HappyCamper

Piling on to the positive reviews for the Feathered Friends Vireo. Versatile.

New fav: [video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08SmHntCQe4

The workout mix is getting a bit stale, how about a little crowd sourcing? My semi-random contribution: - Misfits, "Hybrid Moments" - Metric, "Monster Hospital - Helmet, "Unsung" - Los Straightjackets, "Caveman" - NIN, "March of the Pigs" - Diamond Rings, "Runaway Love" - Dead Prez, "Hip-Hop" - Van Halen, "D.O.A." - Wolfmother, "White Unicorn" - Monster Magnet, "Powertrip" - Muse, "Hysteria" - Melvins, "Revolve" - QOTSA, "Regular John"

Have you checked out splitboard.com yet? Great knowledge base on splitboarding and adapting systems to mountaineering. There are a number of mountaineering\snowboard hybrid boots now on the market - either Spark R&D has them (check Mountaingear.com - they carry a couple models). I'd ditch the Sims - find a board with a rockered nose - while the rocker's selling point is powder I think it also helps power through the mixed conditions that you might encounter. Go longer too IMHO - I started a bit short (161cm - 5'11") and am happier with a longer board: 164cm - Prior Spearhead Split, best board I have ever owned - though the Jones splits are pretty sweet looking. But regarding skiing...I have been snowboarding for 20 years, splitting for 6 years, but skiing for the last 2-3 years - though still split/board depending on the days. I think that most take up splitboarding because they are good boarders and want to access the BC. But if you aren't a ripping boarder - it does remove a reason for splitting - skiing is my preferred weapon when there is lots of sidehilling, traversing, etc. I tried skiing an AT set up years ago and absolutely hated it and bought a splitboard. My problem though was that I went straight to the BC without a good skiing base. Not saying this would work for all, but years later during a lame spell with no new snow I busted out that old AT set up in-bounds and kind of liked it on the bunny hills (humility is good once in a while), then moved up to the intermediates, then the diamond runs. It probably took 40-50 ski days to get comfortable, but with a ski pass and a commitment to go up after work night skiing made it happen. Now I feel I can take either the AT set up or the split depending on the mission\conditions. But either way, if you have time - grab a pass and hit up the local resort - especially on crappy days and log the hours. It'll help your boarding\skiing. For the amount of time and money invested in an alpine mission - its worth it in the long run to have the basic skills to make the descent more enjoyable. As someone cooler than me once said, "It's all about the down, yo."

Thumbs up on the Alt-j recommendation. Good chill stuff - check out "Something Good".

Two Gallants John Mayer (really - his new album is good and I wasn't a fan of him before - summery music).

Classic! Took me a bit to get the 4:33 reference. That guy sure can emote with the best of them.

You can find the other ship with the Maddox during the incident, the USS Turner Joy berthed right in Bremerton as a tourist destination.

Thanks a lot for the reply. I hadn't really looked at the side effects before and just spent 20 minutes researching the prescription. I was only using it on semi-rare ocassion, but it sure does seem like my mild issues don't warrant something so strong - especially with some fairly negative side effects.

I have patches of skin under my eyes that are sensitive to cold. I end up with dry, peeling skin usually the next day after exposure to even moderate cold temps. My dermatologist gave me a steroid cream that works well as a remedy for the dry skin, but I am really looking for something preventative. I use sunblock even on cloudy days in the hopes that it will help insulate the skin, but haven't found anything really effective yet. I was thinking about maybe trying the 70's era zink oxide topical (Zinka!), but wondered if anyone has similar issues and something that maybe works?

The only group I know is this one (no forum, but they might have a yahoo group): http://wrrr.org/ For local kayaking there is professorpaddle.com, but there are some rafters on there as well. You can also try the gearswap page on the NRS website, fair amount of rafting gear on there.

Mesmerizing. Raquel certainly makes it to the top 10 on the "All time hotties" list.

iclimb - if you have an extra day, try and add a trip up to St. Helens. Its similar to Adams in terms of technical challenges (or lack thereof), but a much shorter day and its a reasonably close trip from Portland. As mentioned before - Adams (and Helens) can be pretty fun on skis\snowboard - especially if its sunny and the snow corns up. I don't know if it was mentioned elsewhere, but either have a flexible ticket in case the weather sucks (Adams isn't a lot of fun in bad weather) or a lower elevation back-up plan.

Great KEXP video. Johnette Napolitano from Concrete Blonde. Sort of an off-beat choice for me. I wandered into a Concrete Blonde show at Bumbershoot years ago and didn't realize what an amazing voice she has - she can belt it out. [video:youtube]

That was awesome!