Alaskan Rover

Ahhh....so you see....there IS a light at the end of that tunnel!! I would also like to try the inverse of that: Hardboots on a freeride board at free-ride angles (15 and 5) for me. I've got some Scarpa Denalis that I am itching to try out on my present board, and if that plate can be fit a set of TD2 or whatever top-pieces, I think my WIDE board is wide enough to take those Denalis at 15/5 angles. And then switch back to my softies if I have a desire to do some rails that same day. Doesn't look like it would take too long to switch from one set-up to the other with that plate. Wish those Scarpa's weren't still up in AK, right now. I am not talking jibbing and park stuff, the scarpas would suck for that, just all around freeriding emulating my present style...30% carve, LOTS of flatboard quick turns, general HUCKING, and quite a bit of backcountry up north. Anyway, Fin's on the right track.... Markets are ALWAYS a dynamic system. SCREW repairing sails! The wind is TOO nice...I'm GOING sailing...sailing is the BEST way to procastinate!

Neil, I adressed it in the "Anyone ride Lib Tech..." forum where it all started: " Anyway, I was somewhat non-plussed to find that the very first reply was discourtious, and then, except for one, continued in that same vane. I probably wouldn't have been so chagrined had I not seen the very same reaction to another newbie or "jong" posting a simple question about snowboarding, by the very same people that same night. I truly meant it when I said it was like being lowered into a cell-block of some maximum-security prison...the psyche was about the same. I have had the good luck to work around the world, and so I am used to working with all different types of folk, so that night I just figured that was normal, so I fought back. I regret that I didn't realize that CarveDog's reply was his form of TGR welcome, but I think I explained that to him later." My words with Carverdog in that first post on TGR were less about his being a "hardbooter" and more about my confusion as to his completely different face on TGR. I didn't realize that was a welcome from his "evil twin", and so I fought back, is all. Why Buell felt a need to infer that I felt that way about all hardbooters is beyond me. I have a friend who rides hardboots...we jib each all the time about our different equipment, but he respects my abilities and I respect his abilities. We both like to carve. and we both enjoy the mountains. End of story. After I read his own reply, I went on to say: "If this place is about adventure and finding the raw, beating heart of life...and grabbing hold of it and hoping that it will pull us up from this hospital stretcher/geriatric ward of existence that we call "Modern Society"...then MAYBE this is the place for me. I don't mind the hazing...I enjoy it. BTW, Thanks for the welcome. " Well, it's almost 2 pm....and I haven't done sheeet yet. I've got a ton of my sails to repair and varnishing to do...my GF will be back next week from her seminar and will be pissed that I hadn't gotten half of my side of the project-list done...I don't think using the excuse that the sky was too blue will work, I've used it before. I'm gonna go climb one of the masts, that'll be a good way to get some air and get my azz in gear. :) BTW: I am here because I am going to be setting up a splitboard (maybe even Jones' new one) for use with my Scarpa hardboots...as there are some peaks that I have a date with, and I don't want to continue needing to fall back on my AT ski gear in the harder sublimated crud found on some peaks. The reason I want to go to hardboots on a splitboard is mostly that the ascent would be far easier. I can't kick steps with my softboots. Labrador/Greenland has some great coastal icefields and we have the boat to get there. But not unless I get off me adze. I gotta go...some sails have my name on them and ANOTHER storms abrewing. Haven't had my coffee yet...GRRRRRR!

Jim: Does one not need to break some listing of rules to be banned? Did I just post a complete thread at a futile attempt at debase another forum member? Every post I made on this subject has simply been a reply to a provocative attempts at debasement and slander by ONE member. How many rules did he break in the "Has anyone ridden the Lib Tech..." forum...five? Fifty percent of the rules...in one thread? Plus a big one with this present thread...and yet you speak to me of banishment? As you had just stated, you didn't even read my post...so from what point do you speak? I didn't realize using words over a certain breadth of syllables was against the rules. I'll have to remember that, then. This is simply the way I write in a textual setting...I have no intent of self aggrandizement, nor belittlement with words I use. Any inference in that regard is simply your own. I suggested twice now, that Buell take it to PM if he has a gripe, yet he simply responds with more public provocateuring.

