Johnny Law

Ascutney accesses one amazing run everything else is worthless, this run however is world class. Suicide Six is tiny but no one is ever there so its good for a half day or something, fun low angle trees. Bolton has some good BC stuff and one decent run but most of the hill is pretty flat Burke is a great mountain, constant empty bleachers with a great little town nearby, best mountain food in VT. BMA is there though so lots of uber rich aholes. Great trees. Magic is a gnarly little mtn with lots of cliffs and glades, always empty, they don't blow snow so if mother nature hasn't provided its going to be crazy boney. Almost always this close to going out of business. Pico is a nice mtn that sees far less crowds than Killy, lacks sustained steepness and the lifts run infrequently at best. Queeche Lakes has two trails and is for noobs that want to learn, don't go there. I've never been to the bowl, hopefully this year I can get up there. The rest are well publicized.

Trees at Bromley are ok but Magic is a much better mountain and is in the same general area.

Wow what a cluster fuck, WME makes shitty movies as they pretty much phone it in every year so I really don't care if we never saw them again. However, if Warren Miller the man essentially goes and creates another Warren Miller company he has to a large effect made WME useless. I would imagine that is what the contract is all about hence WME assertion that Warren Miller violated his contract by doing work with Level 1. It sounds like total bullshit but they don't have to win in court, all WME has to do is make Level 1 spend more than they got and Level 1 will settle for some bs or go out of business.

No, he can be on the team yet at the same time an independent in terms of training and such though I would have to believe the team wouldn't have been to fond of that.

x3 the lobster claw is what every mitten/glove should be.

Slowkemo or Bromley would be perfect, lots of low angle groomers to make any Pocono shuffler feel like Bode. Suicide Six actually has perhaps my favorite groomed trail in N.A., whatever that one is that comes straight down the hill is crazy fun. Seriously though Europe would be perfect lots and lots of epicly long groomers all scrapped nice and hard by 6,000 drunk British tourists power wedging all 10 miles and 6,000 vert of it.

x2...jb weld has never let me down. Come to think of it, it may be the only thing holding one pair of skis I have together.

Shit I didn't see your post about Inter, Interlaken is the shit the Jungfrau is everything its cracked up to be and more. Grindelwald alone would blow your mind, add in all the shit that's in local area with Wengen and Murren and you could spend a life time there and never get bored. The big boys though are Davos and Sass Fee....shit I gotta run to a meeting but if your thinking of Switzerland let me know and I send you some info.

Mottarone I think is the closest something like 15 miles, I think though its just for noobs. Tamaro in Switzerland would be pretty close too, like 30 miles. I don't know jack about the place other than the vertical is pretty damn small when compare with what around, maybe 1500ft or so . Skiing in Italy is all about the Dolos - http://www5.dolomiti.it/eng/sci/dx.htm They do it Italian style, laid back with lots of espresso and smoking. Lift lines in Yurp are like cattle shoots in a feed lot, no one waits their turn, its just push push inhale until you get on the chair. I don't know a whole lot about the resorts but Cortina is the catch all, good vert, bigish, lots of snow but tends to stick to the noob side of things. The gnar places that you would actually want to go to are in the Aosta Valley ski complex which contains the following areas; Alagna Valsesia, Breuil-Cervinia, Courmayeur, Cr

Sweet major props Saurus, the collective all owe you a beer.

My mom told me they sold the shop to Buckman's but I haven't been by to see it myself. It kind of sucks because they were the only decent shop in Reading.

Wow that a ton of work and it looks like it will be a great little glade.

115 isn't too hard to find, Look makes a widely available 120mm as does Marker in a 125mm. Now trying to find something above 130....

Sick ! what clamps are you mounting ?

Exactly, though you don't always need a winch cat depending on how you do it.

I'll have to check out the guys in Northern

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.