Getready. Yeah, that’s a word we coined around here years ago, for that epic few hours (or days) it takes for trip preparation. As in, when we’re doing the “getready,” we’d better start early so we can leave on the trip before dark. I guess it’s a noun?
At any rate, I’ve been amused by Louie’s pile of backcountry skiing gear in the middle of the living room. A photo for all you who like to pick apart such mountainous terrain.
Advantage of skiing down under? You can raid your dad’s ski quiver since he’s put them up for the summer.
Louie says he’ll get on the Coombacks and as soon as he’s down there, and once online will file a report. He’s also been in the Garmont Radiums for some time now, so I’ll try to extract some opinion from him about those as well.
The backcountry skiing world traveler is heading out with an Acer Aspire One netbook, like the one I used in Europe for the Silvretta Traverse. When packed in a semi hardcase with a bit of extra padding, the Acer seems to hold up fine to the rigors. Cracking the LCD is a concern, so we add a layer of stiff plastic inside the carrying case, and pack the netbook so the LCD rides against the stiffener. That way if it gets accidentally sat on or dropped, the LCD panel is protected from flexing. Too bad they don’t just make the Acer with a flexible LCD like the one used for my hardened notebook, but that adds cost.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.