iain

your avatar picture pretty much sums up GWB's attitude toward the PNW salmon.

Well apparently it blows in this case.

Riders attached to unrelated politically-pressured legislation are a disgrace to our system of government. They should be outlawed!

I thought subarus were made in indiana.

Evolution is theory, not fact. If compelling evidence were introduced tomorrow that the principles of evolution are false, the new evidence would be analyzed, debated, and subsequently incorporated into the working theory of our past, even if it goes against what the scientific community considered fundamental today. Obviously there are egos to be damaged and theses to be thrown out the window, but science itself would move forward and eventually embrace new information. This is the main difference I see between evolution and creationism. The "truth" model is subject to change based on new evidence.

I am so sick of that guy.

Ugh.

Exactly, it says something about how you present yourself here. If by "ascertation" you mean "assertion", I didn't declare it as fact.

I wonder why the impression is there then, seeing as you are obviously such a rugged stallion of a man...who apparently spends half the time staring at a computer monitor... Unfortunately I am posting this from a coffee shop so I can't really claim to be a cubicle jockey.

You come off more as a spoiled college kid playing pretend redneck than as a true redneck on this board. Dunno if it's true, but it is truly entertaining.

Eiieeeeee, the acid! I couldn't watch. I heard that was not filmed on location, but was actually at the willamette river portland superfund site.

or dante's peak where they try to drive across the lava flow in a land rover. Fortunately they had the snorkel attachment so the engine did not stall when the engine bay was flooded with molten lava.

I think you are mistaking it with that one dr. who episode featuring the 4th doctor and the giant squid that turns out to be a part of the key to time (revealed by the sonic screwdriver)

Didn't you catch the patronizing tone indicating intellectual superiority Dru? You're clearly out of your logic-leaping league, Aristotle.

any time you are in contact with red hot lava you have made a mistake somewhere along the line. However, you would get the chance to scream out "the lava, it burns", a dream of countless sci-fi afficianados. There's always a bright side I suppose.

yes but you have to admit it sounded good, immiscible or not

yeah what a moron I bet he didn't even consult his MSDS sheets or determine the eutectic of the colloidal suspension in question. and heating a closed system! dear me.

that is terrifying

wow that's sad. goes to show you need to keep your molten lava out of reach of your kids.

please, I'm eating lunch.

Speaking of the dark side, an amusing video about telemark can be seen here: The Dark Side (windows media file)

AT bindings are nice for breaking trail in deep powder. The free hinge lets the ski ride up over the snow easily. There are now tele bindings that tour on a hinge like AT bindings, and actually release, if those are important to you. A great telemarker carving up a slope is a beautiful thing to behold.

I want to know what comes out of that tube on the front of those things

I don't know of any binding failures on AT gear this way, but I have heard of problems when people try to "telemark" with their AT gear which is damn near impossible anyways, and a good way to headplant (there is zero resistance on that hinge when you go over the bars). I find the times when I'm really cranking on that hinge are on really steep skinning traverses, to the point that the ski/hinge is flexing enough for my heel to miss the heel riser completely, and chops off my plastic ski brake arms (freerides). All my brake arms are broken now. This can't be good for the binding, but it's still in one piece. The learning curve for telemark is as steep as you want to make it. If you are committed and have some talent, you can be styling by the end of a resort day. It's one of those "get the basics" in a day "years to master" kind of things. You can always bail out into alpine turns. Overall I think a solid alpine background is a big benefit more than a hinderance.

I might get flamed for this but I don't think snowboards are a viable means of transportation in the backcountry. Those guys are always trying to keep up on the traverses, hills, etc. You can't break trail or set track for them easily because their boards are always wider than your skis, or they are trying to do the snowshoe thing with the sail on the pack. I can tell you I have been with climbing partners who have had to back off of relatively straightforward ice because they didn't want to climb it in telemark boots (their frontpoints would not stick out far enough in front of the bill for them to be comfortable). There are crampons (such as the BD sabertooths) which can be adjusted to accomodate the bill on telemark boots, though you do lose some power with the flex of the bellows. However I have also seen some people climb some pretty fierce stuff in telemark boots. It can be done. This is not to say it is easy to climb in high performance AT boots. The plastic is much stiffer than that of a typical plastic mountaineering boot. The very aspects that make an AT boot good for skiing make it a poor climbing boot. Overall, I find AT boots and bindings to be the most logical choice for doing the most activities. If you have the desire to telemark, go for it. You can parallel turn in telemark gear very easily; the gear is that good these days. Most AT bindings are reliable and light now, so the choice of telemark is more a style consideration than anything. Telemark gear is nice when you have to wander through tree-choked drainages, as it is easier to "shuffle" around with the released heels w/o skins on. AT bindings are more vulnerable when the heel is released, as you can put a tremendous amount of force on that hinge in the front. Hope that helps.