Buell: Would not calling someone a "troll" and then performing such a devisive trolling operation such as you just presented with THIS thread be the epitome of disingenuousness? Not to mention the fact that it seems an endeavor wholly unfettered by any semblance of morality or scruples. Your attempt to debase me, by yet AGAIN, bringing up a post from a SEPARATE forum that has nothing to do with BOL (and one which I'd already attended to), debases NO ONE but yourself. You have, alas, with this last endeavor, shown yourself to be fairly unintelligent or at least simply of marginal intelligence, and so perhaps the debate that I spoke of in the qoute below wouldn't be as fair as I had anticipated...pity. Nonetheless, the offer still stands. Evidently, since you completely ignored my last post, I present it again here: Perhaps, you will read it, this time. And yes, the option to a decorus debate is still open, if you choose to accept. " "Buell, Just a few posts ago, I presented the following questions to you: "Feeling a little jaded, lately? How many times do I have to rebuke your slander, Buell? Thrice in two days? That is getting a bit much. Note that I rather politely rebuked every single one of your comments in TWO different threads. Each time you come back with even more childish nonsense, and yet you infer that I am juvenile? Your presumptions about me are so totally baseless that it defies logic. It's apparent that you only garner from a post that which suits whatever faulty argument you are trying to make, and blithely disregard the rest. If anybody goes back through ANY of my posts, they would find that your summation of me is groundless nonsense. Politics would be a good field for you, Buell, if you're not already in that field; as it is one whereby people OFTEN twist reality to their own end...you'd fit right in. You seem to present yourself as some sort of omniscient sage, and then feel disrespected if somebody happens to call you on it. Tell me you don't." I gave you AMPLE oppurtunity to respond, and yet you did not. I also gave you the oppurtunity to, as Fin says, "take it to email" or PM...you neglected to do that, either. Instead, you continued with your self-defined little game. I could slander you in a hundred different ways, and yet I won't, because unlike you, I am better than that. Your argument, if you can call such an empty set of agendized nonsense an argument, is illogical at best and certainly myopic. You think you make a "SCORE" by linking a thread from another site and posting it here like a bitter 5th grader. I don't think so...it just makes you seem a jaded individual. No, maybe not "individual", that is not the right word, for I don't really think there is much "individual" about you, certainly nothing you readily evidence. TGR is an ENTIRELY different website, bounded by wholly different parameters of etiquette. It takes just minutes of perusing to understand that...it has nothing whatsoever to do with this site, and yet you presume that it does. Any misundertandings with Carvedog's intent have nothing to do with you nor this site. Besides, as I had already stated, I had already "settled up" with Carvedog sequential to that by admitting that I may have mistook his previous post on my thread by not inferring that it was his own "evil twin" form of welcome to the TGR site. Again, this has nothing to do with you, nor THIS forum. Do you work for the New York Post, or National Enquirer, BTW, as a sort of an Oregonian freelancer?...your posts seem to reflect such proclivity for debasement. That goes for you as well, Neill. I am surprised you stooped to Buell's level of provocateuring...as your own posts are normally fairly even-keeled. I said above that you seem to present yourself as some sort of omniscient sage, and then feel disrespected if someone has the gall to call you out on that. Let me expand upon that postulate a little: It seems you're one who prefers things that go in tight little boxes, so that you can close the lid and put a neat little brass name-tag on it: "Troll"; "gaper"; "blabber-troll"; "malcontent"; etc, and are totally FLUMOXED when something doesn't quite FIT in that box...it annoys you and you can't figure it out. I am that "something", Buell...and when you try to put me in one of your tight little boxes, it just makes you look shallow. I couldn't help but notice that you don't even follow the rules of your own forum. In just this ONE thread, you broke rules #1; #2; #4; #8 and #10. That's 50% of the rules of decorum broken in ONE thread. Wow....I'd be amazed, if I wasn't so nausiated by the empty, juvenile banality of it. Nausiated, sure...but not really suprised. Based upon the whole of your comments, I can presume any number of things about you, from your intellect, to your politics, to what type of shoes you wore last Thursday. If I am right...so much the better. If I am wrong, well, that just reinforces my point that to simmer in baseless presumption is both foolhardy and shallow. If I remember correctly, sometime during that poll-thread about having a separate softboot forum, PhotoDad2001 said some things that ran counter to your own opinion. I think your last post on the subject of PhotoDad was: "Guys, can't we get rid of him?". Wanting to banish someone because they don't share your opinion, shares the very SAME trait with a certain religous sect in Afghanistan...the very same sect which you had mentioned above. How appropriate. Thank you, Buell, for proving my point so inelegantly. I think you should see Milkman's thread: "Do you like it hard or soft" that he posted tonight. He preaches the gospel truth on that subject...of course that is at the Church of Logic and Common-Sense and is obviously not a church you attend. As I'd stated before, Buell, I am not sure why you chose to slander another forum member so publicly, when it can be readily noted that I gave you the gentleman's choice to do it privately via PM, as it seems slander is your want and perhaps your need. Do you even READ replies to your posts on these threads, Buell? One can only think that you don't, thereby making whatever points you aspire to even more groundless and banal. But since you seem to have a desire for public spectacle, and I, in turn, am the party injured, I would take this oppurtunity to offer a gentleman's duel in settlement. Not a duel of guns, of course, but one of wits...a debate, if you will. And since I AM a gentleman, at least in this thread, I give the choosing to you: Any subject under the sun. The judges to be the members of this very forum, the stage: a separate thread. No flaming allowed, no slanderous provocation...decorum rules, of course. I present this earnestly and yet I have little doubt that you will do one of three things: 1) Ignore it. In the 19th century, "challengees" often ignored it when they knew that they neither had the ''firepower'' nor the aim to be of benefit. So I would certainly understand. 2)React with your usual shallow banter such as "Shoo, troll"...in affect reinforcing your own banality. 3)Tell me I'm crazy and stomp off to your electronic corner to sulk...in which case, see #1. Prove me wrong, Buell. Or you can choose 4), and PM me when you have a gripe with me, thereby sparing others of your ceaseless provocateuring. A gentleman's debate, however, would be more fun" "

