mccallboater

make that mccallboater etc

Didn't get it. E male to mccallboat at gmail dot com

I've got a pair of Knissel's, 100cm. No bindings though. A pair of Silvertta 404's from Ebay would be the ticket. PM me if interested.

I've had great luck with the orange plastic used on bottles of orange juice, with good thick electrician's black zip ties. That plastic seems to have a lower coefficient of friction than other plastic.

Trip: Williams Peak - Idaho - South face ski and climb Date: 3/19/2007 Trip Report: A quick trip from the Sawtooth Mountain Guides hut below the East Ridge of Williams Peak above Stanley to the summit. I'll post more pictures on the album below later. These pictures were taken by Mark Ryan, whom I accompanied along with Tadd Perkins for a delightful moderate climb. http://picasaweb.google.com/mccallboater/WilliamsPeakSawtooths We left the hut at 6:30 am, encountered very firm skining up to the top of "Skier's Summit" on the East Ridge, then left our skis to crampon on perfect styrofoam snow across the South Face gullies to the farthest southwest snow gully, which we ascended to the top. We should have carried skis to the top, but instead glissaded 1500 vertical down to the lake, then wallowed up 800' of south-facing knee to waist deep rotten snow in the early afternoon to retrieve our skis. We thankfully could stay out of the inevitable afternoon slides. The east-facing ski back down to the hut was really fun. The hardest skiing of the trip was the "expert" snowplowing required through breakable rotten snow on the trip back down to the car on the summer trail. Leg-breaker scary. Gear Notes: For me, mountaineering boots and K2's with Silveretta 500's. Crampons and ice ax. Mark and Tadd were using regular AT boots and Tele boots, respectively. I think I had an easier time of it on the sidehill ice, but it all worked. Approach Notes: Timing is everything. Start early.

A wolf, in the Sawtooths near Stanley. For a second or two anyway. Plus goat tracks on the very tippytop summit of Williams, on a spot big enough for my sit pad. I guess they like the view.

I got a load of light-hearted abuse for using my "skinny" 8611's and mountaineering boots last weekend, surrounded by fat ski AT and tele folks while skiing and climbing Williams peak in the Sawtooths. Trip report soon... Mountaineering boots with crampons were the perfect combination when we had to tramp a half mile across the 40 degree S face of Williams. The afternoon slushy corn was easy to ski, though I avoided the steeper couloir skiing that a couple of the other guys managed on the N side of Thompson. Impressive work there. The rotten snow under the 6 inches of consolidated surface snow made for miserable thigh-deep wallowing in the afternoon. It also showed what little snow pack we actually have for runoff in Southern Idaho this year.

Hmm...No response. OK, hw much for my big old Terraplane? It's still a great pack.

Need a Denali pack? I've got a size large Terraplane with a size medium waistbelt to trade for a pack of around 65 liters. Climbing and ski mountaineering oriented packs only. With my Terraplane you can expect to carry more gear than you should. It's huge and bombproof. It is also in good condition. But I just don't get the time to go on long trips that the pack deserves anymore.

My first backcountry setup: 1958 steel Hart standards (210cm), Marker explodomat toe pieces with front throw cable, long thongs, plus Raichle Molitair double boots with the midsole removed so they would flex a little at the arch. Plus a first edition copy of Steve Barnett's "Downhill Nordic" looking more tattered than my Muir VW repair manual. I've been trying to go with lighter gear ever since. I love the tele turn, but AT is nicer on my knees.

Makes sense.

I'd like to share a ride up there from Boise or rendevous with the SLC crowd along the way if I can. My trip to the Sawtooths is postponed, so North is the goal! PM sent to rhyang.

What climbing on mt Hall? I've picked berries all over it many a time (grew up there) and never saw anything. Now over the border on the same ridgeline in BC, well there are those awefully chossy looking big time cliffs above Creston. And there is cool thorium mine inside Mt Hall, but that's all on private property and locked up I believe. Not to mention you might glow a little after spending a few days in there. If you are talking about the cliffs right above Mt Hall school, but not on Mt Hall itself, I can tell you they are good granite, with up to 100' nice crack lines on the East side and a lot of moss. I only climbed there solo a long time ago, so I can't say I accomplished much without a rope or rock shoes. A few miles back towards BF there is a nice cliff one can see from the highway to the East with some picturesque yellow pines on top. The obvious crack on the lower face is pretty big up close, kind of 5.10 or 5.11 offwidth. But that cliff belongs to the folks that live in the house right below. 25 years ago they were downright unfriendly about climbers on their property. But that might have changes hands by now. My suggestion is to walk up to a house nearby and ask. Contrary to what the media thinks about N idaho, most folks up there are very friendly. There are a lot of nice looking boulders on the benchlands nearby too. If you get some good climbing with landowner permission, post the results please. My cabin's 10 miles from there. I bet some locals have put up routes under the radar.

