Ron_Goodman

New Civetta Extremes. Size 10. Too snug for my Denali trip, but I've had them too long to return them. $250(best retail I've seen is $350).

The Marmot retail store has the Astralplane marked down to $299. I've had good luck with Dana Design packs in the past, so I snapped one up for Denali next May.

I did a Denali Prep trip on the Ruth Glacier with American Alpine Institute a couple of years back and have signed up for a Denali climb with them this spring. All my experiences with them have been very good. A friend did their alpine course on Baker and was satisfied.

I guess it's risk/benefit thing--I'd rather not be wearing any synthetics but in that situation, it's been worth it. It's the same as flying to a water/ice rescue in a wetsuit or drysuit--very bad if something happens on the way, but not something you can get into standing on the skid over the victim.

I don't disagree with you--the only time I have worn the DriClime is when I'm actually riding the hoist in the winter. It does cut the wind, however, which is why I mentioned it here.

I'd have to vote for the Marmot DriClime windshirt as the best mid-layer wind protection around. Not only does it break the wind and add some warmth, but it's slick, so it doesn't bind on anything you wear over it. I've worn the shirt and pants under my Nomex flight suit for hoist work in some really cold conditions, and it works great.

I've never been to the Pacific Northwest, but I've heard about the RMI guides advocating pressure breathing on Ranier. Can anyone tell me what it's supposed to do? COPD patients breath through pursed lips automatically, to keep their alveoli from collapsing, but I've never heard of a reason that it would help at altitude.

I have a Nextel i355 which has built-in GPS but which worked like crap. It took about 2 minutes to get a fix and reminded me of the old hand-held GPS units which only looked at one satellite at a time. When I added the pay-for GPS software, performance improved dramatically, about 20 sec. for a fix. Seems that the capability was there all along, but the built-in software is junk.

I had a T4 until I dropped it off the top of Teewinot and replaced it with an Epic. I've had very good luck with the Epic and slide film--lately I've been using Provia 400. My only complaint with it is that you can't make it default to fill-flash, and the little button you need to set it up is fiddly with gloves on.