True words, Milkman....every single one of them. Too bad your vid-post didn't come out during the big "debate". The partisanship was indeed entertaining. I thought the end result of that debate/poll was that there was going to be a softboot forum added on somewhere between carving and offtopic. The last of the poll, showed 60 or 70% in favor of a softboot forum, whereby softboot issues could be discussed in earnest. By the way: NICE office. :)

End of life? Yeah, that's a tough one, all right. What one says now, in health, can often change when one faces his final moments...staring at that final black void. My dad was dying of esophageal cancer, and had to undergo many radiation treatments...but I think he knew that the disease had already progressed past that stage. I think perhaps he was doing those last few fights against that cancer more for us, his family, than for himself. I thought then, quietly and to myself, that he had already made his own peace with death and the end of his life. During those radiation treatments, they were required to ask him if in the event something goes wrong, did he wish to be resuscitated? Standard procedure, I guess. But I remember what he answered to them one time, as I sat beside him. He said: "Well....maybe JUST a little." I'll always remember that....I guess for me, it sort of defined the dusty passages that one goes through when one finally becomes acquainted with the gaping maw of death. Things change in those moments...dramatically. In the end, he died in his own home, in my old home....and somehow there was more grace, dignity and peace in that, then could EVER be found in the intensive care ward.

I tried a unicycle last summer....the exercise was NOT a success! I found it VERY unruly!! I think the main problem was that it was basically a kid's unicycle. I'm 6'3" and even with the seat-tube fully extended, my knees were still quite bent...I figure this must have affected the balance of the system. I tried different techniques for practice...like holding on to two counters in the kitchen....worked great...until I let go of the counters. I managed to get a 2 second peddled ride across the kitchen floor...that's about it. Any hints for learning on...besides a longer seat-tube?? I figure that just sitting on the thing, with feet on the peddles and hands free, WITHOUT trying to peddle, would be a good start. But every time I go hands-free....watch out. Gravity might indeed be life, but sometimes when you're trying to learn a unicycle...it can SUCK. ___________ Gravity's bitch, sometimes...ain't it?

