ClimbUp/SkiDown

A little late to the party I see, but the newer BD Sabertooth will in fact work with tele duck bills. I'm a switch hitter for both tele and AT and my Sabertooths (08 model) work on both boots.

Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain is excellent for it's use of pictures and diagrams to help defuse the large amounts of information being presented. I would say an excellent compliment to it is Snow Sense as well. It is a little bit more of a technical manual of sorts and really gets into the nitty gritty of snow science.

I'm continually amazed with the sense of total wilderness that the Oregon Cascades provides. Honestly, other than the top of the chair lift on Hoodoo Butte, the only time I could see signs of civilization were at night when the lights of Redmond and the cars on highway 20 were barley visible. The same is true of Mt. Jefferson as well. Total immersion

Excellent. Thanks for the tip. And the picture doesn't do it justice, the snow was surprisingly soft... which I needed in spades

It's not a total fix, but steel wool in the binding hole essentially acts to fill some of the gap left by the wood/foam/titinal/plastic (whatever latest craze the industry puts under foot) that has stripped out or been pulled out and allows the screws to bite and holed... to a degree. I'm not sure if it works for metal threaded inserts like on a snowboard deck or K2 tele skies, but I'm sure in pinch it will at least allow the screw to sink into something for an emergency evac

Ok, I tried uploading pictures too but they don't seem to appear here. Anyone know how to do it?

Trip: Mount Washington Oregon Cascades Ski - North Ridge Date: 2/18/2009 Trip Report: I've never posted on a trip report before, but being a backcountry skier and one who is frustrated by the lack of Oregon beta when it comes to winter routes (seriously, doesn't anyone get out WITHOUT a sled?) I felt I should share for those like minded powder hounds. My partner Aaron and our friend Jason (I AT, Aaron teles, Jason split boards. What a lovely threesome we make) parked at the Ray Benson snowpark for the first night of organizing gear, making grand plans for the two days and drinking too much beer. We camped over night in our cars and left the snow park about 7:30am. Our start was delayed slightly because Jason had tried to take a sled with him for his gear only to realize in the morning it just wasn't going to work out with his split board. He had to repack and shlep it all on his back like rest of us. The trip in was under initially overcast skies with mid 30's temps and a gorgeous view of the mountain. The first 3 miles breezed by as it's essentially down hill on a groomed Nordic trail. Things got a little more dicey once on the PCT. The trail disappears at this point and it's straight route finding through at times tight trees. But, if you keep going up, eventually you top out at tree line with a great place to set camp and a magnificent view of the mountain! (see my approach notes for a more detailed route) After setting camp and reorganizing our packs for ski duty, it was up and at them! Our first goal was the West Bowl starting from the base of the summit pinnacle. The approach was skinable to within 500 ft of the summit pinnacle. At this point we switched to boot packing and traversed bellow the rock band hanging over the West Bowl. Going up and over the band instead of under and around it may be doable with crampons, but we had none so we opted for the softer, deeper snow of the bowl The first run down dropped us approximately 1200ft to the runout at the base of the bowl in PERFECT snow conditions! Highly stable, yet still light and puffy! After setting a skin track back up to the north ridge, we followed our track back towards the summit and dropped the East Bowl at about 6600 ft for a fun little chute with some cliff drops. Climbing back onto the north ridge, we headed back to camp to catch the sunset. Day two started at our camp in the trees at 6400 ft with a spectacular sunrise and full on alpenglow of the surrounding peaks. After breakfast, it was back up the ridge to our boot pack from the day before. We opted to leave out the rock badn traverse and do laps on both the East and West bowls. We broke camp around 1:30 and were back to our cars by 3:30. Amazing weather, a perfect camp, phenomenal snow, and a great group dynamic all highlighted this trip. This is a completely doable two day adventure for relatively fit BC skiers with little technical mountaineering experience. If stable, the bowls are very safe (no major cliff bands or hazards) and high enough angle (40 to 45 degrees) to make for some hoot inducing turns! Let me know if you need more technical beta, and if anyone else has any two to three day Oregon Cascade trip plans, I'd love to hear them. Gear Notes: Crampons and an ice axe make the boot pack safer and more accessible. If summiting, the pinnacle appears to be heavily iced. Screws, tools, and a harness should be added to a summit list. Approach Notes: Take the Ray Benson Nordic trail on the Brandenberg loop for about 3 miles. When the trail turns sharply west, cut across to the snowmobile road and look for the Pacific Crest Trail sign (which in our case was burried.) If you get to the shelter before cutting over to find the PCT, you've gone too far West. There are usually tracks that follow the PCT south, but make sure to stay on a south easterly bearing toward the foot of the north ridge of Mt Washington. You will be able to see the peak sporadically so keep it as your target. Once the uphill starts, just keep following the fall line up until you crest out above treeline hopefully on the north ridge. Skin across the north ridge to your desired decent point. You will need to switch to boot packing approximately 500 ft bellow the pinnacle summit. approximately 4.5 hr approach with 2000ft elevation gain. 3 hours on the return following our skin track in.

I work for a shop so here is my perspective: Kit and Rotary, yes you can remount a binding in the same holes. Sure, it won't be as strong but that's why a competent tech would switch to a two part epoxy rather than standard mounting glue for the remount. The usual glue for everyday mounts is a fast setup equivalent to wood glue. Cheaper and sufficiently strong for fresh mounts in new holes. If the mounting holes are striped or the screws are removed, switching to the two part epoxy is always recommended and will hold just about anyone onto anything. And BD's foam core skis are notorious for pulling out even when mounted properly the first time. To all: These are excellent cases for having a good repair kit with you. Do you have steel wool and a posi-drive bit driver to reattach the binding in that kit? It will get you out without the dreaded mono skin experience. I have BC skied for years and I have no one to blame but myself if something fails and I'm caught unprepared. And something will fail eventually. Sometimes day one, sometimes day 201 No matter who made it, who sold it, who used it, or who worked on it. I have to defend Berg's here since they are a great shop and good people own and run it (I don't work there. I don't even live in Eugene.) As a tech, I get the other side of the story when it comes to customer issues. "I swear the ski just snapped in half as I was carrying it!" right... If literally their was nothing wrong with your' boots Steepconcrete than Chandler's actions were wrong. But think back, are you absolutely positive he didn't mention ANYTHING regarding toe height adjustments, rockered sole compatibility, binding sizing, or excessive boot wear that would affect your setup beyond just the toe and heel? In other words, are you sure their isn't anything else to the story?