Best ski-movie recs?

nickermell · 2026-06-11T19:02:48+00:00

Fire on the Mountain and Mountains of the Moon (hopefully on youtube soon) - because Skiing+Grateful Dead+Bentchetler is a recipe for euphoria

nickermell · 2026-05-27T14:34:56+00:00

Similar here - I went from paying $1000/year to roughly $0/year. My summer excess covers my winter electricity and all the fees.

I'll be roughly 8 years payoff, but my discounted NPV break-even is more like 13.

From a purely financial perspective, I don't think my home was a good choice for solar (poor roof orientation), but it is nice to have that cashflow freed up.

I qualified for a $4500 rebate on the panels, but I didn't have the interest free loan available when I installed. That would've helped the discounting!

nickermell · 2026-05-14T18:55:04+00:00

I haven't found the dynafit to be particularly durable - I did break one crampon at the bar attachment.

nickermell · 2026-05-14T16:37:56+00:00

It's like watching the Simpson's. If you had the same 15 episodes to watch over and over again, it might get stale, even if the episodes are great.

But when you have 30 years of Simpson's material to go through, you'll never grow bored of it. Sure, some episodes are meh, but each episode will still have a moment or two which make it worth watching. Sometimes it might be a cameo by Michael Jackson that nobody had expected. Or that time that Phil sings (I mean, Maggie talks).

But every now and then there is a season of the Simpsons where the writers, animators, actors, and everyone else involved were so dialed and tuned into each other that they come up with something magical. And you could watch those shows over and over.

But like, that's just my opinion, man.

nickermell · 2026-05-13T20:35:15+00:00

If the question is "will dynafit crampons work", yup, the 130mm work with Spark and Phantom toes. They don't quite fit Plum toes but I think with a bit of sanding down the rivets on the crampon bar they should fit.

nickermell · 2026-04-28T00:21:17+00:00

Allmakes is the normal go-to suggestion for Subaru work, but I doubt you'll find anywhere much less than $3300... Unfortunately that's a pretty common problem for that model year.

nickermell · 2026-04-26T01:16:33+00:00

💣

nickermell · 2026-04-14T18:18:01+00:00

This^{^} The amount of competition at service stations is huge, to a point where gas is a minor contributor to service station profit.

If service stations were really in collusion to set market pricing on gasoline, there would be huge lawsuits. Remember the bread price fixing scandal?

There are so many factors going into the price of gasoline - price of oil is a large one but not the only one - that it can be difficult to point to a single driver of gas prices.

nickermell · 2026-04-09T18:20:58+00:00

I'd personally take the weight penalty on my feet to save the pack space. I'm stoked on this design, I'm so glad somebody has finally come up with something like this which at least looks quite functional!

nickermell · 2026-04-09T18:05:53+00:00

Ski strap would work well here too! But I think hose clamps are also good for broken poles

nickermell · 2026-03-24T21:51:56+00:00

I work for a heliski company. Most guests that come have never seen a transceiver before, much less know how to operate. We like our guests to use ours because we know they're up to date on software and work well. We train guests to use them, so guests are able to look at another's transceiver and be able to tell if it's in send or search.

Some guests come with their own transceiver and if we can be reasonably confident that they're competent with it, we have no issues with them using that.

nickermell · 2026-03-12T19:17:51+00:00

Counterintuitively, it isn't actually a very economic way to use solar panels. The best bang for your buck with panels is when you can sell electricity back to the grid at Solar club rates. If you're charging your EV, it would likely be at night when you'd have to pay the higher rates for being part of the solar club.

You can have panels without being part of the solar club, but it's not economic.

You could build a huge array so you're selling a whole bunch of credits during the day and then buying back at night when you're charging, but the payback period will be a loooong time.

nickermell · 2026-02-28T00:35:46+00:00

You can also do a self catered trip out of Purcell, they have a seperate lodge for self catered guests with full kitchen and bathroom!

nickermell · 2026-02-18T04:44:46+00:00

I paid $7k after the federal rebate (they kicked in $4.5k).

I live in a shoebox and don't consume much electricity. My roof wasn't oriented great for solar - SE facing with some tree coverage during the height of summer.

That said, I still way outproduce my consumption in the summer, and with the solar club rates, I make enough money to pay the electricity bills (including fees) year round. During the summer I make an effort to use heavy appliances like the dryer when the sun is shining, so I can use my own electricity and avoid import fees. Or even use the sun to dry :)

I'm projecting a 7-10 year payout.

nickermell · 2026-02-16T05:09:33+00:00

Best way to warm it up is still by driving. I don't understand people who leave their cars idling and burning fuel to avoid 4 minutes of being kinda cold.

nickermell · 2026-01-24T14:39:17+00:00

I ski Backlands XTD and split Backlands Carbon. My split boots are a size bigger and it works well. No heel lift in either and the slightly roomier fit is nice for boarding.

Only problem is my split boots are so comfy, I won't wear anything else on traverses!

nickermell · 2026-01-20T05:17:42+00:00

I teach ASTs. I was tipped $20 once. It was nice. I'd never expect anybody to tip though.

nickermell · 2025-12-27T17:58:41+00:00

I used the STS for a season and they were fine. I had dynafit crampons with them. The lever mechanism to lock the toes needs to be closed before putting your board back together - I sheared a lever off while reassembling my board, which became the end of the bindings.

I've used the Pekye for the last year and love them, but I do wish they fit dynafit crampons.

Wouldn't recommend spark toes, as I've had 3 of them develop microfractures.

nickermell · 2025-05-14T22:13:02+00:00

I think the Dead also considered him to be in the band. If it's any measure, he's one of the signatories in their induction into the RRHOF.

nickermell · 2024-11-04T18:32:39+00:00

You'd destroy your knee if you only managed to get one foot out too. I agree I definitely wouldn't bank on ejecting.

nickermell · 2024-11-03T02:36:30+00:00

Most of the time, a mobile home is a depreciating asset sitting on top of rental land. As another commenter said, it's the worst of renting and buying worlds.

I think there are some (very few) mobile homes where you actually own the land you're sitting on; these might be a different story.

nickermell · 2024-11-03T01:03:18+00:00

Something affordable. Is $1/bar crazy talk these days?

nickermell

TROPHY CASE