So, was the beer keg R2D2 full of beer?....sorta as ballast? Looks like a fun event. Spring-time on a mountain is ALWAYS a good-time. I've seen some totally whacky things!! 65 degrees and corn snow just gets people going. Ha ha....what Dynastars were those?? Great job on the R2D2 !!!!

Buell: Dang...now I'm going to have to figure out how to do multiple quotes! Until then, I'll just do it my own way, as the following home-made script suggests: Quote from Buell: "That video of 7601 is compressed from wide screen to full screen. It looks much steeper than it is. Look at much of Terje's riding on the upper face. Except for one part where he takes bit of a free slide, he is actually turning and going quite a bit slower than if it was as absurdly steep as it looks. Not saying it is not extremely steep and worthy of tremendous respect but I am sure Terje has done steeper lines." Yeah, as I said here: "I have a sneaking suspicion, though that SOME of the steepness in that vid was camera-derived. I mean, it looks steeper than hell, yet Terje rides it with easy aplomb. Something just doesn't mesh." I didn't know about the wide-screen to full-screen change. But I knew something wasn't right about...for the very same reasons you've also noted. Nor was the snow sitting correctly for that implied "mega-steepness", but dew-point and local snow adhesion changes. Quoted by Buell: "Damn dude, you really know your stuff to say JJ hasn't done anything steeper or more extreme than that. Try saying that to JJ's face and see the reaction you get." My comment was in reference to said video WITHOUT knowing 100% categorically that there was some sort of video manipulation, either intended or accidental. I mean, I knew there was something weird about the physics of that video...(the guy would have been in almost a freefall state in places, if vid accurate. But unless I knew quantitatively, I gave some benefit of the doubt to the vid. Granted, I should have given JJ equal benefit of the doubt, but I referenced his vids versus Terjes on a vid basis alone without topo data. In reference to this discrepency and lack of hard data, I went on to say: "Peak 7601 is very difficult to get hard data on. Ever since Terje's ride...Peak 7601 has apparently become a synonym of Terje, for that vid takes up almost ALL of the search hits. If I were still at the Institute of Arctic Biology or next door at the Geophysical Institute, I would definitely be able to look it up, as they have a HUGE Ak mountain catalog database. I would love to look up some topos of that peak or sat-imgs, but need the coordinates for that. So far I have been able to pull NO lats/longs!! Oh well...not that I am going to ride that one, anyway!:( But still, would like to find out if it is really as steep as it looks in that crazy vid." Quoted by Buell: " Originally Posted by Alaskan Rover: "I'm a BIG fan of Jeremy...especially after he has recently vowed to discontinue using helicopters and lifts, snocats, etc for ascents...hence a big reason for his trials of the new and improved Spark splitboard binding." WTF are you even talking about here? Using a small airplane to get to his base camps and scout lines is alright though? I don't think he has given any any powered stuff up (maybe you have a link), he is just exploring human powdered ascents on a much different level. Huge props to him." Yeah...I have to admit, that AFTER I posted that reply to Carvedog, I was in no small way chagrined to find that his most recent blog post was a shot of him using a ski-plane to access a base camp instead of a foot approach. The passage I remember, stemming from his new "Protect Our Winters" initiative was: "As a testament to Jones' commitment to the environment, he has recently decided to forego the use of helicopters and lifts when snowboarding, opting instead to hike as his sole means of transportation on the slopes." That was from his wikipedia article, but no quoatations were in evidence. Juxtapose that with what he said in his 02 April 2010 blog: "Now the dream is about taking a plane deep into unridden mountains, setting up a base camp and hiking and riding first descents on foot. It is a much more intimate experience with the mountains because I am not retreating back to our hotel rooms when nightfall comes." I guess nowhere in any quote or post does he say he is going to discontinue "Ski-Plane" use. So I guess he IS still being true to his original word. Can you imagine how much more intensive it would be if EVERY forthcoming descent entailed a 100% foot approach to base camp? But I guess he is serious about foregoing helicopter use...accolades to him. Helo companies like Evergreen are going to miss him. Oh well, he just became a friend to a lot of glacier pilots. I know Cliff Hudson's son pretty well...Hudson's Air Service, Talkeetna Ak. Jay Hudson would love to take some of Jeremy's business. His dad was amongst the BEST mountain fliers in the business. Quoted by Buell: ""hence a big reason for his trials of the new and improved Spark splitboard binding." What does that even mean?" This was strictly in reference to Jeremy Jones regarding his testing of the new Spark Fuse binding..."I was hoping I would be able to get a 5-10% improvement out of the system. It was more like 20-30. I will be able to achieve more in the mountains because (of these)." Quoted from the Sparkrrand webpage. Note: these bindings aren't in any way competition for anything Fin might be doing, as it is for a different application. So I don't know why you question that. I would like to try out that board "Jones" that Jeremy is coming out with for this year. I see some definite route potentials on that Mt. Sanford. It has seen a lot of climbing, of course. And certainly quite a bit of skiing. I would like to try it with splitboards. Previously, I have always preferred AT equipment for long duration descents, but am itching to try out splitboards via my Scarpa Denali hardboots. Mt. Sanford would be a perfect venue, as I have never enjoyed not being able to kick steps with softboots. I hear SOMETIMES (very rarely), the smooth side of Sanford has some GREAT snow conditions...but this also happens to cover signs of potential crevasses as you get further down towards the icefields. I would like to retrace Moore and Washburn's first ascent route from Chistochina. Once to a certain mid-point, the ascent is supposed to be fairly hassle-free with no walls to deal with. Moore and Washburn were originally going to try to dogsled to the summit (???), but they soon dispatched with THAT endeavor! That was 1938. _________________ Gravity IS Life.

