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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.

do the axes come with the accessories in the upper right corner?

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.

good job Mr. Cline

mmmmm....toluene-laced ice cream

Did you lead that? If so I am impressed. Seemed like it would be tough to see what you are placing! I'm happy if I'm staying on the thing on TR. Nice work stretching out "the season"

Hard to find a place in oregon w/o his name on one of the routes. I've enjoyed the stuff he has on the Rose City Astronomers site as well.

I am aware of who publishes the Smith Rock guidebooks. I was just saying I like the idea of keeping a local guidebook, rather than something like the washington rock book, as the guidebook can enhance a visit to an area with history etc. more than just illustrating routes.

I like the local guides because they bring some personality to the place too. Reading Watts' Smith Rock guide for example definitely gets you in "smith mode" and Jeff Thomas' Oregon High sets the mood with good history in the oregon cascades. And these aren't even exactly "small local" guides. I like opening up the smith guide back home and having bits of sagebrush fall out too

You can still remove your skins with your skis on with both the clipfix and sts attachments. In fact, I find it easier than doing it with no tail attachment, because there is something I can grab with my gloves on. Prying off skins w/o an attachment with ski gloves on can be difficult. I really like ascension skins. Then again, they are all I've used. As said it all comes down to technique though. It is definitely an acquired skill.

Is this a Paul Allen team too? I wonder when that guy realizes he can't buy his way out of geek status. I wonder how many wedgies he endured in high school.

1999 or no, that is a phenomenal website. It is what the internet was made for.