pete_a

Anyone know of any resources online to see how the snowpack is doing this winter up north (Bella Coola, Waddington, Homathko areas)? The depressing state of the cascades snowpack has me wondering if a ski traverse in the Waddington range this spring is going to be on glaciers that are significantly more broken up than usual. Anyone know if these pineapple express storms have been getting that far north? thanks.

http://www.tognar.com/ check out tognar toolworks...they've got everything one could possibly need for ski tuning. I spent about $50 ordering a soldering iron, 10' of p-tex string (better than ptex candles), and few random things like a metal scraper....at-home base repair is now a piece of cake for me. ...for a cheap waxing iron, just got to goodwill and pick up a clothes iron for $5.

When I was down there a few years ago, we summited Orizaba on day 7 of our trip, prior to travelling to Orizaba we spent several days hanging out on La Malinche, a nearby 14'er. There's a gov't ran resort at 10,000ft on La Malinche that is a nice cushy place to start your acclimitization. We arrived at the hut on Orizaba on day 5, on day 6 we hiked up to the base of the glacier and then back to the hut, next day we summited. Didn't need any diamox but could definitely feel the altitude when trying to sleep at the hut.

do a search on telemarktips.com , Andrew McLean posted a trip report for the spearhead (he did it last sunday) From what I read there's enough snow and there weren't any sketchy snowbridges, but the current avy conditions might not make those trips safe right now.

195 k2 Extremes (with Budweiser beer can graphics on the topsheet) with Voile releasables 180 k2 lawnchairs with G3's 185 k2 Shuksans with G3's 180 Dynafit Carvelite with Dynafit Comforts currently over at Marmot being mounted.... 184 REX's with Hammerheads

scarpa size breaks occur on the half size...ie- the 26.5 and 27 are the same shell, then the shell size increases for the 27.5 and 28 which use the same shell. When you put on the 27 with a pair of liner socks and walk around, are you in pain? are you toes bunched up or bent? if not then go with the 27. Even the thermofit liners will pack out after they've been cooked. 1.5 fingers behind your heel should be plenty.

the rumor on teletips is that the G3 skis are made out of the same factory as Movement skis http://www.movementskis.com/ Someone on posted a list on teletips that showed a Movement ski that matches each of the G3 ski dimensions (sidecuts and lengths within a mm or so) . coincedence?

The North Cascades Highway is usually open by early May and there are plenty of good tours around Silver Star, Washington Pass, and Rainy Pass. Some of the classic descents on volcanoes aren't easily accessible until late May/early June when roads open up, such as Emmons glacier on Rainier and the SW chutes on Adams. If we end up with a lower than average snow year though...these roads might open sooner than usual.

For those who choose to snowcamp around Paradise during the winter, the morning gate opening can even be a blessing...I've had more than a few ski trips on Rainier where we've camped near Mazama Ridge and had the entire morning to yoyo the best lines before the day trippers can get up there. Although Timberline doesn't gate their road, there is a sign about a mile from the parking lot that says the road is closed from midnight till 6am (I think) due to plowing activites or lack thereof. Don't know if that has ever really stopped anyone from driving up...probably not.

and how exactly do you propose road access to paradise for 'climbers' and no one else? and is the special treatment just for 'climbers'...what about skiers who want to get an early start to their day but their activites don't require a climbing permit? I doubt the park service has the money for a 24 hour a day attendant to deal with climbers wanting to get an alpine start. And I imagine the park service would be setting themselves up for a lot of liability if they left the road open and unmaintained after-hours. (ie- Joe Public sues the park service cause he launched his SUV off a cliff because he was trying to drive up to paradise on a road with a foot of unplowed snow on it). just my two cents but I think the park service does a pretty darn good job with their limited resources.

I wouldn't pay someone to plan and organize your meals...too high a risk that something they provide might not agree with your stomach...and that sounds like a lot of money for what they provide. You don't have to buy your food in Anchorage...buy it and package it weeks ahead of time and either take it with you or have it shipped up to Talkeetna. My group managed to take all our climbing gear and 28 days of food in our checked baggage on the flight to Anchorage, though each of us had to pay for having one 'overweight' bag. The only things we bought in Anchorage was cheese and butter, The NOLS Cookery book is a great place to start with meal planing...give you the breakdown of how many calories and what kind of food to eat. I actually really enjoyed figuring out all the meal planning stuff. If you want some dinner ideas send me a PM...we had some good meals and some not so good meals up there.

ain't big enough to end the world...I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will hit a relatively unpopulated area and kick up enough debris to lower the global temperature by a couple degrees for a decade or two. could make 2029 a real good year for freshies

I'm interested. left you a message

thanks...just checked, the Arco in Sandy does have snopark permits and is open 24 hrs. Reason I don't want to buy a season pass is that I may not be back in Oregon to climb this winter and in Washington you don't need a snopark permit at any of the passes or ski areas. Only place I think I've ever used one in WA is at Marble Mountain snopark for St.Helens.