Carvedog: No...Jeremy Jones is DEFINITELY Prime Grade 'A' Filet Mignon in my book. I'm a BIG fan of Jeremy...especially after he has recently vowed to discontinue using helicopters and lifts, snocats, etc for ascents...hence a big reason for his trials of the new and improved Spark splitboard binding. But as of yet, I haven't seen him do a descent QUITE as hairy as the one in this video. That's not to say he can't...or won't. But so far he hasn't. I have a sneaking suspicion, though that SOME of the steepness in that vid was camera-derived. I mean, it looks steeper than hell, yet Terje rides it with easy aplomb. Something just doesn't mesh. Peak 7601 is very difficult to get hard data on. Ever since Terje's ride...Peak 7601 has apparently become a synonym of Terje, for that vid takes up almost ALL of the search hits. If I were still at the Institute of Arctic Biology or next door at the Geophysical Institute, I would definitely be able to look it up, as they have a HUGE Ak mountain catalog database. I would love to look up some topos of that peak or sat-imgs, but need the coordinates for that. So far I have been able to pull NO lats/longs!! Oh well...not that I am going to ride that one, anyway!:( But still, would like to find out if it is really as steep as it looks in that crazy vid. Below is a peak that I DEFINITELY would NOT be riding or skiing!! Ha ha. Gnarly looking overhangs throughout! No way down except back down the narrow ridgeline from which you came. Mt. Cook, New Zealand. This next one below is one I am DEFINITELY looking into for descent either by board or AT skis. Mt Sanford, Wrangell Mountains, Ak. The right side definitely looks quite do-able. Looks smooth, doesn't it? Well, I can asure you it's NOT. It'll be lots of crud and small ridges that don't show up. And because it is over 16,000 feet, there will be sublimation crust. If you end up in the wrong section during descent, you risk going over one of the 90 foot glacial lips, and if you end up in another wrong section, you end up with quite a bit of very sketchy, crevasse-laden icefield to traverse. Plus there are virtually no good shelter points for bivy during ascent. But still quite do-able, nontheless. The BAD side of the mountain for boards/skis....stay away. Best side! This side entails a FAR longer approach, but is FAR more do-able. Best choice. So I guess Terje can have his Peak 7601 to himself. I am going to seriously study Mt. Sanford for a board descent. It's been skied before. And whether it's been boarded before, I don't know. Doesn't matter to me. This side just looks plain do-able. Anybody want to join? Mt Sanford...Wrangell Mountains, Ak Coordinates: 62°12′50″N 144°07′44″W / 62.2138889°N 144.1288889°W / 62.2138889; -144.1288889Coordinates: 62°12′50″N 144°07′44″W / 62.2138889°N 144.1288889°W / 62.2138889; -144.1288889 <SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-gnis_1-0>[2]</SUP>

