More on rockered skis...

This is a good read. Should be no surprise why I like the La Sportiva Hi5 so much...with a 410cm of rocker ontips on my 188s. The lwt weight and straight tail profileI like even better in the back country.



http://skitheory.blogspot.com//08/dps-wailer-112-rp-ski-review.html



Not everything is rockered on this list some simply have an early rise tip which isn't the same as rockered but it makesdecent comparison, I think. All are great ski in my opinion



Mustagh SL 187cm 6lb 9oz 122-88-111 early rise tip



Aspect 186cm 7 lb 2 oz* 130 / 90 / 117 trad tip profile



Drift 186 cm 7 lb 10 oz 138/ 100/ 123 early rise tip



Hi5 188cm 8lb 10oz* 135 / 105 / 125 410mm rockered tip, straight andsquarecut tail



Stoke 191cm 7 lb 14oz 134 / 108 / 122 early rise tip





Wailer Carbon 190cm 8lb* 141/ 112 / 128 450mm rocker tip and 400mm rockered tail



Megawatt 188cm 11 lb 4 oz 151-125-131 rockered tip and semi rockeredtail



* actual weights of my skis, not the factory numbers





For a side country and liftski I'll have a review up onthe DPS Wailer 112 Carbon when the snow flies again.













More on my thoughts of another seriously fun rockered ski.



http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//06/la-sportiva-hi5-skis.html

Discussing Our Bodies in Mixed Company

image via kaputniq

Yesterday I came across a series of delightfully entertaining illustrations by kaputniq, modeled after a Victorian instruction manual for lady cyclists. "Women Wheelers! Don't say 'Feel my muscle,'" warns one. "Don't ask 'Do you like my bloomers?'" admonishes another. While things have changed since Victorian times, in some ways maybe not so much. When I wrote a post on female saddle discomfort some time ago, I received comments and emails from male readers indicating that they were made uncomfortable by the topic. To a lesser extent, the same happened when I brought up the subject of bras in a recent post, and likewise whenever I mention my leg muscles or (heaven forbid) butt in the context of cycling.

During the time I have spent around those who ride bikes, I have observed that male cyclists are not shy about discussing their bodies - be it in real life (conversations that take place in bike shops and at various cyclist gatherings) or on the internet (discussions in forums and blog comments). Thanks to this, I know all about their "taint" and their infertility worries, and how they have to move stuff out of the way when dismounting a bike with a tall top tube, and so on. No big deal. It's a good thing that men feel free to share such things.

However, female cyclists are unlikely to discuss their bodies in a similar manner, except in the vaguest of terms. Until very recently there was virtually no public internet dialogue about female-specific bicycle discomfort, and I rarely hear any such talk out loud. I don't think I'd be out of line in saying that it is still considered inappropriate in our society for women to be "immodest" - which is how discussing our bodies in mixed company is perceived.If a female mentions her toned legs, let alone her private parts, even in the context of cycling it can easily be interpreted as flirtatious or sexually provocative - whereas if a man does the same it is interpreted as merely clinical.

Despite the double standard, it is clear that female cyclists want to discuss these topics - and to do so using concrete terminology instead of polite abstractions. There is a growing feeling that information is unavailable to us because of our own embarrassment to share that information with each other, supplemented by a palpable male discomfort (or excitement - which is more intimidating?) when we do share it. While I am not the right candidate to spearhead a revolution in this regard, I am relieved to see that there is one underway. From thefrank discussion of yeast infectionson bikeskirt,toElly Blue's article on menstruation in Grist, to an entire compilation of female writings about their bodies and cycling coming out in zine format (Our Bodies, Our bikes - order your copy here) it's as if a floodgate has opened, so to speak - mixed company be damned. Let's hope the trend continues. It should not be any less socially acceptable for female cyclists to discuss their bodies than it is for male cyclists.

Casablanca (5.9), Art's Route (5.9), and the Problem of Tunnel Vision

In mid-July, I got the chance to climb with Maryana again, for the first time since April. I had been busy, and my available days hadn't matched up well with hers. I'd been forced to turn her down so many times it was a wonder she'd still speak to me.



In one sense we were still climbers of similar capabilities; we were both wading into Gunks 5.10 climbs. But in another sense we were different. Maryana was climbing more, and actually getting somewhere on these climbs. Since I'd last seen her Maryana had led Simple Stuff, Nosedive, and Birdcage. By contrast, I'd successfully onsighted the one-move Splashtic and backed off of every other 5.10 I tried.



I was excited to see what she could do when we got together. Unfortunately our time was short, and we both struggled with our warm-ups.



We were both interested in leading Wegetables, so we hiked on down to the far end of the Trapps. Maryana decided to start with Casablanca (5.9), a climb with a short, reachy roof crux that she'd struggled with once before.



This was a climb I had sent onsight, although I had to try reaching the jug in several different ways before I finally just popped for it and easily grabbed it. Maryana was thinking she'd probably solve it immediately this time around, since she'd improved as a climber so much over the last year or so since her last attempt.



But alas, she struggled again. She wormed around the big roof flake in several different ways, trying to reach the jug, but she just couldn't get it. One of the good things about Casablanca is that you can do this over and over again and never hang on your gear, because it is easy to step down to the stance beneath the flake. Maryana did this several times, but eventually took a hang or two on her cam in the flexy flake (it holds!).



Finally she tried something different, throwing a heel and getting over the roof, delicately reaching up until she had the good hold. Afterwards she said she felt like she'd approached the climb with tunnel vision, thinking there had to be a way she could reach the hold directly, since she'd seen others do it. If she'd considered the heel hook more quickly she surely would have sent it.



