We’ve had the opportunity to see many, many innovative uses for bacon on our friendly neighborhood blog, but this one could take the jackpot.  This guy has designed a thermal lance / plasma torch made of bacon, to take advantage of the large amount of chemical energy contained in its proteins and fats.

Bacon - The Other White Heat

Read more here.

After missing this year’s Banff Film Festival visit to Reno (due to negligence on my part), I took a look through the winning films section and found an interesting finalist called “The Incredible Lightness of Skiing”.  The director’s website is chock-full of some of the best backcountry ski adventure footage that I’ve seen, much of it taking place in the Selkirks.   Here’s a clip showing the ascent & descent of the Comstock Couloir -

Visit the website for more inspirational stories (be sure to check out the Jupiter Traverse video)…anyone want to head up north for some b/c tele adventuring next season?

Brad L. & I noticed an ugly-looking fracture after skiing Rose this morning on the south side of the East Bowl access road just before it enters the parking lot.  We thought we’d take a look to see whether the snow cover has improved at the lower elevations and saw the obvious results of an avalanche.  After looking at the scene for a minute, we could see a single set of tracks descending, then an uptrack that ended about 50 feet below the crown with no (visible) exiting uptrack…it didn’t look good, so we reported to ski patrol and they initiated a search.  As of now, RGJ reports that the search continues, but that it looks like the slide occurred yesterday and no one has been reported missing.  Here’s a photo showing the fracture and another highlighting the truncated uptrack.  The slide appears to have occurred as a result of the hiker passing over a convex bulge into the gully where the slope steepens.  One reason I wanted to post this is because a lot of us ski this general area – so please avoid the steeper slopes of the gullies.

original full-size image, crown spans the middle third of the photo, skintrack enters from left

smaller image with highlighted skintrack truncated by avalanche

also available - bacon mints, bacon toothpicks & bacon beans

Another fine swine-flavored product for your consumptive needs…what better motivation do you need to maintain your dental health?  I think I’ll order a few rolls today and keep one in every jacket pocket, one in my ski pack, and another for my bikepack.

What a great way to deal with those long approaches!  Wonder if they’ll send one out for team bacon strip testing and review?

Finally on a mass-production scale – carbon fiber belt drive to replace chains on a few of Trek’s 2009 lineup.  From the article: “…the new belts are a low-maintenance solution to a chain,
which has roughly 3,000 parts including all the links and connectors….an urban rider won’t have to worry about greasing or cleaning the
chain. The belt can be cleaned with a normal cleaning agent and rag,
and the bike sprocket is designed to push through any snow, dirt or
grime. And one belt will typically last three years — the life span of
three chains.”

Trek's new belt drive

-Nice, can’t wait to try one!