Well...the 'comma' was getting a little tight, so I'm going to try an apostrophe, or at least a semicolin. I think that would give me a little more living space. If I was rich, I might be able to afford an ampersand, but that's WAY out of my budget. I'm sure Liberace had one. That's more his style, anyway. ;) I DID, however, see to it to do a little editing, as I'm not totally omniscient (like, is there such a thing as "partially OMNIscient, though?) I wouldn't sweat the "all time" thing, though, as time isn't a linear function, anyway. :)

No kidding. ;) I know it happened in 2006 or '07....I didn't present it like it just happened yesterday. Four years is a LONG time, though. There might be some on here that haven't seen the vid. I realize many have...that's why I added Peak 7601 to the title. This descent was so stellar and magnificent that that a rewind of it isn't exactly drudgery. To me, that descent was both a luscious symphony of powder and the poetry of a mountain that became everyone's for a day. Old stoke, to be sure...but still good stoke. :)

This has got to be absolutely the craziest descent I have ever seen....or probably ever WILL see. And acomplished by perhaps the best living freerider to ever see a board, Terje Haakonsen. I say "living", only because Craig kelly no longer is...Craig proved that unfortunately some gods ARE mortal (RIP). I somehow believe, though, that Craig's spirit was riding along with Terje as Terje did his OWN following amazing ride: Peak 7601

Sounds delicious! I wonder how it would go with the plate of steamed brown beetles I had the misfortune of buying from a street vendor in Seoul, South Korea? They sell it like popcorn on the streets of Korea. What I DO wonder, is WHO in the world was the first person to think of roasting the beans from civet dung and making it into coffee????? ANYTHING is better than the cup of Dollar General Instant Coffee I just made!!! I'll NEVER buy that again....and continue to hand-grind, just sometimes don't have the time. I'll have to try the Lizdt...or whatever it was (MY brainwashing poses problems to me sometimes also.)

My eyes automatically go to the top web-address whenever I read a web report. So I saw "wwwdotstarbucksdotcom" and thought OK, this DID come from Starbucks. Then I read on and thought: has the Buck gone comepletely NUTZ???? Then I remember the date the article came out!! Nice one, Starbucks!! hahh ha....I think anyone drinking 128oz of Starbucks coffee would quickly suffer the effects of "hyper-caffeination toxemia". Could you IMAGINE the cost of a 128oz Mocha Latte???? As to the BomberOnline announcement of April 1996.....Apple, Inc was officially launched on April 1st 1976...by two jokesters: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. I guess theirs wasn't a joke after all. Funny...all through the eighties and most of the nineties, Apple was basically a 'niche" comapany, and for a while weren't even sure if they were going to make it out of the nineties. The Mac was a great product, but never had the 'numbers' to give Microsoft and "PCs" huge competion. Even their cool ultra thin notebooks were expensive niche. Now, it seems everything they do is GOLDEN....from the iPod, to iPhone, and now to iPad. One thing for sure: they are one creative company, and always have been.

Yep!!! I do that ALL the time....for me, it sorta becomes a poor man's Mocha. Never tried Lindt in the coffee...but I often put a little dark baker's chocolate in the cup. Sometimes I just add a little bit of hot cocoa mix, but not enough to override the taste of the beans.

Yep...I am all about the French Press!...that's exactly the way I do it,too. I've had my share of burned gas-station coffee....so the fresh ground french press is like fresh air. Plus, we live at least half of every year on a sailboat, so the French Press is madatory...as there are no 110 volt outlets at sea. :) My sister grows her own coffee beans, so she roasts some and mails them up to us...mmmm mm good! Best small-time bean roaster we've come across is this company in Montana called "Montana Coffee Traders" in Whitefish, Montana. My favorite beans from them are: Buffalo Blend; Grizzly Blend; Glacier blend and my absolute favorite: Huckleberry...but they have a TON more. Their prices are good too, and they ship anywhere. http://www.coffeetraders.com

You reminded me, though, that I CAN use a latte....nah...just kidding, I stopped drinking those long ago when I decided they were a real rip in price. I now prefer plain, old coffee...but I DO manually-grind my own beans, though. Gotta have SOME indulgence! ;) ;)

Well....maybe we both got brainwashed into thinking that we're thinking for ourselves. ;)

It's always that way, Zeta. That's just the way it is with politics or religion or any other highly-charged topic. The conservatives use EXACTLY the same logic, as do the liberals. That's just part of the human syndrome.

