Maine-iac

Billbob, I am glad that I am wearing dirty pants and not clean ones, because I now need to change them! Frik, lets chat about it. My only open weekend is next week though, But I am thinking about going up doing a mid week climb (before June), it would be a tuesday night/wed morning type of thing.

It is easy to get faceshots on a sled, just as an FYI How are the gates forming up this year?

YO John what is the deal man? Somebody is asking for honest advise on something, and you are just spraying up a storm with what reads like dribble. How about instead of attacking, or mocking, the other posters you offer up your piece of advice and why/how it works for you. Think about it if you had just bought your first piece of gear for a new hobby and you had a few questions..... Would you want somebody writing nonsense? Wes, if you pick your weather windows right almost anything will work for you. One of the most important features that I have found is how well the tent guys out. The more taught the tent is the quieter it will be and the less likley it will blow away when you are not there (I am sure you know this).

That guy really is on crack. I gots me a wallymart tent, and it is nice to car camp with in balmy weather. But I also have a 4 season tent which goes in the pack when I am doing something other than car camping. I would get rid of the non-freestanding tent and get one that stands up alone. The REI half-dome tent is pretty ballin'.

Nice photo Frik, where is that? There was a guy up there being photographed by a heli on sunday, anybody know what route he skied? It looked like it might have been the Wy'East, but not too sure.

If one skis the Reid or Leutholds is it possible to just bare hard left and make it back to T-line, without having to boot it?

Yeah it was a cluster funk up on the summit ridge. People leaving bags at the end of the cat walk, people getting tangled in other peoples ropes. The route was super stellar though!!! Why arn't people doing the gates? How hard can it be right now?

I saw your climbing sheet at the climbers hut. I laughed a little to myself. Glad nobody was hurt though. They are hard to see, but i have also heard many reports of them being big. I think the recent snowfall just gave them all a nice covering. I didn't even see the berg on the hogsback today when I came down.

I was climbing at the Columns in Eugene last summer and an empty keg came flying off the top of the wall. Luckily there were very few people there; but it almost hit a dog. A little while later some methed out teenagers came down the hill in a rusted out truck. They didn't stop because we were still pretty angry at them.

I read the reports and changed my mind pretty quickly. Smith was sunny and in the mid 60s!!

The road is probably no where near open, they just let it melt out and typically opens in mid may. As for the difference between the South and North climbs... one is a cake walk and the other a serious endeavor (e.g. south side of Hood versus North side of Hood).

I am driving from Iowa on the 22nd of this month to drive to Portland. I have to be back no later than 9am on Monday the 30th. I would love more than anything to ski somewhere in either Colorado, Utah, or Wyoming. The route I was planning on taking was I-80 to I-84, but slight deviations can be made. I was not planning on bringing much climbing gear just the standard BC setup. If anybody is in the greater I-70 area, SLC, or Jackson area and wants a partner for the BC for 3 or 4 days; It would make me a very happy camper. I have been skiing for more than 10 years, I have done the equivalent of an avy 2- course. I am more than comfortable on 50 degree slopes, and I have my WFR. Please let me know if you want to rip some slopes up!

Shoot... Hold on one second, I need to go change my pants. But damn, great photos guys. I am hoping this weekend produces similar results.

I have my fingers crossed as well for the weather. But... link

It seems that quite a few of the 4 day climbs are available for at least 2, and in most cases 3/4 people (July-August). The 5 day climbs seem to be booking up though.

Garda hitch http://www.chockstone.org/techtips/GardaHitch.htm For when you are out of prusiks, or for when you don't want to tie one.

Hmm this one is serious; I would suggest taking a break to recover, but your injury sounds like it is caused by a serious addiction. I would suggest switching hands; it will work your other forearm muscles, and let your "bad" arm recover.

Yeah, there is a gym, The Crux, and we have the columns, which are some pretty nice, albeit short crack climbs. Also if you like climbin' trees the campus is the place to be.

yep yep

Tombstone rocked last year, well it always rocks, just last year was even better. I had one of the best days there in late april. I was up there last night under the full moon (11pm-3am), there was a easily breakable layer, but nice snow underneath. They got about 6 inches of new snow, as of last night; but it looks like more is comin'!

How much?

The Wilderness Boundary is just south of Ball Butte, So that is as far as one could legally get in coming from Dutchman Flats. To park at a snow-lot you just need a snow pass or whatever they are called. If I were going in, I would come in from the D. Flats area, and just find a forest road that got me as close as possible, or I would sled down HWY 46 and go to a S. Sister TH. Hope that helped.

Get to the resorts and do laps, as amazingly awesome as some bc skiing is, there is nothing compared to getting 20k vert in a single day at a resort. As for the gear, well imo great gear is really only necessary in the bc (having good boots (that FIT) is good all around) so make do with what you have at the resort. Like a few people said ski with people who are better than your. They should not be the kind of guy that immediately drops you because he is that good, but somebody who always beats you to the chair because you are like 10/15 turns behind. This will push you to keep up and you will be a much better skier. If that person is a hottie, that is even better, you just need something to keep you motivated (A person promising to buy you a beer at the end works as well). On my first day of telemarking (last weekend, when we had no new snow for quite some time) I took two runs to get my "legs" then went into the bc (I bought an hour lift ticket); the bc sucked so badly I bought another hour lift ticket and on my 4th run of my life on tele skis I was skiing blacks. Why? It sucks being that guy that holds everybody up, and well, it sucks being slow. Also, I watch alot of skiing films so I now what the pros look like when they ski. Also, something that I feel is slightly under-estimated out here is that your edges NEED to be sharp. You should be able to shave your fingernail on them; that way if it is not deep snow and a little "icy" you won't be skidding all over the place. Hope some of this helps.

oh quick question. Does anybody here not understand the concept of a passing lane? A passing lane, the lanes on the left, are meant for passing, not driving at or under the FUCKING speedlimit and never moving over. Why you look at me all pissed off when I pass you on the right is beyond me. Truckers understand, they stay on the right; people in nice sports cars understand, they move along and don't hold up traffic; everybody else just plods along. But please don't take it to heart when I pass you on the right yelling because you are in the left lane doing 65 in a 70.

I am very glad to have been exposed to the things that I have been exposed to, and I am sure that I will happily look back upon these times. I was purely complaining at the time about having to do something that I was not looking forward to do. I appreciate being able to construct a complete sentence, and I like to think that I do not sound hickish when I speak.