dbconlin

I currently climb with the Pentax Optio WP ( link ) which is around 5 years old at this point and on its last legs (fell out of jacket pocket while changing layers on a climb - luckily landed on the ledge at my feet and just shattered the viewscreen). I swapped the stock lanyard for a long one I got at a cell phone store that goes around my neck with the camera in my chest pocket. I recently read some reviews of all the water/shock-proof cameras, this one won the competition hands down from an image quality standpoint: Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1 Apparently, there is a new one out (TS2) that did not make the review.

5'9" 145 lbs, 171 cm length @ 99 mm waist. REally good all around (one-ski quiver) skis (Atomic Janak) but I would like to move to a 2-ski quiver with a slightly fatter (not much - 105-ish) ski with mildly rockered tip and flat tail (like the Coomback/Stoke/or one of the niche skis like prior or dps) for winter & general conditions plus a traditionally shaped lightweight ski in the 86-90 mm range for spring corn and ski-mountaineering. I would probably go in the upper 170s for the winter ski (rocker reduces effective length) and lower 170s for the light ski.

pm sent.

Dear prospective climbing partner, I am hoping to spend Friday night at Muir and summit Saturday via Gibralter ledges. Weather outlook looks perfect. Alternatively, would consider a one-day summit and ski descent, so let me know if that appeals instead. All my normal partners are busy this weekend...anybody want to joing me??? PLEASE...I would rather not solo. PM me or (better yet) email to dbconlin [at] gmail Cheers, David

I find myself wanting for some AT gear, primarily due to the lack of climbing prowess of tele boots. In fact, none of my 3 pairs of crampons fit my tele boots very well. Plus the duckbill and flexibility in the toe do not lend themselves to stepkicking, particularly on firmer substrates (frontpointing). However, I don't think I can afford a new set up right now what with the price especially of boots but also the Dynafit bindings. Interested in hearing what limitations and solutions people have experience with tele-ski-mountaineering equipment, ie. what works and what doesn't. Thoughts?

Looking forward to your review of the lwt parkas, Dane!

Patagonia DAS has a two way - don't know about the others.

I have to say I have long wondered why, and been frustrated by, the FF Volant coming only with a detachable hood. I will not consider a jacket with a detachable hood. Permanent fixed hood is the only way to go IMHO.

Coombacks look sweet! Wish I had the duckets...

Sickness!!!

mmmm....that looks really good.

How steep is the skiing on the Finger? I have been eyeing this for a bit and want to make sure my ski skills are up to par...

same problem here...

Looks very good - nice job! This one has been on my list for a while now. Went a few years ago over Memorial Day w/e and got blizzarded the entire time - didn't even make it to the steep part of the ridge proper (approached from Mowich Lake). Looks like you fared substantially better...

My partner just cancelled on me - anyone wanna ski the Emmons with me? I was planning on leaving work early tomorrow (Fri), driving to the White River, getting permit, and hiking to Schurman. Then summit, ski descent and back to car on Saturday. PM me ASAP with your contact info if interested. Some glacier experience/ski mountaineering experience required - no complete newbies, please. Thx, David

30 hours C2C here, too, from White River. As long as the weather is good...

...perfect conditions on Helens a couple of days ago...

...and my question is "why doesn't FF offer a lightweight down jacket with a fixed hood?" Like, who removes their hood and why would you want a jacket without one?

I believe Scott, Luke and I took the red line with green variation also in May 2007. The climbing was difficult (I thought) with unconsolidated snow over shitty rock and little opportunity for pro. I looked through my photo archive but unfortunately nothing shows it particularly better than any of the photos already posted.

Good to know, thanks. I have been up there and not been sure it would go through without cliffing out.

We also took the right/standard line. The left line looked really good and intriguing - at least one team maybe two took it on Sunday. I was going to do it too, but although the climbing looked good, the pro was pretty thin so I backtracked and went right.

Trip: Mount Rainier - Paradise Glacier Date: 1/18/2009 Trip Report: With the great weather and lack of snow, we hoped to get a little spring skiing in above the inversion. Nick, Chad, Luke, and I headed up the Muir snowfield intent on skiing the Paradise Glacier, which is reputedly more sheltered and receives more morning sun. The ascent was treacherous - only one of us had ski crampons and there were some sketchy icy traverse sections. At one point Nick took a spill and self-arrested with his bare hands, resulting in some minor wounds (see pics). When we got to 8600' right below Anvil Rock, we took a nice lunch/potluck break where we passed around homemade granola bars (Dave), Cocktail pepperoni (Chad), Terra chips (Luke), and - the biggest hit - horsecock , er dry Italian sausage, with crackers (Nick). WE watched the hordes go on by ascending to Muir. It felt nice to bask in the sun and watch them labor with the contented notion that for us, from here, it would be a short traverse and then DOWN. The upper slopes were horribly wind-scoured/sastrugi. We persevered until the slope rolled off a bit more, where it was more sheltered and lower elev, and found pockets of decent corn. At one point we came to a very steep headwall that led to what looked to be excellent chute-skiing in better snow conditions, but decided to traverse to less extreme slopes due to the firm snow conditions. After a sketch traverse across a steep section, we found perfect corn for about 800' of skiing. This was followed by some more traversing and navigating the complex terrain of the lower glacier while trying not to end up too far from Paradise. None of us had been there before, but it was a good learning experience. Once we found the way it was pretty straightforward. Pics: HERE

Nice work, dudes - I don't know how I missed the obvious choice of going for the summit last weekend, and that route looks fun. I was skiing the Paradise glacier on Sunday and the conditions were marginally better than what you describe. I think with the heavy packs and climbing boots, the way to go would be to just boot it all the way.

VERNICE!

I believe that has been done - oh, wait, on small section was rapped.