JoshK

Huh, seems my more antagonistic approach got more attention I would say it's probably not the best tour if you aren't fairly experienced on tele or touring gear. It has a lot of moderate terrain but also some more advanced stuff. You'd also want to be pretty proficient with general traversing and climbing skills on skis.

C'mon you pussies...

OK, I figure the chances of anybody both having these 4 days off and wanting to do this are pretty slim, but what the hell. I'm thinking of doing a 4 day tour out of Holden village. Basically ski up into the Lyman Lake area and beyond and just generally see some awesome places, ski some great terrain and cover some miles. If anybody is interested, PM me and we could talk about details.

Yah, it's not all of us, some of us burn other things down...

Did they know it was a vandal, or could it just be a dipshit that set the thing on fire while trying to light a barbeque with gasoline or something?

Damn...kinda sux. Definitely gives incentives for longer stays up north on lake chelan since you basically loose most of your day both coming and going. In class this morning, many of us noticed the date to great delight

Is there any other way up and down Lake Chelan or does Lady of the lake have a monopoly? Getting to stehikin/holden so late on your arrival day and having to get back so early on your return really sucks.

I like the adventure paper but with as many maps as I print, I would quickly go broke.

I have the serratus icefall. I have been very happy so far. It can't be beat for a pack that is just a shade over $100 US. I haven't heard anything about the stays wearing through; sounds more like a user issue. It's large, carries well, is very adjustable and is cheap. It also has some nice extras like daisy loops and a bungee. It gets from me

Does your real love of bouldering come from the fact that you are always just moments away from another man grabbing your ass?

Ironically I found that using a smaller pack simply makes me pack more efficiently. I have a 4000ci but I have used nothing but my Khamsin 38 (about 2500 ci I think) for the past year. That includes winter trips and that 4 day ski traverse I recently did. I guess it's just amazing what all you can fit if you try hard enough Not that I am dismissing a larger pack, sometimes you just need the space no matter what.

Pesronally I think Down is the better choice for drier colder weather. No synthetic touchs down when it comes to overall warmth. unfortunately the tradeoff is it's more work to keep dry and all that. Feathered friends obviously makes very good down jackets. I also love my western mountaineering flight jacket. It's a big too thin for cold winter days I would think, but it only weighs 10 oz and works great in pretty much any other conditions. I would say all and all it is warmer than my primaloft sweater despite weighing 6 oz less.

That's definitely a cool climb, I really enjoyed it last year. Just so you know, the rock on the ridge can get *MUCH* worse. Last year it was a giant mushroomed loose snow mess and getting any sort of rock meant tons of excavating. Time consuming and unnerving fer sure.

That's a nice looking pack. Downside is it's pretty heavy.

I generally print my own maps on an inkjet from TOPO. A while back somebody mentioned a good product to use for waterproofing them, that you could spray on I think. Anybody know what to use?

Wow! I haven't heard of them ever doing anything like that. Seems like a waste of resources, but I suppose if they just gated it and let it overgrow, it would probably be used illegally by ORV jackasses.

The Khamsin 62 is a great pack. I have come to settle on the lightweight, no frills packs with suspensions as the way to go. I went through a frameless phase but decided that the extra lb or lb and a half is worth it for the superior carry and easy of packing. I had the Khamsin 52 and I could fit in 4 winter days easily. I'd say if you can't fit in the 62 then you are bringing too much!

Stuart is such a cool mountain.

Matt, what do you mean "destroyed" the road? Did they simply let it overgrow or did they actually do something to it?

Damn! That is so sweet. Can you introduce me to this Joe fella, he seems like a good guy to know I'm guessing that will become a fairly oft-repeated route based on your pictures. Absolutely gorgeous!

I'll give her credit...at least she is bouldering on something big enough that yarding could reward her with a 30 foot deck fall

Frankly I would rather leave mature 2nd growth alone at this point. Tree farms are plenty effective and we can leave the logging where it belongs...next to roads in existing areas of logging. The fact is there is no shortage of trees. Nowhere close...It is simply a lot easier to rip down mature forest than have to cultivate and preserve existing logging areas. Seeing Wherheuser's (sp?) profits cut into troubles me very little. They've gotten a free ride for well over a century anyway.

It only is if you are a right wing conspiracy theorist. Though, in his defense, I dont think fairweather actually critisized the wilderness itself but the apparent "lies" provided by the enviro-nuts or whatever. The Wild Sky is a great idea, and I am glad to see it coming to light!

I never saw anything in their press material talking about grizzly bear habitat, but I could have missed it. It may be that they were referring to an overall effort to get grizzlies to return to the WA cascades and it is probably true if it ever happened that the wild sky would be useable habitat for them. Settle down, fairweather, I dont think the "enviro-types" are trying to pull the wool over anybody's eyes. This area needs to be protected and I'm glad it looks like it will. You and your repub buddies can find plenty more land to build roads through, don't worry...

If the shop wont be able to be alerted to your post and defend themselves, then dont bother.