Kyle

Good & cheap: PBJ sammiches, beef jerky, jolly ranchers, granola bars, peanut m&m's, homemade rice krispy treats, banana chips, fig neutrons, Dutch bread & yogurt-covered raisins (I never actually count calories, just carry & eat plenty). Never: Power anything (I actually slorped down some power-goo packets on Shasta... never again- 'shudder')

No coffee, no climbee...

I'll take from the wink that you're not serious... I know they party hard in Van, but not enough to account for that light show!

One of the other cool sightings I've had recently was on Mt Baker. We were sitting on the edge of the Coleman Gl in the dark (after descending) & watched a 30-minute display of Aurora Borealis, with horizontal bluish-green and yellow bands that jittered & danced back & forth across the entire N horizon. Very cool... only time I've seen the N lights in the Cascades. -I'll add that this happened last summer, not this season. [This message has been edited by Kyle (edited 06-14-2001).]

A buddy & I were camped near Perfection Lake last Sat night, at ~7200', and witnessed a powerful thunderstorm off to the north. It was very distant and high in the atmosphere, and it was lighting up the entire N sky with huge white & reddish flashes (at first glance I thought it might be N Lights). We watched this for about 15 minutes, and 3 times we saw what I think were Blue Jets, a form of Lightning Sprites. I've never seen anything like it before... a thin, pale white, straight vertical line that would shoot up into space at high speed from the middle of the storm. It was amazing! We stayed awake a long time hoping to see some more, but it dissipated. I read that these things are fairly rare & poorly understood, and this might have been a once-in-a-lifetime sighting. This article has a sequence of pix that looks similar, only the ones we saw appeared even longer & brighter: http://www.sciam.com/0897issue/0897mendebox5.html Just wondering if anyone else has ever seen these?

I'm with mattp on this one- everyone's a stranger until you get to know them. I would have missed out on some awesome climbing experiences in my career if I'd been unwilling to climb with people I didn't know. I've had very few regrets (and certainly no life-threatening incidents), & the +'s have far outweighed the -'s. Wayne- I'd normally be interested... Challenger's on my short list of peaks to do, but that week's no good for me. Cheers, [This message has been edited by Kyle (edited 06-14-2001).]

I hiked up Aasgard Pass & over the Enchantments last weekend (6/9-10). The road & trail up to Colchuck Lake are indeed clear. Colchuck glacier has much less snow than typical for this time of year, but it looks to be in fine condition for climbing. Assuming you're comfortable on steepish snow and very easy rock scrambling, you don't need rope or pro on this route. My brother & I hiked it to the summit unroped a few years back, no problem at all, just loads of fun & great views of Dragontail & Stauart from the summit. Take one axe, crampons recommended.

After trying on different boots & agonizing for the last 2 months, I finally bought a pair of LaSportiva Eigers. I wore them on a hike over the Enchantment Lakes this past weekend, and I'm completely stoked... I had not one blister or hotspot after 18 miles. They're probably the most comfortable out-of-the-box boots I've ever worn, & I' think they'll only get better as they break in more. I love these boots!

~ 15 years ago, I used to hang with a small crowd of regulars at the Gunks & we all enjoyed partying before, during, and after climbing, pretty much non-stop. I can't say that it made anyone climb any better, (though it defly made me more likely to get gripped on lead), but it sure was a lot of fun... I only wish I could remember more of it =)

Juneriver, I'm curious now... do you recall what radio show you heard these comments on? {Gratuitous & pointless rant against overweight morning DJ's removed} [This message has been edited by Kyle (edited 06-15-2001).]

Give the dudes a break. I saw the snippet on the TV news last night... the poor guys were mobbed by cameras as soon as they hit the parking lot. They looked fried & a little dazed, and one guy very politely told the reporters that they "didn't really feel like talking right now", as they loaded their stuff into the truck. Regardless of what some morning radio-show hack might have spewed, I didn't detect any "bad attitudes" on their part... I'm sure these guys are plenty grateful for their rescue, and I'll bet they expressed this clearly enough to all of their rescuers during their summit bivy and chopper ride down.

I was just reading over Beckey's description... it looks like a real piece of work. Has anyone here actually done this route?

I also recently bought a pair of Julbo glacier glasses from Opticus- they're great. I called them & talked to their optomotrist, who patiently answered all my dumb questions, I then faxed him my prescrip & p-p measurement, told him I needed to make it a rush order, and they shipped me the glasses within a week. No problems.

sold [This message has been edited by Kyle (edited 06-14-2001).]

I had a pair of Zamberlan Cervino's... I really liked those boots- great fit, took crampons well, comfy for walking & not bad on rock. I was starting to think they were the perfect boot for all-around Cascade use. But after walking about 100 miles in them over 5 or 6 different trips (they were still fairly new IMO- barely broken in), they spontaneously developed a long split in the rand along the side, while I was walking on a flat & level gravel trail in NZ. I was able to Goo it back together well enough for the hike out, but I was disappointed to see that the glued rand along the side is all that keeps the sole attached to the boot- there's no stitching in there, and if it develops a split, the entire boot will fall apart in no time at all. REI gave me my $$ back (did I mention that REI rules), and I'm looking at other boots now, so far I like the Salomon 8's. PS- I don't mean to diss on Zamberlan too much.. I also have a pair of their HydroLight hiking boots that have held up amazingly well over many 100's of miles.