Does anyone know if theres a place to pick up an Oregon snopark permit late at night? I'm planning on driving down to Hood from Seattle after work on Wed night and get in a climb Thursday morning before I head home to see the fam for christmas. I figure by the time I show up at Timberline the day lodge will certainly be closed and I want to start up the mountain earlier than when the resort office opens up on thurs morning. Any spots in Govy or elsewhere that one can snag a snopark permit around midnight? ..I could just be lazy and buy a snopark permit up here in WA, but they cost $9 here and $5 in Oregon. thanks.

the Nisqually Chutes on Saturday was really nice, spring conditions, only hit a couple rocks skiing down the lateral moraine on the way back to glacier vista, coverage in the chutes was good. Of couse now that the freezing level isn't at 10,000ft anymore, its probably not going to be much fun until it snows a little...if we get some precip on Tuesday as forecasted, it might be a worthwhile ski when the weather clears up towards the end of the week.

Getting to 11-12k on the DC route will involve crossing the Cowlitz glacier, and I imagine that there are at least a few thinly bridged crevasses lurking. Unless you've got partners you're tied in to, I think it would be a very bad idea go beyond Muir. What does it matter that the NWAC data says now? The avy forecast can change drastically in a week and a half. If you are only going to Muir, the only real spot that is of any danger of sliding is getting up Panorama Point. As of yesterday, the snowpack up there above treeline was soft spring snow of varying depths depending on how the wind transported it and below that spring snow was a very consolidated base as a result of the rains last week.

looks like a typical temperature inversion...at stevens pass the temp is right around freezing, but a thousand feet higher the telemetry sites show a temp that is in the mid to upper 40's. I'm probably being overly optimistic but I'm hoping to find some corn on high south facing aspects this weekend.

I picked up a solo permit last year. My resume of climbs was nothing out of the ordinary. Been climbing for about nine years, said on my app that I would only be considering soloing one of the dog routes and probably go late in the summer, don't know if that made any difference. My guess is that by the questions that are asked on the application, the park service just wants to make sure you are well aware of the ramifications of solo travel and of an unroped crevasse fall and how you might initiate self-rescue.

my jacket showed up longer than I wanted it...but had no problems sending it back to Beyond and they quickly made all the fit tweaks I requested and got it back to me. Just finally used it while skiing this weekend, I was very impressed with the fabric. Made me a believer that softshell jackets aren't a gimmick. Skinning up, skiing down, stopping for lunch, all day long I had on the jacket and a polypro t-shirt and I was comfy.

how old is your synthetic bag? synth fill bags don't retain their loft as well as down bags do over time...so if your bag is more than a couple seasons old, its probably not a true -20 bag anymore. Might want to compare the inches of loft your bag has to what a new bag has. Denali is cold and dry enough that a down bag works great...and would probably save you a couple pounds and some backpack space. FYI- I had a -30 down bag and still needed to sleep in my synth fill pants and feathered friends frontpoint jacket at 17k to be comfortably warm. I was there mid-late May. If you use your parbat jacket, picking up an inexpensive synthetic fill jacket from MEC would be a good layer to use underneath it. Bring along some good booties for camp time when you're not in your plastic boots...you'll spend a lot of time just sitting around camp making water. I used intuition liners in my boots, they worked great...still needed overboots though on summit day.

Looking at the avy forecast if you are heading into the high alpine is a good place to start, but I assume that the reason for the disclaimer is above treeline there become an increasing number of factors that make each slope too unique to catagorize into a general forecast. -effects of wind transported snow (windslabs) -ridgelines that have a shallow snowpack (possibilites of facets or depth hoar) -effects of wind sheltered areas (surface hoar growth) -effects of aspect (suncrusts) -altitude and increased solar radiation you might get some good input if you also post your question on the teletips avalanche forum, there's some very avy savy folks that post over there. http://www.telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=5

I'd be very suprised if Giro ski helmets are rated to the same standards that any climbing helmets are. Anyways...I'm just going off the information that I remember reading in Twight's book...in case you don't have it, Mr.Twights opinion on lightweight styrofoam climbing helmets is as follows...and I imagine it could also be applied to ski helmets as well. as I said, its just my two cents...I ain't no expert. From Extreme Alpinism- 'several companies offer brain buckets based on bike helmet designs, These are lined with foam that deforms upon impact to absorb shock. Unfortunately, the helmet is useless once it has sustained an impact great enough to deform it. You simply toss it away and buy a new one. That won't be possible in the mountains and where one rock falls, many usually follow." "They belong on roadside day routes. They have no place in the mountains where only the real thing will do"

I think that ski helmets are designed for low force impacts (ie- whacking the back of your head on an icey slope repeatedly). I don't think ski helmets such as the Fuse or any styrofoam based ski helmet is designed to absorb a big hit such as rockfall. Most climbing helmets are designed as hard hats for the most part and with the plastic shell and internal webbing system can absorb a much higher impact and remain intact to protect you from another hit. just my opinion...i wouldn't trust using a ski helmet if in a situation where rockfall or icefall exposure is possible.

generally in the wintertime there is a ranger that stops all cars going up (usually by the nisqually bridge) and checks to see if you either have 4xd or chains. I've seen cars get turned around and sent home before cause they didn't have chains, so you might want to check on that to see if they'll be enforcing that policy this weekend.