EarnYourTurns

As our economy has contracted, I’ve begun to eliminate all the extra stuff that I had unconsciously been holding onto in the delusional belief that more stuff was evidence of prosperity or some other such rot. When I realized I’d spent over eight-thousand dollars to store a bunch of stuff that could’ve been replaced for about $500 it was time to adopt a new paradigm about stuff. You can’t take it with you, and at some point it just gets in the way. Deb says, “do, dump, or delegate,” so I’ve been trying to dump as much as I can ever since that lesson hit home. Light is right applies to more than just mountaineering.

Two months ago three decades of slides became the object of pruning. Been going through the boxes of seconds that I’ve held onto thinking I might use them some day. It’s been an interesting walk down memory lane, and completely underscores the stupidity of lugging around boxes of celluloid that were relegated to the dust bin long ago. If I were ruthlessly efficient I’d just toss the boxes into the trash, but the part of me that believed there was value in that film demanded I give every image a second look before tossing it.

One of the nuggets recovered is below. I was reminded of its existence yesterday when someone posted a thread on telemarktips about how hard learning to telemark is. There are lots of good tricks for learning to tele. My two faves are simple exercises to control the natural tendency of your hands to be in the wrong place. Someone once told me “if your hands are in the wrong place, your feet can’t do what they’re trying to do.” On the otherhand, when you’re learning to telemark, heck even after you’ve learned to telemark, falling is a regular experience so my advice to Butch was to recognize that falling is not failing, it’s just part of the telemark deal.

With that in mind, knowing how to do a should-roll turn can be an important safety maneuver. Below is a good example of a shoulder-roll turn. Notice the excellent positioning of the hands, head and shoulder for sending this under appreciated trick. If you can get your hands and head to anticipate the correct movement, your body will follow.

A perfectly executed Should-Roll Turn. Free Heels advised.

While there are many people who have contributed to the growth of ski mountaineering in America, few were more instrumental than Paul Ramer. It was his vision, more than any other single man’s which accurately defined, perhaps prophesied, the current landscape of the sport. Some of you reading this became aware of backcountry skiing through more contemporary voices, but they all stood on the developments and ideas first promoted in America by Paul Ramer.

Against America’s tidal wave of enthusiasm for Telemark, Paul was adamant that Alpine Touring (AT) was the way, not Nordic. It was an uphill battle all the way. Steve Barnett’s book “Cross-Country Downhill” distilled the enthusiasm for backcountry skiing in 1976, and his choice of telemark gear cast the mold for those who followed. He was just following Ric Borkovec, who chose Nordic as a rehab option to a ski injury, and then found exhilaration in the freedom it provided. Others, like Doug Robinson, Paul Parker, and Alan Bard began to wax eloquent on the telemark turn and the die seemed cast. When the first all-plastic telemark boot arrived, the Terminator, American interest in AT practically dissolved.
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Since everyone who plays in the outdoors is exposed to the sun nearly everyone uses some sort of sunscreen. There are tons of options available, but which ones really work? You can tell by how much you burn, or tan, or don’t after using them. At least, you can tell what the short term effects are.

What about the long term effects? Is one brand really better than another? Has anyone you know stuck with a single brand over time so that we might even be able to tell? And if someone gets skin cancer, was it for lack of using sunscreens regularly, or just during a specific trip, or as this report suggests, maybe it WAS for using the wrong sunscreen.

Do sunscreens accelerate skin cancer?

No doubt some of you are moaning “Oh No!” right now. ’tis true, Dostie is taking the muzzle off and returning to fling words around that others won’t pay to publish. Perhaps with good reason.

For reasons that should be evident whenever you lift your head up to drink the free air, the ability to speak your mind is a cornerstone of freedom. If you don’t exercise the rights you have, like muscles, a skill, or a talent, you lose ‘em when you don’t use ‘em. So here’s to celebrating the free exchange of ideas — the reason and rhyme of words — for all things that reflect an earn your turns perspective.