mccallboater

I use the first three items on my Lowa mountaineering boots. Intuition liners, a power strap, and plastic shin supports taken from my old alpine race boots. It all helps to lever my Silretta 500's and K2's into respectable turns, enough to get down the slopes you mentioned, but that is after 45 years of practice. Regular AT boots with Dynafits are way better for skiing, but the boots are harder to climb in. I would love to see a Dynafit compatable mountaineering boot with an upper cuff that converts for the ski down. What I have now reminds me of the "Stein comps" we used to rivet together to make a decent tele boot back around 1980.

I suppose that should go in the "freshies" list

leave no turn unstoned

This is easier. Really dry air, say, 15% humidity or so, the lapse rate approaches 5 degrees F per 1000 feet gain. Really wet air, 100% or close to it, the lapse rate approaches 3 degrees F per 1000 feet. That rule of thumb has worked for me. So in the Cascades one could use 3.5 most of the time, right? Here in scenic Idaho, I use 4 or better.

NC Basecamp is a GREAT place to stay. It's worth it. Ski, rock climb, ice climb; name your poison.

Never bothered to check out this thread before. Sounds fun. Anyone coming from S Idaho? I'll drive if I can find a rider or two.

In snowy McCall, where barstool snow tire debates rival the intensity of the recurve vs compound bow issue during September, Nokian tires rule. The company has developed a series of light truck tires for US style trucks that excel on snow and ice, yet remain a good year-round choice. I bought my first set in 1982 for my Saab 96 and have used them on every rig I've owned since.

"The Seven Mountain Travel Books" by Tilman Anything written by Kim Stanley Robinson "Wind, Sand and Stars" by De St Exupery "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins "Darwin Among the Machines" by Bellingham's own George Dyson

The fledgling Idaho Mountain Recreation group has a meeting tonight in Boise. Linky: http://idahomountainrec.org/default.aspx I'll be attending for the first time. Apparently it is modeled after the Colo Mtn club or Spokane Mountaineers. But no polypro/shorts attire required. Some of the (tangently related to IMR) Idaho Outdoors Forum list folks will be there. The Forum fall outing to Howard Peak in the Pioneers is this weekend, so bring your rideshare ideas.

Ok. I'll bite. Sawtooths, near Finger of Fate (since that particular crag has notariaty with this group) OR somewhere around Ship island Lake.

We have a winner! DIng DIng! N Face of Harrison! Now for my guess. The last picture is the saddle and SE ridge of Lions Head.

Most of the NF stuff is crap, but the snowshoe bag is still good, improving steadily as the years go by. I have a hunch the special forces folks who buy it keep NF honest, but I have no proof.

Come on people. This is not that hard. Google Earth shows enough detail to pick out the line up the middle, if you want another clue.

I've been poring over my copy. Nice work, though spotty in coverage. Laird makes clear he had little success in finding evidence of early climbs in either the Selkirks or the Cabinets, though he tried. He does credit pioneering climbers when he can. I also applaud his committment to the established trad ethic in both ranges. I think I can add a little background to the history of the Lion's head. On page 136, Laird writes "the summit register located in the massive summit cairn held the Holy Grail of climbing information regarding the Lion's Head. So I extracted this historical relic gingerly, as if performing an archeological dig. ... Inside the metal tube was a faded piece of paper. Scribbled on it was a barely visible date: 1938. It was the first recorded ascent of the peak made by a man from Bonners Ferry, Idaho." I can shed some light on that. I think, though I can not prove, that the man was my father, Bob Pace, accompanied by his best friend Everett Davidson, both of Bonners Ferry. That summer the two 17 year olds hiked from the west side road at the Sundeen ranch (now the Kootenai wildlife refuge) up Myrtle creek, traversing the spine of the Selkirks north with stops at the Wigwams, Harison Peak, Mrytle peak, Trout creek, Smith peak, Fisher peak, the Continental mine, and finally Abandoned creek and the Lion's Head region, phoning my grandfather for a ride home from Priest Lake 2 1/2 weeks later. He said if Bob and Everett could get that far, they could find their own ride home. What made such a journey possible, given that few roads penetrated the Selkirks, was the string of lookouts the boys could mooch off of, all connected by phone line. The boys were the only visitors most of the lookouts had seen all summer, so a good meal was waiting at each. I really need to see that slip of paper. Both Dad and Everett are dead, so I can't ask them. I do remember planning a trip to the Lion's Head 30 years ago, and Dad saying, "That's a real steep one" but I didn't think too much of it at the time, since he had ALWAYS been to every place I wanted to go to in the Selkirks, and could recall details like "put your tent on the big boulder across the outlet from the lake and you will find a real nice 4 foot stream pourover for water about 100 yards uphill past a really big spruce". If Dad and Everett didn't make the first ascent, I'd guess it was either Irby Walter or my uncle Dave Pace, both manning lookouts that summer. I can see Dave playing hooky and traversing over from Fisher Peak. He used to tell me he got pretty bored up there and took trips when the weather permitted. Irby was quite the mountaineer, and after the war performed the snow surveys up in that country for many years. Before the original West Fork cabin burned down, one could see Irby's snow measurements for a 20 year stretch written on the logs inside the cabin. Neat stuff. A final possibility is one of the Davidson boys, whose parents ran cattle up Smith and Cow creeks all summer. My dad worked for them. That's why it's called Cow creek, BTW.

I'm having problems sending a pm. Send me one maybe with more details? Lets go do this:

Don't count out Larry LaRocco in a race with Jim Risch. LaRocco is a fiesty campaigner. Plus a decent guy.

Don't count out Larry LaRocco in a race with Jim Risch. LaRocco is a fiesty campaigner. Plus a decent guy.

Nope. Next clue. The shot was taken from the top of the turtle.

Nice guess. Wrong. Google earth indicates the face is about 600' to the snow patch. Clue: Connected with the topic of this thread.

It should be noted that Craig has for years touted family values in his campaigns, besmerched opponents for supporting equal rights for the gay community. I really don't care what his sexual orientation is. I do care about hypocrisy. Larry LaRocco, my neighbor, is running a serious campaign for Craig's senate seat. Lets hope this gives LaRocco a better chance.

Time to guess where this nice looking norwand is.

Between New Meadows and Riggins, mile post 183.

How does one imbed pictures in a message?

Meet Suzy, the mutt we rescued from the pound in answer to my question that started the thread. cute, huh? at 32 lbs, she fits nicely in the tent.

Huh. I thought that placed the pics in the message. Sorry.