn't seem to be accessible from the main site. At only $25, support the independent filmmaker rather than burn a copy.

G3's sizing recommendations would put you on either 177 or 184 Barons. I tend to prefer a shorter ski, but a lot depends on your style of skiing. If you can, demo both sizes and see how they feel. FYI, G3 is having a factory sale this week and as of yesterday morning they had 177 Barons for $300. You'd have to call or email them to see if they have any 184s.

Sure looks like an Intuition liner to me, and I'm pretty sure you can find those online for a lot cheaper than $168. They're only $120 direct from the "factory" here in Vancouver.

I've gone in along the riverbank a couple of times and it wasn't that bad. Once, we even shepherded a guy with a dislocated shoulder back to the bridge by headlamp, and he was able to move along easily enough.

Approach skis are essentially replacing snowshoes so that you can glide back down from the base of the climb that you skinned up to. You shouldn't expect to do any real skiing on an approach setup using climbing boots (it's tough to do much more than snowplow). My approach skis are an old pair of relatively skinny 160ish Atomic Tourcaps. For comparison, I'm 6', 165lb and my regular tele skis are 173 & 181. Lots of folks use their regular AT setup for approaches and just climb in their ski boots. You compromise a bit on the climbing side, but the skiing will be much more manageable and you only need to have one set of ski gear. If you're just slogging up logging roads, climbing boots and any short ski will do the trick.

Reasonable speculation.... a guy who works on the mountains in some capacity posted this on TGR:

The author, "AT Anonymous" is Andrew McLean, a well known ski mountaineer, randonne racer and gear designer. While he loves to bash tele, I suspect that he could still rip it up if properly incentivized. A few offers have been made on Telemarktips, but he's never stepped up as far as I know.

It's worth noting that Bill C-307 the "Phthalate Control Act" was recently passed by the House of Commmons to limit the use of "bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, benzyl butyl phthalate or dibutyl phthalate" in cosmetics. These compounds have similar detrimental effects as the bisphenol A found in polycarbonates. With this precedent, it's not a big stretch to think that a similar bill might eventually be passed for bisphenol A. The cynical might conclude that MEC is anticipating the future and voluntarily pulling polycarbonates from their shelves before they're forced to. Smart PR move.

Check out "Sinners" by Bill Heath (apologies if that's what E-rock suggested, YouTube is blocked here at the office) and I've heard good things about his new flick "Nine Winters Old".

My Havocs have served me well as an all around in-bounds and backcountry ski. I've also had K2 Super Stinx and Atomic 10EXs, both of which I've sold as I found the Havocs more enjoyable to ski in a variety of conditions. I still have a pair of World Pistes that I use when I'm doing more touring than turning, but the Havocs are now my day-to-day ski.

Too late.... they've already got it covered. From the 2010 press release:

If you can, I'd suggest renting/borrowing gear for your avy class. During the class you'll get to see, and hopefully work with, a good cross section of the probes, shovels & beacons that are available. You'll be in a better position to buy once you've got some hands on experience. Some buying tips: - As the others said, get a metal shovel. - Avoid ski poles that convert to probes or probes that store in shovel handles. They waste time setting up, don't work very well, and aren't as long as a proper probe. - A good rule of thumb when contemplating avy gear (especially when it's on sale) is to ask yourself "Would I want my partner(s) to be using this to rescue me?". Don't be afraid to buy a used shovel or probe, you'll save some cash and it's easy to tell if they've been abused or not. A lot of folks are hesitant to buy a used beacon 'cause it's hard to know if they are working 100% unless you can do some testing. Personally, I carry a G3 Avi-Tech shovel, a G3 320cm probe and a Pieps DSP beacon.

I'm not a big fan of WM movies, but $8 to get a 2-for-1 voucher for Whistler is a great deal.

This exact topic was discussed in this thread earlier in the week. The downside of upgrading old T2s with thermofits is that the original liners had the power strap built in. If you still want a strap you gotta rig something up yourself.

Vacationing Brits will still flock to LL, Fernie and Nakiska by the planeload, like they do every winter.

I only have a single data point... I believe that I tried to stuff size 11US liners into size 9.5UK T2s. Size 10 liners probably would have been better.

Lots of folks on TTips have been buying the Morrows for exactly that. For only $30 it's worth a shot as long as you get an appropriately sized liner. I tried using an Intuition liner which was too big in my old T2s, thinking that the forming process would make everything fit, but they ended up causing painful toe pinch 'cause there just wasn't enough room. I keep meaning to buy a smaller pair of liners and trying again.

Morrow = Intuition I think Intuition OEMs most of the thermo liners out there. Scarpa is using them in some of their boots now, and they used to make liners for Raichle.

Keep an eye on SkiFreeDeals.com. The Shell deal was advertised there last year.