Johnny Law

10/5 is pretty crappy though its taped so its probably pretty waterproof. 20/20 is what you want. Orage makes some really nice pieces if you can find them and have the loot, they tend to be a bit more stylistic. Eider and Arcteryx make really really nice technical jackets, pair one of those with a Arc wookie fleece or Patagoina R3 fleece and you'll be nice and toasty down to -20 with three layers. 686 makes some nice jackets too and their smarty system is pretty versatile. Norrona makes excellent technical gear that looks more stylish than the Arc and Eider stuff, though supplies are limited as its all coming from Norway. If you have the $$$ go with a multiple jackets approach, tech shell for BC or shitty weather, and everyday jacket for normal riding and a puffy down for when its really really cold. If you pick them up in July you can save major money.

SICK BIRD

That's fucking sick

LEGEND OF THE WHITE BUFFALO !!!!!

x3, preferably some big reverse reverse boards so you can just park and ride.

Congrats on becoming a 46er, that's a ton of work and you should be proud of such an accomplishment. Skiing in the Daks is tricky, they get alot of snow and generally its quite cold however what your going to find is that timing is everything. Tuesday it may be 8" of fresh and by Wednesday morning it can all be a block of ice. Additionally there is a distinct lack of beta when compared to the more popular Whites and Greens. This website is as good as it gets as it is quite accurate as to snow depths in the high peak area - http://www.lakeplacid.com/shared/whattodo/conditions-xc.cfm. This website is ok but mostly inaccurate - http://www.erh.noaa.gov/nerfc/graphics/sno...snow_depth.html. NOHRSC stuff is really good in terms of what is going on in the snow pack such as water density, wind and sublimation. The MVAN6 station id is Van Hovenberg and in my experience is the best for determining the shallowest snow pack your going to find in the High Peaks. Basically if MVAN is reporting depths lower than 12" your going to be doing some walking on dirt from the Loj to Marcy Dam. I've found that overall the NOHRSC stations tend to under report snow pack depth in the Daks. However if you want to know what is going on weather wise and wither your getting pow or ice this data is vital. For the first time the High Peaks region makes the most sense and I would go out of the Loj rather than the garden lot. There is great skiing around Camp Peggy O'brien and Gothics but its not as obvious as the stuff out of the Loj and it tends to melt out faster. Let your experience in terms of winter camping dictate when you go, if you have alot of experience you can do the Dec-March overnight stuff but be really careful as I'm sure you know that when storms blow through the High Peaks get really freaking cold. If not I would start with day trips in the peak season and save the overnight stuff for March and April when its a bit warmer. Number one thing in the Daks is to travel light, the distances your covering are substantial and skiing equipment adds 20 pounds or so on its own so you have to keep everything else in the 20 pound range and then dump the weight at lean-tos so you can move uphill with say 20 pounds max. With 20 pounds you can really move and fatigue becomes less of a factor. Your very experienced so I'm sure you have this down but there is big difference between doing stuff when its 70 and when its 20 and howling. Once you got all that sorted out I would go for the big dogs first. The slides are cool but require lots of reconnaissance as they far more often unskiable due to downed logs, ICE and avy danger. Really the slides are were you going to have to worry about avy's the most, they don't go alot but people have been hurt and killed. If you have to do the slides first go for the ones off Wright as you can stay at the Marcy leen-tos and your close to the ranger if things go poorly. First time I would go Marcy though, its big, its impressive and the skiing is top of the top if you get it at the right time. It see's decent traffic so you won't be alone for your first time and even if the top of Marcy is one giant sheet the Jack Rabbit trail is usually ok and shit tons of fun. The Jack Rabbit trails is narrow and fast, dropping 3,000 vert or so in 5 miles, its old school New England with quick turns and lots of chances to impale yourself on nearby trees. There are glades from the shoulder that run next to the accent trail that are excellent to if you drop from the top and then cut back over to descend to the Marcy Dam area. Its 9 miles if I remember right from the LOJ to Marcy but the first three are pretty much flat and fast, and the last 6 are done with far less weight as you dropped most of your stuff at Marcy Dam. You already know that the Van Hovenberg trail is short portions of vertical gain followed by flats and then repeat, for me I prefer these 6 miles to the straight up 2.8 of stuff like Tuxs. I would imagine you'll have no problems. You can do Marcy in a day but it works better as an overnight, I like to cut a little vert off and camp at the spots above the dam but it really doesn't matter. If you have crampons bring them as the top of Marcy can get killed by wind. Obviously Bears are less of a concern but I have seen them dicking around Marcy Dam in April. There are lots of other options obviously, Avalanche pass is a nice tour if you don't really want to gain any vert and the Wright, Algonquin, Iroquoi trip is nice though the skiing is generally not as good as Marcy. The possibilities are endless as each mtn. has drainages and tree runs that are simply magical but your going to have to find those on your own as nobody is sharing. Let me know if you have any other questions as I'm sure I've missed alot, additionally I'll pm you about another area that doesn't need to be talked about in public. P.S. If you hit Marcy with pow take lots of pictures and then call me and dick wave, I've tried many times but can't seem to hit that mountain at the right time.

