Here’s how it usually goes:

I pack my TNF Venture Jacket and my GoLite Ether windshirt and head for the hills.

When I get to the trailhead, I look at the sky. I mutter a bit, scanning for clouds, wisps, moisture.

More often than not the heavier (but waterproof) Venture shell stays in the car, and my admittedly-flimsy GoLite windshirt goes in my pack.

Then, I sort of cross my fingers and hope if a storm pops up, it will blow over quickly.

How great is the new HyVent-fabric North Face Triumph Anorak? It weighs essentially the same as a windshirt, at 5.4 ounces, but offers all the waterproof/breathable performance of a much heavier technical shell.

This was a case of love-at-first-sight for me. As soon as I saw the Triumph Anorak, I just knew I had to have one.

And who knows…if you’re a die-hard minimalist at heart, romance might be just around the corner for you as well. Check out my preliminary Triumph Anorak Review.

I was browsing the message boards at thebackcountry.net when I happened to see a new “North Peak” post. I clicked on it, thinking someone had posted a climbing trip report (North Peak’s North Couloir is a classic Sierra Ice Climb in summer).

Surprise: this wasn’t a climbing TR: it was a Sierra ski report—in July!

The photos are courtesy of SLT Joe, who skied not only North Peak’s right-hand couloir but also the notorious left couloir on 7/5.

Congrats to SLT Joe and his crew for getting out there and nabbing such a cool descent! I’ve got to award double-secret bonus points for scoring the left couloir (from the chockstone), which is I believe even steeper than the right-hand couloir (itself no slouch). I never would have guessed North Peak’s couloirs were skiable this late in the year.

Seeing these shots of North Peak rekindled fond memories of my own ski descent of the North Couloir. If you haven’t ski toured in the Yosemite area, I can’t recommend it highly enough. The skiing and scenery are spectacular.

As for North Peak, SLT Joe’s photos really capture how steep this ski descent actually is. The right-hand couloir is absolutely one of the Sierra’s spicier shots—reminiscent of an elevator shaft when you’re standing at the top staring down. As for the left couloir, check out the entire set of photos on Joe’s site, SierraFlow.com for more views of this eye-popping line.

Here’s something new on the Search front: cuil.com, a brand-new search engine developed by former Google Engineers.

According to CNN Money, former Google employee Anna Patterson’s last Internet search engine was so effective, Google bought it in 2004 to upgrade its own system. Now Patterson and her husband have launched cuil (pronounced “cool”), which aims to compete with the search juggernaut.

Google has dominated internet search so completely for so long it’s hard to imagine anyone challenging their monopoly. But many of us would love to see Search distributed more evenly amongst a number of companies. For that reason alone, any effort to challenge Google is worth cheering—

Any genuine competition is likely to improve existing Search performance (and Google, good as it is, is far from perfect). Perhaps more importantly, having one company dominate Search (as Google does) breeds a volatile and easily-abused (and abusive) system in which a businesses’ Google rankings can literally mean success or failure.

Best of luck, Cuil!

ps: please rank SierraDescents.com highly!!

One of the blogs I enjoy reading on a regular basis is SierraJournal.com, run by Matthew DiPietro, a Bay Area tech and communications specialist.

Matt seems to have a knack for finding interesting and news-worthy backcountry tidbits to write about, and does a far better job staying on topic than I ever could.

He also runs occasional climbing and backcountry skiing trip reports, like skiing Matterhorn Peak’s East Couloir.

Matt’s site used to be called sierra-alpinist.com, but he wanted to branch out to cover environmental and alpine news as well as offering climbing TR’s, so he nabbed the SierraJournal domain and hit the ground running.

From the mission statement:

Sierra Journal was born of a passion for mountain climbing, backcountry skiing and wilderness travel in the Sierra Nevada. Sierra Journal’s mission is to provide great outdoor-related content in the form of trip reports, mountain adventure narratives, environmental news, local and national mountain-related news, gear reviews, and other outdoor tidbits.

SierraJournal is one of a very few active Sierra-themed blogs I know about. If you haven’t already visited, browse on over and check it out.

One of the fun parts of running a website is tracking browser stats. This information is useful in site design (matching your content to your users’ interests). It’s also just plain…interesting.

So I was looking over a list of keywords that brought people to SierraDescents this week when I came across this search phrase: “putting in a diamond on your teeth yourself”.