ZetaTre, what Newcarver says about mountain-top removal being less labor intensive than traditional coal mining is EXACTLY correct. And BTW, I didn't realize it was anybody's 'rightful' JOB to rip the heart out of mountains....what type of respect is THAT showing to the land? You seem utterly brainwashed by the diatribes of the ultra-right. But there IS a remedy for that....it is called thinking for yourself. Excuse me for being slightly brusk, but I just got back from the TGR forum and it takes me a little while to change back to a normal human being. ;)

Posted by Kitu: "Eating is not mathematics." Very TRUE, Kitu... I think the original title of this thread was "On health, weight loss and personal responsibility"....each one of these words fit together with a fluid synergy. They mesh, both in principle and in application. Health and weight-loss are less about numbers and more about changing one's habits and outlook. Take stock of what your activities per day are and how they affect your life. Do you spend too much time on the couch, in front of the TV?...turn the damn thing off for awile per night, and go for a brisk walk outside, instead. Eating too many cookies or whatever junkfood? Keep track of how many you eat...try eating a few less each day...baby steps. Its an old, old addage...but less meat and carbos and MORE healthy veggies and different proteins would help. I eat lots of beans and other legumes, as they have lots of proteins and few cholesterols. Peanut butter, while high-fat is still healthy...and celery and peanut-butter makes a GREAT healthy snack. Try and replace a lot of the red-meat with fish and turkey...at least a few meals a week. Nothing terrible about red-meat...it has needed amino acids, but Americans tend to over indulge. Investigate such different foods such as Cous-cous, etc...very tasty and very healthy. Try growing a LOT more food in the garden. Sure, it takes more time...but how much time do you now spend watching TV (or typing on a keyboard like am doing right now!!)?? If you can, try and stay away from too many prepared, boxed/canned food. If you prepare the night before (soak beans, etc) you can make your own versions, and not spend as much time as you may think. In short....there IS such a thing as "eating right", and it is NOT simply about eating less, although it is important to match your input with your ouput. Most people know the difference between "good healthy food" and "unhealthy food". It is just that "eating wrong" is easier . You ARE what you eat. Eat Fresh. Bake your own bread...make your own mind. Exercise!! Eating right goes hand in hand with getting more exercise. Americans and 'First World' people in general, are getting less and less exercise. We need to do whatever we can to get more. Exercise need not be boring or excrutiating...it can be as simple as going for a walk and then working up to a run. Tennis is GREAT exercise, raquetball same. Mountain biking. Kayaking well work your arms AND your heart at the same time. I do a lot of rock-climbing and sailing and kayaking and rowing...and find those keep me well-toned up...and I thrown in lots of biking to work my legs. These sports are exercise and also really FUN for me. I HATE circuit-training in a gym. I think the thought of hitting a gym that's maybe populated by grunting meatheads turns many people off exercise. You need to do what is FUN for you...but that gives you a work-out at the same time. Don't expect golf to give you enough work-out. Eating right and decent, fun exercise ARE a type of 'personal responsibility'....and if you combine the two...you will also lose weight and trim up. It will take time...but ANY good endeavor takes committment. And don't just think about it as maybe something to start next week...begin NOW...tonight. Unless you happen to have another body and another lifetime stored in the closet. Gravity IS Life.

