mattp

Just don't do it. Yes, that stoopid trail is more than a little annoying, but it really doesn't take all THAT much longer than the shortcut and the Cascade Pass area is a high use area that I for one am glad to see them manage with an eye toward containing impact. If you want to go brush out a trail in some logging slash below the new wall by Zeke's drive in, nobody will probably care but if you start cutting trails in the Park you are just going to get the rangers to be even MORE active in disliking and disserving climbers. I honestly feel that rangers have generally lied to me and discouraged my climbing plans more than they have given me useful information or helped me, but this "fuck em; we'll just take matters into our own hands" attitude is not the answer.

I don't get it. Mr. Bush is our president. What he says and does matter a great deal. How are we supposed to feel about him if one believes, as I do, that he is taking us in the wrong direction and that he is doing so at the behest of big time criminals and despots? Sure, one can be so obsessed that they say and do stupid things or ignore obvious evidence that rebuts their assumptions, but I'm glad there are folks obsessed with the task of defeating him in the next election and I don't think it is wrong to question his explanation of his motives for cutting taxes or awarding contracts to Halliburton. Rather than a serious article that sheds real light on some new issue or something, I think the article is merely an attempt to generate some kind of "lets rally behind the president" emotion. However, I suppose I'm with Burgesss-Jackson on the "malevolence" thing -- to an extent. They are doing us a great disservice where some of our Democratic "leaders" are willing to let the economy falter or stifle the war effort just to improve their own chances in the next election. But I'm not sure they are motivated by "Bush hatred" as much as their own lust for power and their drive to please their own consituents or backers.

Several posts talk about the importance of showing respect. I completely agree, and I often wince when I see folks second-guessing what happened in someone else's tragedy or calling someone an idiot or whatever – particularly if I think it likely that family members or friends of the victim are going to read it. However, it always strikes me as odd to see someone who may be hiding behind an avatar in the first place offer condolences to someone who is never going to read this bulletin board, with respect to the loss of a person that the poster never knew and probably has no closer connection with other than the possibility that they will read a write-up in ANAM one day. I find it particularly odd when the person who posts as if he or she is hanging their head in mourning is one of those who spends all day every day insulting people on this bulletin board. Customary or not, these anonymous posts of condolences on the Internet often strike me as an empty exercise that really doesn't have much do with showing respect in any meaningful way.

Once upon a time, I went up there for a summit attempt over the Thanksgiving weekend and it was fun to be up on the mountain when nobody was there (we were just about the only party at Muir for three nights) but the weather kind of sucked. For the next two months, high winds and high precip will probably be pretty much the dominant forecast and you'll be lucky to get more than a day or two of stable good weather in a row. Good luck!

Now that it's been raining for a couple weeks, this would be the time to go for sure.

I agree with MtnNut that it is probably a better "shortcut" early in the season when brush and rocks are covered with snow. The frustration with those switchbacks is not new. I believe that folks like Manning and Spring raised the issue with the Feds thirty years ago, and a certain Mr. Beckey may have gotten into the act as well. Cry as we might I wouldn't expect them to do much for us, though, because they generally don't really build many new trails or even do a lot of maintenance on those that they have -- other than the roadside trails that are for families like Big Four Mountain or the Rainy Lake trail at Rainy Pass (they built a nice new trail at Thunder Creek Campground a few years back, too; and yes, I know that all of these are not exactly in the Park). I understand that they did a nice job on the re-route of that Eldorado Basin route a few years ago (I haven't been there when the snow was gone), but that was in response to a real erosion problem and it was not done in order to provide a more pleasing experience for hikers too impatient to follow a perfectly good trail. Although I agree with some of Erik's sentiment, I can't really argue that they ought to let a bunch of untrained and unsupervised yahoos from cc.com go up there and tear into the hillside at Cascade Pass, nor do I think this is a higher priority than, say, fixing up the trail to Boston Basin. Write your Congressmen about it, but don't expect much to change any time soon.

SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY...MOSTLY SUNNY DAYS AND CLEAR NIGHTS. WIDESPREAD NIGHT AND MORNING FOG ON THE LOWER SLOPES. FREEZING LEVEL 12000 TO 14000 FEET.

Pineapple Express? What are you guys complaining about. I bet the summit crater on Mount Raininer picked up a good load of powder.

I'm with Minx on this one. That gollum joke was funny the first 50 times, but at this point it just shows a lack of creativity for folks to keep on posting it. Lets have more haiku or something.

Exactly. It is an example of exactly what I am talking about. Had they had a single "bomber" piece of gear anywhere in their system, they probably would not have fallen to the ground. I don't know whether these guys had read John Long or not, but there is very little chance that marginal pieces at the belay ledge would have held if they had been properly equalized, but failed because they were not.

