blue_morph

What experiences have y'all had with digital cameras at and above 19,000 ft? I have a little Canon EOS digital and it has the rechargeable lithium batteries.

Anyone ever find any cool links to Andes mapping data?

I bought the Osprey Ceres 70 last year and can't speak highly enough about it. I have fought with various different size and model of packs for climbing and hated everything. This one was actually designed for climbers. Two tool tubes, summit cinch down compression mode for when its empty, big enough for a two nighter, light, comfortable, carries extremely well, shovel compatible, etc. No expicitly spcific crampon spot but you'll find something that will work on this puppy for sure.

I have the S410. I was thinking about using it at high elevation (20k) or so. Can anyone testify as to how this or similar rechargeable lithium based battery cameras perform in the cold?

I bought the Etrex Legend back on sale for $140 or so. Try gpsnow.com I did not pay extra for the mapping cd's and I do not miss them. You should plan on using it in conjunction with a program like TOPO for Washington or wherever as that lets you easily enter waypoints before your trip. B/W screens are not bad, why do you need full color points and lines? If you are buying this as a navigation instrument the full color stuff does not matter. If you like to buy the latest toys for the gee whiz factor then go for it though. As for the inclusion of a Barimetric altimeter I would really prefer to just use my one on my watch. A gps (w/o a specific barimetric altimeter) actually does have the ability to get your elevation but it is less accurate than a well calibrated barimetric altimeter, however the accuracy is still probably good enough for most of what we do in the mountains (+- 100 ft?) The only bell or whistle I would be willing to pay much more for would be an improved antenna that could more easily pick up satellites while in the trees. I wouldn't want to spend much more on something like this anyway because your chances of losing something this size or inadvertently destroying it while climbing are too great.

Not the same but I wear 11 street and wear 12 in my Scarpa Invernos.

Alta is for losers. What would happen at that place if I showed up with a split board. If I have a friggin lift ticket and have the board in split mode they can't keep from the lift. Then I can clip it together and go boarding.

Pick up the Park Services handout that clearly shows every compass bearing and elevation level you need. The climbing rangers should have this. Maybe it is available on the web. Pretty much everyone I know has made some kind of navigation error up there in a white out.

Denali "State" park is a whole different deal than the National Park. The State park gets far fewer visitors and as you are aware actually has maintained trail. Theres no visitor center or anything. Its a really nice place and is famous for having beautiful views from a unique perspective of McKinley itself. Bring bear spray.

That is really top notch! Stevens pass is giving measly vouchers off of some merchandise next year only if you commit to buy next seasons pass in the next month! That is the stingiest crap I've ever heard! They would be better off offering nothing in my book.

That would be the Cold Springs TH? I was thinking of going up there this weekend but after all the snow last week it may make that road harder to drive up. Could you elaborate a little on what condition the road is in between Morrison Creek and Cold Springs? Thanks.

Never having done the route I am no expert but I would say that this is probably the worst year to try it in more than 30 years. Go rock climbing this year.

Anyone been up there recently? How close can you get to the normal Cold Springs TH?

Fuck Alta!

Thanks for that link very much! I knew the same information had to be in a different wrapper. From this link you have to point to where you think Mt Baker is to get the "western slopes of the north cascades" forecast, and point to where you think Winthrop is to get the "eastern slopes" and so on. I'll probably point to all the regional ones and recreate my bookmarks. Once you are in your regional forecast there is a new "experimental" feature. You can click right on say 12 miles or so from Stehekin and get a grid cell based forecast for that point. It tells what elevation that point is and in theory can give you a "to the point" forecast. I'm a little skeptical. I have found the regional mountain forecasts to be more than accurate as they come complete with snow level for that area, chance of precip / thundershowers / etc

This is one of several links I normally use. http://newweb.wrh.noaa.gov/sew/forecast03.html

All my bookmarks have changed for the NOAA Mtn weather forecasts. These are the ones for the western slopes of north cascades...... etc. Perhaps it is a temporary glitch but the message comes up that I need to update my bookmarks. Anyone else having this problem? FWIW I have found those links to be the hardest to find by simply navigating the home page of just about any website I've ever used.

MEC had a cheap full zip pant made of their "like gore-tex" stuff and they were very small and light too. I think I would rip pants made of epic pretty easy.

Are you totally bored today or something?

Thanks!

Who knows? Certainly not you. Maybe it would have been the difference between life and death. Maybe not. Wear your helmet folks.

He wasn't wearing a helmet.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/191851_tl122.html They don't say what happened though. Maybe this isn't the same? Where are boiling and bernice lakes?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=8&u=/ap/20040922/ap_on_re_eu/france_spider_man This guy is in a class of his own! 59 stories w/o ropes, parachute or anything!