I went snowboarding last Saturday for what I presume was officially the 'last' day of riding in Virginia this season...unless I see forecasts of a freak 4 foot snowstorm in April, in which case I probably wouldn't be able to get to the mountains anyway, due to the sudden occurence of flying pigs and snowballs in hell making driving quite hazardous. The weather was going to be a good 30 degrees cooler than the weekend before, so I chose some different riding attire...one of my favorite shells I hadn't worn in some time. Couldn't find it at first, but finally found it packed away in one of my duffle bags...along with a miscellany of other articles I'd presumed lost: 11 single hiking socks w/ no mates; a lost cell-phone, now found; a balled-up IRS tax bill from 2008 (I thought crumpling it up and tossing it would get rid of THAT problem...it didn't); a set of keys to locks that I've now had to replace because I couldn't find the keys; and oddest of all, my 7th grade math homework that I WAS going to hand in to Mrs. Peabody...I guess the dog DIDN"T eat it after all; and of course my slightly lost bright green outershell that I was now going to wear snowbaording. While riding that day, I kept getting wiffs of fish in the air...and couldn't for the life of me derive it's source...cook-out?...fish factory next door?...dead and dying fish at me feet that had somehow dropped from the sky?...nope, couldn't track it. It really got bad when I got down to a fairly crowded lift line...what WAS it?? And then, as I noticed various noses turn my way and turn quickly back in the consternation that only upturned noses can have, I decided: My God, it's me!!...or rather my bright green spring outshell. It smelled like a school of fish had somehow swam into my prized jacket and then died there 18 months ago...their "essence de fish" remaining to aggravate sensitive nostrils. Somehow, in my haste and exuberance to get on the snow, I had donned it without realizing that it smelled exactly like a fishing boat. I then quickly remembered that the last time I had worn it was on a Alaska Dept of Fish and Game King Crab biological species sampling survey on the Bering Sea...we had contracted out a King Crab boat to do our survey sampling. Anyone that has ever spent time on a fishing boat KNOWS that everything you wear on that boat immediately takes on every scent of that boat...in this case, the scents being VERY dead herring and what-not that we'd been using as bait in the pots. The rest of that Saturday, I just made sure I stood VERY downwind of the upturned noses at the lift-line...and didn't pay much attention to the caudrey of kitchen cats that tried following me everywhere, they couldn't snowboard anyway. I also made SURE I didn't wear that same outershell while hiking in the woods that next day, as the bears are now out of their torpor stage, and are foraging and HUNGRY...I am sure they wouldn't turn down what at LEAST smelled like a tasty fish meal. It turns out that fishy smells, like hard feelings, last far longer than I had thought. Gravity IS Life.

Photo below originally posted by B0ardski: What on EARTH is that board(s) on the right? Looks like a weidel-board that I remember seeing a LONG time ago ('noodle-board', maybe???). Sorta reminds me of those wierd looking contraptions that kids are riding on the sidewalks these days. You should be able to 'pump' some super quick little turns with that board. How does it ride??

I don't quite agree with the "soft" part of your argument. Stiff boots and racing skis do go well together, of course. As a former ski racer, I realize that one without the other is totally losing ANY advantage of either. However, soft ski-boots have NEVER had a place in my locker. In my view, soft ski boots are strictly for beginner and intermediate rec skiers, and really have no place in the quiver of an expert skier....unless one happens to be one of those skiers that ski with their skis like 2 inches apart all the way down the mountain and body always straight up, as if standing in a subway car(the 'fashion' skier). I've used my stiff race boots on powder skis (Fat Boys), and they performed admirably...I just loosened the buckles a little. Now your point that: "soft boots and wider boards = softer ski boots and freeride skis" is invalid, I think. As I had mentioned above...soft ski boots basically belong with intermediates or people more concerned with comfort rather than performance, and are basically garbage in terms of boots. Soft snowboard boots, on the other hand, are often very performance driven, at least at the expert level. My Jamie Lynns certainly don't fall in the intermediate category...most beginners and intermediate boarders would find them TOO stiff. Anyway, the boarders hucking themselves off of 130 foot long jumps (15-20 feet in the air), are also using soft boots and they need to be able to land VERY precisely or die. A few of them use MY boots. That sounds like performance to me...and should not simply be compared to soft intermediate ski boots. I've never tried the type of freestyle skiing they're doing with today's twin-tip skis....maybe softer boots are beneficial there. I just know I HATE soft ski-boots, they're simply not performance boots.