After standing for just two weeks, Eric Carter and Nick Elson’s Rainier speed record has been broken. On June 5, Jason and Andy Dorais of Salt Lake City, Utah took more than 20 minutes off Carter and Elson’s top time, setting a record of three hours, 57 minutes and 55 seconds.
Early last month Bret phoned me with an excited tone to his voice and a crazy proposition: an overnight assault on a looming mountain face that had been taunting him all winter. Bret lives in Squamish, B.C., and the face he’d been staring up was the southeast side of Mount Atwell (2,655 meters), a dramatic, diamond-shaped peak that looms above Howe Sound in the Coast Mountain’s Garibaldi complex.
You can buy sunglasses just about anywhere—gear shops, grocery stores, gas stations—basically wherever there’s a cash register. But finding a pair that works for me can be more of a challenge. They have to feel right, not be too heavy, have full coverage yet not so much that they don’t fit with a helmet, and I don’t want them sliding around when I get sweaty. I own four pairs of shades, but only have one that really does it all.
A helmet is a necessity in the northeast—and not just because Mom says so but because we ski mostly in hardwood forests tighter than slalom course. While a helmet would serve some good on impact against a tree trunk, most dents in my lid are from low-hanging branches. But, for two seasons, my Smith Vantage has kept me head-trauma free.
Have you ever really loved a pair of goggles? Like, when they got scratched, did you mope the same as when you blew an edge? Or were you once unable to sleep, antsy with anticipation to wear them the following day? Well me neither—I’ve never really loved a pair of goggles. I merely tolerate what I have, and when they get scratched, I buy a new pair. But somehow, the Smith I/O has been slung around my helmet for the last three seasons.
A good cold-weather sleeping bag should compress to the size of a cantaloupe; it should be true to its temperature rating; easy to get in and out of and cinch well enough to keep cold out and warmth in. Beyond that, a sleeping bag is pretty simple. MontBell, however, would beg to differ.
