wfinley

Where will you be? Little Diomede? I have a question for you; how will you keep your camera / batteries warm?

Brands like FF rock but are too expensive and not bomber enough for everyday usage; I'm assuming you'll be working somewhere on the slope - if so you'll want: - Big fat Sorrels or Bunny Boots for your feet - A gigantic jacket with a fur lined hood - Giant coveralls The best place to get these are in anchorage on your way up North. Go to 6th Avenue Outfitters, B&J Commercial or Eagle Outfitters. Tell the sales guys where you'll be living and they'll set you up. As a side note - North Face sells a fat polar jacket with a fur hood. I've seen them at Costco in the past.

I ski coastal snow meaning one weekend it's -15 and the next weekend it's 30. Due to the funky weather I have had alot of problem with icing on the toe piece, the heel-piece and on the boots. Here's what I do: (1) I always carry a whippet and use it to chop the ice that builds up under the toe piece (it can build up under the metal piece and be hard to dig out) (2) on my leashes I have tied a tiny piece of wire that use to clean out my toe and heel pieces when it's really icy and (3) I routinely spray my heel piece down with silicon since it seems to sometimes develop a mound of ice when skinning.

After reading this topic I went out and bought 10 quickdraws to replace the ones I've had on my rack for 10+ years. It cost me a whopping $40. FWIW my old draws have always held although for the past 5 years I've made a mental note of not to fall when using the super tattered ones.

Thanks Robert, Crystal looks nice. Our flight back doesn't leave till 7:30 so I think that's what we'll try for!

My wife and I fly down to Seattle for the weekend of 12/9-10 for an office Christmas party. We're thinking of bringing our skis for a day on skiing on the 10th. We ski 99% back-country up here so we're leaning towards a day of lift skiing with maybe BC access if conditions are good. Any suggestions of where to go for the day? Thanks!

Check out Adobe Illustrator CS2. It has a trace function which is pretty killer. http://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/pop_livetrace.html

Kate Moss? I thought she was still slumming it with Peter Doherty. You got a link or what?

I was climbing in the Gunks once and a Russian party lead up to the route we were on and then began to climb up the same pitch as my wife was belaying - clipping gear right next to mine and getting the ropes all tangled. My wife (who is fluent in Russian) was furious. Apparently the reason the abandoned her major in Russian studies was because of Russians and it all came flooding back. I just assumed that's the way it is in the Gunks.

Likewise consider the source of the article. A quick review of The Reason Foundation's corporate sponsors yields the following: - American Petroleum Institute - Chevron Corporation - ExxonMobil Corporation - Ford Motor Company - General Motors Corporation - Shell Oil Co. http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Reason_Foundation and http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=286

A friend of mine who XC ski races religiously wears those goggle things. He loves them for days when it's really cold or snowing.

Thanks for all the responses. I think I'll be anal about my newer bag and coats... but if my 25 year old Marmot Mtn Works dies after this trip so be it!!!

16 hrs? Wow... I routinely leave mine compressed for 2 1/2 days and it hasn't seemed to suffer too much. Let's say your flight is 36 hours, followed by 12 hours in a hotel, followed by another 4 hour flight. Would you unpack and fluff while in the hotel room (for that 12 hr period) or would you just worry about it when you reach your final destination?

He's not in / around Washington but I've always sent mine here: http://www.climbingresoles.com/

How anal are you about leaving your down sleeping bags / coats compressed? I'm talking about big warm (-20 down) sleeping bags and big warm jackets (the Icefall and Ion) . I know you're not supposed to -- but how many days before it's considered really bad? 2 days? 10 days?

Ditto on the pay a pro. If you do it yourself you'll spend the better part of a day sitting around a laundromat.

2 stories: 1. a few years ago I took a bad fall. I had a locking blade knife on my harness and I tumbled for a ways. When I stopped rolling I looked down on my harness to see my knife had opened and sliced and diced my jacket on the ride down. Luckily I had on a very fat FF down jacket and wasn't cut by the knife. Since then I always pack my knife in a pack packet. 2. a couple years ago while rapping off of the summit of Mt. Owen my wife dropped her belay device. It was late and cold and we had minimal gear so I opted to lower her down the steep pitches instead of rig another type of rap device (on the easier pitches she rapped and I downclimbed with a prussik). We bivied. It sucked.

I'm thinking that flying cross continent with them is a bad idea. (Didn't Limbaugh get busted for Vicodin possession?) Guess we'll stick to drugs we have prescriptions (in our name) for. pup... we bought drugs we thought might be hard to come by overseas (like Azithromycin) but plan on picking up Diamox, Ciproxin and Flagyl once we get there. One of my climbing partners (who is a pharmacist) recommended getting dexamethasone. Anyone ever carry this in their FA kit?

cj001f - could you describe this route. When the time comes I'd like to beta-flash it instead of working it over a period of 27 years.

In my never ending quest to post all my drug and customs related questions on CC.com I've come up with a new question: We have acquired bottles of Vicodin and 400 MG Ibuprofen from my father-in-law. First off let me assure you that he isn't necessarily trying to create a junkie out of me - he just figured we could use the drugs. So... we're flying into Katmandu with a rather large first aid kit with many prescription drugs ranging from an Epi-Pen though Azithromycin - all of which we have prescriptions (in our name) for. However - the Vicodin and 400 MG Ibuprofen are not in our name. Can we do this? If we show up with a bottle of Vicodin not in our name are we going to be tossed into some Nepali prison? Anyone have experience traveling with prescription drugs?

Thanks all -- We have the drugs but are still on the fence about taking them. As a child I lived in Thaaland and never took malaria meds so we'll see. Markharf we're gone 6 weeks (until T-Giving); if we don't take it I'll PM you when we get back.

No travel advisories as of yet. Apparently it's business as usual over there (the new Thai airport even opened up on schedule). PS -- After reading up on the Malarone I'm beginning to wonder about the whole helmet comparison. As my wife said "Hmm: malaira or suicidal episodes..." http://www.lariaminfo.org/information/WSJ20020904.shtml

Thanks all! We have a prescription for Malarone and after reading all this I think we'll just buy it here and decide once we're there whether we should take it or not. I already feel like a walking prescription (this week we get to take oral typhoid vaccines ) so I might as well keep it up!

Thanks -- We talked to a doctor and he said that we didn't need to take them but wrote us a prescription anyways. The doc was basically was getting his information from the lonely planet as opposed to actually knowiing what he was talking about so I thought I'd ask around.

Question to anyone who has been climbing in Thailand recently: Did you take malaria pills when you were in Thailand? Do you recommend taking them? Thanks!