BackCountryPunk

Wow, glad to hear everyone made it through OK. It would have sucked to have to dig, it would've sucked even more to have to dig in the dark. Good thinking on the cliff bands, thats been something I've been trying to pay more attention to this season.....whats my runout.... Isn't there some kind of deposit on Helis-skiers, like an environmental fee, sureley you should get somthing back for bringing that back out of the backcountry.

Nice Moves Matey!

I picked up a pair of G3 Barons early this season, @ 184cm. I'm the same height & weight as you. They were an upgrade from my tiny Volkls, and what an amazing upgrade it was. Might want to go for the next size down (what is it, 177?) for a little bit smaller turns. Super fun ski.

Sorry to hear that man, sad news.

Well, I guess I'll be playing in my kayak until this whole slide of death fest calms down a bit. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around just how big the Keiths Hut slide was...wild.

PL glue & a railway underpass.....

Cool, thanks for the tip, I always forget about that site.

Hi Folks. I'm looking for some other people in the Vancouver area to go in on a group purchase for the Slipstream "Advanced Wilderness First Aid Course", an 80hr intensive first aid course. Looking to purchase sometime Feb - early March. Here is the pricing breakdown from their website: "Purchase group packages of Wilderness First Aid training vouchers and save! Group Package EWFA Price* AWFA Price* 3-pack $962 $1782 6-pack $1798 $3247 10-pack $2753 $4992 * EWFA = 40-hour Essential Wilderness First Aid course * AWFA = 80-hour Advanced Wilderness First Aid course * All prices are subject to GST Group vouchers can be used for registration within one year of the issue date. Unused vouchers can be renewed on the expiry date by paying any difference in price between the amount they were purchased for and the current pricing for a similar group package." A link to the course description: Slipstream Advanced Wilderness First Aid The voucher can be USED AT ANY TIME within 12 months of purchase, so we would not have to all be taking the same course dates. This will make it far easier to organize within a group, as it is a purchasing group, not a course group. If I can find 2 more people it will save us: $632 - $594 = $38. If I can find 5 more people it will save us: $632 - $541 = $91. Interested? get in contact with me......

Hey matey, check out the book at MEC called "Injuries in Outdoor Sports". Obviously pay attention to your Dr, but this might have some info specifically pertaining to you. Rehab exercises and the like. I know that sometimes dealing with a Dr they might be thinking more about golf than skiing....

20, 3 on the resort.

Does anybody know of any 2 bedroom apartments (or spacious 1 bedroom) avaliable to rent in Squamish? My wife and I are looking to move up there by the first of Oct, and are having no luck finding a place, it seems that everyhere has been "just rented an hour ago"! Non-smokers, quiet couple. Cheers!

Good point, although I posted it in here with the hopes of catching a locals eye. I'll try the "CLIMBERS BOARD" too. Cheers, BCP

I have a pair of Garmont Dynamite AT boots for sale, size 26. They are in really good condition. 3 buckles, power strap Dynafit compatible, Moldable liners, light weight. Local sale only (no postage, thx)They are in Vancouver or Squamish. $250

Does anybody know of any 2 bedroom apartments (or spacious 1 bedroom) avaliable to rent in Squamish? My wife and I are looking to move up there by the first of Oct, and are having no luck finding a place, it seems that everyhere has been "just rented an hour ago"! Non-smokers, quiet couple. Cheers!

U rawk mate!!

The bridge is out on the Chehalis FSR, it is the one that crosses Statlu Creek at @km15 (after boulder creek). The bridge can be walked across (bikes OK too), but Car access is no more......

Heart Creek makes for an easy days outing, very easy access.

Here's what I did in my Hyandi Pony last March. 1. Drive up road until you can't go any further. 2. Park. 3. Start skinning (or walking). 4. Stick thumb out to any passing vehicles in hope of a ride. Seriously though, I've ben up there a few times in various cars that don't/won't make it past the turnoff to the parking lot. Usually you can just hitch a ride, if not, well its a long walk, but you're in it for the exercise yeah?

Also, think about staying up in the campsite. You'll be closer to the routes, and its a really nice site as well (the view out the outhouse window is amazing....)

Looks like a great destination! Look forward to hearing some more about it next time we ski.

I've got a pair of Garmont Dynamite AT boots for sale, size is 26.5. These are awesome boots, very light & Dynafit compatible. 3 buckles & a power strap. These are in really good condition, no gouges. I've put about 30 days on them, but I fell in love with tele a month ago and haven't ridden them since!! So, I'm selling them. $300. PM me if you're interested!!.

I've got a pair of Garmont Dynamite AT boots for sale, size is 26.5. These are awesome boots, very light & Dynafit compatible. 3 buckles & a power strap. These are in really good condition, no gouges. I've put about 30 days on them, but I fell in love with tele a month ago and haven't ridden them since!! So, I'm selling them. $300. PM me if you're interested!!.

