Piton Hybrid? It is true...

Happy Man in a Piton Hybrid.




You know when you are talking gear with a designer and he complains (only a little mind you) that his original design has now been some what usurped by a new product, that there is something to it.

Especially if you liked the original and really like the newest "version" even more.



In this case the Patagonia Piton Hybrid Piton Hoody was the topic of discussion. The product that it closely resembles is the R1 Hoody. I own and use both.



But seldom, if ever, can I remember making two blog posts in such a short amount of time on a single product.I recently bought 2 moreon the Internet at retail! And now my wife has one as well. It is a Patagonia insurgency here! Weird that, as I am not generallya big fan of Patagonia.



But when one piece of clothingrapidly becomes mychoice for everything froma fast ski run, to an alpine ice climb, bank the fact it is a good piece of outdoor clothing. Way better than first impression might leave you with. When I want to watch TV in mine (yes I admit to it, I watch TV on occasion) I know something is up. When Ican run on a wet and miserable day in it...BC ski in it with out a shell......well you get the idea. Most anything I do I might want to use a Piton Hybrid. No thumb holes which I like. But long sleeves. Great hood. Water and wind resistant inserts and a long, well fitted body. Full zip. One chest pocket. And super comfortable as a base layer, mid layer or even a outer layer. How many pieces of clothing that can do all three for you with little or no compromise?



Few pieces of gear have impressed me this much. Phantom 6000 with Baruntse liners, the Nomic, CCW packs, the TLT. Nothing in clothing I'd add to the list. And we all know I like much of the the currentclothing lines.






Piton again, with no shell required, on a mid winter summit.




More here:

http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//01/patagonia-piton-hoody.html

Arlington :: Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The Changing of the Guard.
Impressive. Meticulous. Solemn. Ceremonial.
Photos taken Sunday October 11, ..

A Magical Night

Above image: "Aurora Borealis, Grand Portage Village"

This is my first northern lights image made with the Canon 5D Mark II. I've been sooooo anxious to see northern lights ever since getting the 5D II in March of last year. I had heard that there was going to be a heightened chance of seeing northern lights over Friday and Saturday night this past weekend, so I made it a point to stay up late and check the sky about every 15 minutes. I was about to give up on Friday night when I checked the sky one last time at 2:00 a.m. and lo and behold, there was the aurora! I had my camera gear ready, so I grabbed it and went down to the beach in front of my house. I hopped in my boat and headed out to Grand Portage Island, which is straight out in front of my house.

The shoreline I live on faces to the south, so shooting from shore doesn't give the best perspective for photographing the aurora. From the island, I'm able to shoot due North and thus have a much better view of the lights. Its a good thing I was prepared and ready to go, as once I arrived on the island I was only able to make about a half dozen images of the northern lights before a large cloud bank moved in. For the brief moments that the event lasted, it certainly was an amazing sight to see. Complementing the lights was some of the calmest water that I've ever seen on Lake Superior. Also contributing to the WOW factor of the night was the light of the full moon coming from behind me as I made this image. I used my Canon 17-40mm lens with an exposure time of 25 seconds, aperture f4, ISO 400.



Above image: "May moon over Pete's Island"

After I had photographed the aurora looking to the north above the village of Grand Portage, I turned around and saw this incredible moonscape laid out before me looking to the south. This image was an unexpected treat of the evening as I had only been expecting to capture the northern lights, not a nice moonscape as well! This image was made with a Canon EF 17-40 lens, aperture f4, ISO 800. Exposure length was 20 seconds. White balance was set to fluorescent to bring out the blue in the sky. And yes, those are stars in the sky :-)

Rustic Montana Barns

Sunday, September 18th - - While traveling back north on state road 541, along the Montana Bale Trail, I saw these two barns near the road and just “had” to stop. I love the colors on the weathered siding, especially on the barn on the left. The sun was playing hide and seek with the clouds and a brisk wind was blowing...

Tombstone Tuesday :: Indiana Sisley & Conrad Stem

Indiana Sisley and Conrad Stem, my 4th great grandparents, are buried in Hively Corners (now known as St. Matthews Cemetery) in Thorncreek Township, Whitley County, Indiana. Their small gravestones, located just south of the church, are dwarfed by the much larger markers surrounding them. Above photo taken July 14, ... The two below were taken two weeks earlier.

On top of marker: INDIANA
On face of marker: Wife of / C. STEM / BORN / MAY 18, 1809. / DIED / DEC. 25, 1888. / Gone but not forgotten.

On top of marker: CONRAD STEM
On face of marker: BORN / MAY 16, 1804. / DIED / JULY 25, 1882. / Not lost, blest thought, but gone before. / Where we shall meet to part no more.

Large Rock Avalanches on the Nisqually

OK, folks, there're some major rock avalanches happening on the Nisqually Glacier. Anyone venturing near the Nisqually or even traversing across it lower down to get across to the Fan should read this post. We're not talking about a bunch of rocks, but many thousands of tons of debris in a 50' wall of snow, ice, water, dust, and rock coming down the glacier that would outrun anything in its path.


Rangers, climbers, and guides at Camp Muir first were aware when these series of slides started on the 24th of June. Rangers reported feeling the earth shake and hearing a very loud rumble. Indeed, you can tell from extent of airborne dust in the picture above that it must have been loud. Shortly after the slide occurred, the geologists at the Cascades Volcano Observatory called us and asked us what was up. Below is the seismograph reading during the event.Here's a quote from one of the original emails between the NPS and USGS. - "FYI about 10 minutes ago the climbing rangers at Camp Muir saw what they all described as the biggest icefall they've ever seen come off the Nisqually. A guide party at 8,000 ft on the Wilson glacier reported that it had multiple fingers & traveled down to about 7,800 ft. They also described it as the biggest icefall they've ever seen anywhere.
The rangers at Muir described the debris as a mix of rock & ice and being about 50 feet thick but couldn't judge the acreage covered as it is hard to see the entire run-out zone from Muir. " from Ranger Ben Guttridge.

After I heard about the slide, and saw it from my house in Packwood, I decided to hop in my airplane and take a ride towards the mountain to get some pictures as close as I could.


All in all, there have been three slides of this size in the last two days. Right now, we don't recommend crossing the Nisqually Glacier at all - although at this time, the park has not declared a "closure" of the area. If you are intent on doing the Kautz Glacier route, think about accessing the base of the route by Comet Falls trailhead. Click on this link for a Google Earth KMZ file of the approximate extent of the series of avalanches. Also, here is the screenshot of this file from Google Earth.

Border Collie

Tuffee thinks she is herding Sunny. Sunny says he is way to old to pay attention to a little dog.