I'd like to do a ski-mountaineering/light alpine trip in the Sawtooths in Idaho either the 3rd week or the 4th week in March. 4-6 days. Perhaps a traverse from Grandjean or there abouts over towards Stanley, with a peak or two bagged along the way. Does that sound interesting to anyone? Another possibility is to do something similar closer to home for me. For instance, in around Yellowpine.

I've got the K2 8611s and I like them. But they definetely do not have the bigger sweet spot that the wider, newer skis seem to have. However, in soft snow or easier conditions it doesn't really matter. Anything works. I'm about your size and I use 167's.

It's been like that in Idaho too. 3 days this week of that for me, at Bogus B no less. I hear Brundage has been "memorable". The wind never got over 15 mph , the temps stayed between 5 and 20, and they had 35" in the last week. Bogus was similar, but with a little more wind. Wish I had pictures to share.

Like Lowell, I also like my Silvretta 500's. I also ski in Lowa plastic mountaineering boots with my latest addition, a pair of Intuition liners that also fit my Veloce tele boots. I think they were intended as liners for snowboard boots. But they work just fine. One discovery that helps with the turns: using a light velcro strap around the upper cuff of the mountaineering boots gives them some additional lateral stiffness, while still retaining the ability to French crampon up stuff when the skis are on your back. I use the same velcro strap around the liners on my tele boots. A "power strap" I believe it's called. Skiing in mountaineering boots forces one to ski with good technique, but it works. My legs feel more tired after a long descent though. I also have a pair of lighter single leather climbing boots that make skiing quite a challenge. But if the intent is just to skin up some long snow slog or logging road to a climb, and turns are secondary, then I wouldn't hesitate to take them. That's the beauty of the Silveretta 500 versitality.

Well thank God the phone # on the web site isn't from my N ID hometown. Bonners has had enough bad press over the years.

Last Sunday, I tagged along while my friend Art did an NRCS snow survey. Ever wonder how it's done? See the pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/mccallboater/SnowSampling

PM sent RE the hooded jacket

Nope, the world's longest Tbar was up at Kimberly. I rode both and Kimberly always seemed longer. But not by much. Both were pretty miserable when you are 7, about 4 feet tall, and flying over the tall spots because the spring tension was too much. But there was less folks skiing powder then. Turner is still the best kept secret ski location in N American, IMHO.

You can pull my Joe Brown helmet from my cold, stiff fingers after I'm dead. Bought in 1978. But you can borrow it maybe. What gives? Movie? My alpine hammer still gets used too. So I wouldn't sell it. But I do have a pair of straight shaft X-15's I'd like to get rid of for cheap.

If you really want to save money and lower your carbon footprint...use public transportation or the good mileage 2wd rig you can afford 99% of the time, then RENT a real 4WD for when you actually might need one. You won't be able to plaster climbing stickers and greenpeace stickers all over it. But life isn't perfect.

Head on down to Brundage. Conditions are once again sweet. There are some nice huts nearby too.

One guy who can comment with authority on Dan Krumpotich's adventures is Rich Landers at the Spokesman Review in Spokane. He doesn't post on this list though. Dan was very circumspect about what he accomplished with those Rocky Mountain Academy students back in the 70's. He wanted to keep the first acsent feel for the next guy. But for many of those N face routes in the Selkirks, there hasn't been a next guy that anyone knows of. Well, maybe stealth ascents are the pattern for those mountains. I suspect the same is true in many other mountain ranges. Some few individuals spend many happy days putting up routes where no one has gone before, but they arn't the least interested in documenting the occasion in the AAC journal. The only reason I am aware of these trips is that I took a 4 day ski traverse from Pack River to Trout Creek with him. He pointed out several faces he had climbed. I was amazed, and badgered him into telling me more. Only the fact that he is deceased made me mention these at all. The first ascent feel is still there for the next guy, since no one will ever get the beta from Dan now. As it should be. Still, I hope any new "first ascenders" will honor him during their own adventures. And perhaps follow his "leave no trace" example.