pbelitz

That bullshit carl, and you know it. They cost about as much as the full crampon - which makes sense as it's the full crampon minus the bar between the heel and toe and the bails. Those front points are forged. The tooling to stamp the crampon body is undoubtedly very expensive; the heat treating can't be cheap either. Not to mention serious R&D and testing that goes into all their products. Go visit the BD factory some time, it's pretty impressive. Small-scale climbing gear manufacturing is not a lucrative business.

I just thought it complemented Phil's creation nicely. Now I'll just sit in my corner and wait for someone to animate some of my gapeage.

Congratuations on your climb! I was one of the three skiers that you passed on your way down, glad to hear you descended the Kautz successfully. What a fun route! I'm still amazed by the lack of rockfall and the incredible snow conditions. Cheers, Paul

I dawn patrolled Alpental yesterday. Started skinning at 5:40, skied off the top at 7. Very warm. Good corn on upper and lower 'nash. Groomers were still in the shade, but not bad. Plenty of snow. Paul

I don't want to ship these things, so Seattle folks get first dibs. I apologize for the Sasquatchian boot sizes. EDIT: Carbon Surfs are gone. Size 47 La Sportiva Eiger boots. They are missing insoles and one needs a new lace. Good condition, beefy leather boots good for moderate mountain scrambles, snow climbing, and the like. Too soft for serious ice (I've tried it). Uninsulated leather. Never fit me well, bought some insulated leathers for ice, switched to skiing, and the boots have sat in my apartment for ever. $10. EDIT: Dynafiddle boots gone. EDIT: flicklock poles are gone. I'm moving to San Diego and have limited car space. Email me at pbelitz AHT gmail DAWT com. Again, local pick-up greatly preferred. If you desperately want some of my crap, we can probably work something out.

I keep a pair of jeans and shoes in the lab. I shower at home and bike in. Change clothes in the bathroom, no big deal. In winter I wear a goretex jacket, which keeps my shirt dry. In summer I dry off in half an hour. No need to shower until I get home.

I own Dynafits. I'm just waiting for the Spirit 4 to come out next year to replace my Denalis. Though I'll be in San Diego by then, so maybe I shouldn't bother.

Justin, the 404 will more definitely accommodate both climbing and rando boots. And I would heartily recommend the laser over either the MLT4 or TLT4; it'll ski much better than either. The MLT4 isn't even a ski boot. Stick with the Lasers (IMHO). Mntgirl, I suspect that you'll ski in the mountain boots once, and never again. If/when you have the cash, get some Dynafits and stick with the Lasers. Rando boots climb everything but rock/mixed quite well. Unless you're skiing a flat approach to some heinous ice/mixed/burlfest, there's no good reason not to use the rando boots. Oh, yeah, the MX7 is a decent ski. Not truly high-end, but certainly a decent all-around backcountry ski, don't thrash them without a second thought. And they'll easily take a second mount, so putting a different binding on them in the future will work just fine. Have fun, skiing is a blast.

PFFT! That one ^^^ works. I enjoyed that Tony, thanks. You guys must be crosscountry skiers. That's a lot of flats. Silly snowboarder!

BIGGER PHOTO PLZ!!!!

Big fuss out at Big Four today. S&R folks, sheriff, and a chopper buzzing all over the north face. We asked and were told that a party was overdue by 24 hours on the NF. Apparently the chopper made contact with them; they're fine. But I have to wonder whether this was the same party that was going to do two lines in two days?

Excellent TR, thanks. And very nice job in the couloir! I'm glad that I'm not the only one who snowplowed the entire road. I also thought it was fairly miserable.

That was an offering to the mountain gods.

We spent the weekend wondering where the climbers were. As skiers, the approach to the Stuart area was cake. Conditions varied from awesome to complete ass. Well, conditions for skiing, I mean. Gorgeous weekend, reasonable approach up Mtneer Creek, beautiful bivy, and a fun little couloir.