Greta

Feel free to post some ski porn anytime fellas. Itll sting a little, but thats as close as were gonna get down here.

Thanks NOLSe. I typically stick with what holds together while im out. I was merely commenting on the depressing trend that were are apparently witnessing of companies that make good gear selling out. Soon after, more often than not, you begin to see the gradual (or occasionally sudden) decline in gear quality. I have a couple other things going on other than monitoring this site, so Im not always ontop of these unfortunate transactions. I said that I didnt want to hear it, but what that actually translates to is that Im sorry to hear it, but its good to know. It's kinda a bummer when you dont know, and you drop a significant amount of money on an item, take it out and it blows immediately. Come to find that xxx co. is now owned by a company that has been known to make chincy gear, and now you have lost money because you happened to purchase a piece from their first season of shit gear (that was probably more expensive than it used to be, which should probably be an indicator). A lot of people say that as long as they provide warantee coverage, whats the problem? I prefer to not waste my time sending a piece of shit in to be repaired and returned as a repaired piece of shit (or replaced by a piece of shit). It is for these reasons that I refuse to support TNF as I did 12 years ago. With all that said, I guess the message is that I need to pay a little closer attention the goings ons of the companies I choose to support. I truely appreciate the information that has been provided in this thread, as I had no idea about many of those acquisitions mentioned above. Thanks again.

Well now there's dirty "authentic", and then there's dirty Managua. I found just about anything tolerable, as long as the bed that I was sleeping in wasnt crawling with filth. Although I thought Bluefields was a very quaint and interesting place, it was probably the most unhealthy place I visited, and I spent quite a bit of time way out in the campo of north Nica. Little Corn was a bit cleaner in the gringo sense, most likely do to the increasing tourism. Most folks merely land on Big then take that notoriously rough boat ride you were talking about. It was all I could do to keep my lunch down. For those planning to stay awhile, most whities would find Little Corn quite a bit more comfortable than Big. I suppose that could all be calculated based on your general comfort with third world travel.

Little Corn is nice. Good diving. Lot of Gringos, but still pretty culturally intact.

Definitely not emmaculate. The ascent that you can visualize below tl is a straight uphill slog through muddy runnels, roots and vines. Quite a mess, but worth it. As Im sure you can imagine, the descent is even worse.

Fuck yall, I dont want to hear this shit. Who can you trust now? Who is still making solid gear and not owned by K2 or Columbia?

If that's Concepcion (which I think it is) I bagged it two years ago . If its Maderas, Its all yours. Either way, if your interested in climbing one, the other or both, I can tell you where to find a guy that will draw you an amazingly detailed map of the route. Otherwise, you'll have to pay a guide to drag you up. BTW, they dont believe in switch-backs on Ometepe. They can be very environmentally unfriendly in those parts.

In the event that you somehow missed the Nodder thread, you can find roughly half his posts there, along with half a million others.

Nice TR deeber. Is there still mine traffic on the road keeping it somewhat clear? Sounds like there was minimal snow down low. I biked up in the fall which really cut the time significantly, particularly on the descent. Does it appear that it would still be possible to ride the road (if not the logging road as well), or is there too much

Come on yall, Im tryin to keep it real. We can worry about the hut later, first things first. We can do dis.

Man, save it. We aint gettin shit down roun heah.

Howsbout an espresso stand up at Paradise? I often find that when I come down from Muir, at the end of the day, what I really need is a Latte ....and a butt rub Eh? Anyone else?

Im mostly talking shit, however, I will be quick to report when and if I can find a demo pair. I would expect nothing less from my fellow cc'ers as well. For now, I'll be in the back, brushing up on my Paul Parker history so that I might avoid future ridicule from these tight asses.

Thanks again for another answer to my rhetorical question.

What the fuck...

Looks pretty good to me, Scott. Sounds like a fun trip. Im not familiar with that area. Is it a worthwhile ski after a little more snow?

Ooops is right. By watching the guys who were filming that clip, I would have never guessed that people were scattering down river. They didnt seem too concerned. Damn.

Peter

Thanks for that enem. I suppose what I was getting at was: how does a company that at one point in time made the best tele skis around run out of cash. But your answer, in a round about way, sheds a little light on what was more or less a rhetorical question. I somehow missed that interview. Bachelor has a pretty extensive demo day in the spring. At least they did when I lived down there. Id be suprised if they didnt have a rep for that event.

In that case, might be worth checkin out. My first tele skis were Tua's (after the Kazama Cornices, of course), and I was quite disappointed as well when they closed up shop. However, wasnt Tua previously owned by BD? And why are they nolonger making ski's? There seems to be a few coincidentals that tend to steer me away, however, there appears to be just as much evidence supporting the possibilty of a decent ski coming from G3. Ill definitely demo a set this season, but Id still like to hear from someone in the spring, that put some time on a pair in a variety of conditions, and no doubt we will.

Paul Parker... Ever heard of em? Im not sure how much of a design background he has, but Im interested in hearing from someone else thats dropped way too much cash on G3s first shot at it. If I was in the market, which I always am, this is the last company Id invest in right now. Too many good skis being made by other, more reputable co's.

All we need to do is boycott. They'll feel it. We got enough pull on this site alone that I bet we could get it down to $51 by next season. Like Ken said, plenty of other reasonable options.

Sounds like you guys made a good call by bailing when you did. I was up at Muir at about 1400 and it looked as if those staying on the mountain that eve were in for a rough night. How well can you see the approaching weather from down there?

Right on fellas. Great TR. Id also be interested in pics if you have em.

Skinned up on Tuesday. Very straight forward boot track as someone else noted. You may have noticed that we are expecting precip for the remainder of the week, through the weekend and into next (ie. shitty visibility), so if you are still planning to go, I would recommend bringing a GPS if you have one. If not, borrow or rent one and learn to plot waypoints or you may have a hard time getting back down, depending on the amount of snow/wind you get behind you. Good luck and have fun.