Cavey, you've asked where I'm coming from. Let me clarify: 1. I respect the members of all of our armed services who are in Iraq and elsewhere, serving our country at great risk and under substantial hardship. I believe that, on this internet bulletin board, I have at times shown MORE respect than have some of the supporters of the war - such as when I argued that the reservists who are now serving much longer combat stints than they could ever have imagined are probably real people with real families and they may be living under difficult conditions and thus are deserving of not only our thanks but some sympathy as well. Several posters on this board responded more or less to the effect of "fuck em" and argued that they knew what they signed up for and they don't need our concern now. Kind of disrespectful, don't you think? 2. I believe that the citizens in a democracy have a duty to seek to inform themselves and to debate the issues of the day. We don't live in Russia under Stalin. It is neither disrespectful nor unpatriotic to me to say that I think our president lied to us - and certainly far less disrespectful and unpatriotic than for someone to tell me I don't have a right to say what I think about these issues. 3. I don't think that our war effort was harmed by my spouting off on the internet, nor by Jim McDermott's going to Baghdad on a publicity stunt one year ago. I could be wrong, but I don't think anybody listened to Jim McDermott and I doubt they will listen to me. 4. I am well aware that the war is far from over. As to Mike's work and dedication, I have no way of knowing whether he works hard or is dedicated because I simply don't know him. If he is asking you to fight his battles for him by arguing with me on this website, my respect for him just went down a notch.

It is Ampzilla. Father, not son. It is a great amp, but I'm not kidding about how you have to be a little careful with it. Stand too close and you'll probably go sterile.

Yeah, THE TUBES was a great band. Captain Qualude

That removal of the wedge at the end of a five-piece might not work if the bolt was corroded inside the hole. Have you tried this with bolts that have been in the rock for a long time?

Nice attitude there, Amber, but your response really isn't very helpful and I disagree with several of your points. Specifically, (1) I have almost never had a problem installing a wedge anchor; (2) I've had those "grab" problems when installing five piece bolts on clean granite and working fairly hard to assure a clean hole; (3) I've had bolts chopped and hangers stolen from several pitches up a climb before. In addition, if you mean suggest that I am advocating being cheap about the hardware, you are incorrect and I don't think anybody else in this thread is advocating being cheap about the hardware. With respect to bolts, the question is what are the relative advantages and disadvantages of each type and, yes, I think strengh is an issue (even though I would more or less agree with you that a stainless steel 3/8" five-piece bolt is plenty strong -- assuming it is properly installed).

If they close highway 20 at Thunder Creek, maybe there will be room to park off the road there instead of parking in the chain-removal lane and getting a ticket.

OK but you still haven't made the connection here. I assume you are saying that the states with more illegal aliens are more often than not states which vote democratic? And I guess you think that democratic politicians have been aware of this for years and years and they are counting on it to remain that way, so they have been steadily manipulating the Supreme Court over this? Or is there some other conspiracy at work here?

Tell Mike I said hello. Last time I listened to President Bush he told me that Mike is over there precisely so that I CAN spout off on the inernet and he thinks Mike is doing a swell job.

What exactly WAS your point here, PP?

Even if PP showed how some liberals have in the past manipulated the supreme court to maintain that rule because states with high alien populations tend to vote liberal, isn't he ingoring the fact that the republicans have much more actively shown themselves willing to manipulate election results -- at least in the last couple of years? Hell, recent stories about the new "state-of-the-art" computer voting machines suggest they may even be seeking to be able to program election results.

???????? I don't see your connection here, PP.

You raise good points, Cassidy, but the original question was about "how one develops a sport route, logistically speaking" and not about whether or where to develop a sport route.

Klenke- Of course everything you say is correct. I don't think ANYBODY says Saddam was playing straight with us or that Jim McDermott claimed to be able to find out the "truth." He was very clear at the time that he went over there to bring attention to his issue.

I'm with you there, AlPine. First they vote to give GW war powers, then they all sit back and wait to see what happens and when it appears safe but it is still really too early to tell, they jump out of the woodwork: "aha: no weapons of mass destruction." Meanwhile, they see that the polls show that the American public is suddenly worried about spending money and, witout a clue about how things may or may not play out over there, they try to stop or slow the reconstruction. As much as I think that Bush and his cronies are trying to destroy the world, there is no leadership coming from the Democrats, that's for sure. Stoopid democrats!!!

Scott, let's go back to the "audiophile" thread. My F*^#ing Thorens turntable is having an argument with the cartridge again. Sure you don't need a turntable?