TR Replies

Hey Pakman I couldn't feel a difference between the way the two rode...even in crustier snow and soft avi debris.  Only thing was on my first run I had to get use to a more centered stance (didn't want to tinker with it) and longer board (162 to 166).  Also I still have not tried the Voile yet.  I was referring to Sag and the easy time he had on his.  The Voile looked so much easier to put together than the Burton.  And yes you will have less weight in your pack cause it's on your feet. 8)

snoslut, nice trip report.  How did you find the splitboard on the ride down vs your standard board?  How was it on the crustier snow...  I'm tempted to pull the trigger this season and get the voile.  Just trying to justify the price...   I see you have tried a voile as well.  Was the Burton that much more of a pain to put together than the Voile?

Tired of snowshoeing and figure spitboard = less weight on the pack...

We skinned up to Muir yesterday for a workout and some crystal clear views.  There were some natural and skier triggered sluffs from Monday in the most recent snow near Pan Point and on other steep slopes.  We did hear and then see a large serac break off on the Nisqually icefall.  Breakable crust topped just about everything that had been heated by the sun on Monday.  This softened once heated by the sun.  The Muir snowfield varied between pockets of a few inches of win...

that wasn't me, thats what hero snow smells like  ;)

We had a good opportunity to compare the effectiveness of skin wax to untreated skins to silicone spray. Russ seemed to fare well in terms of snow sticking with the spray (though he also slipped out on the hard surface several times, as he noted), Skip had freshly waxed skins and was walking the high white heels at many points, and pretty much the same for me with skins that had not treatment since late last season. Yanna's skins were largely untreated and had some sticking but not quite as bad...

Man - I've got to party with you guys some time!  Great photo!

Very nice work on the Viddy, Sam.

Great report! Love the video!

Awesome write-up, photo's and video. No wonder you keep going back there!

Hey nickd it's all good.  But I can recall countless accounts of skiers grumbling because someone has either destroyed their highway or cut across it.  After being yelled at and many stink eyes I make it a point to stay off.  BC etiquette.  Is there a book on this yet.  If not it's long over due.

About the split board the Voile set up is ideal for the randonee / hard boot.  So that would require me to get use to a hard boot and new binding system.  So fa...

Mr S--I meant no negative toward you for using track since this is not a yoyo track and you used the shoer's track anyway. Sort of kidding. Go to Couloir's chat room. Lots of folks chiming about split's there. The approach ski thing allows you to follow skiers but then you still always have to carry something. Voile kit seems to be the standard. Open up the bank account. Amortize it toward lift fees.

Ema: I was at the Baker Ski area on 1/11, and saw the glisten shining off of some of that nice rain crust. Even had the wonderful opportunity to ski thru some avy debris off n. face of Pan Dome. Glad someone's out spankin' the mank!!!

That was me (with the beard)--Andy Carey, and my wife Regine.  We went to GG cuz it offers several options--ski the gate or continue on to Mazama.  If you ski the gate you can choose router to the left of the slightly treed ridge or the the right into Edith Basin.  The left is more sluff prone.  If you go right you can choose the skier's left more steep section if stable or skier's right less steep if only moderately stable.  IMHO, the biggest dangers here are wet slides let in the day.  There w...

I was with the group of 4 (3 AT, 1 Tele) you mentioned ahead. We found some fairly nice stuff from 9100 down to about 7500 so did it again. Quite challenging below Pebble. Very careful going up Pan via the tree ridge. Everyone then seemed to follow our path. A beautiful day to be on the snowfied.
Yes Mr. Slut, you MUST get a split. Shoes are the lamest since it is of course illegal to shoe up a skin track. Stop carrying your tools.

Might have been one that passed you or met you on top; had 3 following, 2 slow.  So we skied down below McClure to Golden Gate. While waiting for others, I did a ski cut then a pit at the top of Golden Gate slope. Not good. Shovel shear -> spring loaded pop out at 8-10 inches on either buried hoar or recrystalized snow (had my shovel but not my avy kit etc); the same layer gave with 3 wrist taps on a compression then a much deeper layer down to a sun/rain? crust about 1/4 inch thick with the...

I've skied the slot twice, once we climbed it before skiing, the other time I went from the top blind, but it had been previously been skied that day.  I have noticed that the snow in the first rope length or two is a different than the rest - it tends to be more wind effected and more shallow than the rest.  Because if this, I'm wondering how much of a representative sample one gets by skiing the first rope length on belay, especially if the belay anchor is set on one of the large tre...

Yes, I was snowboarding, I had my 164 short board on this descent.  I use snowshoes, btw, so I don't worry about $600 snowboards or iffy home jobs (not that either are bad, just not my style).

My particular style of snowboarding is probably indecernable from a skier's, I did jump turns down the steep sections and half of a powder eight the remainder (hense my name: MW88888888 - those are my tracks, dude, and you probably can't tell if I was skiing or snowboarding!).  That said,...

Well you can do jump turns on a snowboard too.  Anything to avoid the infamous heelside powder-slide!

Man that looks cool now if I only had a real split instead of my temperamental home-job.

nice trip reports MW8888, keep'em coming.

And who needs that condo in Vail? Instead of the altimeter, I took the garage door opener and skied down the driveway right into the basement garage.

Thanks everyone for your UR (Urban reports) they have all been very entertaining and makes me smile BIG.  It's been a great week in the PNW expecially in the "city".

So, are we adding garage door openers to our bc 10 essential list now?   ;D

I took the leather boots and scaled skis out of the basement and skied the Crown Hill-Ballard-Greenwood traverse.  Lots of coverage, very few cars.  Great to be skiing in town.  Now I have to see about driving to work today, much scarier prospect.

Well its raining now and the snow is going, but I was lucky enough to get out and do a one-armed urban tour in the same area.

I met Steph I. at Cowen park after she completed the Ravenna - Cowen traverse from her perch on 35th Ave.  We were heading to Greenlake when the tip of her skin attachment broke so we quickly detoured back to my place for a replacement skin.  On to Greenlake over 65th and down the gradual NE 63rd slope.  We toured to gentle slopes just below the zoo...