snoboy

Yeah, but Win98 is excluded...

'tards. I hate DST.

I'm feeling ornery tonight... Isn't that quite a circular arguement? I mean c'mon... he was a good climber, therefore he was having fun, therefore he was the best climber. Not only that, but whoever said that ice climbing, high altitude alpininsm, aid climbing, or speed traversing were actually fun??? [/ornery] Props to A. Lowe, he was a fine climber...

And who is to say that the bloggers are all Yanks? Hmmm?

Flags are prolly (hi Dwayner ) for da Pope. There is a federal commission investigating government scandal... blah blah blah... dru has it right.

W00t! I am having a lot of fun today... Go get the demo versions of OziExplorer and Ozi3D. Go to this site to get contour maps or airphotos of BC. Calibrate the maps in Ozi (lat-long is on the page from where you download the map.) Go to Geobase and get the Digital Elevation data for the area you are working on... Bingo... now you can make 3d photo or contour maps of BC! Click thumbnail to view full size...

snaffling vs non-snaffling ?

Hmm, I can see how having a little bit of the map on the screen could really speed up the translation to the paper map... that's a good point.

Yeah, but with the longest drive I regularly do being 4 minutes, then I don't really mind how much the gas costs...

How can you do something first time, more than once???

try $2.91... 92 cents a liter these days...

The barometric altimeters are generally more accurate (within the limits of changing pressure due to weather) than the elevation caculated from the satellite fix. I often carry my GPS with just the altimeter on to track elevation gain/loss but not drain the batteries. I have never missed having no mapping abilities. Unless they come out with a GPS that has a 19' screen (and still fits in your pocket ), I can't imagine using a map on one...

Lancegranite and crazyjz - I am going to leave this as is for now, hopefully people will respect it from now on... it would be too messy to chop the posts out, and try to leave the relevant stuff.

On-Sight makes them, but they are light ones, for alpine...

Where can I go to get more good skiing?

It may be best not to say that you are looking for "powder" when you are going through a border crosssing... that's the thought that occurred to me as the driver was answering the usual barrage of questions. Luckily she got the answers right, and we were allowed in to the USA. After a winter that started out great, and then ended in a fizzle, we were in search of a bit more of the dry white stuff. We had spent the last three days dodging unseen rocks as we harvested the backcountry bounty of a March storm. Unfortunately it was too little too late, and our skis were bearing the scars to prove it. Despite the promise of more snow to come, we wanted more. Rumour had it that Montana was getting some. Tales of 4' in a week and more to come were enough to inspire us to hop in the trusty wagon and head south. Responsibilities got in the way of hasty departure, and we ended up pulling in to Bozeman at 2AM with no reservations, only a printed out page that gave the adress of a hostel near downtown. Luckily there were some beds at the Inn, and we snuck in trying unsuccesfully not to disturb the sleepers who were already there. The next morning we slept in... no real suprise there. Eventually we got our butts and our skis down to Big Sky resort, and stumbled into the gondola. It was beginning to look a lot like winter outside, and we all looked at each other with a bit of amazement, "We're in Montana! That looks like powder!" It was, and 6 hours later we were satiated for the day. One ride up the famous tram (how Euro )was a highlight, as we found 1000'+ of barely tracked pow to ride down in. We quickly learned to stay high on the mountain, as the lower reaches were F L A T! I usually think of a black run as something I have to make at least a few turns on... The next day we were a bit more on it, and we made it to Bridger Bowl just as the lifts were starting to turn. This was exciting as I had heard great things about BB, excellent terrain, soul, and good snow to top it. We got two out of three. Unfortunately the lower elevation of BB made for heavier snow. One thing I learned on this trip was that the magic phrase... "visiting Patroller..." opens a lot of good doors. We were wined, dined, and treated very well. Well OK, nobody actually bought us dinner, but they did offer us cookies at the shack, and they carried our skis up the famous 350' hike to the ridge, and then showed us where to find the good snow. Not only that, they invited us back for more! Mad props to the BB patrol! Day three woke up earlier, getting the routine now... call the snowphones, where to go??? Bridger for soul and terrain, or Big Sky for the snow? Duh! POWDER wins everytime! Quick walk over to the bakery for breakfast, and load the car up. Today was a Tuesday, and Spring Break was over. This meant that the lineups that had been reasonable on Sunday were now almost nonexistent. Hmm, shall we lap the tram? Absolutely! I have never skied at 11,000'+ before, and I was loving it. Somhow the fact that we could not see more than 20' at any time, didn't matter. There was fresh snow, and we were in it. Soon our bodies were telling us it was time to leave. We made one last lap on the tram, and headed out to the base via the groomers. Did I mention yet how flat that mountain is? Driving down the Gallatin River valley, and watching the snow squalls come and go as we crossed the plains around Bzeman, we agreed that this was not the last time we would come to Montana. Big Sky Country is a truly appropriate name, but the mountains are so close, and the town has the vibe of a place that's got it goin' on. Maybe next time it will be ice in Hyalite, or more powder at BB, or maybe I'll go to see the geysers in Yellowstone. Who knows? I just know I will be back.

Spearhead 3, snoboy 0 Bugaboo Spire 2, snoboy 0 Ranier 1, snoboy 0 Sky Pilot 3, snoboy 1 Hood 1, snoboy 0 Atwell 1, snoboy 0 Garibaldi 0, snoboy 1

The avalung has to be worn outside your clothing to function, so integrating it into a pack seems logical to me.

poster is banned. scroll down to see who the mod is.

Keep in mind that it will depend on David Parker's friend loaning us his cabin again. April 9-10 is out!!! do not vote for it!!!!!

He asked for Liberace in the background.

very enjoyable story chaps.

That is the vest version that you have? I thought they were bulky and impractical too. The sling does seem an improvement though. That seems typical of BD ski gear though, to release a beta version on the public... I think that they should work on licensing (?) the tech to pack makers. I would be more inclined to have one thing on than two. I guess it would really need to be transferable pack to pack, so you could have one "breather unit" that could be put in various packs. I regularly use at least three packs for various ski endeavours. I would not want to pay for the avalung three times...

Sort of. The certs very from national guide association to national guide association. NZMGA has a similar cert structure to AMGA, and the completion of all certs = UIAGM. Switzerland has a 3 year apprentice program. Britain has a different system. As for granting IFMGA guides access to the national parks, itll be over the dead bodies of Exum, RMI and the other concessionaires. What I was trying to get at is that once you are a certified guide, you are a guide... the ACMG and AMGA "full guide" is equivalent to UIAGM... doesn't really matter what route you follow to get there does it? The article seemed to imply that it was totally different, and not really equivalent.

This might help you decide...