mccallboater

[img:left]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lrPgLKJMME0/TR6TBw-HilI/AAAAAAAAEco/6rxlfw7r_YU/s512/IMG_3731.JPG[/img] Alpine skis, bindings and boot set: Fisher RX8 FTi 155cm (but skis like a 185). Mounted with Marker M54 racing bindings with lift plates, matched to Salomon Prolink Comp boots. Mondo size 27. 314MM boot sole length. These are great ice and groomer rippers. I can rail turns like the snowboard dudes on their GS carving boards. They ski junk and powder snow fairly well too. Skis/bindings $150. Boots $40. AT skis: Take your pick. I want to sell one or the other of these. I'm keeping the bindings unless someone offers close to retail price for them. (1) Hagen 1200 Superlight 178cm. A classic mountaineering ski that could win randonnee races, it's that light. Mounted for dynafits, of course. $150. (2) K2 8611 168cm. Currently mounted with one-year-old Silvretta 505s. These are happiest in tight couloirs, the high alpine, with a long tip like some new skis I see out there. Take them to Denali. Dynafit 700L Mondo size 27 298mm boot sole length. W/Intuition liners, baked once, $250. W/stock Thermofit liners, baked once, $200. I really don't want to sell these, ergo the high price. Tele gear: Sold And finally for you luddites out there, 205cm Rossi TMS skis with 75mm bindings. Waxable! They are actually great skis for cruising around in the woods. $15 Dynafit boots Hagen Superlights Salomon Prolink Comps Garmonts

Sawtooths in a Feng Shui moment Mt Blanc Descending towards town

A while ago I posted pictures I recovered from a Canon Powershot 850 that I found halfway up Slick Rock in McCall this summer, hoping to find the owner. No luck. The camera still works fine after falling around 400 vertical feet and bouncing probably a dozen times down the 75 degree face, coming to a stop on a ledge. It was inside a thin leather case. The last picture was the summit shot. It takes pretty good pictures too, but I like my Canon G9, so the 850 sits at home most of the time. 1/2 the weight of the G9 though and simpler to operate for the technically challenged. I haven't tried the 850 in really cold temps, but the G9 works fine at 0 F. Both have an optical viewfinder, a boon on bright snowy days.

2001 Volvo XC 70 wagon. AWD, 27-28mpg on the highway and 21 on mountain roads. Enough ground clearance for most logging roads. HUGE amount of space in the back, a roofline low enough to make loading kayaks and canoes quite manageable. I bought it two years ago with 100000 miles for $10k. Plus you can sleep in the back in a pinch. Reliable. Comfortable. A great used car for the $.

OK, I'll bite. I still ski 'traditional' skis, in my case either my Dynafit mounted Hagen Superlights, a rather rare ski on this side of the pond, or my tele skis, the original Piste Stinks made for K2 by Authier in Austria. Both are great skis. I manage quite well with either set up, having skied since 1960, including quite a few years racing. I must confess though, at 53 I never hesitate to bludgeon with technology what I lack in skill and fitness. So I'm looking at two new (for me) skis, both "rockered" in the modern vernacular. The Dynafit Manaslu and the Armada JJ. Lots of great reviews on the web, plus skiers I know and respect rave about both of them. Any opinions from this crowd? I ski mostly around McCall, which means the backcountry conditions range from good to perfect. My old Miller Softs would have been very happy there. I also have full on slalom skis for the hardpack days at Brundage.

A little late on this, but I thought you all might enjoy this shot of my Dad next to his Jug, a couple of months before he was shot down the the first day of the Battle of the Bulge, while his flight was trying to stop tanks from taking St. Vith. He was severely burned, and wandered around in the snow for two days until he was captured by the Lufvfwaffe. His first night was in the barracks with the outfit that shot him down. The rest of the war he moved from one Lufvfwaffe hospital to another. Six times I think, mostly on foot. They treated Dad like their own pilots, but he still weighed 115 lbs when he was liberated. They also provided the best burn treatment in the world at the time. Several more operations in Menlo Park followed, at the hospital with 5000 other burn patients, where he met and married my mother after one month of courtship. They were together for 60 years. The climbing and skiing side of Dad is that he and Everett Davidson are the first names one finds in most of the cairns in the Selkirks between Bonners Ferry and Priest Lake, including the first ascent of the Lion's Head. He and Everett started most of those cairns when they were in high school in the late 30's. Dad, a life long skier, was also one of the original board members of the non-profit that started Schweitzer Basin. He had just bought his season pass for the 53rd year in a row when he died in December of 2006. [img:center]http://www.368thfightergroup.com/images/w-396-pace-bob.jpg[/img]

Either this is bogus (no pun intended for Boiseans), or this guy has no idea he has $150 worth of gear that he is trying to sell for $500. Anybody get their gear ripped off? CLIMBING GEAR - $500 (Council, ID)

Yaaaah right. You're too late. It's already the most popular place in Idaho to climb. Well, maybe the City gets more folks.

