Leaning Tree

Here's a discovery from one of our recent fall color outings... I'm always on the lookout for interesting and uniquely shaped trees with the idea in mind of photographing them silhouetted against the night sky. I think this one could work quite well in that respect. I got lucky with the clouds in this shot, as I spotted the tree while driving down a Cook County backroad and only had a few moments to stop and photograph it. This tree is still living, as it did have a few leaves on it, but I don't think it's going to live very much longer. It seems to be on its way out :-(

Last Sunrise of

Last sunrise of in Grand Portage on the Lake Superior shoreline. I had to scramble to get to this spot, mostly because I didn't give myself enough time to get there to scope it out before the sun rose. Luckily, I am quite familiar with this shoreline and know that there are some nice rocks there. What I wasn't expecting was this really neat cap of ice covering this rock, with icicles hanging down on the side facing the lake. It made for a really nice foreground.



I hope everyone has a wonderful, fun (and safe!) time ringing in the new year!

New Petzl Lynx Crampon!

This should stoke up the ice and alpine climbers



The new Lynx crampons from Petzl offers a forged and easily replaceable monopoint or dual point option all done with a single bolt and spacer size with nothing else to cut or "screw" around with! And they are about to be introduced here in North Americalater this week. Typical Petzl designquality. Some cool innovations like having the option of twosetsof boot toe attachment systems with the same crampon. Mono point can be centered or off set, your choice! The front points (single or dbl) can also be adjusted forwards or back or off set, along with twoversions of the toe bail. Much lighter as wellthan the past M10 version.And a much better bott system than the M10. Although I haven't had a chance to weigh a pair yet likely the lightest crampon on the market with replaceable forged front points. Better yet IMO a full set of 12 (yes twelve) down points in addition to the forged front points. Full botts as well. Finally a company did it all in one package! Petzl hasjust upped the game, again!



I'll do a complete review once I get my hands on a pair! (or even better a pair on my boots ;) Delivery should be Nov. , may be even a bit earlier! Retail is being quoted currently @ $240.



Reported weights are:



1080 g (configuration with two points and ANTISNOW)



910 g (configuration with one point, no ANTISNOW)













Shown above for an easy comparisonis theearlier Petzl M10 that is now discontinued.







And thethe obvious rivals that will be slugging it out next winter. And a previous review of the newest BD Stinger here:



http://coldthistle.blogspot.com//01/preview-of-fall--black-diamond.html?showComment=1313220566067#c8734409473319898100





This follow up came later from Petzl:

The new Lynx crampon from Petzl offers a forged and easily replaceable monopoint or dual point. The Lynx will replace the M10. A much lighter replacement and should make a lot of people happy.



Modular crampon for ice and mixed climbing, with new LEVERLOCK universal bindings



From snow couloirs to dry tooling, the LYNX is a versatile crampon. Modular front points allow for many options: dual or mono-point, long or short, and/or asymmetrical. They come with two types of interchangeable front bindings to adapt to boots with or without toe welts.



Selling points:



• Versatile crampons for ice and mixed climbing

• Configuration and length of front points can be modified with one screw:

dual points in short, long or asymmetrical position

offset mono-point in short or long position



• Crampons adaptable to boots with or without toe welts:

interchangeable front bindings: stainless steel toe bail wires for shoes with toe welts, or flexible “Flexlock” style toe bindings for boots without toe welts both types of toe bindings can be adjusted to accommodate shoe width and provide sufficient point length



• LEVERLOCK heel bail is height-adjustable, designed for boots with heel welt

• Integrated front and rear ANTISNOW plates

• FAKIR carrying pouch included

• Marked bars facilitate crampon adjustment



• Comes with:

FAKIR carrying bag (V01)

front and rear ANTISNOW (T24960)

flexible front binding

stainless steel wire heel bail



Product specifications:

Number of points: 14

Boot sizes: 35 to 45 with M linking bar (included), optional L linking bar fits boots sizes 40 to 50 (T20850)

Weight: 2 x 540 g = 1080 g (configuration with two points and ANTISNOW)

2 x 455 g = 910 g (configuration with one point, no ANTISNOW)

Certification(s): CE, UIAA

The Snowpack Only Gets Better and Better

The past few weeks of winter storm snow have added several more feet to the mountain snowpack making the outlook for the 2007 climbing season better and better. The last two weeks of snow have practically doubled the size of our snowpack according to the full-depth snow profiles that we dug today and yesterday on the upper and lower Muir Snowfield respectively.

The snowpack at 8,900 feet on the Snowfield consists mainly of several feet of new snow bonded to the sturdy early February melt-freeze crust. Below the crust are several layers of older, somewhat facetted grains which are well on their way to rounding. At the base of the snowpack is a layer of more highly-developed facets which has also begun the process of rounding. Other melt-freeze and rain crusts are also present below the main mid-pack crust. Were it not for these crusts bridging the snowpack, we might be seeing a bit more avalanche activity.

Steady work continues on the road to Paradise with huge loads of rock being transported into the park every day. We are still shooting for May 1st as the optimistic forecast for the road opening. More on Access

Today's Photos

Today I have uploaded a bunch of photos. Here is one of an apple tree blossom. There are some of the desert wildflowers that grown in my yard and on the nearby desert. There are some of the redbud trees in our yard and some of my geraniums. Then there are a couple of our new kitten Wiley. Hope you like them.

Waiting for Treats

Greetings from Louisiana :: Shelter from the Cold

Wednesday afternoon, with temperatures forecast to drop into the teens for the next few nights, I considered my options: Continue camping and deal with the cold. Accept the fact that I'm a wimp and get a motel room for a week (or until the overnight temps get back into the 30s). Accept the offer of a friend to go visit them a little sooner than planned.

From the title of the post, you can probably tell that I chose the third option! And so, after traveling 650 miles west and 150 or so miles north from central Florida, I arrived Friday afternoon... in northeast Louisiana!

It's true, it's still cold here too and will be for a few more days (I'm not sure there is anywhere that you could go to escape the cold right now), but good friends warm the heart and soul as well as provide shelter from the cold. And for that, I thank them ever so much.

Rainbow Springs State Park, Dunellon, Florida
January 5, ..