The family at the zoo

Installing Quiver Killer binding inserts

I finally got around to a long-planned project--installing some Quiver Killer binding inserts in my "all-around" skis. I have these mounted with telemark bindings now but want to be able to switch to AT bindings. Before the Quiver Killers it was either own two pair of skis or forget about it. Now I should be able to enjoy both!

The first step was just putting the Quiver Killers into the existing telemark binding holes. I figured it was good practice so when I started drilling for the AT bindings I wouldn't be as likely to mess up.

This jig is super handy for keeping the drill straight. Let me know if you want to borrow it.






















Also handy is a drill bit with a custom head designed to exactly mirror the shape of the Quiver Killer insert. Nice, huh?

















After carefully lining up and drilling all the holes, it's time to tap. The tap is very slightly larger than 1/4" and you need to be careful to count turns-I went 5-1/2 to make sure there was enough depth to get the inserts slightly below the topsheet. I overtapped the first ski (it's a foam core ski so that was easy to do) so here's hoping the inserts stay put!

Getting the tap started vertically is the difficult part. Make sure to back the tap up (reverse direction) a tiny bit about every half turn.

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A Quiver Killer and the insertion tool up close. The insertion tool is squared at the end to fit into the tap wrench but I found that I could be much more precise turning them in using the tool by hand with no wrench handle. Otherwise it was hard to get a feel for when the insert was at the right spot.

And the finished product:

I made sure to attach my bindings very minimally finger-tight so that the epoxy would set up with any "give" that was needed to fit the bindings to the inserts. 

North Twin Sister-West Ridge

Mike, Ryan, Doug and I went up the West Ridge of the North Twin Sister in a day and a half this August 18-19. We got a late afternoon start after pizza and beer (before the climb, which is unusual!).

We had heavier-than-usual packs since we were spending the night. This made the approach more difficult, with a fair amount of walking our bikes...but we knew that we would have a cruiser ride out the next day.

Camp was nice, a few mosquitoes kept away by the fire and then the cold. We woke just after dawn and hike up to the ridge:

Beautiful scrambling just below the summit.

Zebra in Ngorongoro Crater

 
The plural of zebra is zebra.

Barranco Valley Waterfall

 

This is getting to be fun! I know it looks a little fake, I'm going to try not to go too far overboard on the HDR stuff but at the same time it's really interesting to play with.

This shot is a self-portrait taken at a waterfall in the Barranco Valley, Kilimanjaro.

Rescuing photos

 
I'm starting, very slowly, to rescue some old corrupted images from 2008. My old chipset had a graphics card problem that ate a lot of my favorite photos. Some of them, though, were preserved in the original RAW file form. I'm now slowly developing those and learning a bit about high dynamic range tone mapping--here is one example, with hopefully more to come soon!

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!

 
Took about 1/2 hour to fit out the truck bed with 3/4" closed-cell foam.

Snow day

 

Snow came early this year-November 22nd and it's going to stick around for a couple of days.

Spider Meadows Hike

The family went for a quick weekend backpack to Spider Meadows. We left town on Friday to try to beat the crowds, which was pretty successful judging from the crowds we saw on our way out Saturday. A long drive for one overnight but beautiful scenery.

Relaxing in Baños

For those of you who don't speak Spanish, Baños means "baths," as in, nice hot water...we were joined by Rodrigo's daughter Domenica and did the classic tourist circuit: a soak in the mineral water followed by a trip to the waterfalls below town. A big pizza lunch and dinner and we are ready to go again!

Cotopaxi summit

We certainly didn't climb this mountain for the view this time...we were well coated in rime ice and spent only about five minutes on the summit before heading down to dry out!

Cotopaxi dawn

Dawn found us about a thousand feet below the summit. The pictures don't show you the wind. More photos coming...

Approaching Cotopaxi

We came to Cotopaxi with beautiful weather, which soon changed to very, very windy.

A night at La Cienega

A group photo taken at La Cienega, a beautiful hacienda near Cotopaxi where we spent an evening relaxing after climbing Illiniza Norte.

One more of Illiniza Norte

Illiniza Norte (right) and Sur (left) from a meadow on the way up.

Illiniza Norte

Some pictures from our climb of Illiniza Norte:

Cotopaxi on a rare clear day

Starting out on the south ridge of Illiniza Norte

Pasochoa

After a rest day in Quito we did a short hike up Pasochoa, a volcanic caldera just south of town.

A few shots from Imbabura

We just came down from Imbabura. We had fantastic weather (cloudy on top, of course) and a good time. It was a big hike--about 4,000 vertical feet and we are not completely acclimatized so we are pretty tired today, but we are taking a day off tomorrow and should recover fine!

The morning brought great views of Cayambe to the southeast

Doug climbing the last stretch of steep paramo before we reach the crater rim.