Now, this may sound crazy, but I think I understand why Google referred this searcher to my site (more…)

As mentioned in my Trails.com Review, one of the perks I got from signing up for Trails.com’s free 2-week trial was two free issues of Backpacker Magazine.

Both issues arrived as promised, allowing me to take a look at Backpacker after several years’ hiatus (I was a subscriber a while back).

What strikes me right away is how big an influence technology has on the outdoor industry today—and on consumers.

Backpacker Magazine occasionally resembles an issue of PC World, thanks to the infusion of GPS and other tech devices that people are now carrying with them when they venture into the backcountry.

Editorially, I find Backpacker a tad bland and also busy. The magazine doesn’t seem to have settled on a single, effective look or feel. Like many magazines in this genre, Backpacker can at times resemble not so much a feature publication as one big advertisement.

On the positive side, the sheer quantity of content in Backpacker is impressive. The editors do pack a lot of tidbits into the pages. I’d prefer fewer subjects covered in greater detail (especially regarding gear reviews), but I did appreciate the wide range of topics.

After mulling it over for a while, I decided to go ahead and subscribe. What pushed me over the edge were two feature articles which I thought were quite good: detailed, in-depth, and interesting. That was enough to make me sign up for a year. If Backpacker can continue delivering high-quality feature content, I’ll be happy.

The SierraJournal (formerly Sierra-Alpinist.com) has a short write-up on the death of Exum Mountain Guides employee George Gardner, 58, who died Saturday, July 19, while free soloing the Grand Teton’s Lower Exum Ridge.

One quote in particular about the story caught my attention (from the Star Valley Independent):

According to investigators, it is not unusual for professional guides—either in pairs or solo—to go out for additional climbing on their own, once their clients have settled in for the night.

Really?

Are the investigators referring specifically to EMG policy, or is this considered common practice throughout the guiding community?

The article gives the impression that it was typical for guides to leave their clients alone in order to go climb technical routes (sometimes solo) at night. This may just be a case of sloppy reporting (perhaps guides in groups occasionally split up, some staying behind with clients, some going off on their own), but if there is any grain of truth to the claim, it sure seems like a terribly ill-advised practice.

I think I’ll try a little follow-up of my own on this one.

What do you think? Is it ever acceptable for guides to leave clients behind to go off on their own and climb?

I envy those who went to see Wall-e without knowing anything in advance about the film.

By now, word has spread about Disney/Pixar’s new animated picture.

You’ve probably heard at least one critic claim the film is brilliant.

You’re probably heard at least one so-called “Conservative” voice claim the film represents the worst of Liberal eco-brainwashing attempts, with special bonus condemnation for targeting children (more on this to come).

I will tell you, in my humble opinion, that “Wall-e” is a masterpiece. And if I could recommend one thing more than any other, it would be that you stop reading now, don’t read anything else about the film, and go see it. Then come back, and we’ll try to talk about all the ways in which this remarkable movie surprised us (more…)

Just another Footwear Review for you: the Vasque Breeze XCR.

Coming from my old beloved but battered Nike Air Zoom Tallacs, the Breeze immediately seemed like a big upgrade.

Yes, they weigh about nine ounces more, but the construction is incomparably more rugged, the sole offers considerably better traction, and the support is outstanding.

You can get either a waterproof/breathable XCR (Gore-Tex) version or a basic breathable Breeze.

Either shoe is a fine choice if you want a lightweight hiker that will safely handle overnight backpacking loads. I’ve been very happy with mine. For the full scoop, check out the review.

Mountaineering boots are different from hiking boots primarily in their support of crampon use.

First, they provide a way to attach crampons to the boot, in the form of heel and toe lugs (for fully automatic crampon bindings) or just a heel lug (for new-matic crampons).

Second, they provide extra stiffness both laterally and longitudinally so that your muscles and ligaments don’t get wrecked while trying to front-point or flat-foot.

Other differences: a good mountaineering boot will likely be waterproof, warmer, more durable, and offer rock climbing-specific features as well.

I knew going in to my North Pal hike that I wasn’t going to climb the U-Notch Couloir in ski boots, which pretty much meant I needed mountaineering boots (using a 12-point strap-on crampon with my hiking boots didn’t strike me as a good idea).

The La Sportiva S EVO GTX ended up being my pick for the trip. I was drawn by the boot’s light weight and glowing reviews (the Trango won a Backpacking Magazine Editor’s Choice Award), and I wasn’t disappointed.

For the full scoop, see my La Sportiva Trango S EVO GTX Review.