NateF

The new liner is OK but nothing great. Buy the older boots and upgrade the liner if you absolutely must have a high quality liner. Suggest test fitting the liners out of a pair of maestrales in the quadrant shell you want when you're in the shop. I forget which intuition liner is in the maestrale, not sure if you can actually purchase the same liner. I pondered the same quandary and ended up buying the newer boots (they were a good deal too) and will wait to play liner games when the stock ones pack out. Boots ski great, I bet they do with the old liner too. Wish something lighter fit my foot, but skiing sure is fun anyhow.

The ranger station in Lone Pine used to issue them and I would imagine they still do, or could tell you what the process is. I'd call them.

reminds me of an old Hawthorne tale

The approach is melted out. No need for boots or axes, except for goat control.

Huh. Looks like they just put a little tread on the heel rubber. We're really reaching for things to get upset about aren't we.

Thanks Alasdair for getting the word out. Thanks Matt for your continued efforts! And thanks FF for reigning in the negative reaction and clarifying your position respectfully.

Wishing the best for the injured climber. Anyone have further information on the incident?

We'll have about a month. Looks like it's possible to fly to Chandigarh or Leh. Will look into Sonamarg.

Thank you Hugh, any off to the side gems you'd recommend in particular? Any recommendations in northern India are welcome, not limited to Manali, places where we'll be likely to run into other climbers & skiers but not tons of tourists would be nice. Feel free to pm.

Anyone been? Heading over late April/early May, just getting started on planning. Looking for recommendations & information on rock climbing, skiing, and availability of equipment locally. Thanks! Nate

Ran into what must have been Bob & his family (I've forgotten their names) on the way down from a ski tour on Wedge a few years ago. We were respectful of their property & no trespassing signs and they were really nice & pleasant in return. They were making laps on the cut runs low on Wedge with their snowcat and offered us a lift for a lap, which we took them up on. While we were hiking out down the road, they stopped in their tracked all-terrain vehicle and insisted we hop in back for a lift back to our car, which we took them up on and were very thankful for as it saved us a mile slog in our ski boots. They were really friendly, nice and reasonable folks, can't imagine an access problem if people are respectful and maintain a low profile up there. The tour up Wedge was pretty forgettable so I'm not in a hurry to go back up there, but the bouldering sounds pretty fun.

thanks for sharing your wonderful smiles!

totally!

Useful exactly where cams aren't. Can be very secure in placements where a cam is at risk of walking & getting tipped out. Good supplement or replacement for bigger cams unless you need the big gear for splitter/parallel-sided/minimally featured crack. Probably more useful on blocky choss route than at Washington Pass.

Have a look at the cygolite mitycross, I've been very happy with mine. Haven't used the bar mount for it, but the helmet mount is good.

Near Tahoe I'd take Tahoe City, Truckee, or Grass Valley over Reno. I'm sure Reno & Carson City have good communities of outdoorsy folks once you get to know folks, but the whole gambling thing makes for a messed up place. South Lake Tahoe might be worth putting on your list. It isn't my favorite town, but there's good access to skiing and climbing.

Sounds like a great trip, best of luck finding a good fit.

August

DC is much more pleasant in the June-July time frame, pretty late season now

All gone, thanks! Cleaning out the basement. Have some older skis I'm giving away: -Volkl Snow Rangers, 180cm, no bindings. Would be a good touring or approach ski, not too skinny, not too fat, fairly light and ready for abuse. Mounted a few times. -Tua Mega, 202cm, Rainey Superloops (newer riveted crossbars at the toe bail), with climbing risers -Volkl G30, 193cm, Marker M9.1 Ti bindings on Select Control risers, DIN to 12 Also have a pair of the older Fritschi's, size L (280-335mm boot sole) asking $40 best to PM me

Enjoyed your blog, thanks for posting!

I have not had a problem, but I remember thinking that would be a bad place to fall and flagging it in my brain so I would remember not to take someone on that route who I thought might fall there, or who would be spooked that it could be a problem to fall there. I think the route is plenty safe as long as both climbers are confident making the friction moves off the anchor. Since the guidebook makes an effort to flag potential hazards, it would be consistent to note that hazard in an update of the guide. Plenty of hazards like that around, but a bit out of character for exit 38 - good reminder to keep the mental force field engaged especially with less experienced followers. Thanks for bringing it up sandals, sounds like there have been a few close calls, glad no one got hurt.

you probably realize this already but a fair number of the crags & routes mentioned don't have walk-up access to TR anchors if that distinction matters to you

You'll have fun on the south route. Practice with an ice axe if you don't have experience/confidence walking on fairly steep snow, it gets a little bit steep just below the false summit. Some are perfectly happy with ski poles, some like an ice axe at that spot, depends on conditions. You won't be alone up there, but you'll come across lots of nice happy people and you'll get to the top of a huge volcano if everything works out. Awesome. Have a great time. On the descent take care to go down the same drainage you climbed up as you get back to treeline. The radial drainages can be a bit disorienting and there's likely to be tracks all over the place.

Way to stick with it through the wind, you had to have been at least a little psyched to summit!