As I Write These Words…
As I write these words, my five-year-old son is sitting in his kindergarten class, making Christmas tree ornaments and enjoying a last-day-of-class party before his long Christmas vacation begins. And the thought that sends me into uncontrollable fits of sobbing, over and over, is that he is coming home today.
My son will come home today from school, and check to see if there are any new presents for him under our tree, and tell me about what he did in class today. And I will try my best not to cry in front of him, and when I do cry, I will try to find words to explain what cannot be explained.
To the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook shootings, and to all affected by this utterly senseless act, you are in my thoughts and prayers. To everyone else, as you hug your children tonight, I beg you to reconsider the terrible, unconscionable, unforgivable stupidity of gun culture in this country. We have to change this.
Sandy Hook students enjoy the rehearsal for our 4th grade winter concert – a talented group led by Maryrose Kristopik! twitter.com/DHochsprung/st…
— Dawn Hochsprung (@DHochsprung) December 12, 2012
Posted in News | 4 Comments
The Ghost Whisperer
Think of Mountain Hardwear’s 6.7-ounce Ghost Whisperer as a high-end heat infusion. If you want the best possible warmth-to-weight ratio in an ultralight top, this is it. The insulated Ghost Whisperer pairs 850-fill down with an incredible 7×10 denier nylon—a next-generation fabric developed as part of Mountain Hardwear’s Ueli Steck Project. The fabric’s super-tight weave is naturally down-proof, windproof, and (more…)
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My Quick ’n Dirty Bootfitting Tips
At Mammoth last weekend I had the interesting experience of hearing two exactly opposite bootfitting opinions in two consecutive days at two consecutive shops. US bootfitters overwhelmingly tilt toward putting people into the smallest possible boot shell, and that was indeed the gist of Opinion A, best summed up as, “It’s always better to size small and expand the shell if needed.” (more…)
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The Mammoth Report
Thank goodness we have Mammoth! Yes, Mammoth did see rain all the way up to about McCoy Station during last week’s Mega-Wet, but enough of that moisture fell as snow across the mountain to produce a dense, saturated early-season base that is currently making for excellent skiing. Despite the snow’s high water content, upper mountain slopes were mostly fluffy and light, thanks to Mammoth’s ubiquitous wind (more…)
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First Steps: Kids on Snow
In my teach your kids to ski series from last season, we talked a lot about the process of getting your kids familiar with and interested in skiing, from the philosophical (promoting ski culture) to the practical (gearing up and dry land training). While I can’t stress enough the benefits of these off-the-hill preparations, at some point, obviously, you’re going to want to put your kids on snow (more…)
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Death Valley In ’49
Does anyone read books anymore? This is not a rhetorical question—my books section is basically a ghost town nowadays. Still, for those of you who still like to hold a bound stack of old paper in your hands for hours at a time, here’s William L. Manly’s Death Valley in ’49, a classic story of pioneer life and the California Gold Rush, plus a truly remarkable account of a disastrous journey across Death Valley (more…)
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November Snow
I’m starting to think last season traumatized me. I’ve got this jonesy, pessimistic mindset right now—not helped much by the fact that the big Southern California ranges are currently bare-bones dry at all elevations. Check that: you can find a few sickly snowmaking patches at Mountain High and the Big Bear resorts. NOAA is showing moisture coming, at least, but temperatures look far from ideal (more…)
Posted in Current Conditions | 6 Comments
Nikon D800
Perhaps the best way to introduce Nikon’s full-frame D800 DSLR is to note that it is not at all the camera Nikon enthusiasts were expecting. In hindsight, there is a certain logic to the D800′s massive, 36-megapixel sensor—it delivers very nearly the same pixel density as Nikon’s DX-sensor D7000, only spread across a much larger FX sensor. Still: 36 megapixels! What on Earth are we supposed to do (more…)
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The Invisible Note
I’ve been dutifully changing diapers for a long, long time, but also of course working towards getting my kids out of diapers, and though I think I can at last declare success, I can also safely say I won’t be writing any how-to-potty-train books. My last, desperate potty training tactic, after I gave up on everything else, was to simply use Behavioral Psychology methods to try to de-anxiefy the whole process (more…)
Posted in Musings | 0 Comments
The Cosmos Conundrum (Updated)
Okay, deep breath. First of all, kudos to Lou for breaking this story. Go read what he has to say, and then come back for my thoughts. Good? Good. And now, for my take: sh*t! I wasn’t able to run Lou’s test on the pre-production Cosmos that I skied last winter because I’d already returned them. But my own, brand-new pair arrived today, and I can confirm I’m seeing exactly the same (more…)
Posted in Gear | 3 Comments
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