poorclimber

atdhe.net

Am in CB right now for the winter and I would say definitely would be a fun time for everyone. The town is great with a range of prices for good food and drinks and with a nice community feel. The extremes aren't open yet, but hopefully by the end of January things will be good. Can't really say anything about snowboarding terrain as it is my first winter, but there are enough boarders on the mountain that it must be decent once things open up. If you want to view a bit of the mountain watch Warren Miller's Children of Winter, good CB section in it, although last winter doesn't count.

Shop around. Ski positions change fairly regularly and a great instructor someone had last year may no longer be at alpental (since you don't seem to want to go with a professional who is not employed by an area). The good instructors are out there, but they may be at stevens or crystal or heaven forbid the main summit and whatever they are calling those areas now.

Haven't had it happen with that many pairs, but one lace has already blown and the next looked on its way. Unfortunately haven't been climbing at all to test further destruction.

One plus to skull hollow is that your tent ends up next to your car and where you are cooking. While the bivy sites are often a ways away from the "cooking" and parking area. Something else to consider, I suppose it could send you either way.

Although I haven't ridden them, the new Rocky Slayer looks pretty nice and most likely can handle the drops. Also if you want to stick with SC, what about the Heckler. Just redone, again I think, and yet another "all-mountain" alternative. Dang that makes me want to get my bike out.

Yeah that happened with mine as well, I think for some reason they issued a recall on the G3, but not the G4. Perhaps they "fixed" it with the G4s.

Sounds promising. Thanks.

Anyone had any experience with Petzl ropes or are they a new product line? I saw a product sheet that listed ropes, but they happen to be suspiciously missing from the website.

35 minute ferry. Really only backed up during rush hour boats when commuters flood the system, holidays, and the summer when tourists come over. Definitely no real rock on the island, at least none that I have found yet.

you're welcome, I wish I could be going with you. I can't wait to get back down there myself.

I would say that depends on what type of trip you want to do during that time. I was down there last fall semester (that would be fall here in the states) and really liked the lake district and patagonia. Both have amazing sites to see, but could require more time than have. If you want to go south look into the area around Puerto Montt and Puerto Varas and a little bit farther south. Parque Pumalin is supposedly amazing with some amazing old growth alerces. If you want to go north some friends of mine went to Parque Lauca which is up in the altiplano near the bolivian border and their pictures looked very cool, flamingos, large lakes and picturesque stratovolcano's rising from the shores. If you want to fly when in Chile look into buying tickets on www.lan.com, they usually offer good last minute discounts. Also if you want to go the touristy route, Pucon is the outdoor sports mecca in chile, climbing of volcán Villarica (an active volcano), mountain biking, rafting, etc.