jimmyleg66

Hey Cavey, If you're up on Matier and you see a bunch of people tracking up Marriot Basin, that'll be us! So if I see a speck on a ridge across the valley I'll be sure to wave. I've been skiing mostly in the Selkirks this winter so it will be nice to ski some steeper runs without the huge avi risk. Have fun and play safe!

Drove from Kamloops to Joffre Lake planning on skiing into Saxifrage for two days. Got out of the truck and realized my boots were still in Kamloops. Continuously apologized to ski partners for 3 hour drive back home. Skied hardpack up at Sunpeaks on Sunday.

Thanks Greg, much appreciated.

Sweet potato pie! We're heading up to the Wendy Thompson hut in a week and a half. Any snowpack beta you can offer would be appriecated. Did you see any natural avalache activity? Any skier triggered slides? What were the daytime highs?

Went up to Needle peak on Sunday(Coquihalla), looking for the goods. Didn't find any. Mother of an access, 2000 ft skin up crap snow. Tried to use my old skins on new fat skis (too cheap to buy a new pair). The skin track, if you can call it that, was concrete with lots of sidehill. Gave up floundering and put my skis on my pack and booted it up until the angle eased off. First run was about 800' on a 6" melt freeze crust. Did a pole probe of the snow and had to use both hands to get through! Traversed over to another slope we thought may have more snow as it was on the lee side of a ridge. Pretty windblown at the top but some nicer turns near the bottom of the run. The ski out was interesting to say the least. If next season has anywhere near normal snow levels its gonna seem awesome after this year.

Check out www.mec.ca, there is a gear swap on the site and with your mighty american dollar you can probably get a pretty good deal. Boots - if your skiing ability is intermediate, a stiffer boot will be better, however it could mean a compromise on weight and touring comfort. Bindings - I only have hands on experience with the Diamir II's. I like em. If you are a bigger guy and might be using them at a resort often, consider the Freerides, they have a higher din setting and will take much more abuse. Dynafit would be the lightest by far. Skis - The wider the better, but once again a weight compromise. I just picked up a pair of Elan Mantis 777's, 117-90-107. Poles - save yourself $100 and buy a NON TELESCOPING pair out of the bargain bin at the ski shop. I have a pair I paid $15 for four years ago and have skied with them probably 200 days. They're simple, reliable and if I bust one, big schmeal. Hope that helps!

Sorry Mer, can't help you out. Nobody but me and one pal wanted to ski the 44km (round trip) in and out of the hut, so we joined some friends up at the Asulkan Hut instead. We could hear helicopters flying all day Saturday and were wondering what the hell was going on. Found out Sunday morning when a warden heli'd up to the hut. They were looking for a guy who's truck had been parked overnight in a no overnight parking area. Turns out he was in Golden the whole time. Very sad about the kids. I think I'm going to ski the Coast for the remainder of the season. We did a tour up to Asulkan pass on Sunday and remote triggered a size 3 into the valley south of the pass. Multiple size 2's with fracture lines 0.5 to 1.5m deep(collectively a size 3). There was one chunk of a cornice that fractured off that had to be close to 2.5m thick. Its a steep narrow valley below and it ran for at least 3000 ft. Amazing to see but very sobering. The really scary part was it didn't make a sound until the whole valley was boiling with snow.

Has anyone been skiing in Yoho park recently? We're heading into the Stanley Mitchel Hut Saturday and would apprieciate any beta we can get our hands on. Is the trail trackset to the falls? Hows the trail from the falls to the hut? We'd like to ski the whole 23km's in one go, but there's only two of us, so if there's heavy trailbraking we'll probably overnight at Takakkaw Falls.

Terrible news. You can try http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/01/20/slide_030120 for more info. They seem to be updating the story as information comes in.

There's a penguin colony about 1/2hr outside of town. There's an entrance fee but it goes to supporting the reserve. Its very touristy but if you have never seen penguins before its great. It totally blew my mind seeing those little guys waddle around. Have fun!

Well, I just started rock climbing this year and mountaineering last year, so my skill levels are pretty low, but I managaged to have alot of fun this summer regardless. The highlights were: 1)Mt. Columbia SW Ridge 2)Mt. Tupper - Rogers Pass 3)Rogers/Swiss Travers - Rogers Pass 4)Mt. Odin - Gold Range (99.9% slog, 0.01% climbing skill req'd) 5)Dunn Peak (local hill to Kamloops) Biggest failure was bailing on the hike in to the Neil Colgan Hut as no one was willing to lead the final picth up the headwall to the Glacier. Next summer for sure.

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm still undecided, but as least now I'm better informed!

Okay, so I picked up some used T1's on the weekend for $80 - SCORE! I just need some bindings and I'll be burning my quads in no time. Now my question for all the telelmark skiers out there - Are release plates on telmark bindings a must for the backcountry? I see tons of people in the backcountry without them. Aren't they worried about ditching them in case of an avalanche? Blowing an ACL on a hard bail? A friend of mine got caught in a size 3 avalanche last March and did not have realease plates. He got seriously fucked up and if he ever skis again, swears he'll use releasable bindings. Just looking for people's thoughts on why/why not to use them. Is the added risk not worth the weight?

Hey AA, If you're looking for a cheaper alternative, think about joining a volunteer ski patrol. The NSP uses the Outdoor Emergency Care (OEC)manual as their training guide. I'm not sure how the volunteer system is set up in your neck o' the woods, but here is $145 to join, which includes the course manual (Canadian Ski Patrol), instruction (approx. 60 hours of instruction) and some basic supplies. Its easy on the wallet but you have to commit from 14-21 days of patrolling (depending on the ski area). Other advantages are: 1)you get lots of hands on experience, 2) you get to work with experienced patrollers and in some cases ER Doc's and nurses, 3)free skiing! 4)Depending on where you ski, some patrols get pro deals on equipment First aid is just like any skill, once you learn it, if you don't use it you lose it.