Sorry the first month I was kind of out of it, friends would leave multiple messages and I just never got back to them. Nothing intentional just I guess what happens when you have your first kid. Fatherhood is great, my daughter and I have a blast and she is super well behaved. She rarely cries and likes to sleep in late for a baby, I'd like to get her out to bear creek this year in the papoose but mom would probably kill me. AT is great on EC, outside of Tux in April and May you will have all the BC skiing you could ever want with next to no one around. The Three main areas are the Whites, Daks and Green mtns, none of them are particularly dangerous avy wise but they all have pockets where avy's are a legitimate concern. The Whites tend to have colder nastier weather and the Daks tend to be alot more icy and the Greens are more rolly than they other two. I have all the books and maps you could every want on BC skiing on the East Coast if you want to borrow something or want ideas on where to go just ask. A good way to start would be to go to Stowe and use the lifts to gain vert and then head out to Hellbrook and the Notch stuff, you'd get a good idea of what's its like without having to put in all the uphill work. EMS has mulitple AIARE avy course throughout the year though I would take the trip to tuxs first before I go with them . I'll be taking trips to the Daks and Tuxs this year and your always welcome to join us, in reality we are actually pretty god damn lazy. A PASR Tuxs trip would actually be alot of fun, you ski a decent amount but Tuxs is also alot of drinking and smoking. Once you go backcountry in the west though your hooked for life. 4000 vert of face shoots never gets old and out there the possibilities seem endless. JH's terrain is legendary and teton pass may be the easiest/best skiing outside of Berthoud. Telluride has the venerable Bear Creek and is home to some of the best turns I've ever had in my life. These guys make the best maps - http://www.tellurideoffpiste.com/bear_creek/ Enjoy, once you get those first couple turns alone in the woods your hooked for life.

AT.... well welcome to the dark side. All of the free heal benefits going up with none of the hippy sloppy skiing on the way down. Where you planning on taking them ?

The Bird end of story I'll go to UT and VT again but I do have something special planned for February....KP will be all time epic.

Sweet I may have to go to JF now.

Dude you left out the cluster fuck that was last weekend, can't believe that shit went down. People are mother fucking stupid......

Is that the Brian Hamill that used to ride at Bear ? Kid Lincoln looped some newbs two or three years back...hilarious

Nice work ! 1:45 is a good time, unless your Glenn. Just being up there is worth the hike, you can't appreciate what your looking at until you see it in person..pictures don't do the place justice in terms of scale. Maybe next year we should do a PASR weekend up there...

Forecast looking better..

I forgot to mention that they no longer close the bowl or hillman's area so your free to do as you wish, if its a bad idea the rangers will try to talk you out of it but your still free to do whatever you like. If this is your weekend to go one option would be to go and plan on skiing but if it isn't possible hit up the summit and the snowfields up there. Much lower angle and not as long but obviously generally safer.

At 70 degrees little to no sintering will occur and with the rapid temp change your looking at lots of wet slides. I'm going to bet your going to see a real upside down snowpack this weekend additionally your going to get ice falls and any open water is going to be covered up just enough to break your ankle or worse. Like you said with 100 mile an hour winds loading is going to be an issue, cross loading is going to be a concern too for all of the areas as I can't think of any lines that are out of the way (maybe GOS). Its been awhile since I've read the slab density stuff but with the increasing winds you would tend to see a real thick slab, hard slabs are hard to set off as they sinter better but when they do go they tend to propagate much further and higher above you. I've done alot of dumb shit but I would be hesistant to take a ride down dodges or left gully. Its W though so who really knows...

