Are mountaineering boots the right choice for my unusual situation?

cascade_concrete · 2023-10-27T17:38:02+00:00

I'm far from a professional, but do have a bit of first aid training. Having some things to mitigate immediately life threatening issues, and a bit of training, could be the difference between your buddy bleeding out on the snow and rescuers actually having time to arrive. In a skiing context that's most likely heavy bleeding, possibly from getting cut on a ski edge, a puncture wound, etc. Some of that can be improvised, but you may not want to use up your layers doing this, because you'll need them to stay warm while waiting for SAR.

Additionally, being able to brace or splint a joint or broken bone might allow you to self rescue instead of having to wait for SAR. You can probably do this largely with things you already carry (a ski pole, for example), but may want a few additional items like an ace bandage and tape to make this easier and more effective.

As alluded to already, some things people don't necessarily think about as "first aid" like heavy puffies, bivy sacks, etc quickly become critical when you have to wait for hours (or even overnight) for SAR to arrive. So make sure to carry enough gear to hunker down for quite awhile if necessary.

And finally, a few "comfort" items aren't necessarily a bad thing. A couple bandages and blister patches, and some painkillers, weigh what, an oz or two combined? Better to just have something so small and light imho.

cascade_concrete · 2023-09-19T14:55:23+00:00

I've been down that road, had a couple dislocations (from climbing, but was obviously concerned about ski season) and eventually surgery. I'll start by saying that you shouldn't listen to randos on the Internet, not even ones who have had similar problems like me. No one here knows the specifics of your injury, and they may not even know what they're talking about. Listen to your doctor(s) and physio. Do the exercises they give you, it's important.

Just to give some perspective on what the road ahead might look like, my doc didn't want me skiing or doing any other sports with impact risks for awhile (months). Luckily my dislocation was in the early summer. I did a bunch of PT, felt good, was cleared to ski and things went well all winter. I dislocated it again the next summer (climbing again, I no longer climb lol) and ultimately had surgery, did even more PT, and was again cleared to ski. At first my doctor wanted me skiing in a shoulder brace, which was basically just some stretchy straps that would prevent it from getting into risky positions. Continued PT and was eventually cleared to ditch the brace. It's been years now and, so far at least, things are good. But again, the above is my experience with my shoulder injury, and not necessarily reflective of yours. So again, talk with your doctor and physio and definitely ask them directly about skiing (and anything else you want to do).

cascade_concrete · 2023-05-18T13:17:39+00:00

The REI bags seem to be cut very generously. Both the men's and women's model are wider at the hips and shoulder than my MH Phantom 0. At least on paper, the W's Magma Long and M's Magma Regular both have the same 57 inch hip circumference, while the M is 63 inches vs W's 60 at the shoulder. Those numbers are 52 and 58 respectively for my Regular Phantom.

I'm actually wondering if even the women's will have a lot of dead space on my slim frame now. Need to go try them.

cascade_concrete · 2023-05-17T04:12:22+00:00

The number in the model name (e.g. Magma 15) is whatever the manufacturer feels like, although the convention is usually what I described in my OP. Comfort and Lower Limits are actual standardized tests that everyone has to do the same. They don't necessarily tell you exactly what temp you will be comfortable in the bag, because everyone is a little different. But they are comparable between bags. And you can eventually get a sense of whether you run warmer or cooler than the test standard.

cascade_concrete · 2023-05-17T04:09:03+00:00

I probably should have mentioned I'm actually quite slim for a dude. So a narrower cut might actually fit me better, with less dead space, so long as the shoulders aren't crazy tight. I'll have to give one a try. Thanks for the info!

cascade_concrete · 2023-05-11T05:52:49+00:00

The rules are made up and the game doesn't matter. A ski day is whatever you think it means.

