Water

I don't think katahdin is closed in april, just march 31st is the official end of the 'winter' season there. I'd guess if there is enough snow then you can do what you'd like then. http://katahdincam.com/

what a cry baby. the road is closed, you whine the road opens, you whine. Be thankful for what is there. Feck said it well that the only reason it closes is the cost to keep it open in the winter anyways. You'd prefer they just say that the allocated money has run out and it will be closed until April? I understand being upset because it closes off a link to tourist income which is your livelihood. I'm sure WSDOT has a big agenda to try to screw people in the methow valley...

nope he is not. made in portland

seriously. I'm not even close to the North Cascades and I enjoy reading these updates to get a better idea of road related issues there. It closes every winter one way or another why so pissy over a few weeks or so? Everyone knows everything in the "old days" was superior to today, time to get over it. Thanks Dan / Jeff!

you missed out from soul climber...she was selling loads of stuff!

it almost was, im sure everyone knows but whatever..: from wiki

I'd say that depends on if enough snow has fallen so that it isn't a scree slog all the way. Also if the road is open or not. I'd personally guess that a lot of the climb would still be on rock on the lower reaches of the mountain. up higher is probably snow though..could be interesting conditions. anyone been there in the last week?

if i spent 600-700 on a backpack i'd probably have a bit of a pack complex too, i'm sure they're incredible, but after spending that much i think it would be mandatory to try to make everyone else recognize this fact.

What about selling the cilo gear pack for $100? was that part true?

similar to others. weighs next to nothing, is not used to play any role or factor in decision making. stays off the whole time. a bit of a cell phone luddite as far as i'm concerned.. not a fan of them in a general sense and tried my best to find a phone that was just 2 color basic small single lcd but couldn't beat getting a more advanced one for free when it came down to having to get a phone. i understand animosity towards cell phones when people are using them in the wilderness in your presence, or even in the general sense when individuals may use them as a false safety net and make poor decisions, but i don't understand the opposition that seems based on ideology. obviously taking them into wrangle-st. elias is pointless but for around a lot of the cascade volcanoes there is a degree of merit to having one in worst case scenarios. is this a case where someone wants to feel 'hard' because they dealt with unforeseen consequences where someone with a phone maybe would be relieved quicker? if anyone has such a view, i'd love to hear a clarified version for what sounds to me as cutting off your nose to spite your face, based on ideological grounds of no tech in the wilderness (should probably leave any synthetic fabrics or cast metals at home too).

then can we have an option to remove beacon from the last 24 hrs of posts? it is the same as spray. thx

any way for me to do the last 24hrs and have everything but beacon AND spray show up, since beacon threads are spray after the first 5 posts? that'd be great..

I'm not a skier but I've been over much of the skiing terrain when thru-hiking the AT and the northeast is tiny compared to 'out west'. I'm at a loss for a reason why someone from the west coast would end up going east with all the varied skiing options across wa, or, cali, co, utah, id, mt...etc. how could that compare to much out east? please fill me in if there is something obvious I am missing and I will eat crow without complaint. Maybe to visit family or just see somewhere new...any other reason?

made of Plutonite no less!!! from the outer reaches all the way to your eyes. oh those joakleys..

or these for extra fun at night: http://www.pyramexsafety.com/products/eyewear/sb450sf Home » Products » Integra » Eyewear [links don't seem to work exactly] anyone here have any expertise with this to chime in? As well, Sheep, do you have a link/recommendation on where these glasses can be purchased for (~$10?). I thought i recalled reading something here a year or more ago about if glasses block too much visible light the pupil dilates much more of course to compensate, and this was argued to somehow be worse because the more of the 1% of UV A/B that did come in was hitting the retina. might be a hogwash theory but i swear I read someone going on at length about it in the past few years-it sounded like a point to at least argue about even if its not true.

can i ask is this empirically true based on lots of failure or a personal opinion -- i mean I can find sources of every gear manufacturer having a problem with this piece or that piece at some point-can you provide some specific information to back your statement? not being defensive would just like to get your 2cents I generally find I like what camp offers

mountain dew that is AWESOME. and to lose 16.5 lbs that is a ton in a month!!!!! However, when you have the most to lose it goes the quickest (with good habits and exercise). The awesome thing about the 16.5 lbs is that you know it is not some 'water weight' or a matter of not having taken a dump or something--its truly fat you burned off! I bet you would have even lost weight with just eating healthier/regularly instead of 1 big meal a day--your metabolism picks up instead of going through a feast-famine cycle daily. but kudos to you for the awesome work!!!!! I think if you've done a full month this well the second will be easier because you already have some new routines and success to build upon. great job!

ULA catalyst is a workhorse, imho. not exactly a climbing/mountaineering pack but it will get the job done for a lot! www.ula-equipment.com

pls englighten me. thx!

I'd go back to bolivia--dirt cheap, culturally interesting, diverse eco-systems, and big mountains.

Are you actually suggesting I argue with you that the sponsorship budget is also the entire advertising and promotion budget for companies? disingenuous, pls lets stick with sponsorship, not entire advertising and promotion budgets for companies. for a company that produces gear, giving some out free isn't free, but it isn't terrible. Every company I've worked for parts with extra 'product' a lot easier than it does with cash. but hey, I'm sure if you take the number of items sold by mountain hardware or black diamond and then divide the amount each spent on sponsorship across the number of items, it comes out to be a statistically significant amount.

Miraculously they spend the money from thin air! Of course it comes out of the bottom line and costs more because of it dolt. then whine and bitch away about the evil of sponsorship, I was just offering up the rational for doing so. I'm sure it's a statistically significant amount added to retail prices.

$80? haha hope someone pipes up that it is theirs so they can try to get it back.

i read the article and agree he is talking about sponsored bullshit being the problem. but bullshit is bullshit, if you read some bullshit and eat it up that is on you. does it detract from what Colin does? Detract from what you do? if not..nothing to see here folks, just some bullshit. I guess I don't really care nor want to invest time getting bent out by it, but to each their own--i have my own things I like getting riled up by, like traffic and other things worth stressing over.

does sponsorship somehow detract from your own enjoyment of climbing? purchasing magazines and gabbing about the climber of the week is purely optional, do you feel you have to be involved? is the money spent on sponsorship adding to the price of gear you buy? if the answer is no to these questions then I don't see why it matters. If it somehow is costing you out of your pocket, hurting your enjoyment of climbing, making you jealous, damaging rock, hell who knows--then maybe there is a point. climb your own climb--if someone wants to get free gear to climb poop mountain for global warming that is their deal, not yours--you can still go do poop mountain all you want.