PaulB

In Vancouver, switching to hybrids may have been in anticipation of the city's new idling bylaw. I'd imagine that taxis regularly idle for more than three minutes at a time, and that could add up to a lot of $50 fines if the city figures out how to enforce the bylaw.

If you can show that you're a resident of BC or Washington you can get an EDGE Card with 1, 5 or 10 days of skiing included and which provides discounts (supposedly the best available) all through the season. With strategic use of the included days, it's possible to keep your average cost per day of skiing around $50-55 all season long. EDGE Card adult ticket prices (savings off ticket window price) for 06/07: Opening - Dec 22: $54 ($17) Dec 23, 2006 - April 1: $64 ($13) Apr 2 - Apr 8: $49 ($28) Apr 9 - Apr 22: $49 ($22) Apr 23 - June 3: $39 ($9) Between EDGE cards and 7-11, there's no reason for anyone to pay the full ticket window price.

For those north of the 49th, it's also playing in Surrey this Sunday at Central City Brewing, 8PM. Given the reputation of Surrey women, anything could happen at a film called PowderWhore!

The Kootenays' version:

According to the interview here, you can now choose between visiting the factory in SLC or a brand new one in China.

It's also going to affect products such as the Etopo and Fugawi digital maps, which are simply scanned images of NRC maps packaged with calibration data. Good point. I wonder what the price difference is between simply copying printed maps (as per above) versus buying a license or paying royalites for the raw data. Wasn't the high cost of topo data one of the reasons that Lyle's ice map project never made it to market?

Well, that sucks. While I'm a big fan of digital maps, I'm not sure that it's in the best interest of the general public for the government to stop producing paper maps.

We didn't climb Contact Zone exactly as it is shown in AS, as there are plenty of line choices available, especially down low. Higher up, there are fewer choices, but everything funnels towards the same point below the south central summit. For the most part, all options looked to be of similar difficulty and we simply climbed what looked like it would be the most fun. We did a total of 9 pitches, most of which were a full 50m, plus a short scramble to the summit. The last four pitches were the best, featuring several short but steep (& even slightly overhanging) headwalls and corner systems. Good holds, plenty of friction and good pro made these highly enjoyable. 5.8/5.9 seems about right for these pitches, while the lower ones were in the 5.6/5.7 range. Drew following Jesse on one of the lower pitches: The boys chillin' on a beauty belay ledge:

I'll also recommend this approach. Rent to get a feel for the options, and then buy cheap. Once you've got more experience, you can start upgrading. Even then, if you're patient and wait for sales, you should be able to get a sweet setup without ever paying full price for anything. The only piece of gear I'd recommend spending a lot of money on up front is boots, as they make the biggest difference in terms of comfort when touring. If your boots don't fit, it doesn't matter if you have the best bindings and skis available, you won't be having fun. Boot choice can also affect binding choice down the road if you buy a pair without Dynafit inserts. Also keep in mind that if you're a relatively new skier, you'll want to put in a lot of time inbounds (but not always on groomers, seek out the crud) developing your technique so that you won't be too frustrated when dealing with the variable conditions you'll find in the backcountry. That being said, you should try and take any setup that you might be buying on at least one tour to see how it feels. You'll notice lots of things (mostly comfort related) while skinning uphill that will never show up when riding the lifts. For poles, almost everyone I ski with uses BD Traverse adjustable poles in the backcountry. They're cheap, they're sturdy, and they work. Don't waste money on "probe poles", buy a proper avalanche probe. Speaking of which, you'll also need a beacon & shovel to get out into the backcountry, but again, you should be able to rent, demo or borrow these until you know what you want. Most importantly, if/when you decide that you're going to be skiing in the backcountry regularly, take an introductory avalanche course.

