Maxtrax

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/06/07/1217164/some-climbers-warnedbrof-avalanche.html Any loss of life is tragic, but it's remarkable that the guided parties were in close enough proximity without being buried themselves and able to effect a rescue of the other 10 climbers who were caught. Kudos to them for their quick action. Other news sources are reporting the missing/presumed dead man to be Mark Wedeven. Condolences to his friends and family.

Haven't skied the Megawatts but for one run but have skied the Justice and Zealot a bit, both of which I think would be a more versatile front/backcountry ski for the PNW. The Megas are a pretty specialized powder ski. If you like to rip get the Zealots, if you like to ski hippy pow get the Justice.

The Exposure series was replaced by the Variant series last year. If you can still find the Exposures they're alright packs but always stuck up too far behind my head in the appropriate frame size.

I haven't used the Pro's yet but I'm on my third pair of their precursor the Exum Ridge and they are by far my favorite approach shoe. Comfy enough for 15+ mile days (with my orthotics in them) and they climb great, I use them on alpine stuff up to 5.9. There are other shoes that climb or hike better but for me nothing else has the balance between those two aspects as dialed as the Exums.

The American Alpine Institute is actually based out of Bellingham, Alpine Ascents International is the other AAI which is based out of Seattle. From all accounts I've heard both offer great courses and guided climbs. Also check out the NW Mountain School in Leavenworth... I've never taken a course with them but every time I talk to John and Olivia I am more impressed with them both in terms of technical competence and how detail-oriented they are and just being super nice people.

Off of whistler/blackcomb (along the spearhead somewhere? I've only heard it mentioned in passing). I'm guessing some sort of giant impromptu spectre... seems a bit desperate though.

5'8" 165 currently on 170 Verdicts (128-98-116). My next pair of skis will be 175 BD Justice (138-111-123). I used to ski 167 or 174 Mt Baker Superlights but got tired of getting bounced around and once you ski a rockered/early rise tip ski it's really tough to go back.

John definitely knows what he's doing. I sent a pair of Katanas in last year, he said they would take at least 2-3 weeks, had them back in my hands 10 days after I shipped them to him and they were better than new.

I guess more of a reaffirmation rather than an alternative to your idea but basically if I can skin all the way up or only boot short sections I take my tele skis or on freshy days (i.e. no pons needed), otherwise I take my short/light Dynafit setup with old/light/walkable red TLT boots. Petzl does make a toe bail specifically for tele boots but my mountaineering crampons are Grivels so I haven't tried it out. FYI there's a pretty good deal on a ski mountaineering setup over at ttips right now: http://www.telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=67341

Strong work Wayne and Beau! Do you have a larger copy of that topo picture, if so I'd love to take a gander.

I'm going to be bold and give an opinion on this bag based only on the specs comparing it to my bag of choice - the FF Vireo. As far as I can tell from not having used the Elephant's foot the only thing it has going for it is the price. The Elephant's foot has 3oz less of fill (also synthetic vs. down), is 10" shorter and weighs 2oz more but is $105 cheaper. It also has a much wider cut which is less efficient for staying warm. I probably sound a bit like a broken record after robpatterson's thread the other day but I have just been really impressed with the performance of my Vireo and haven't found anything from anyone besides WM to rival it.

That sounds quite reasonable. During the summer I use my Vireo with an 11oz down jacket (similar warmth to micropuff p/o) and during the winter I use it with the FF Volant (similar warmth to a DAS parka). My only other layers usually are a thin merino baselayer and/or my R1 hoody. I was originally going to get mine custom made extra short so that it came up to around my solar plexus but after some lengthy discussions I decided to size it over my shoulders so I could cinch it around my neck (and not necessarily have to use it with a jacket). I have been happy with my decision. On rock routes I haven't brought a bivy sack, although my pack comes up to my waist when empty and I have used it as a sort of half bivy sack on one occasion. In the Olympics I bring an Integral Designs sil poncho/tarp but haven't had to use it yet. The only time I have used a bivy sack with my Vireo so far was on Rainier this spring and it was really more to deal with the forecasted high winds than anything else.

I use a Feathered Friends Vireo (http://featheredfriends.com/Picasso/Bags/Specialty.html) which in the 68" length with eVent shell material weighs 17oz and packs down to the size of a small cantaloupe. By itself I've found it good down to ~40 deg and with a belay jacket and Cap 3 base layer around 20 deg. It is tapered more than most mummy bags in the legs/feet to be more efficient but a little wider than usual in the shoulders to accommodate a belay jacket without compressing the loft. The Atom looks like a sweet bag but my experience with a Marmot Hydrogen (same series, just rated to 30 F) was less than stellar. On a 32 F night in the Okanagan I was wearing R1 top and bottom with a fleece wrapped around my feet and another fleece jacket on my upper body and I was still shivering... barely slept half the night. I was also not very impressed by the water resistance of the Quantum fabric - hence my choice to go with eVent in my Vireo.

For use in fair-ish weather or in a tent the Jetboil is great but if you are using the stove for brew stops the Reactor will significantly outperform the Jetboil in windy conditions. I can't remember the exact numbers now but at a certain level of wind (I think it was around 12-15 mph) the Jetboil's boil time had increased by ~6 minutes whereas the Reactor's had increased by only around 15 seconds. Also the Reactor actually has a big enough pot to be useful for melting snow for more than one person.

Hot diggity damn, nice trip.

I believe Dane welded a hammer onto the back of a Nomic pick. Also there is this: http://www.ascent-design.com/projects/other_ice_hammers.html As soon as I have time to take the safety course to get access to the machine shop at UW (and find a Quark hammer for < $50) I'm planning to do that to one of my tools.

