shapp

I ski in Alaska every year. I usually fly Alaska Air, but went up on Contiental this year. I have never had a problem checking skis. Except this year We had the big bag we always bring with two sets of skis/poles/boot etc. and Continental would not check it. They said they wouldn't check bags over 50 pounds period. Lukily I had an extra duffle and took out the boots and other ski shit, which made the ski bag less than 50 pounds. We were also under the 4 bag limit (2 people with 2 bags) after breaking out the extra duffle, so no real problem. Just FYI on the 50 pound rule at Contiental.

I soloed city park, then two pitches to the top, up slow childern I think. I thought it was fun and easy. I think you should run out and get some cam hooks before you go. If you are really thinkin you might like to get into aiding you might as well get some cam hooks now and learn to use them right off the bat.

Clear Creek road is washed out before asbestos creek, bring a bike

Charlies Chimney at Smith

yes, the single screw link is rated to well over the strength of the silent partner. I do not see th need to use more than one. as there is no gate to break/open. For all intensive purposes for a large construction safety rated link, it can take a huge amount of force in all directions. Although a large fall onto the nut may make it hard to open, although this has not ever happend to me.

an oversize screw link is great, as it is multi directiononal, if you hunt around you should also be able to get a titanium one. This is what I have used with good results. P.S. throw in a small open ended wrench for the screw link just incase it gets stuck! I haven't actually had a problem with stainless links getting stuck though.

walk off to the west and climb some more routes, don't rap "wherever I may roam" as a courtisy to others that may be climbing the route.

I would not try to link the last two pitches.

Anthony lakes with only 1 chair lift has better snow (base elevation is about 7000 feet) and better terrain, although shorter, much cheaper, less people and better backcountry within a 30 minute skin-up than bachlor, plus everyone is your budy.

one note about the cam cotter pin trick. I used to do this. I had a #10 metolious cam with a cotter pin. One time I went to place it and the spring from one of the cams brock when I took out the cotter pin. I am not sure if storing the cams with the cotter pin had anything to do with this, but keeping the cams in the retracked state for a long period of time may have affected the spring? I don't know. Other than that the pin works great for keeping my big cams from getting snagged on everything

Back in the day, I new some old dudes that would sling two sizes of camble wedges or chinard stoppers on the same cord for apine climbs so one sling could be used for a wider range of placements. and indead the smaller nut was on top. The large nut would be slid down near the biner when using the smaller nut. Using two nuts in this manner also allowed for a third wider placement where the nuts could be stacked with the upper small nut bent over in the upside down stacked position.

the placement of the boot forward or rear of the board tip has nothing to do with the binding. As far as the angle of the stance (which is what I assume you mean), plate riders usually have a high degree of forward angle esspeciall on the back foot, which allows the back knee to be driven hard forward for a supirior flex on a hard board to make tight and responsive carves on hardpack and ice. If you have a regular board and new hard boots you should be able to ride any stance. I just got back from Alaska and I saw a dude riding with a slight duckfoot stance with hard plates and hard boots. He was rippin. I also finished my mods to my binding to accomidate telemark boots. I didn't like the ride in the teleboots at all. I had a lot of heel lift and a blister. Probably because my teleboots only have two buckles, one over the toe and one over the shin. I think that a three buckle boot with a strap inbetween the toe and shin would solve this problem.

Bummer, so have you climbed any of the routes you mentioned in the Strawberries or Eaglecaps?. I can't believe you found that info on the web, what websites for these areas?

Notes on slick rock creek: makes a great scramble in summer, I made it up to dead man lake one day, couple hairy spots Would make a great alpine climb to the top above the lake if you didn't die on the approach.

nice work, you must be mark or steve or be in close cahoots with one of these two

I hope this is un-needed, but dealing with an aid-noob you don't always know ====== clean aid in the gorge! no nailing on free routes unless your fingers are too big for that crucial pin scar (just kidding)

if this dude is looking to do the pioneer route to practice easy aid then he aint going to be able to get halfway up Bubba's. Go to the gorge and aid some of the 5.12 cracks so you don't bother anyone else , in all seriousness this would be some good aid practice to dial in your system and also to use some cam hooks. Bill --- cam hooks make the east face and northwest passage considerably easier. Infact if you are still aiding without cam hooks, I suggest that you give up your sticky rubber, chalk, and cams in your free climbing. Get out their and pick your self up a set! They are worth the exporbidant prices they charge for a couple little pieces of springy metal

North side of strawberry wilderness east of John Day in the red part of the state! about 5 hours from P town

Name the creek and I will look it up. I don't want to be an ass, but fish are complex animals. A lot of times fish will stray into areas that are not ideal for their life cycle. It is a way that they have addapted to disturbance. A certain portion of fish are out there "looking for new habitats to occupy". Most likely if there is not lake or pond associated with that creek, the majority of sockeye that return to that creek every year are were probably spawned in a nearby watershed that has a strong sockeye population associated with a lake. The also do not need a big lake, a large pond might be all they need. You might be surprised to find a large pond at the headwaters of your creek.

