Toast

Allison, What kind of car do you have? That'll determine what kind of rack will fit. If you have rain gutters, I have a Yakima rack with ski rack attachments and locks.

Damn that Jordy

Yeah, there was a definite inversion layer going on. In the mid-20's at 6 AM at the parking lot and probably in the upper 40's on the NE Buttress in the afternoon. Not bitching, it was absolutely gorgeous out with great views, but I felt more secure dry tooling on rock facets. Pickets were worthless and prob will be until the snow consolidates a bit more and temps drop. In the meantime, rock pro is your friend. One other thing, dig a pit and verify your avvy assessment. I did a quick shear test on our exit. The column sheared with modest load (read: bright yellow light while the avvy report indicated low.) Don't take things for granted. Next time...

interesting... thanks.

Yeah, Ericsson's T-68 sucks. If you want cool toys and gadgets, T-Mobile's your ticket. Camera phones, color screens, downlodable apps... and a SIM chip that allows you to swap between devices. Back to EV's original post, these guys aren't the one's to pick for backcountry couverage.

Cool grooves, cocktail bar and... TLG shakin' her thang.

I went up Silver Peak today. Encountered high winds and low visibility above 5000'. The snow is hard as rock... was barely able to kick steps up high, and the trail is a sheet of ice. Bring crampons. Granite Mountain looked pretty bare. I don't think there'll be much decent skiing up the I-90 corridor for a while.

Walkin down the beach lookin at the peaches duh duhh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh Name the band, bad boy.

Trask, how cum you don't show up on who's online? You're so stealth, dude.

Good, we should drink then (hic.) Another drink for my friends (hic.) n' sssum horse cock too

Kick a guy when he's down, whydontcha nuf said

NEWS FLASH Second Ascent rents the Voile Split Decision board for $25 a day. they have a 166 in stock and plan to have a 172 also available to rent. Rental fees can be applied to purchase. I luv these guys.

Wait... this IS survivor

I think we're all missing the point. The state run free press concept is all about lack of diversity, a lack of divergent viewpoints, a lack of choice about what to listen to, evaluate and form intelligent, informed opinions about. Whether the mainstream press is left or right, it's all spewing out essentially the same, not-so-objective, brain candy. Somebody hit right on it earlier... media is consolidating as a result of changes in FCC regulation being steered by Dubya's appointee, Michael Powell. These changes are near-stealth. They get little press as there is no sex, money or scandal associated with their headlines. However, the changes they will lead to will likely be an undermining of the fundamental building blocks of and informed democracy (brain candy = mind rot.) Now that's worth fighting for.

Traditionally there have been two incumbent carriers in each market. In Seattle it was McCaw Cellular (now AT&T Wireless) and US WEST Cellular (now Verizon.) With the Telecom Act of 1996 the way was paved for additional carriers to build new networks in each market. This was billed as "PCS" and the players range from Sprint, Nextel, QWEST Wireless... The incumbent carriers, AT&T and Verizon, had a significant advantage in coverage by the fact that they had a mature analogue cellular network on which to expand while the newer PCS carriers had to build out a network from scratch. That lead has eroded a bit since the late 90's. However, it's still true that the incumbent carriers do have an edge in overall coverage. All carriers, both incumbent carriers and PCS, now operate digital networks. However, to date, the incumbent carriers still operate analogue networks as well. Analogue network coverage is far more pervasive, especially in rural markets. Regardless, you'll find that wireless coverage is mainly constrained to densely populated areas and major highways. However, you can get coverage in remote areas within line of sight of a cell tower (i.e. top of Rainier pointing towards Tacoma and I-5.) Quality of service is a factor to skew perception with digital networks. While the incumbent carriers have far greater coverage with their analogue networks, their digital networks are often over capacitied (this also applies to the PCS carriers as well.) This essentially pops you over to a more distant cell tower that has capacity... but it often translates to a shitty, unreliable connection. Only if there is no digital signal will a multi-mode (digital/analogue) handset shift into its analogue mode. Though, you can force a call into analogue mode in some handsets... if you know how. I've had service with both AT&T and Wireless and Verizon, and I've used handsets on most of the other networks in the area... and I've bitched about all of them. The grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence (sigh.) However, the net/net is if you want the highest probability of coverage in rural areas, go with service on one of the incumbent carrier networks (AT&T Wireless or Verizon along the I-5 corridor,) and make sure it is analogue capable. Hope this helps.

Thanks freeclimb, I already got a LibTech Jamie Lynn XL that'll get me by for the lifts. It's great in compact conditions but I need a big stick for the POW.

Oh Greg_W, I ditched the two plank approach seven years ago and have never looked back. Give it a try, dude. You might gape your first year, but once you ride the steep and deep in the glop we have around here you'll come to your senses.

Yeah, I got a bunch of Christmas cash, but I was hoping to drop that on a down jacket or a digital camera... oh well. Who has recommendations on boards? I'm looking for something in the neighborhood of a 170, all mountain, free riding board. Send your reviews in.

My snowboard took a bad, nasty, awful, icky rock hit this weekend. The fiberglass resin in the sidewall has a very defined crack that will let moisture creep into the wood core. A while back I took this same stick into Mervin to fix a delam on the tip. They squirted some kind of liquid in a bottle into the split and clamped it. About an hour later it was good as new. First question, what was this miraculous liquid? I don't think it was epoxy... was it a solvent of some type that softened the resin? Second question, what can I do to fix my stick or minimize the damage? I figure I'll widen the crack, inject some epoxy in and clamp it. Hopefully this'll seal out the moisture for the season. Any better ideas? Thanks in advance...

Soooo fucking true.

Yah dude, smart move... but I was smarter... I stayed home.

You might check Second Ascent. I saw a decent selection of AT skis there. Might be out of your budget though... it'll be tough to get anything decent for $150.

I'd happily spank TLG with (insert (blank) here).

Ditto all the rest... I'm good weekdays till I get a job.