Zoran

I have pair of WileyX for climbing and biking. Blink Lenses are done in their facility in CA. I am very happy with design. Also, I own Brick model but my prescriptions couldn't fit in. I don't know the reason.

There is new Grivel (coming to MEC) Looks so good for high altitude Grivel

I like this hat from Teva but I personally use Mec

Brianna, Congratulations for your persistence and good plan. Hope that grant you just got will "push" you more and make your future plans real. Desire's sharp ridge is one of the most impressive in the area. Can't wait to see your report and pictures. Good luck!

Does any of you know more details about this 30m crevasse fall? Skier lost his life. I am looking around to see do I know him. I am not sure group was from Vancouver. My condolences to his family and ski/climbing community from his town/city. Z

I have my Flash now and stove hanger. Going to give you more review and pictures from the field soon. Looks fantastic and it's in purple color (great photo potential). :-) So far I read several introduction articles about new Jetboil Flash from people who were fortunate to visit Outdoor show in Salt Lake City. Something like this from Jason Mitchell: Jetboil Flash PCS for 2009 As mentioned above, the Jetboil PCS has been largely unchanged but for 2009, they are refining the product with some nifty features that everyone can appreciate. The cup can now be had in multiple, bright colors that will brighten anyone’s day while cooking on a rainy day on the Pacific Crest Trail. Beyond colors, the lid is now translucent to see the contents of the cup without releasing the valuable steam. And, something very cool, the side of the cup features a thermo-chromic logo to indicate the temperature so you don’t scald yourself with boiling water when all you want is hot water for cocoa, tea or cider. Four colors will be available: black, gold, purple and blue. The new features are worthy upgrades for sure. MSRP is $99.95 and the new Flash PCS will hit stores in Fall 2009.

This is what I had on West Buttress this May. I was never cold to wear both. Same thing I will bring to West Rib. My primaloft sweater was also WildThings (with hood) and I spent all time in it when I was on the move or in camps up to C4. From C5 and up I was in belay Jacket and bibs. I think my Wild Things jacket is much better than DAS. Cassin is a different story. Cassin is so demanding that you have to have different tactic, move very fast-bring less (like Steve House, Colin or Marko Prezelj) but increase risk up to extreme level. Cassin is out of my league and others will give you better advice. Also, I will carefuly read what Dane wrote. Trust me, he is right.

Alpinist is out of business. I hope they could keep web page running until they get stronger (financially). http://www.alpinist.com/

Let's hope this young hockey player didn't make any tape. Kids sometimes do that ... This could be devastating for the Alaskans. I like Alaska. It's my favorite state (after WA of course).

Nobody listen old man: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/11/AR2008081101372.html

My apologies, they left on 28th and coming back on July 1st. I promise I will provide to you more info if you need it by Wednesday. Including some pictures. Two of them are my good friends. Plan: Ascent via Blue Glacier (Standard Route). Glacier travel and gear required.

Some Canadians did last weekend. I'll let you know more today or tomorrow. Z

For one person daily is needed 1.5 cups of fuel. Total is 3 cups for two of us, which makes 72 cups for 24 days. That is 4.5 gallons. We will go with 4 and leave bare minimum on 11K. One gallon will be reserved for upper mountain camp for total of 6 days, for two people. Do you think 4 is too much? I know people hesitate to give advice but what you will do? Thanks a lot.

Thanks, What do you think about this: Total time on the mountain planned is 24 days; We will have first food cashe below the ski hill or near the air strip (three days of food and drink, no fuel) Will continue with food for 18 days. Second cashe will be on 11K with gear and one day of food/hot drinks, optimal fuel Two days of food and fuel cut. Comment ... Conservative?

I will probably have Love Alpine Cerro Torre 75. Thanks bigtree for your comment. It's big challenge to not go overboard and keep total weight around 100lb. Whoever going there soon, how you managing this challenge? Where you see the major cut you can accomplish? Z

You scaring me ... :-)

There is another Carbon Neutral expedition: http://www.carbonneutralexpeditions.com/ They will sail from England and ski afterwards. Good plan. Similar to Erden's trip. Zoran

Few days ago I spoke with my friend here in Vancouver and he told me about theory that our bodies generate heat and even if we just sit we impacting environment. Even if we do our best we end up distroying planet. He concluded that if we really want to be honest in our effort to protect the Earth and stop polution, we should just kill ourselves as soon as possible. I am concern about his well being ... I don't like chat but I use G-mail chat from time to time just to see is he there. Zoran

Sound like good deal. We will ask Arcteryx to sponsor us to buy your water. How about that? We both will be happy. Z

Time to move on to better things. Thank you all who responded and to the readers who didn't bother to join this conversation. :-) For critics ... I heard hard words but I won't pay attention to them. I will promise now I will walk hard to the summit of Denali. I found inspiration in songs of my idol D.C. who cut his brother in half. He said in Walk Hard: "...Even if you've been told time and time again That you're always gonna lose and you're never gonna win Gotta keep that vision in your mind's eye When you're standing on top of a mountain high ..." Latter he said in Guilty As Charged: "...I don't even care what anyone thinks I stay up all night and I smoke and I drink I'm a wanted man and I'm blowin town Don't even bother tryin' to hunt me down The cops are sayin I belong behind bars And I'm Guilty I'm Guilty as Charged ..." For supporters: Thank you. This song D.C. wrote for you: "...It’s about the good walk And the hard walk And the young girls you’ve made cry It’s about make a little music everyday ‘til you di-ie ..." Isn't he genius? P.S. I hope nobody will respond to this reply and this topic will be over. :-) Z

More about jacket from Forbes magazine http://blogs.forbes.com/findoftheday/2007/10/kjus-commwear-j.html KJUS Commwear Jacket, $1,199 Ski wear goes high-tech with KJUS's latest jacket, which boasts an integrated MP3 player and control panel on its sleeve, so you can listen to music without fiddling with an iPod tucked deep in your pocket. There's also a Bluetooth system to easily chat on your mobile. What's more, jacket's fibers retain and release heat as needed, so you'll never be too toasty or too chilly. Available in men's and women's sizes.