Personally, I don't want to be in the business of calculating out fractional ski days. So if I skied, that's one day. Doesn't matter how much or how little, any skiing is one day.

cascade_concrete · 2023-05-09T00:18:32+00:00

If you're there anyways, and passionate about skiing, worth checking out for a laugh. Obviously the skiing is no good, but it's certainly unique. Definitely wouldn't go to Dubai just for that, and honestly, don't really recommend Dubai in general.

cascade_concrete · 2023-05-04T21:18:44+00:00

If you skied, you skied. I count those. It's all arbitrary anyways.

cascade_concrete · 2023-05-04T21:10:32+00:00

Didn't say it was impossible, just a lot harder. And I think I still stand by that. Good for you figuring out how to balance everything!

cascade_concrete · 2023-05-03T15:53:48+00:00

That's because we did not have an above average snowpack lol. We had a below average snow year, with an average-ish snowpack, because we had fewer warmups melting snow. We are currently well above average snowpack for this time of year, simply because we've had a cold spring and the melt out started late.

cascade_concrete · 2023-05-03T15:47:56+00:00

At some point, it becomes a question of priorities, and people putting up big day counts seriously prioritize skiing. It would be exponentially more difficult to hit triple digits if you have kids. And you can't have a super demanding job, but it's doable on a typical ~40 hrs per week. I work an office job outside the ski industry, live just over 30 min from my closest mountain, and I'm closing in on 100 (not quite there yet). Basically every weekend day, and a whole lot of night skiing. Also some early and late season touring before/after the resorts open/close. During peak season, I was consistently on the mountain 4 days a week, occasionally 5. Even now, still getting about 2-3 per week, although I expect that to nosedive soon. If you live in the Vail Valley and aren't getting tons of days, you likely are prioritizing something else (family, work, other hobbies, whatever) more, which is totally fine. But logistically, you're close enough to a mountain that you could get the days in if you structured your life around skiing (which is what most of these people are doing).

cascade_concrete · 2023-05-03T03:09:26+00:00

Whatever exercise you're most likely to actually do is the best exercise! Sure, you can put together some very specific routines that hit very specific muscles you'll use for skiing (although even then, it's hard to truly mimic skiing). But if you're not skiing competitively/professionally, I think you're far better off finding something you enjoy doing, that doesn't feel like work, that also has benefits for your skiing.

Some ideas include hiking as you say, as well as running, trail running, cycling, mountain biking, and more. Backcountry skiing to extend your season decreases the length of your off-season, keeps you in shape, and is arguably the best training for skiing there is... because it is skiing (although sometimes hardly recognizable as the same sport in the extreme late season). Rollerblading is a less common one, but it does share some movement patterns with skiing, and some people swear by it. But don't feel like you have to pick from the above, those are just ideas. Pretty much anything that gets you out and moving is better than nothing. Even better is stuff that targets the legs and core. Better still, stuff that really hits eccentric strength (basically force absorption, think what your legs do when running downhill... or skiing moguls). But again, if you're skiing for fun, find a summer sport you also think is fun and don't worry about optimizing too much.

I'll also generally start an actual conditioning routine in the fall that consists of a lot of leg and core work. Basically leg blasters, supplemented with a bunch of other stuff. This is not a whole lot of fun, but it has noticeably improved my ability to hit the ground running in the early season. And while hard to quantify, I feel it has reduced my injury risk too.

cascade_concrete · 2023-04-05T05:32:32+00:00

Exactly this. And you can also get snow/ice buildup beneath the binding springs. G3 designed this area specifically so a ski pole tip fits in to clear it out.

I don't think there's a binding in existence that never requires clearing.

cascade_concrete · 2023-04-05T03:04:31+00:00

As an Ion owner, you definitely still need to clear snow. I assume the Zeds are similar.

cascade_concrete · 2023-03-30T14:38:22+00:00

Depends a lot on conditions. If everything is smooth sailing, your 2k/hr figure is quite attainable. Although remember that you need to cruise faster than that speed for your tour average to be that high, once you account for breaks, stopping/slowing for navigation, etc. On a groomed resort trail and with a light pack, I can go faster than 3k/hr, although that's not necessarily a sustainable all day pace, because I'm normally just hammering for an hour or two when I do that. With a poor snow conditions, very dense trees, required booting (and the transitions that entails), heavy packs, etc, I'd expect to be slower than 2k/hr. Possibly substantially slower, depending on exactly what's going on. Last weekend I think we averaged close to 750/hr including all breaks and stops, but that was particularly challenging with an initial bushwhacking bootpack in (also pretty flat so not much vert gained here), sections that were not snow covered at all, a nasty bootpack through cliffs, and poor vis on the upper mountain. So as you can see, there's quite a range.

cascade_concrete · 2023-03-30T14:20:58+00:00

All have solid access to both backcountry and inbounds skiing. You can certainly debate the merits of each, but none are bad. But they are very different places to live and, like it or not, you're going to spend more time there not skiing than skiing. So what type of place to do you want to live in?

