October, 2007

It's that time of the year, when biking has to go indoors. As you all know, there are a number of trainers out there. I picked the 1up trainer because it was rated very highly by users of mtbreview.com, it looked study enough for a mountain bike, and 1upusa is a small company from Wisconsin.

The Titus racer-x won Bicycling Magazines 2005 mountain bike of the year award. Not much has changed in the award wining design since then. Titus makes this frame is seven different sizes depending on your size and the travel in your fork. They also make the racer-x frame in titanium and carbon (if you have the big bucks). Here's a link to Titus site.

PRO

This showed up in the news feed from Jackson Daily News. Game and Fish Kills Black Bear in Moran.

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Webcams from the top of highway 22 -- teton pass wyoming.

Sleeping Bag Guide

1. Size -- Some of the higher end bags come in short, regular and long sizes. The weight difference is very small, so if in doubt, get the larger bag.
2. Weight -- Be serious about what you are using the bag for. You really don't need a two and half pound bag if all you do is car camp (camp within walking distance of you're vehicle). Also if you are doing a lot of backpacking, get a good bag that fits your budget.

Bear Mountain Resort Webcam

Kirkwood Ski Resort webcam.

Webcams from Aspen, Aspen Highlands, Snowmass and Buttermilk.

Webcams from Beckenridge,Colorado.

Webcams from Copper Mountain, Colorado.

The slopes of snowbird, utah.

Telluride, Colorado webcams.

Webcam From Solitude, utah.

See what's up at A-Basin.

Search the stores of our Preferred Vendors.

Alta's website is reporting 13 inches from the storm on Wednesday-Thursday with a 25 inch base. I headed up to check it out. There were a lot of people out for a Friday afternoon. It was 60 degrees at the base. I talked to a few people and said it was fantastic up high. "Not bad for October" laughed someone else.

There's about a foot of snow at the base. I cross-country skied briefly with my daughter, then build a snow woman. (There was some dead grass we used for long hair). There's enough snow to get out and play. Ski, Snowboard, sled... or whatever.

Avalanche.org

800-Ski-Shop.com
Altrec.com Outdoors
Liftopia.com

The Voile 3-pin Hardwire binding combines the 3-pin toe box with the spring-loaded adjustable heel assembly.

PROS
I like the added safety of the old-school 3 pin toe-box in case something happens to while I'm touring. I also like being able to take the spring off the rear of my boot, when I'm on a gradual skin track. I have boots for touring and resort skiing, so I can quickly adjust the binding to fit my boot. I could never do this very quickly with my old cable bindings. I like being able to adjust the tension in spring with a few turns of the cartridge.

CONS

Webcams from Jackson Hole Resort.

From the road, you'd never guess there would be trails at the base of the resort. There's about three quarters of a mile of relatively flat land, before it gets really steep. That's where the trails are. You can see the trail map here.

This stretch of the Snake lies between the Wilson Bridge about 7 miles to the west of Downtown Jackson and the South Park Bridge about 5 miles south of Downtown Jackson. This stretch is fairly mild, except for some small rapids about a mile before you get to the South Park Bridge. You can get through these in a dory, but I would only do it when the water is fairly high in mid-summer. I see a lot of rafting companies taking clients down this stretch of river. It's very scenic, but not the whitewater that you find further down the canyon in Snake River Canyon.

Cecret Lake sits at the top of Albion Basin above the town of Alta, Utah. In the winter the lake is frozen and within the boundaries of Alta Ski Lifts. In the summer the lake is a short, but steep hike from the Albion Basin parking lot and/or campground.

The trail is well marked. Along the trail you'll see thousands of wildflowers, and it's not uncommon to see a few moose. Half of the trail follows a gravel road. The other half is steep and rocking, with a series of switchbacks.