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How modern all-mountain skis make you a better skier
Avatar photo James Williams

Billy Farwig is pissed.
The lifelong skier and popular ski coach at the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation has dedicated a large chunk of his life to honing his ski technique. An expert skier, Farwig’s on-snow skills have allowed him to shred big mountains all over the world, most recently in Chile. But it took the 55-year-old skier decades to cultivate such skill.
And now, with the advent of all-mountain skis, it seems an intermediate skier can become an expert overnight, just by stepping onto a new pair of planks.

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The Armyworms Are Here: Don’t let them get your greenhouse tomatoes

If there’s a greenhouse in your backyard still going, and you’re finding holes in your tomatoes the following may shed some light on what’s going on—if not—save it for next growing season.
Jim Anderson

If there’s a greenhouse in your backyard still going, and you’re finding holes in your tomatoes the following may shed some light on what’s going on—if not—save it for next growing season.
“Jim!” My wife, Sue, exclaimed one morning after she opened the greenhouse and starting watering. “There’s something eating holes in our tomatoes!”
Sue enough, when I went to take a look, there was an obvious finger-sized hole in the top of a beautiful green beefsteak tomato growing on the vines we have strung up in the greenhouse; and we began the search for the beast causing it.

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Kooky ‘Cross: The six craziest things I saw at the Halloween Cross Crusade races

Source Weekly

What a spectacle.
If you made your way to the Old Mill this weekend, amid the music, cowbells and laughter you would have heard loudspeakers announcing the arrival of the Cross Crusade cyclocross races, staged just outside the Deschutes Brewery warehouse on Saturday and Sunday.
I was there drinking Deschutes Fresh Hop IPA, handing out beer-feeds to thirsty racers and heckling, cheering and jeering in an attempt to absorb the awesomeness and hilarity that surrounds the popular event.

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Renaissance Bendites: Two among us who do it all

These are the morning and evening session hillside junkies, putting in time around work schedules for one kind of turn or another.
Source Weekly

Jane Quinn is all business in the back.
Sponsored snowboarders, bike riders, rock climbers, kayakers—we have those here in Central Oregon. But our outdoor culture is perhaps better personified by those with broader skillsets, based in a variety of fresh air activities. You know the type. These are the morning and evening session hillside junkies, putting in time around work schedules for one kind of turn or another.
Bend newcomer Jane Quinn has wasted no time in stomping around the high desert since she moved here six months ago. She’s an active member of the outdoor scene and industry, guiding the Dirt Divas mountain bike program out of Pine Mountain Sports and a Source-certified Renaissance (wo)man.

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The Sharp Lens: Smith Rock Hardcores Take Photography Up a Notch

Greg Garretson and Ryan Palo fight to become the first local guys to climb Just Do It, one of Smith Rock’s most difficult routes.
Source Weekly

The author gives rigged photography a shot with a disposable camera, a great way for beginners to hone their skills without smashing their gear.
Greg Garretson was dangling 150 feet off the ground. The wind was pushing and spinning him in his climbing harness as he fought to keep his lens steady.
Below him Ryan Palo was fighting to become the first local guy to climb Just Do It, one of Smith Rock’s most difficult routes. Garretson knew there might not be another chance to capture a successful attempt, so he steadied himself on his fixed rope, fought the vertigo and kept his eye to the camera. Then—free fall.
Palo let out the familiar scream of muscle failure. Garretson followed the climber with the lens until the rope stopped Palo’s fall, dozens of feet below, snapping a dozen great shots of the stellar climber.

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When One Door Closes; Wanted: Our elusive folding door spider

Jim looks for help in finding the rare trapdoor spiders.
Jim Anderson

Our elusive folding door spider, and its home.
So there I was last week, walking out the back door of the church in Sisters, and one of the children said, “Look at that spider, Jim!” And I did. Wow, it was something! A big powerful looking brute with massive “jaws” and armed with long black fangs. I shot the picture below (I keep my camera with me at all the times because kids don’t miss a thing) and sent it to my good friend, entomologist Eric Eaton, who knows everything about any thing with six or eight legs that flies, creeps and crawls on the Earth.
Eric immediately responded and said it was in the Family, Antrodiaetidae, (that’s a mouthful, isn’t it?) It comes out as, Antrow-deeah-tee-de-ah, which made it a folding door spider, and that rang a bell.

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Paddle the Inside Passage to Alaska: Or take a few shortcuts and do it in two weeks

For seasoned sea kayakers, paddling the Inside Passage, from Bellingham, Wash. to Muir Glacier in the East Arm of Glacier Bay, Alaska, holds the same mystique as backpacking the Appalachian or Pacific Crest Trail for backpackers.
Laurel Brauns

For seasoned sea kayakers, paddling the Inside Passage, from Bellingham, Wash. to Muir Glacier in the East Arm of Glacier Bay, Alaska, holds the same mystique as backpacking the Appalachian or Pacific Crest Trail for backpackers. And it takes about just as long.
For those who can’t miss three or four months of work at a time, but would still like to experience this journey, the good news is you can do it in about two weeks by riding the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry system for three days and enjoying another seven days paddling around Glacier Bay, an ever-changing body of water that is considered one of the world’s top kayaking destinations.

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Three More Ways to Indulge in the Frontier State

Three things to take part of when spending some time in Alaska.
The Source Staff

Heli Skiing in Valdez
Ha! And you thought skiing at Mt. Bachelor was expensive! A six-day group trip in pow-heavy March will run you $8,757 if you book a package with Valdez Heli Ski Guides. The 20-year-old outfit guarantees 30 runs, seven nights lodging (meals are extra!), and a helicopter and guide, of course. It’s pricey, sure, but can you really put a price on magical, untracked powder? Apparently, you can. The going rate is $3,500 per hour of flight time. Whoa.
Photo taken by Lucelu.

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