Baruntse Dbl boot Liners?

Over the last couple of years I have been looking hard at all the available double boots for fit and performance. In my opinion the best dbl boots don't generally come with the best inner boots. The most well known after market liner, the Intuition leaves a number of things to be desired in a climbing boot. No wonder as they are ski boot liners first and formost. It is however a great inner boot if you want to ski in your Spantiks. Production inner boots that are suppose to be easily heat fit like a good ski boot liner aren't. That can result in your feet suffering no matter what kind of foot you have.

The best of the current inner boots that I have seen is a foam inner that is nylon lined on both the inside and out and made by Palau in France.

www.palau-boutique.com

Lucky La Sportiva decided to use the Palau liners for the Baruntse. I've used the Palau/Baruntse liner in my Spantiks and now again in the Scarpa Phantom 6000s. I think the Baruntse liner is better/warmer that either boot's original liner. The Palau liner is warm, but not overly thick. It is very easy to dry out, as there isn't much nylon to absorb water. They are easy to heat form by any good ski boot fitter and even easier to lace up. They are the lightest inner boot I have weighted including the Intuition or 6000's liner. The nylon lining on the inside and outside of the Baruntse inner boot makes them easy on and off in the mountains and durable compared to an all foam inner boot. Purchased directly from La Sportiva NA they are $120 a pair plus shipping. A direct comparison to everything else easily available on the winter boot market shows no down side that I can see, including the retail price.

http://www.sportiva.com/products/cat/A


Pictured here with a pair of Spantiks.




>







Spare Baruntse liners were not available last season. In limited numbers and sizes they are available now. If they don't have your size you can also get a pair put on back order by calling Rebecca.

Oct. 6,
> Dane,
> Thank you for your email! We do have the Baruntse liners in size 45. We
> are in the process of updating our website and currently do have the
> Baruntse liners in stock. The cost is $120 plus shipping. I would be
> happy to place an email/phone order for the Baruntse liners. Let me know
> what you would like to do.
> Cheers!
> Rebecca Carroll
> Customer Service Representative
> La Sportiva N.A., Inc.
> 3850 Frontier Ave - Suite 100
> Boulder CO 80301
> 303.443.8710 ext 13
> www.sportiva.com

GREEK Easter Then

Nature's Trifecta

Monday, August 29th - -



Water + Clouds + A Setting Sun = A Beautiful Montana Sunset!

Iron Goat Trail ..

Hot weather and mixed signals caused me to be sans partner again. Originally I was pretty bummed, but really enjoyed my final choice of destination or, conveyance.

I looked through a mountain bike guide and decided to get some low impact exercise. I decided on the Iron Goat Trail as it is in the south side of the valley and should be fairly shady. It is a rail trail and used to be part of the Milwaukee Railroad. It is also part of the larger John Wayne Pioneer Trail, which stretches most of the way across the main portion of the state to Idaho. I was also excited to ride my bike through the Snoqualmie Tunnel. However, since this was a plan hatched before going to bed the night before, I had no idea the tunnel was closed.

The tunnel
I parked for the trail off Exit 38 of I-90, but could have taken the western terminus near Rattlesnake Lake. This is where I saw the sign in the parking lot stating the tunnel was closed. Mostly it meant I did not have to worry about a headlamp, and it was cutting about five miles round trip off my excursion.

Since it was unclear where to access the trail, I accidentally rode up the pedestrian foot trail before locating the rail trail and heading east. I immediately starting riding by the Exit 38 crags where people were climbing (and blocking the trail.) The route is deceptively flat/uphill. It has to do with the maximum angle a trail can climb, which isn't that steep. The trail looks flat, but I had to constantly grind my way uphill. A much different workout than a steep hill where you can alternate between standing and sitting. My speed was twice as fast, and cadence maybe five times faster. Sections with deeper gravel really took extra effort. I paused at the halfway uphill point to catch my breath a bit. It was also nice not to be sitting, as my mountain bike saddle is not meant for thirty miles of continuous sitting.

I rode along occasionally standing to give my backside a rest while passing hikers and other bikers. I also passed numerous trail heads that I have been to before while hiking or climbing. In a little over an hour, I reached the closed tunnel. A few pics were snapped, I snacked a bit, and then it was time to enjoy the downhill. There is a nice picnic area there that offers views of Snoqualmie Pass peaks.

The Tooth, Denny, Snoqualmie Peaks

While I did not have to continuously pedal for the downhill, it was not steep enough to coast the 14 miles. Of course, to make things more difficult there was a headwind in many locations on the return trip. More wooded areas blocked the wind, but on the trestles, it slowed me down a touch. I was back at the car over two hours after I left.

This was a good ride and fairly mellow if you discount the fact that it is uphill the whole way east. Hopefully the state will find the money to make the tunnels safe so one could ride to Idaho if they wanted. The fourteen mile section I was on had some ample camp sites, although I'd imagine I wouldn't need one until the other side of the pass.