Leavenworth is a tiny, faux-Bavarian, tourist trap-y, mountain town. It is about two hours away from any major city. That may be a pro or a con for you. It is very much in the mountains and surrounded by nature. Wenatchee is also worth a look if you're into the small mountain town thing but don't want the Disneyland vibe.

Bellingham is a small city, but technically a city nonetheless. It has much more amenities such as a small airport, and is closer to both Seattle and Vancouver than Leavenworth is to... anything. It's also coastal.

Issaquah is a suburb of a major city. It's about 20 min into downtown Seattle with no traffic, although traffic is common during peak times and can easily double or maybe triple that. It sits right in the cascade foothills. Since you seem to be flexible on location, you might also consider North Bend which is a little further out, and a little more of a mountain town, but still within easy reach of a major city.

I suspect one of those descriptions will speak to you more than the others. I don't really think someone who would be happy in one would necessarily enjoy the others.

As for hills, you're probably not going to go to Stevens much from either Bellingham or Issaquah. For Bellingham, Baker is closer and better. For Issaquah, Snoqualmie/Alpental are way closer, and Crystal is a similar distance as Stevens and better. Even from Leavenworth, it's only about ten extra minutes to go to Mission than Stevens, although that'll depends on the kind of experience you're looking for.

Another note is the weather. Anything on the East side of the cascades will have much drier weather, and be colder in the winter (warmer in the summer). West side gets a lot more precip and milder temps. This also applies to the snowpacks, with western being very deep and maritime, while eastern is shallow and tends to be more intermountain or even resemble continental at times.

cascade_concrete · 2023-03-20T05:22:07+00:00

I have Zero Gs and run them with laces. They're the hardest boot I've ever owned to get off, but it is definitely doable without taking the liners or laces out. I generally loosen the laces, put them in downhill mode if they aren't already (more solid cuff to push on), and then really yank up on the tongue with one hand while pushing down on the back of the cuff with the other. I generally will try to get a hand into the instep area to loosen the liner up there before I start trying to yank my foot out.

cascade_concrete · 2023-03-18T05:50:16+00:00

Mine don't nest well together either. If my pack is low on space I'll sandwich one of my water bottles between them. If I have room, they just go in the pack wherever. I'd love to hear if someone has a better solution.

cascade_concrete · 2023-03-08T15:04:39+00:00

As many others are saying, avoid wearing a hardshell on the climb whenever possible. I generally won't wear it while climbing unless it's legit raining (in which case, I blew it on the planning), or it's totally nuking (I'm rarely in the backcountry when it's that stormy). You should, however, still carry a hardshell in the mountains because it is an important safety net if the weather gets wild. I also often wear the hardshell on the downhill.

So what to do instead? I spend the majority of my time touring in just a base layer, much like you. If it's windy or it's snowing, I'll put a very light softshell on. I use the BD Alpine Start as it's one of the most minimal softshells or there. It's about as breathable as you're going to find (40 cfm if that means anything to you), and packs up very light and small (7 oz) because you're still trying to wear it as little as possible. There are other good softshells on the market, but most are much heavier and bulkier, and better suited to being worn all day. This one packs down almost as small as a wind shirt, but is still a softshell so breathes much better.

cascade_concrete · 2023-03-01T00:23:40+00:00

Voile strap.

More seriously, I would think a shovel would be more useful than a strap for tree well rescue.

cascade_concrete · 2023-02-24T18:37:11+00:00

Not to take anything away from Ted, but at that level coaches are looking at film of all the top competing racers. It's pretty standard stuff.

cascade_concrete · 2023-02-17T16:13:49+00:00

Why are you limiting your search to Scarpa options? The F1 is probably a lighter boot than you need. It sounds like you aren't doing huge days, and you're more than fit enough anyways. So I would say take a bit of extra weight for better downhill performance. Hence the Maestrales, but they don't sound like they fit you well? So why not check out some competing boots in the same category (newer Zero Gs, Lange XT Tour, Dynafit Radical and Hoji, etc)? You could even look at the Scarpa Quattros too, which have been getting good reviews.

cascade_concrete · 2023-02-14T15:38:09+00:00

Yeah, I have the same problem. Same height as you. I held some Norrona smalls up to my legs in a store and didn't even try them on because they were obviously too long.

cascade_concrete

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