I am glad to hear that. I wish I could do that. I met couple of climbers with similar cards here in Vancouver. One even approached me on the street and asked if I could make him a list what is needed to climb in Squamish. He never climbed before and he didn't own a single piece. I made list and he went to MEC. Bill was 1500$. It was impressive. Unfortunately, he climbed couple of times and realized is to hard. So, he sold the stuff for half a price. I wish he was more persistent. You will make mistake not looking for more attractive gear than any clothes we have for pro-deals or available in US. Could you please see this small company from Europe? My friend just sent me link. http://www.kjus.com/ Look at Commwear jacket. Price is little high but Platinum card will handle it. Few stores in Whistler and Banff sell that stuff. New technology for temperature adjustments. It's store heet if it's warmer and release it when gets colder. Pay attention to detachable purse under KJUS technology. Good place to store your precious shiny buddies.

Thanks wfinley, This is fascinating story. I read about that first in the book my friend gave me for my birthday at the begining of the year. Their expedition was barroom challenge. I like that. Fred called their expedition: "simply phenomenal, one of the most noteworhy expeditions of all time". They climbed North Peak (wrong peak) and dragged a spruce pole, fourteen feet long. Idea was to fix the pole on the summit as a proof of success. Pole could be seen from the bar. Maybe? They were hard core. Mentioning them as a comparation to our climb (in the same post I opened) it's outstanding compliment and honour. Our climb is miserable comparing to their. They climbed Sourdough Gully in 12 hours. All expeditions need 3 days now (some 7). They climbed wrong peak but they are true summiters for me. I would like to have beer there in memory to Stuck who said once abot Denali: "I would rather climb that mountain than discover the richest gold mine in Alaska".

Thank you. You have a style. I wish I can write like you. maybe my comments will be more meaningful. When English is a second language it's really hard to say what you think, but you got to the point. I don't have any hidden agenda.

I agree with you. I felt bad when we approached them. My clothes and my gear was adequate mostly for PNW. When I started thinking about Denali climb and realised how much I have to buy I sat down with my wife and had long chat. I have a two kids too. She knew it will affect us financially but she was very supportive. I think she got little sick over the years from all my movies, Internet surfing and my mountaineering books. I don't have many inerests in my life. Mountains are in the epicenter. We all here know what WB on Denali is. It's not Colin's Denali Diamond! It's not Marko Prezelj's Cassin one day ascent! It's intermediate mountaineering objective. So, when our leader sent letters to couple of companies we thank him and went shopping and gear whoring. I sold some stuff on MEC gear swap and bought new more appropriate gear. And... They responded. In communication with them we found all of them environmentaly sensitive. We first got free breakfasts from very small privately owned company from Vancouver Island. http://www.naturespath.com/ We got Spot device (but we have to purchase service). I love this small unit and I don't like cell phones or sattelite phones on Denali (or any mountain). ERA offered carbon offsets for 5 of us from start to the end of the climb. www.findmespot.com Another small company gave us Arcteryx Rho bottoms for free. Green Printer gave us Solio charger. www.greenprinteronline.com Cliffhanger gave us each set of five climbing tickets. www.cliffhangerclimbing.com Power bars gave us all bars. www.powerbar.com/ca Bauly Foods gave us 30% off. http://www.bauly.com/Site/Home.html MSR jumped in and gave us Lightning Ascents for free. http://www.msrgear.com/ ROI www.roirecreation.com will give us silk underwear and offered pro-deal on Deuter packs and Hestra gloves. Did you see that Hestra heli gloves made to the top of Everest? www.deuter.com http://www.hestragloves.com/www/live/hestragloves/HGStartPage.aspx?TreeID=402 Mike is very special. http://www.wiegele.com/ He said to us:"Please work your way almost to the end of preparation and tell me what you couldn't get. I'll give it to you". I reached my goal along the way. I don't think I need anything from him. I just would like to shake his hand. Pro-deals came from Cloudveil http://www.cloudveil.com/ , Yates http://www.yatesgear.com/ and from my favourite: Wild Things http://www.wildthingsgear.com/ Ther is now 40Below (Thanks Joel!) http://www.40below.com/ and IntuitionSports (Thanks Rob/Crystal) http://www.intuitionsports.com/ You know ... Up to that point I was very grateful for support from all these environmentaly sensitive partners. But when I unpacked my Wild Things stuff it was something. I really can't express my feelings. You have to see Belay Parka or their pullover. You have to see their Mountain bibs! Man, o man ... I know you personally will reject their offer (Good god, how much sposorship does it take to get to Alaska) but I couldn't. I hate to admit that I have little financial problems when mountains and expeditions come. Many things at home have a higher priority. You think differently and on your expeditions, I bet you didn't even bother asking someone for help. You just swiped your Mastercard. I think that is the best way.