Bronco

I'd definetly call before heading anywhere in the N. Cascades this weekend. I hear the Mtn. Loop is closed indefinetly at Robe or maybe Verlot and rumors of closures on Hwy 20 at Concrete and Hamilton as well as the Darrington/Arlington Hwy. HWY 2 is open now.

Obviously forecasting is no guarantee that it's going to be safe but, the guy said he wanted to climb Rainier in the winter so to suggest he avoid avalanche chutes and terrain altogether is not very realistic.

damn! he sucks ass! Bah! at least they're out there having fun. How long have you been AT skiing Cracked? The first time I tried to ski with a pack it was down a icy road in my leather climbing boots on some little 160's that I had to move the rear binding back to accomidate my boot. I must have looked like a complete goof ball who had never been on skis prior. The 50 lb pack kept pulling me over backwards. No semalance of control with the leather boots either. I think the very first time I skied, it went bettter than that trip. Ugh. I had been a pretty avid downhill skiier (and jibber) for about 10 years prior to that too.

Will: I've been pretty happy with my BD Gemini's single LED and use it 90% of the time and the Halogen only when routefinding in the dark, which is not very often, thank God. No problems.

I'd strongly recomend you make a concerted effort to learn avalanche forecasting and not rely on an "expert" you met on the internet. I found myself in some akward situations with some "experts" I found on this very website. I'm sure I'm not alone in that regard It's really not rocket science and there are a few basic avalanche courses you could complete prior to Feb/March which is the most common time to do a winter climb of Rainier. It is possible to perform a pretty accurate analysis of the snowpack without getting into the facceting or metamorphism of the snow particles, just the basics. I talked with one guy who met some (experienced) internet buddies to do Rainier in the winter and had to show them how to self arrest and tie in at the middle of the rope at Camp Muir. or just hire a certified guide.

Sounds pretty good coming from a guy who asked for advice on how to re-lace his climbing shoes last week, thanks! I've mounted (and re-mounted ) several pairs of bindings on downhill skis, usually with no problems but, was a little wary of these goll-dang-fangled bindings. Looks like a 2-3 beer job to me, possiby 4 if I'm trying to keep an ear on the game.

look here: http://www.wildsnow.com/articles/dynafit_mount_2001/dynafit_mount_2001_1.html What do you guys who've mounted the dynafit bindings think?

I recieved a strange e-mail from this website. Pretty funny. http://www.art888.com/index.html

Came across this while gaping at ski's online: http://www.evogear.com/tent_sale.htm some good deals to be had on the website too.

I have seen this too. I think that differential cooling on the exterior creates internal pressure that forces the liquid H20 out through small fissures in the surface, at which point it freezes. I think that this dynamic probably occurs anywhere ice envelops liquid water... No, no, no. That's all wrong. See, I was there and we get to the top of this huge serac and Mark says, "hey, how about we get outa here, this climb is way too easy". So, I'm like, "yeah, its pretty lame let's just rap our way down" so we turn around and there's like, no rap anchors anywhere. We were so scared. One minute we're having a great time, the next, here's Dr. Doom rearing it's ugly head. So with a surge of adrenaline, I totally flip out and chop the shit out of the big serac and carve it into the form of a big icicle and stab it into the snow over where it would be useful. Mark was like totally pissed and was like "hey man, that's not cool, you just wasted that whole serac and now it's gone for future generations to climb" . He was so pissed that he even decided to spite me and leave me outa his book despite putting a picture of the icicle I carved in there. I guess I'm too extreme.

badgerbadgerbadgerbadger....

I did a cycle (5 day's loading, 3 weeks of maintenance) in August and put on 8 lbs in the first 5 days from 176 to 184. Strength gain was noticable, I could pound out a couple more reps on most lifts right away and it gives you a nice happy buzz durring the loading phase. I don't think I'll use any more, I don't want to put on any more weight right now, and I really was just curious about it's effect. I used Creadrive from GNC for the loading and plain old creatine for maintenance. From what I've heard, you can't go wrong with different brands, creatine is creatine, but I prefer the fruity flavored stuff to the plain creatine you put in your tea or coffee (hot drinks dissolve it best). Oh yeah, creatine supposedly will start to go through some chemical reaction once it's in liquid form and turn into some useless compound (within hours) that has no effect on your body so avoid the creatine sold as "syrum" and consume your beverage shortly after putting it in your drink. I also learned that some people don't react at all to creatine as they already have enough in their body and the muscle tissue won't absorb any more. Hope that helps. Most of this info I learned from research on the internet so it may be totally wrong, but, probably not. edit* just read your post about rock/boulder climbers and must say that in my opinion, the strength you gain might be defeated by the weight you will probably gain. More of a useful tool for Alpine climbers.

ooh, like 11 minutes, back to start, do not pass go, do not collect $200.00.

Really! this is only a one to one and a half beer job while watching MNF, do you hear me soldier! I think a nice deep burgundy lace would give juuuuust the right accent on those periwinkle colored mythos anyway. Thabulous!

They shouldn't be sleeping in the middle of the day anyway.

You guys have to watch the whole thing and see the ending

In early June, I found myself working on my tan just above thumb rock on Liberty Ridge. It had been hot in Seattle all week and felt like it was 80 degrees up there two thousand feet above the Carbon Glacier. We had been listening to Liberty Cap Glacier shed small ice and rock avalanches above us all morning when CRACK-BOOOOM! Sounded like half the damn mountain just fell off. I scramble for my boots and glance up over my shoulder to a formerly blue sky turned white with the cloud of snow now rumbling toward us. I hear one dude in the Canadian party camped just below us shout "we're gonna get hit!!" We all kinda look at each other helplessly as there is no where to hide from the big mutha roaring down next to Liberty Ridge. As the white cloud blows by we realize we weren't on the menu that day and listen to the debris fall to the glacier below. One of the Canadians said that was the biggest slide he'd ever seen first hand and he's a BC skier from the Revelstroke area so he's probably seen some big avalanches. One of his parnters said the only bigger slide he'd seen was on Broad peak in the Himilaya. Big Lou would say that the mountain was just showing off, but, we all felt "the fear" that day.

I agree with the band's for PT but, long term, you should consider some upper body conditioning and weight lifting is an excellent way to accomplish that, obviously. Sounds like you might've injured your rotator cuff a little, those can take a long time to heal, from my experience and I'd avoid throwing until you can do it without pain.

R&D (4 pitches of mid fifth) has an easy walk off. Recomend the cocaine connection alternate start.

Another fatboy sighting over the weekend participating in some "Extreme scrambling" on Del Chosso peak.

I offered to film you barf and you declined. Where's the picture of the frog?

Where's Dr. Phil when you need him?

No way spraymonkey! Say no to low carbs!

I like the blue boar ale, thanks!

A guy can't even enjoy a cold beer anymore without having to consider the political ramifications he's indirectly supporting? What is the world coming too? sheesh! How about Schmidt? Is that stuff still NW brewed? Lucky? Oly? Henry's? What's a guy with an obsession for cheap beer to drink while maintaining a firm moral stand?