I've got a G10 and it takes great pictures. Not too big in the pocket, but with close to SLR quality. Samples.

I've got a signed-by-Alan copy of his book I will lend to your for your trip planning, if you PROMISE to give it back. Don't know when I will get down there next.

My bad. I got the link from a friend at Idaho Power, who inspects dams, so I didn't check his references. A closer look shows Ibex, not Rocky Mountain goats. I stand corrected. Still amazing, yes.

Big Horn Sheep on the downstream side of the Buffalo Bill Dam, Cody WY

Anybody climb this yet? Storm Peak dome

OMG. I look at those pictures now and wonder how I soloed that thing around 1981. I will not rub salt into your wounds though. What I remember was lots of slab, lots of exposure, and wondering what I was doing up there alone. I'll repost a pic I took from the top a few years ago. The rock is really cool. The second picture is the E side of Harrison Peak, viewed from the top of the Turtle.

The route is fine. When are you coming down here? You've been teasing me with trip plans for years. I was pretty impressed with the robustness of the camera also. I don't want to give model details, except to say it was a Canon point and shoot. A nice one. There are 67 pics on the camera. Looked like a great trip. I think I recognize Blodgett canyon, perhaps a few shots of the city of rocks. I would say two old guys, but I'm probably older.

I posted some pics from it on my picasa page. Yours? Judging from the last picture, you got to the top, the camera fell 400 feet, and it still works!

My favorite shovel is still a Chouinard shovel head that fits its own handle or on to my axe. It has the perfect curve for building caves, works as a stove base, doesn't weigh much, carries easily on my pack. It doesn't move a tremendous amount of snow though. So if the reason for carrying a shovel is primarily to dig someone out of an avalanche, then I take my burly Voile extendable shovel. Nice image here from the Wenachee Outdoors website. My Voile is like the top one. My Chouinard is like the next. I too like D-shaped handles. [img:left]http://www.justgetout.net/ClientFiles/8ecf9e69-8f8f-419d-91d8-10c7ca9cbcbb/Shovels-300-4.JPG[/img]

I was on a crab boat up there in Jan of 83, trying not to get killed. But there were a few days when the clouds would part and the wind die down enough to see sublime mountains rearing their hoary heads, a child's drawing of a mountain. Enough to make me wish I had time, gear, and health; enough to quit the get rich quick plan and ditch the boat. As it was, the boat usually looked like that last picture. I finally ended that winter with pneumonia, my tail between my legs, bolting for N Idaho where the ground didn't move. Thanks for the reminder that beautiful country still awaits the bold!

I've got Friday off for the holiday instead of Monday, so partners for ice climbing or ski mountaineering are scarce. Any SW Idaho based folks want to get out on those days?

And I thought it was cool when my 6th grade son played basketball on his unicycle...

The Spokane Mountaineer's part of Bill's books was a subset of that entire collection. The last I heard (which was several years ago) SPL was negotiating with Bill and Harriet Fix to receive Bill's collection, but I don't think that ever happened. Steve R, do you know if it ever found a permanent home? Joe Collin's photos are the best collection of climbing pictures from the post WWII era I have ever seen, comparable to Ira Spring's. His famous climber signature collection is wild. Sorry everybody for thread highjack.

Hey Dane, combine your tools with Bill Fix's books and Joe Collin's photos/climber's signature collection and you would have the core of a great climbing archive. Do you (or does anyone else) know what has happened to those other collections?

Forgot.. just pm me if you want these. I'll check the list a couple times a day.

My daughter thought she could buy shoes that fit online. Afraid not. Mad Rock Hooker EZ-08, size 37. Also, Mad Rock Mugen, size 37.5. Both pairs are brand new, never worn except to try on at home. $50 buys both pairs. A single pair, your choice, goes for $35. I'll ship these anywhere stateside for $10. I'm in Boise.

Was this trip in the AAC Journal? Should have been if not.