Basket Shop

This is from the courtyard in front of the church looking toward the Basket Shop that is so well known and poplular in Old Town.

Feathered Friends sleeping bags?

Lee out in LaLa-land, snuggled into a Feathered Friends Hummingbird.





It is kinda funny when you look at all your gearand it is so easy to miss the really important stuff. Not the biners or hardware or the newest ice tool or a pair of boots. But the really important stuff like sleeping pads, the bags and the tents.



I'd guess part of it is I hate having to carry any of them. So until required I try to ignore all of them. The when I am forced to sue them I generally take the smallest and the lightest of all three. It has made for some uncomfortable nights. But it is never the gears fault. It is an issue with faulty decision making. To be specific my faulty decision making.



In the old days I carried a pack like this pretty much every where I went and spent half the year or more living out of asleeping bag.







Now I am more likely to measure a climb by how much can I get done in 24hrs or less and how much do I REALLY have to carry. This size pack is about as much as I want on my back these days.



As you might imagine that has cut down on a LOT of gear including the size and more importantly the comfort range of my sleeping bag.



I suspect there are a few sleeping bag companies that make good bags. Western Mountaineering seems to be well liked by friends over the years. A quick search turned up this:



http://www.climbing.com/print/equipment/bags215/



I've owned a few bags. My first down bag, which was second hand, I resold at some point. My second, a synthetic, was stolen off my clothes line, where it sat drying one too many days and nights, after a minor epic in the Canadian Rockies. The third the same brand of synthetic I eventually wore out and gave away.



My fourth and first really nice down bag I bought in 1976, a Trailwise Chevron, which still own. I thought it had about died on me till I had Feathered Friends cleaned it for me a few years ago. It was always a good bag but they worked wonders on it.



That wasn't my first experience with Feathered Friends however. In 1980 I had them builda custom Peregrine. Black VBL inner shell and a bright green Gortex outer. Loved that bag. I remember waking up at 17K on the west butt one morning with chilled feet. Thinking sheet...not enough bag. Until I reached for the stove pot and it singed my hand it was so cold.That is really cold! Wonderful bag! 17K was the first time I had actually zipped up that bag on Denali.



I sold that one....as I didn't want to be anywhere that cold again. Thatwas a mistake as I did 2 more Alaska trips after that and never could afford to have another one built.



With Feathered Friends virtually willing to build you any bag you could imagine in the next 20 years I did have them buildseveral more custom bags though. All over filled, all with something extra I figured I needed and all of the bags truly spectacular.



I still have them. One of each, aHumingbird, a Widgeon which I had them buildto my specs. Andmost recently a Vireo that I returned after using it for a couple of years to have it modified as well.



Feathered Friends makes some amazing bags you can buy off the shelf. But when you ask them to do some thing special....look out 'cuz you'll get more than you ever expected. It is kinda like they appreciate the request and what to make the very best just for you.



So back to my last bag from Feathered Friends to finish up these comments. I had my Vireo over stuffed to the max (5 oz in the body of the bag, most of it on the upper half) and a collar added. They didquiz me on the collar...."you want what?" "Really?" "Ya, can you do that for me?" "Sure?" Price was right. Now I have this dinky little lwt sleeping bag I can get into my dinky little packs for when I don't make those 24hr estimates. And I'll sleep a good bit warmer in this one for the added 1/2 pound. :) The Vireo has truly been transformed from a summer bag to a decent 3 season bag for me now.



How cool is that?



I have some brand loyalty again. Feathered Friendshas never told me "no" when asked for something special on acustom bag. And they are local for me. The cost and wait has always been more than worth the end result. Few pieces of gear get my unqualified support. Feathered Friends earned that support20 years ago and continues to today.

Arc’teryx Alph FL Review

"The abseil off the Aiguille Du Midi Bridge into the Cunningham Couloir"

Nice Toque there Dave!

Arc’teryx Alph FL Review by Dave Searle.




I’m not really a huge fan of waterproofs
for climbing being as most of the time I don’t climb in the rain. As Mark Twight eloquently put it in Extreme
Alpinism “if its raining in the mountains, you should just go home”. I agree.
However summer alpinism isn’t that predictable and more times than I can
count I have had a good drenching on the walk out.




