iain

If you open an encyclopedia to rolling down the windows, that guy's photo is there.

High clearance was definitely necessary. As for 4WD, I think it would be a good idea, but I was in 4wd when the snow started so couldn't say if it was completely necessary. It was mainly just plowing straight on, so once you got going it was not bad. However, you have to turn around at some point, and later in the day on the way out, the truck was sinking in a bit more. There is now a pretty good set of tracks in there to mp 19 at the moment. Also, an extra bit of walking/gliding on the road doesn't really feel like much compared to the energy you expend once you leave the road.

Sweet shot of The Slot

I hear the hut system is awesome in the pickets!

Trick ski lounge with poles across bindings. Apparently in Europe you can actually buy hammocks designed for this. I was waiting for his dynafit toe tabs to rip off. ilookeddown: post away, of course

DFA was of course not present due to the thigh-developing nature of this outing. I have not met the other people you mention above but they sound interesting.

Hey there, it turned mostly cloudy in the evening and we were definitely staring at the sky and the bigger peaks around trying to figure out our future. Eldo and others were in the clouds in the morning, but they cleared off briefly when we topped out. Then it socked in and was snowing when we were leaving the glacier. It looked threatening to the west, but it turned out to be a localized thing. olyclimber has a killer guard cat at his fenced-in compound, beware.

With the nice window of weather, we decided to head up north and plow our way up Cascade River Rd to check out the Eldorado area. We were able to drive to just before mile 19. We could have gone farther, but there comes a point where your diff is dragging deeply through the drifts and you start getting nervous about turning around. A short hike up to the gate led to a pretty casual log jam crossing and onto the canada-style approach trail. Aggro skinning commenced: After an acceptable amount of skittering, things turned pretty: The Eldorado Glacier was a cruise, but unfortunately it was also glop city. I could not lift my foot off the snow a few times, due to about 1ft of attached snow. Rarely do you worry about bindings releasing due to glop. We ended up camping on the Inspiration, probably on a bergschrund The approach to Eldo is a cakewalk from here: Looking back at our ittybitty camp: The classic Eldo shot from the summit: We had been pretty spoiled the past few weeks with all the powder skiing, so there was a touch of grumbling about the windpack but really you can't complain when you are skiing here. We were interested in ticking off some other stuff in the area since it is such a long drive for us. We dropped down towards Kalwatti to go ski the south couloir, but on the way over we were stuck on the Inspiration Glacier in a whiteout. We sat down and waited. It didn't seem to be clearing anytime soon, and we wanted to be on Kalwatti earlier than later, so we bagged it and went back to camp in the soupy fog. Of course, it was completely clear all the way back down the forest to the road. The ski down through the trees is a bit gripping in places. Oh well, we'll be back for sure.

Yeah! The snowshoeing should be off the chain

That is soooo cool, thanks.

Yeah, most of the mountain is pretty firm right now, though the parts we were off skis had a bit of a posthole to them, such as climbing up the Reid area. If you were gentle you could stay on crust some of the time. We were not off the skis that much though. The only good skiing we had was right off I Rock where it gets baked. Similar angles and aspects might be corning up, but this wind (and cloudy weekend forecast) keeps things pretty solid up there. But I guess this is a climbing site so it should be all good.

Here are the conditions of a few of the routes on 02/09/2006 if you are interested: Cooper Spur: North Face: Sandy Headwall/Yocum Ridge: Yocum Ridge/Leuthold/Reid Headwall: Illumination Rock:

Things are somewhat buried up there. 02/05/2006:

The popper is free but it only pops Haliburton popcorn. Each kernel costs $1 billion and is delivered via Haliburton flatbed convoy to your doorstep.

I'm waiting for the DVD with the outtakes and Kennedy running commentary audio track.

I pity the pro patroller. But not quite as much as the volly patroller.

Yet another reason why ski resorts are lame. But I keep going back, why is that?

Funny how a slightly different forecast page says 21 inches tonight. Either way, this might call for a little dawn patrol this week. yeah that looks like the point forecast for meadows, which puts the elevation higher. Definitely off the sickter scale either way.

hell hath no fury like a parent with kid skiing.

n. oregon cascades zone forecast is looking pretty redunkulous: Tonight: Rain in the evening...then rain and snow after midnight. Breezy. Snow level 6000 feet lowering to 4500 feet after midnight. Snow accumulation up to 15 inches. Pass winds south 15 to 25 mph shifting to the southwest after midnight. Gusts to 40 mph. http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/total_forecast/i...p;county=orc005

noice! do they hand out gotamas to everyone down there or what

Say what you want, it takes some guts to do this: sick

That's the total vertical of many midwest ski areas.

heh so they have that technology in canada now

they are not repairable, trust me on this. I sent two back to BD (covered in epoxy when I tried to glue them back together several times) and they called me saying they would send me some new ones. Unfortunately they said they were on a boat from Italy. Have not heard back from them (it has been about a month). I think you can buy them straight-up, but they are about $50 if I'm not mistaken. Pretty popular, since people buy them to replace in their softer boots.