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john, this kind of information is very very valuable and impossible to get otherwise! (and your pics of the n cascades in winter absoutely amazing!) now this is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but if you reported regularly what you saw during your flights and started some sort of subscription service for access to that information, you would have no shortage of customers!! just advertise of on cc.com and turns-all-year and voila...

blake, at about what elevation did continous snow start ? did you go in thru phelps creek ? if so, how far was the road driveable ? in general, does the country up there still look good for skiing ? thanks a lot!

anyone have information on conditions on the spearhead traverse or thereabouts ? how is the coverage and how open are the crevasses ?? thanks!

speaking from the one experience i had: - make sure you have wall-to-wall skins. i didn't and couldn't follow the set skin-track. - see if you can take your skins off w/out taking skis off. - short pitches can be skied with skins on.

for what it's worth, i called up marmot in bellevue to ask if they have the sirens in the rental fleet. they don't, though they have the rest of the line. guy i talked to said his gf has tried a pair and found them rather heavy for bc use, but otherwise liked them. also he said that the construction of the ski is more like a rossi and quite different from the old tuas.

just a general comment: shells pack out with time, so better to start with a slightly tighter fit.

greta, tua was a small privately-help italian company. named after the owner. ran out of cash and had to sell out to a guy with money, who ran afoul of paul parker. new owner apparently mismanaged things, started building a huge factory, ran out of money and filed for bancruptcy. got all that from reading an inverview with paul parker. i'd like to demo a pair too, if you hear where around here one can do that, pls post that!

might want to check out the board at telemarktips, http://www.telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=4 saw some 185s there

paul parker was the designer for tua. tua skis have a long and excellent reputation as telemark skis. i ski some right now and love them dearly. they missed the boat on making fatter skis apparently, due to the unwillingness of the new owner to get with the program. then they went bankrupt. incidentally, paul parker also wrote the bible on telemark skiing and was responsible for developing the first plastic telemark boots. when tua went out of business, i became rather concerned about not being able to replace my aging setup, so i considered it to be wonderful news when paul parker moved to g3 and came out with these new skis. i pawed them over at rei and they are wonderful. i have not heard any reports of people skiing them, and yes, there might be some production flaws - the skis are built in northern africa somewhere!! - but, based on paul parker's previous work, i have no doubt that their design is excellent.

i paid $139 for the season. if you have younger ones, it might make sense to buy instead. a friend of mine gets her kids gear at ski swaps, but they happen in fall, so maybe something to look into for next year...also keep an eye on craigslist, stuff can pop up, for example http://seattle.craigslist.org/spo/53200079.html

what i've done with my daugher is to lease her equipment every winter. that way she gets really good gear - which is important as she learns to ski, as it's easier and less frustrating with good gear - and i don't have to spend big money on buying the gear and have to give it away after one year because she's grown. gotten her stuff at seattle ski shop on aurora, in n seattle. my two cents.

are you talking about pinnacle peak in the tatoosh ?? if so, the run down from the castle-pinnacle saddle is quite easy. from the bottom of the run, there are a couple ways to get back down to reflection lakes, some harder than others. the easiest i found drops into an east bowl. hope this helps.

everyone, thanks a lot for your input and advice!

ken4ord, thanks for the reply. i expressed myself badly, i meant how much snow was on the approach, could one skin up starting at the first boulder field, or if not where ?

hi there, nice tr! from what point on would you judge the conditions good enough to ski ?? thx!