From my experience most current generation Scarpa mountaineering boots fit my E width and thick/high volume feet very well so I would probably try to steer clear of them if I were you. Boots like the Sportiva Glacier, Trangos and Garmont Towers should fit you quite well. Also see if you can find a pair of the now discontinued Kayland Super Ice ... I couldn't even get my foot in them with any footbed in. If you need a double boot the Sportiva Nuptses should do the trick as well.

Both those jackets could be used similarly but the Compressor is definitely the warmer and heavier choice. The Thermawrap is 12.8 oz whereas the Compressor is 19oz. The Thermawrap uses 80gm/m^2 of Exceloft fill (basically Mont-bell's own version of Primaloft). Both jackets use 15D nylon for shell material so one can assume that the weight difference is primarily in amount of fill - the rest of it being in the extra(neous) fleece in the Compressor.

In Seattle it's 72 hours but this only seems really enforced in the higher traffic areas. I left my car on a residential street near a friends house in Sandpoint/Laurelhurst for 11 days this summer with no problems.

As usual Dane has interesting and useful information to share; I just want to offer a differing viewpoint that I have found to work very well for my heat output/metabolism - I run very warm when moving (i.e. I'll sweat while climbing 5.9 rock @ 32F in a t-shirt) but chill off very quickly when stopped. As such I typically wear lighter "action" layers but heavier "stopped" layers than my partners, as Dane said YMMV but here is what works for me. Summer: Lightweight Wool t-shirt (~4.5oz) or midweight synthetic long sleeve shirt (~5.5oz) depending on temperature Hooded windshirt (~5oz, Arc'teryx Squamish, Patagonia Houdini) Custom FF Hooded Hyperion down jacket (13.5oz, ~7.5oz 850 fill) Winter: Patagonia R1 Hoody (10.6oz) Hooded windshirt (~5oz) FF Volant down jacket w/ hood (~24.5oz, ~10.5oz 850 fill) or DAS Parka If it's really cold I'll add either my wool t-shirt underneath the R1 or a non-hooded lined windshirt between the R1 and hooded windshirt (e.g. Marmot Dri-clime or Patagonia Alpine Wind jacket, ~10.5oz) I'm planning to experiment with using Powerstretch fleece (Arc'teryx Rho AR or Cloudveil Run Don't Walk, ~11oz) and/or Montbell down or synthetic sweater (6-8oz, ~2oz fill) as mid layers this winter and taking my lighter belay jacket. I'm not sure how I'll like it though as I really like the simplicity of one warm layer to just throw on over everything else as soon as I stop and not having to mess around with multiple layer setups. On trips with good forecasts or shorter than 2 planned overnights I leave the waterproof stuff at home, otherwise I have an Arc'teryx Alpha SL Pullover (11.4oz) that rarely gets used but does the trick when needed. As I said I run very warm when moving so I've only ever climbed in my belay jacket once, it was a FF Hooded Helios (similar bulk to a MH Phantom or slightly less than a TNF Nuptse) and did not feel impeded by it on 5.10 ground although I probably would have with anything larger.

Personally I have my Nepals fit with ~1 finger width behind the heel with my toes touching the front although I use this more as a check to make sure I'm in the ballpark rather than the end-all be-all to boot sizing. The key things I look for are minimal to no heel lift on an incline, room to wiggle my toes and check to make sure that I can kick ground hard (as if kicking steps in hard snow) at least twice without my toes slamming into the front. I wear a 42 Nepal with custom superfeet and 1 pair midweight socks (no liners) and wear a 41.5 street shoe or red Trango. If you think you have the right length but it doesn't quite feel right experiment with different insoles, socks, the removable tongue liners and lacing techniques/tension.

I think a key thing to take away from this discussion is that pack choice and fit is very personal and the only way to know whether a pack will work for you is to load all your gear into it and wear it for a day. Also, learning to pack your pack well is a critical skill that most people I know don't take the time to learn. I've done trips where I had a Golite Gust and my partner had a Gregory Makalu, each with 65-ish lbs, I was fine and she had bruises on her hips and shoulders for over a week. But I've also done trips with my Gust with 35-ish lbs where I was miserable and my partner had the same load in his Andinista and was happy as a clam.

If you go with the Aether, consider upgrading to the belt that comes with the Argon/Xenon packs (I think it's called Bioform rather than Isoform) for an extra $30-40 it will definitely increase the comfort of carrying 45+ lbs, but as Dane and montypiton said first try to minimize weight. Bulk is understandable due to the need for a warm bag and parka but if you can keep the weight lower consider something like a Cilo 60L or BD Quantum 65 that will extend large enough to fit everything bulk-wise but will perform better with smaller/lighter loads.

Same experience for me. I've only had my Firstlight in snowy weather a few times but the first time was a 3-day tour where 2/3rds the time it was snowing and 29-31 degrees and we had no condensation issues whatsoever. The only time I've ever had condensation issues was this summer camped on a sand bar where we had cold rain for 8-10 hours and dense fog for about 6 hours. I have the smallest MSR packtowel in my cook kit which I used to swab down the walls before moving around in the morning. Also, I seam-sealed it very carefully when it was brand new and have never had any leakage or condensation that seemed to be originating at any of the seams.

If your foot is wide in the forefoot and narrower in the heel check out the La Sportiva Nepals or Baturas. Kayland makes great boots but in my experience they have been on the medium to narrow side and also too low volume for me. Asolo makes some great backpacking boots but I have not been impressed with the quality of any of their mountaineering boots from the last 4 years or so.