ashw_justin

We must have been over next to you guys on Backbone that day. Someone definitely watched me grunt up the offwidth! Such a nice day up there. Upon reaching that gorgeous crest later in the day, I was almost tempted to make up some excuse so I could score a sweet night under those stars.

Nice! I dropped my Droid off of the top of Roger's Corner last year, no real damage still works great! Slidey mechanism is wonkey, but I never that foolish little 'keyboard' anyway

This is the last thing I remember seeing that might directly impact the Rock http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/nr/rdonlyres/805150ca-9b6b-4036-b5fc-86b029c38865/0/seattle_6lane_alternative_options.pdf 4408.pdf

Young mentally unstable man blames progressive government for society's problems, also rumored to be disgruntled re: immigration; thinks blowing away a bunch of government figures is the answer... ...how exactly is that 'left-wing' again? Sounds a lot more like a McVeigh or an Andrew Stack to me. You guys are seriously delusional, and doth protest too much. Please let her pull through, and let this be a wakeup call.

yes

Not fair bstach, you didn't post the Chomper's full standard 125 minute response to the question [video:youtube]LoDqDvbgeXM

Here's a toepiece after a few seasons that included a bunch of skinning and a fair amount of ski mode. Heel locks might mitigate this, in addition to making things easier.

Love the dog. caption contest!

Clearly this is God's way of giving us His metaphor for how corporate lobbyists infiltrate the government, incapacitate its normal function, and slowly plunder the country's natural riches through privatization. Or MAYBE He means that the cockroach is the poor innocent average joe taxpayer... wait here a sec I'll go have a chat with Him, and report back to you, His beloved sheeple.

It's not at all surprising that most snowboarders feel awkward in hard boots, since nearly everyone learns in soft boots. Only the rare hardboot racer/carver would feel comfortable in hard boots right away outside of the ski area. Most of the rest of us struggle to figure it out over only a handful of days each year, usually without ever riding hard boots at the resort to dial in the foot positions and technique, both which are different than for soft boots. A mountaineering style boot with hardback bindings is an okay compromise, although it does sacrifice some edge control in climb mode, and can result in calf fatigue or chafing/soreness when edging for extended periods (many popular mountain routes). A velcro shin strap on the highback might be useful to control this. I'm not sure how much a new 'snowboard mountaineering specific soft boot' would differ from this option. There are some advantages with skis (see Tony's post for one ), but like you say, we love snowboarding for that dynamic surfy feeling, and skiing really isn't the same. However, there are certain conditions, frequently found above treeline, in which you can't really open it up and surf anyway--sometimes it's hard enough just to manage that single, deeply sidecut edge on firm slopes. Then again like I said I think a pro hardbooter might not have so much trouble. So while I agree that the non-lift snowboarding technology should improve, it's also true that most riders will need to adapt to what is almost a completely new sport. There are a lot of mountaineering situations where it is questionable whether one should really expect to obtain a surfy softboot feeling like you can get on mellow slopes, or bombing powder lines out of a helicopter.

See! Evolution. He's everywhere

Nothing like a rate-cut inspired/fueled asset bubble bomb on the economy to shatter workers' despicable demands for higher wages and job security eh? Bravo maestro! Shock and awe

ah sorry dude, no vimeo, no solo one tree clapping in the forest isn't gonna pay yer (her) bills anyway

ps. people in the US do not go hungry because food is too expensive. There are far larger forces at work in these cases. But they do seem to have a lot of food-related health problems. The argument that producing the cheapest food possible, no matter what the 'external' cost, is somehow automatically the best possible food system is not one that I can take very seriously.

As always you have a good argument JayB although I think at least a couple of my items could be construed as 'food health issues' even though they are outside of a simple and easy accounting of vitamins and nutrients. Also let's not forget many studies are conducted with a forgone conclusion, in many cases in conflict of interest to appease some benefactor, or even for honest science, that the conclusion is often predetermined by the experimental design. A problem for science and the consumer alike is that it is hard to know what is really in the food except under rare circumstances. Either assayed or 'official' ingredient lists can leave out a lot of things, trace chemicals resulting from synthetic inputs or contamination being one, biological contaminants like E. coli another. For a time, when organic meant something (namely natural and local), it was less likely for crazy shit to get into this food either intentionally or unintentionally. Now that Big Industrial Food is into Organic all bets are off. One bad cow kills hundreds of people who ate his CAFO neighbors, even if the the industry finds a way to label them 'organic.' Expect to see the standards loosened/manipulated and to pay more for the same old product of the quantity over quality philosophy.