Shaun

I will be watching this thread, too. I would love to find some good spots in the Olympics.

I am a pyluht.... Pilet.... Pielet..... peye-luht..... I fly airplanes.

I recieved a pair of Marmot Expedition Mitts for Christmas and got the chance to try them out the other day while ski-camping on Rainier. They are very warm. That is about the only good thing I can say about them. They seem like thy aren't very durable, although I don't know for sure because I haven't tore them or anything yet, but I can say that they are difficult to ski in. The liner isn't attached to the shell, making it very difficult to do anything with your hands with them on. The liner just slipps around inside the shell and there isn't much you can do about it. They were very nice during the night while sleeping, because of their warmth. They were too warm to ski in, on a cold, snowing day on Rainier. I ended up taking them off and just using some OR liners that I brought along instead. So, I am going to try to return them and look for something else. I asked for mittens because I have never found a glove that kept my hands warm and dry. I have some Mtn Hardware gloves that get wet very fast (even after waterproofing them), and that is prety much the norm with me and gloves. So, what do you recomend. I will be doing backcountry skiing and camping, along with some resort skiing. What are people's thoughts about Outdoor Research Latitude Mitts? These seem to fit what I am looking for fairly well, also the The North Face Mountain Guides look good. How do people like the removable liner? It seems like a good idea, and I could also wear a thin linner on warmer days? Do you have any thoughts on the mitts that I mentioned? Or any ideas on what would work better for me?

I have a next to brand new pair of Garmont Mega Rides in a 28.5. They have been heat fitted once. I rode them 3 times. My feet are too skinny for Garmonts and had to get Scarpas. If you (or anyone else) is interested, email me because I don't check here very often. My Email is shaunandapril@hotmail.com

Just wanted to let everyone know that they gladly replaced the liners, just like they said that they would. They also gave me a good price on some Superfeet to help them fit me better. It seemed obvious that they felt bad and did what they could to make the situation better. Thanks to the guys at Backpackers Supply.

Land on his head or not, he still skied off the cliff. I come from the world of white water kayaking, and if you land upside down after a waterfall, you still kayaked the waterfall. Takes balls, you will never see me doing that.

On his defence, I think that he thought that he was going to be getting the training, and was somewhat left in the cold with a customer in hot boot liners.

I will either be going in on Sunday or Monday to get this issue resolved. I would like to thank both Andrew and Aaron for the help that they have given me so far. Andrew is the one who fit my boots, but as we have both posted before, it was his first time, and I don't think that it was his fault. Aaron was very knowledgable and I recomend anyone talking to him with any questions they may have. I will post in a day or two about how wonderful the people at Backpacker's are, and how wonderful my boots fit.

I will definately let everyone know what happens. Other than this incident, they have been very good at answering my questions and I don't feel like they have taken advantage of me (like selling me something that I don't need). I will make it in there sometime this week and see what they can do for me. If they do the right thing, I will be a customer of theirs for life. I will keep everyone posted...

I rescently bought almost all my AT gear from Backpacker's Supply in Tacoma. This included Garmont Mega Ride boots. The boots fit really well right off the shelf, but after some skiing in them, I decided to get them themal-molded. They had someone who had never done this before help me and they had me tighten the boots down untill they were tight while they were cooling. We later learned that this isn't the way to do it, and as a result, my boots that used to fit really well are really loose, even when all the buckles are as tight as they can go. We tried to reheat the liners and try again, but they didn't expand much the second time. I was later told that the first time the liners are heated, they have a large range of expansion/or contraction (they would change a lot in size either way), and after that they won't change much, it is more for just micro fitting them, or refit after they pack out. So my question is: should they be supplying me with new liners? I am really bummed that this has happened, but they are the experts that I go to because they know more than I do, and they caused the problem. I was told to go back and talk to their ski expert that I bought them from, not the guy that fitted them for me. I wanted to know what to expect before I went in. Thanks for your thoughts.

Some of these look like what I am looking for, except they say that "Participants should be of intermediate or advanced skiing ability on Telemark, alpine touring or snowboarding gear." I don't know if I could streatch into thinking that I could pass for being intermediate. I guess I either need to get caught up on my skiing skills, or find one not skiing spacific. I guess I should call these places and see what they say.

I am starting to find myself in the backcountry more and more. I am starting to ski and climb in areas where I feel like I need more knowledge than I have. I know that there are some clinics that have been going on, but I work swing shift, so I need to find one on a weekend. Does anyone know where to go or who to ask to get into an avalanche cource on a weekend? Any help is appreciated! Thanks

Thanks everyone for the input and help. I will be going to a ski area as often as I can, but I guess that I will also go and check out some other places as well. If anyone has any other ideas of places to go, please let me know. Anything in SE Olympics? Thanks!

Dave, not sure where Yodalin is. Could someone enlighten me?

I guess what I need to know now is this: should I just go to the ski areas until I am okay with black runs and avoid any back country, even though I will only be able to go maybe once a month? Or would it be better to go find some gentile runs at Hurricane Ridge or Paradise on the weekends that I can't make it to the ski area, with still going to the ski area when ever I can? Finding some gentile bc slopes won't hurt, will it? Just not as good as the ski area, right? Just want to make sure I got that straight.