Trip: Matier - East Ridge / Aniversary Glacier Date: 2/3/2007 Trip Report: Lite & I had been itching to get out on an alpine route together for a while now, so this past Friday we loaded up his car and shot off up the 99. Our objective: The East Ridge of Mt Matier. We arrived at the trailhead by 8, and were on our skis by half past. The night sky was lit up with thousands of stars, and the moon shone brightly as we skinned our way up the iron hard snow on the trail. The quiet of the night was only broken by the clack clack clack of our bindings as we skinned along. Before too long we could smell the wood smoke coming out of the Keiths Hut chimmney, now less than an hours ski away. As we neared the huts entrance, we could see that it was to be a cozy night. There was alot of skis & snowboards propped up in the snowbanks. We could also hear the sounds of laughter & partying coming from inside. We took a minute before going into the hut, admiring the skyline which was bathed in silver grey moonlight. Tomorrows objective stretched up our left side, rising all the way from the toe of the glacier to the summit of Matier. And on the right was Joffre, which I'm sure we shall be stood on top of in the next few weeks. The snow level is up to the 2nd floor windows on the Keiths Hut, so we stomped down a masterfully crafted set of snow stairs to the front door and started to get settled in. There was a group of 10 or 11 MEC employees spread around the table, in what one would have to say varying states of "I've been drinking since noon". It was a great scene to walk in on, and it looked like they were all having a good time. Lite & I spread our sleeping bags down behind the woodstove, and crashed out for the night. We had every intention of a nice early start. As it was, we ended up getting out of bed at 6:00am. oops. But still, we made it out the door by half past. The snow slopes that we had to ascend to gain the crest of the ridge from the glacier were very, very icy. Our skis were having a hard time keeping an edge in, so we took them off & and bootpacked up the first half an hour or so. The icy layer was a crust over 8 or 10 inches of sugary powder snow. Whilst it would easily support our weight while we were on skis, kicking steps through the crust was easy. Well, as easy as kicking steps can be. Once we gained the crest of the ridge, we were able to put our skis back on, and moved fairly quickly up the lower third of the ridge. Eventually it got steep enough that we had to take our skis off again and carry them. Although this time we wouldn't be carrying them in our hands, we'd be strapping them onto the side of our rucksacks. This was the start of the technical climbing on the upper sections. We kicked ever more steps up a steepening snow slope, pausing occasionally to watch the sun come up and bathe the surrounding peaks in oranges and pinks. Unfortuantley the sun then started to disappear behind an increasing cloud base. It looked as though the weather front that they had predicted had indeed decided to show up. Lite lead through some pretty impresive snow & ice slopes up to about 55 degrees, whilst I was lucky enough to get a sweet little mixed pitch to get us back on the ridge crest. The climbing was consistently interesting, without ever feeling like it was going to kick your ass at any moment. A perfect first winter alpine ascent for our team. There was one rappel that we had to do, and we were lucky enough to find that the anchors had not been covered over by the snow. Lite took the first ride down our new super skinny 8mm ropes. He stretched out a full 15m rappel out of them, allowing us to bypass a second rappel that we thought would be nescesary. As I leant back out from the anchors to start my rappel the snow stake that I had been carrying between my back and my rucksack decided it wanted to be first down. I watched it bounce off down the rocks, and then disappear over the edge. Bugger. I started off down the cliff, walking backwards whilst controling my descent with pressure on the rope. Every so often a gust of wind would come along and pelt me with spindrift. I reached the bottom, and to my surprise, there was the snow stake!! It had landed point down in the snow at the base of the rappel. This rappel had put us on the final section of the ridge, before the col at the headwall. Lite was once again kicking steps out across the snow slopes. The wind now tearing through the ridge line, threatening to blow us over if we let our guards down for a minute. We managed to find a bit of cover behind a rocky bluff, and stopped to sort out the rope which had become a bit tangled in the retrieval from the rappel. Unfortunatly Lite had one of his over mittens blow away while we were untangling the rope. A gust of wind took it up and away from us and deposited it on the snow slope, than blew it back towards us as if trying to tease, and then whoosh, it took off down the slope. Luckily, he still had his inner gloves on his hands, so it was just a lost piece of kit, and not a "situation". We came round the corner & into the summit ridge saddle at 1:00 By this point the weather had really deteriorated, and continuing up the summit ridge would have been poor judgment in that wind (poor judgment = you're not in Kansas anymore). So, we decided to head on down to the hut. The ridge was in the bag, and now we had a looooong ski run back down to the cabin. I walked down the top slopes, not feeling as confident in these conditions as Lite is. I watched Lite carve some great turns down, and put my skis on when we were back in the Joffre/Matier col. The run back down the Aniversary Glacier was lots of fun. Lite had been up here a few weeks earlier with another one of our mutual friends (Scotty). This meant that he new what was the best route & most fun on the way back down. It took us about an hour to get back to the hut. We spent a night great night in the hut. Keeping warm by the wood stove, eating all the food we had carried in, and socialising with some awesome folks from the Sunshine coast. I can't wait to go tripping with them sometime. Sunday saw us do another quick run down the glacier, pack up, and then ski back out to the car. A land slide had closed the 99 south of Squamish, so we watched a movie, drank some coffee, and read the paper.

32 Days. Adding another 3 this weekend. Work is slow right now

We are now 7% there. 100 days in a season. We are counting it as "in season" as long as we can ride, so there might be some serious bootpacking in June to get our last few days in. Last year I managed to get 63 days on skis (and no, I am not some rich lift junkie. I just try not to go to work very often). We will be getting another 4 days this weekend.