When I first laid my hands on the Alpha FL
I knew it was going to be a winner and is probably going to accompany me on
lots of my alpine adventures. I have
been using it for a few months now ski touring and steep skiing and it’s worked
really well. It really is no frills. No
pit zips, only one generous chest pocket, no wired hood and even the zip pulls
are just bit of coloured dental floss! It doesn’t even have a zip gutter on the main
zip because the zip itself is waterproof enough. I was a bit worried that the zip might not
stand up to serious windy wet weather but to be honest I don’t really
care. Wind is one thing and rain is
another but together and you wouldn’t see me leaving the house for much more
than a dash to the shops. If, however, I
was climbing in Scotland and I knew it was going to be grim (which it normally
is) then I might pack something a bit more bombproof but that’s not what this
jacket is trying to achieve. Even then I
still think I would grab the Alpha FL because it has a good balance of being
burly without all that extra useless stuff….like hand warmer pockets. Who needs hand warmer pockets when either
climbing or belaying? I don’t and I think if you ask yourself then you’ll
probably agree you don’t either. Extra
unnecessary weight for sure. Ueli
agrees…..







Three layer Goretex in it's own stuff sack.





Active shell is gore’s most breathable
fabric and it hasn’t let me down so far.
I’ve yet to reach the point of thinking “I wish I had pit zips” without
just whipping it off and shoving it in the tiny stuff sack provided. The outer fabric on the Alpha Fl seems pretty
sturdy to. Not a mark on it after tree
skiing and scrabbling about on granite for a few months, the two things which
are guaranteed to end the life of a lightweight waterproof prematurely.




The hood is good and it of course fits over
a helmet well and reduces down on a bare head neatly. The chin piece isn’t as
high as some other jackets I’ve seen but it still covers enough. As I said it doesn’t have a wired peak but it
is stiff enough for that not to matter.
The arm articulation is great, the sleeves don’t ride up my arms at all
and the hem stays put. Exposed waist and
wrists is a common problem I face with jackets due to my disproportionately
long arms.




So it’s not the lightest waterproof jacket
in the world at 295g but it isn’t that far behind either! I defy any sub 250g jacket to withstand half
of what I have put this jacket through in two months. A little extra weight can go a long way in
durability for sure. Definite thumbs up from me here. Oh and purple is the new green I have been informed.J












Dave using the Alpha FL in the Cunningham Couloir

Honeymoon Trail, Northeast Minnesota

The colors are fantastic right now! Better get out there and enjoy them while they last!

The 44th Regiment at Shiloh :: The Photo

This is the second of two photographs from the display at the visitor center at Shiloh National Battlefield.

The caption for this photo reads “The men of the 44th Indiana Infantry Regiment display their arms and accoutrements before the battle.” Written in the lower right corner is “Comy H 44 Ind”

The close-ups below begin from the left hand side of the above photograph. There is some overlap in the close-ups so some men will appear on more than one of the pictures.

Port Angeles

A few miles above Lake Crescent we came to the city of Port Angeles. Port Angeles is one of the northern most citys in Washington. From there you can catch a ferry, cross Strait of Juan de Fuca, and dock in Victoria, Canada. Regretably we did not have the time to take the ferry to Canada. I will save that trip for another time. (Remember it is another country, and now you need a passport to go there. Even for just a day visit.) In this photo you can see one of the ferrys. They were huge. We wern't able to get real close but did get some shots as some came in on there return from Canada. We visited some gift shops, had a bite to eat, and decided we would spend the night in Port Angeles as it was to late in the day to see Hurricane Ridge in Olympic Park, which was to be the high point of the whole trip.

A Most Excellent Adventure :: A Gorgeous Azure Iceberg

Friday, August 27th - - About half an hour after leaving the whales we started seeing small icebergs in the water. There was one in particular that was extremely large and Captain Steve said it was stuck on something as it had been in the same spot for several days.

It didn't look too impressive from a distance but Steve said it was worth taking a look at. He slowed the boat, went in close (very close), and cruised completely around it. The color was so intense and amazing, especially on the other side where the light was better. Incredible, actually.






And even more wondrous things were yet to be seen...