Alaska is not a stock, if you refer to the famous Kenai, the vast majority of the sockeye rear in either of the two lakes. Lets see a real example, name the stock and the river with no lake that supports a native sockeye population known to be a distinct stock

O.k. Mr. fish expert, name a list of sockeye stocks that do not use a lake for rearing? And lets see the literature citation that conclusivley documents the Lake Washington kokanee data. Kokanee do not have to be land locked. They merely stay in freshwater. There are kokanee in Lake washington, red fish lake, historically in Wallowa lake, none of these lakes are land locked. Kokanee can spawn in streams or on a lake shore with ground water upwelling. I am not a dumbshit, sockeye spawn in rivers but also can spawn along lake shores with upwelling. However, sockeye nearly 99% of the time rear in lakes before outmigration to the sea. I didn't think I would have to explain these things to you since you apparently know every thing about fish. On chum, one mans shit is another mans tasty treat.

Oops, I ment kokanee and sockeye were introduced from Baker Lake and Lake Whatcom stocks.

There as been a lot of miss information in this thread. Let me preface first that I hate bush and the new critical habitat designation is totally bogus. Speaking as a fisheries scientist, There are several hatcheries operated in the Puget Sound area to produce chum for commercial, recreational, and ceremonial purposes. People do catch chum for sport and eat them. They are also sold commercially in nearly every grocery store sold as "Keta" salmon. These are bright fish from sea-water. When captured fresh and quickly frozen they offer a very tasty flesh. Secondly the story about kokanee. All of the stuff reported previously is mostly speculative. Kokanee and sockeye were introduced into Lake Washington, primarily from Baker Lake and Lake Washington stocks. There is some speculation that a native Kokanee stock did exist and a few sockeye did use the lake, but a local sockeye stock likely did not historically exist. Kokanee can give rise to anadromous off spring, like wise sockeye juveniles may residualize and stay in freshwater (termed kokanee). Not a whole lot of differene between the two fish. Kokanee and sockeye happend to need a lake to complete their life cycle (don't get picky with me as there are a few rare cases of riverine sockeye). The Cedar River did not historically flow into lake washington and could not have supported a kokanee or sockey stock anyway (see below). Historically, there were very large chum and pink salmon populations in Lake Washington, which are extinct. I don't see anyone bitching about this. Every one seems to bitch about sockeye and kokanee which non-native to the lake. Huge impacts occured have occured historically in Lake Washington. In the past 150 years, the Lake Washington/Lake Sammamish watershed has been dramatically altered from its historical condition. This started with heavy logging of old growth forest throughout much of the watershed in the late 19th century. In 1901, the City of Seattle began diverting water out of the upper Cedar River to serve as its main water supply. Between 1910 through 1920, the natural Lake Washington outlet was redirected from the Black River to the Lake Washington Ship Canal and Hiram M. Chittenden Locks. During that same decade, the Cedar River was redirected from the Black River into the south end of Lake Washington. In the ensuing years, the most important cause of physical change to the watershed area has been the expansion of urban and suburban development. In the upper Cedar River, land is devoted almost entirely to preservation of forests. Residential, industrial, and commercial uses prevail in the lower reaches of virtually all the streams. The Puget Sound drainages are primarily residential in nature. On the idea that you can harvest fish at the mouth of rivers to limit harvest impacts and bycatch of threatened fish. Hey dude, in many rivers there are several disticnt fish stocks of the same species. Some might migrate a few miles and spawn, others might migrate hundreds of miles to spawn (like in the columbia river). Some stocks that are doiing all right might co-mingle with fish that are very much endangred in a marine or estuarine area at the mouth of a river. Commercial fishing in any co-migled area cannot seggregate between stocks. Commercial harvest segregation by stock is nearly impossible and has been shown to be totaly ineffective in most areas.

I disagree with Jlag, I have ridden plates for nearly all of my snowboarding years (over 15). Unless you are in the park the preform equally or better than soft boots for all mountain terrain and the BC. I used some old Koflach Valuga Light touring boots (redd with t cam buckles) for a long time, recently baught a new pair of Raichle hard boots. Backountry tour ski boots work very very will in plate bindings. Of note is that i am currently fabricating a baseplate for the Voile plates that are supposed to work with teleboots so I can use them on my standard non-split board when I go on trips and want to take tele skis and my board, but only one pair of boots. I will let you know how the fabrication turns out.

VW4ever, grade V above little strawberry lake outside Pararie City, can nearly see from town with binoculars. Go get it!