Phend-Fisher Family Reunion Ledger (1936)

The 27th Annual Phend & Fisher reunion was held at Nappanee Aug 30th 1936

It was moved and seconded to have the reunion at the same place next year.

Officers elected were
Pres. Henry Phend
Sec & Tr Bob Bechtel

1935 Bal 2.00
out for cards 1.60
[balance] .40
collection 2.28
[balance] 2.68
For Pavillion 2.50
Bal[ance] .18

The Phend-Fisher families gathered for a reunion in Northern Indiana almost annually from 1909 until 1943. The events of the day were recorded in an old ledger book. Spelling has been retained as it was in the original though some punctuation and paragraph breaks have been added. To view all articles in this series click on the "Phend-Fisher Reunion Ledger" label at the bottom of this post.

Keeping up... 83 year old makes summit bid

The climbing season is rolling along nicely. Today, an 83 year old started a summit attempt via the Kautz Glacier and he's no stranger to Mount Rainier. Bill Painter of Richland, WA holds the record as the oldest person to summit the mountain (both in 2004 and 2005). Last year, he smoothly ascended the Emmons Glacier... More on his attempt early next week.

It's been 3 weeks since I've been in the park... Thankfully, some of the climbing rangers have been helping w/ route and condition updates. That said, we still love your climbing reports. Over the next day or two, I'll upload many of the great reports climbers have been sending. Of significant news was an ascent of Willis Wall, Mowich Face and new information on Kautz and Success Cleavers. Photo by Loren while on the Willis Wall. YIKES!!!

Embracing Wrinkles

One question I am often asked about cycling to work, is how to avoid wrinkles on business and formal attire. I don't have many pictures of myself dressed up, but I do cycle in suits and dresses that fall into the business/ formal category. And rather than avoid wrinkles, I tend to choose clothing that either doesn't wrinkle easily, or that is meant to look wrinkled. This habit is a hold-over from a life of constant travel combined with a hatred of dry-cleaning and ironing boards, and it lends itself well to cycling. Here are some suggestions I can make from personal experience.

My go-to fabric for looking presentable in the warmer months is linen (shown above). I own several linen skirt and pant suits, and I mix and match them to create a variety of outfits. People tend to think of linen as a limited, "afternoon tea at a resort" sort of fabric, but in fact it comes in many weights and textures. A dark, crisply tailored linen suit can look formal, while a pastelgauzy linen dress can look whimsical. But what all linens have in common is that they actually look good wrinkled; wrinkles are part of their "personality." That's what makes them great for tossing into a suitcase, and it's also what allows me to get on and off the bike as many times as I want without worrying whether my skirt needs to be frantically smoothed out before a meeting.

I am also a fan of "twist-dried" designs. There may be a formal name for this process that escapes me, so someone please help me out. But what I mean is that there is a style of shirts, skirts, even evening dresses where the wrinkles are part of the garment's very design. This is achieved by drying the article of clothing in a wrung-out, or twisted manner. The resulting wrinkles are clearly intentional. They add a sense of structure and the illusion of subtle colour variation to the fabric once it is dry. Typically, the twist-dried effect is produced by the manufacturer, but you can create it on your own by simply drying any shirt, skirt, or dress (crisp cottons and silks with no pockets work best) in this fashion. Having wrinkles as an inherent design element of your outfit eliminates the need to worry about them.



To some extent, the same idea can be generalised to textured fabrics. Tweed, seersucker, lace, embroidery - the texture both disguises wrinkles and somewhat prevents them from forming.



If your dress code limits you to more conventional suiting, I have found that wool skirts and trousers tend to be more forgiving as far as wrinkling goes than other fabrics. They still wrinkle, just less so. Not getting on and off the bicycle saddle every time I stop (but leaning the bike and putting a toe down instead) has been helpful in preventing wrinkles from forming as well.

Of course for dresses there is wool jersey, though it has become increasingly more difficult to find ready-made. I've been working with a designer to help create a cycling-specific dress with a couple of interesting features, and one reason we chose jersey is for its non-wrinkling properties. While I prefer wool or bamboo jersey, cotton jersey and various artificial blends work well in this respect also and are easier to find in stores.IbexandIcebreakerhave begun to make wool jersey dresses, and while theirs tend to lean toward the more casual, it's a promising sign. The nice thing about jersey fabrics, is that they not only resist wrinkling, but also have some give to them, allowing you to move easier on the bike.



One last suggestion I can make for those whose clothing is wrinkle-prone, is to try throwing a coat on over the outfit. Granted, this works best in cooler weather, with stiff wool coats. But in warmer weather even a thin trenchcoat can be helpful.

While cycling to work is easy if your typical wardrobe already lends itself to it, I think it's important to address the concerns of those who would like to ride in their regular clothing but, for whatever reason, find it impractical. Sometimes it is a matter of having the right bike or accessories, other times it's a matter of making minor alterations to your wardrobe without inherently changing the way you dress. What are yours strategies for dealing with wrinkles and other forms of dishevelment that cycling may impose on your clothing? If it were crucial in your line of work to always look crisp and impeccably groomed, would you still ride to work?