Hey I think I saw that arm in "Scanners"!

As if I wasn't jonsin' already for the snow to fall, I had to watch this Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

Hey Veg, As hard as I was trying to keep my gaze at head level there's no way you couldn't notice. Let's just say they weren't your run of the mill tighty whitey's and I'm assuming they didn't come in a three pack. But who know's, maybe he had a whole dresser full of them and those had "Sunday" stitched into the waist band. I'm just gonna shut up now before I dig myself in any further. [ 09-30-2002, 12:42 PM: Message edited by: jimmyleg66 ]

We were in there a week ago. We camped just below the morraine under Chamois. Agree with you on the bushschwack, not fun. The camp custodian who opened the gate for us said that they're shutting the camp down this year and will likely pull those two bridges and decom the road. BTW - did the custodian have pants on when you guys went thru? It was a nice sunny day when we got to the gate and we obviously woke him up when we honked, as he was flaked out in front of his place, catching some sun in his underwear. He went inside and we thought "must be putting on pants" but he came out sans pants and opened the gate for us. Same thing on the way out and the same pair of underwear.

Hey Micheal, Was that your blue toyota at the "trail"head?

Do solo flights count?

Why do I climb? Why do I ski? Why do I watch porn and eat cheezies? Because I like it and its fun. Completing the route or making the summit is important because you told yourself it was. For beginner gorb's like myself who are only capable of choss pile slogs, the focus is probably more often than not the summit. Do I wish I could climb some of the harder lines? Sure, but until I build the skiils the waist deep posthole sufferfests and easy scrambles will have to do. I've been up 12 summits this year, varying from class 2 walkups to mostly 4th class scrambling, but all by the easiest or "normal" routes. Do I care how I got to the top? Nope. Did I have fun on each one? Yup.

... and the NITRO!

Jasper: If you're looking to kill some time or just day trip, head up to Miette Hot Springs (Jasper). You can do the Sulphur Skyline trail and then hit the pool for some R&R. Check out http://www.worldweb.com/parkscanada-jasper/recreation/day_hikers.pdf for more dayhike ideas. Valley of the 5 Lakes is beautiful (and flat) as are the Bald Hill and Opal Hills hikes (moderdate elev gains) I seem to remember Sulphur Skyline being a bit of a grunt. If you're feeling lazy take the tram to the top of Whistler's Mtn. If all that hiking makes you thirsty head to the AthaB (Athabasca Hotel) which is also a dirt cheap place to stay, especially if you're willing to take a room above the bar. Pete's is another good place to down some brews and play some pool. If you're driving the Jasper/Banff parkway make sure you gas up, the station at Saskatchewan X-ing knows they're the only gas for 120km. Even if you don't plan to do any climbing from the parkway, drive it, the views are unreal. Be careful though, either you will drive off the road looking at all the great places to climb or come away with a long tick list! Banff: Drink - Wild Bill's or The Rose and Crown. Both often have live bands. Food - Bumper's Grill. Order the beef ribs and wear loose fitting pants. Sleep - If you're on a budget, stay at the Lake Louise Hostel. Its more like a lodge than a hostel. If you want to break the bank, check in to the Banff Springs, or at least go see it. If you need to rent any gear, Mountain Magic has a pretty good (but well used) selection. Have fun, if the weather is half decent, September is a great time to visit the Rockies. Very few tourists and fall colours. If you pass through Revelstoke, no visit is complete unless you have a burger at "The Frontier" restaurant, right off the highway. Over and out, Jimmy

Days like today make me glad I have a desk job and can sit on my ass all day long. Left Kamloops waaaaaaaaay late Friday night and didn't hit the trailhead until 11pm. Hiked up the trail (750m elev. gain over 2.8km) to Hermit meadows by headlamp, asleep by 1:30am and up at 6am OUCH. Snafflehound made off with 1/2 a chocolate bar duing breakfast. Did the Rogers/Swiss peaks traverse, up Rogers (10,500ft) west ridge and down the col in between the last Swiss peak and Truda. Class 3/4 scrambling with a few exposed moves. Fresh snow above 9500 ft which made for a bit tricky climbing. Great weather and unreal view from the summit of Rogers - you could see the Columbia Icefield, Mount Columbia and South Twin far to the north. 8 hours round trip from camp. Having just started climbing two months ago, got pretty sketched on a few of the more airy moves and took several headspace breaks. Next day went up Tupper (9239ft) via the west ridge. Still feeling twitchy from the day before so I ended up moving pretty slow over the more exposed portions of the ridge. After the ridge a 5.3 pitch up a chimney and then blocky scambling to the top. Made the summit in 4-1/2 hours from camp, however on the descent,attemping to find a less exposed route around the Hermit resulted in a 4-1/2 hour descent. Should have just retraced our original route. Hiked out that evening and a flat tire on the way home resulted in a 1:00am return time. All in all a great weekend. If I don't get fired for coming in late for the third Monday in a row, I'll scan some photos in later this week. If anyone has done this route before I'd like to know which ledge you used to traverse under the hermit on the southside, as described in the guidebook (ie how far below the ridge crest and how far back from the hermit). Not seeing anything obvious we stayed on the ridge crest which required a scary move (and a tight sphincter) over a slanted smooth block with no handholds.

Not a climbing story but funny nonetheless - As said by oil-stained ski-doo-coat-sportin'-jeans-wearing dude on the (Larch?) chair on the back side of Louise - "Are them those new diabolic skis?", pointing at my new Atomics. "Yes" I replied, "these skis.... are PURE EVIL".