Stay at home this weekend...not a good weekend if you want to ride...

unlikely

Both of you guys need to realize were Bear was at when they were purchased and how much he had to do with getting bear to be one of the better parks in PA. Bitch all you want but he was pretty responsive to what people wanted and tried out a bunch of shit that had no business being in Macungie, PA. Get out of PA and BC and look around at what other hills are offering up and what they do with far better conditions and a far better mtn. The very first year I used to run into Andy almost every night out riding and having a good time, the last two years I think I may have seen him two or three times. I highly doubt either of you would be willing to put that kind of commitment in to running the parks. Mellow landings sure but lets be honest BC is a tiny bump they carved out some trails on. It sure as shit isn't Whistler or even Blue. If you want to make things really different at BC figure out a way to add 500 ft to the hill and have it be more than 10 degrees for 80% of the mountain. You know what they deal with in terms of snow and grooming and all that horse shit so be appreciative of what you had and be hopeful that whoever runs the show in the future isn't a total fuck up. Its real easy to bitch when you aren't the one doing anything.

Wait a week or two and leave your avy gear at home, when it corns up avy's aren't happening. They get runnels and lots of sluffing but I wouldn't worry about anything sliding for real. The axe is nice if your going somewhere less traveled but isn't necessary for the Hillmans area or the bowl. I always brought mine for shits and giggles or to bang out steps over to GOS. Same dealio with crampons, 99% of the time your aren't going to need an axe or crampons and if you did would you be skiing anyways ? Seriously everyone should just go, if you've never been its incredible and is great way to get introduced into the fantastic world of BC skiing. Mt. Washington all BS aside, in late April/ May is fucking packed, unless you are a complete idiot you aren't going to die or get eaten by a yeti.

I can't go for the first time in a while, if you want, let me know what you need and you can borrow it from me. I don't have a split board but you won't need one.

Brighton sits nearly on top of Alta if you would boot up Milly from above the lift and into Wolverine you can piss and hit Alta. Additionally if you went through Catherine's pass its less than a mile. Alta has Supp and Flagstaff, while you can't certainly get their from Brighton it's easier from LCC/Alta. LCC also has easier access to Cardiac and Day's.

It definitely improved, they are a family run business so no numbers are available but I do know they are in a much better situation than they were last year. Now some of their problems are a result of location and a change in general weather patterns but the additional traffic has helped. This whole discussion if you will is kind of stupid, with the possible exception of DV, discrimination of some kind really isn't present. MRG was actually one of the first places to allow snow boarding and did so until some kind of disagreement with the previous owner, I've heard they got in a fight with her about derailing a chair and she told them to get lost. Its become part of their history and story so it may stick around for some time. You aren't missing anything as there are 4 of 5 mountains in the general area which are just plain better. They have no hard policy but if you earn your turns they don't really care what you are riding. DV is all about the economics, their customers mostly think of skiing the way it used to be, like a country club, lots of bogners and JCK one-pieces. There clientele equates snowboarding with rif raf (which is hilarious) as long as they continue to make money they aren't changing shit. That mountain is a piece of shit anyways and even more of waste of time than Park City so again you aren't missing anything. Alta is the only one where I can see people feeling like they are really missing out on something, they get more snow than the bird and do have some really sick lines. Again this is a case of history and giving their customers what they want. Additionally everything worth riding at Alta is accessed by traverses, no offense but 99% of boarders fuck traverses up so I don't know how much they would get out of it anyway. Your welcome to try it out though, Alta closes when the tourists stop showing up and its on National Forest land for the most part so anyone is free to use the mountain as long as they aren't riding the lifts. Lots and lots of people come over from the Bird and do the Baldy loop. MRG is the only one I see changing its mind anytime soon.

Where is he going ? I remember back in the day when he took things over...good for him. With his skills he needs a bigger mountain.

Well I just got the call - they are going to induce Sunday morning so no CB for me. Shred one for me.