Although I didn't watch it, there was a similar program on CBC Newsworld on Sunday, and it repeats again tonight. From CBC.ca: The Secret History of 9/11 To mark the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, the CBC presents a two hour documentary The Secret History of 9/11. The extraordinary tale of intrigue and espionage begins with the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993. The Secret History of 9/11 provides a look at the long, secret war waged against al-Qaeda from the White House, the CIA and the FBI, and examines the key intelligence failures that allowed the 9/11 plot to happen. Interviews include Richard Clarke (Chief of Counterterrorism at the White House) Mike Scheuer (the head of the CIA Bin Laden Unit) and Gary Schroen (the CIA field agent who was trying to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden throughout the 1990s). Watch a riveting minute-by-minute account of what was going on behind the scenes on 9/11. There was confusion in air traffic control, a failure to promptly notify the military about hijacked planes, and a breakdown in communications around the President. George W. Bush was reduced to trying to contact Washington on a borrowed cell phone. The presidential order to shoot down any further hijacked airliners never reached the fighter pilots who could have carried out the order.

The whole point of short-roping, when done properly, is to prevent that from happening. CAJ 2002, p.108

This is how I messed up my right shoulder about 6 years ago. I took this approach as well, and after about 3 months I had only about 70% range of motion. Physio (TENS, thera-bands, tubing, etc.) helped get back the range of motion, but in terms of strength and stability, the joint has never been the same. Ongoing weight training, supplemented with exercises learned from PTs, helps keep it in check, but I manage to aggravate it at least a couple of times per year while skiing or playing hockey. I fully expect that at some point I'll dislocate it, and that I'll eventually need surgery of some sort. Not a great prospect in light of a PT once telling me that while they've pretty much figured out how to rebuild knees, shoulders are still a bit of a crap shoot.

While staying at the Kain hut a few years ago, I watched two guys prep for a one day hut-to-hut ascent of the B-C. They debated for half an hour over whether or not to take a #4 Camalot. Eventually, the guy who didn't want to take it comitted to leading any pitches where they expected it would be useful. He must have been a follower of the Talk-Action=0 philosophy.

Stayed there last weekend, and according to all the banners and signs hanging about, it's soon to be replaced by the Skaha Beach Club & Spa. Someone's walking away as a multi-millionaire off of that real estate deal. No indication that the spa will have a "climber's special" in the off season.

As opposed to Thursday morning, when it was around 15 degrees and raining at the Gimli trailhead, despite promises by Environment Canada of "clearing after midnight".

The bear numbers are probably similar for the Squamish Valley as well!

All of Whistler is bear country! Most summers, there's usually 50 or so living around the village and on the two mountains.

I've only got a few days in on my Cumbres, mostly on snow/ice, so they haven't taken much abuse yet. Hopefully I won't have the same problem as you. On the other hand, my Salomon Super Mountain 9's are still going strong after 7 years and plenty of abuse. Salomon did a resole on 'em a couple of years back for something like $30, which should keep 'em going for another few years.

Elaho also publishes a Waddington Map to go along with Don's guidebook.

The Whistler web cams will give you an idea of how much snow is around. I suspect that you'd be doing more hiking than gliding down from the pass.

Similar inquiry & replies here.

Not really. There's Valhalla Pure, but I wouldn't call them "core". The shops in Squamish or Whistler are the best bet if you want to patronize someplace other than the MEC.

Here's how it went down a couple of weeks ago for a group in which one guy was on skis and the other was on foot/snowshoes.

As far as the road goes, it really depends on what the snowpack is like this year. You might want to keep an eye on the Live-the-Vision message board, and the ACMG Mountain Conditions Reports (usually posted here by jmckay). If you haven't already, get this book for "typical" climbing season info:

The general consensus these days seems to be that for pros (ski patrol, guides) who practice regularly with their beacons, any of them (analogue or digital) are fine. For recreational users who probably don't practice as much as they should (if ever), the digital technology helps to simplify the search process and speed things up. Check out this thread from a couple of months ago. Searching for "beacon" or any of the various beacon models on the TelemarkTips and TGR forums will also turn up lots of info/opinions.