I had a few inches on Maryana and I could just pop for the hold, so I didn't give much thought to what she said, although perhaps I should have paid more attention.



Safety alert: there are still slings on the tree just over the lip on Casablanca. Please do not rap from this tree. It is DEAD. Maryana could move the tree with her hands. It is not safe. There is a larger, living tree with slings about 20-30 feet higher. We used doubles, tied together, to rap from this tree. A 70 meter would likely make it, but a single 60 probably won't. You should either do the climb with doubles or do the second pitch, so you can use the Casa Emilio raps or walk off.



After we rapped down, I suggested we try the nearby Casanova (5.9-), a no-star climb that goes through the roof at a different place. I looked the roof over on rappel and it looked pretty cool. But the climb was in the full-on sun and Maryana wisely wanted to look for shade on this hot hot day.



So I suggested Art's Route (5.9), a climb that Dick Williams upgraded to two stars in his 2004 guidebook. And on Art's Route I had a little tunnel vision episode of my own.



I got through the first crux, an awkward mantel over a low roof. It wasn't pretty and I used a knee but I will take it.



Then at the second crux, which involves getting over a bigger ceiling and into a notch, I thought I had it figured out. From underneath the roof, moving to the right for a second I could see a hold I needed to reach, and I also clipped a very useful fixed nut. Then, from back under the roof, I made the big move to reach the key hold on my first try.



I now know this is the hardest move on the pitch, but after I grabbed the key hold I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get myself over the roof and into the notch. I tried it over and over again, and every time I couldn't make it. I climbed down several times and after a while I started hanging on that fixed nut.



Finally I realized that like Maryana, I was suffering from tunnel vision. In my case it was literally true. I was looking only into the notch for holds. I was failing to try to find a hold outside the notch that I could use to pull myself up and into it. Once I realized this I got it on the first try, the climb was over, and I cursed myself for my stupidity. This could easily have been an onsight. Maryana ran right up it as the second.



Art's Route is just a short, single pitch, but it is a very nice climb with two very different, and pretty difficult, cruxes. I highly recommend it and I will be back to send it!







(Photo: Cowering under Wegetables, trying vainly to wait outa storm.)



Probably I will return to do it on a day in which I try Casanova and Wegetables as well. Maryana and I never got to do Wegetables. It grew overcast as we worked on Art's Route and it started pouring right as we arrived underneath Wegetables. We crouched there against the wall staying relatively dry for forty-five minutes, hoping the storm would pass without getting the climb wet. But as it continued and the rain came down harder and harder, we realized that not only was Wegetables in jeopardy, but that our whole day might be shot. Eventually the rain dripped through the roofs all over the climb and we gave up, marching out in the continuing downpour. We were thwarted after just two pitches.



While we stood there I looked over the climb and gained a renewed hunger for coming back to lead it. I remembered the tough spots and I think I still have the beta in mind to send the thing. I need to have a good autumn with lots of splitter weather so I can come back and conquer these 5.9's and 5.10's that are piling up, waiting for me.

Fall Aspens

We took a trip to the Jemez Mountains last week to see if any of the aspen trees leaves were turning that nice shade of yellow they turn in the fall. there were lots of beautiful trees. And there was one squirrel that wanted his photo taken. These squirrels are called Abert or tassle eared squirrles.

Settling In

We are all settling in and finding our groove still. We are adjusting to Austin being back with us and he is adjusting to having parents again. It is always interesting when your offspring spends extended time with someone else because they just tend to change a bit when they do that. Especially when teenagers and experiencing a place where people live their lives a lot differently than your home does.



I think it is so good for them though so it's worth whatever bumps go along with that process. I love seeing how it has stretched his view in some areas and how much he is still the same in others. All part of the growing and learning that happens as part of being a person.



I'm also grateful that we have family that let him spend that time with them. He will no doubt have fond memories of that time for years to come and he knows the family better due to the time to bond more deeply. Family is so important to Austin, so it's one of the greatest gifts to him to be able to spend time there with them. Thank you for allowing that to happen.



As far as what we are doing here, well not much. We are having very slow and lazy days. We are playing pickleball some. Austin is tinkering and playing with his new favorite toy, a motorcycle. I gotta give him much praise on how patient he was to wait to ride the bike, since he actually bought it last spring and had to wait to ride it until now. He mostly uses it to ride to the Y, where we bought him a membership so he could work out.



Beyond that we are situating our lot the way we want it to be and figuring out what our lives will look like this winter. I think Ava rolls with the punches better than the rest of us, as long as she has a window seat view of the action that is!

Gretton - Kirby Hall

14 of us for this short walk before our annual pre-Christmas get together at Mel and Norma's.

Weather - icy underfoot, which was better across fields than mud. The rain began to persist later in the walk. About five and a half miles.



From the village hall, down the track towards Kirby Hall, then just after the junction, follow footpath signs over a few fields, coming out near the recycling plant on Gretton (Brook) Road. Turn left and follow the road past the turning to Kirby Hall. Go as far as the deer-proof gate. Turn right along the footpath. We followed this for about half a mile, then turned right to visit the new bridge to Priors Hall, for a photo opp, and a snack break.


















From here we retraced our footsteps and continued to Kirby Lane, then along the drive to Kirby Hall, and up the slope behind the gift shop, through the magnificent new gate, which has replaced the very dodgy broken stile.

Across the fields, and down to the four-stile crossing with mud, and up to the metalled track leading back to Gretton.

Saturday 12/11 conditions check

Here's a few photos from our drive to check conditions. 38° and sunny. Tommorrow calls for rain. Then the temps are to drop into the teens and single digits again. Season is underway.

Overview of local conditions

Early season taunting of the SICK-le