freeclimb9

I've got a 164cm NeverSummer board that's schweet for all mountain shiznit. It's a little small for riding the deep, but that's when speed compensates.

Ask the folks at Mervin. IMO, some inexpensive two part epoxy should last as a repair for the rest of the season. BTW, end of January sales can be great (that's often when retailers need to pay off season purchases, so they have real incentive to clear left over stock). And haggling over price is not forbidden.

Not a state park, but you still have time to put in your comment about MRNP fees. I've added my comments into the record, and got the following reply: From Jill Hawk, We appreciate your time in commenting on Mount Rainier's Mountaineering Cost Recovery Fee Proposal. The comment period will be open until Jan. 22, 2003. All comments will be considered, analyzed, and included in the public record. Thank you, Chief Ranger Mount Rainier National Park

It seems the comment period has been extended. I recently received a postcard from Maribeth Gustafson, Forest Supervisor, informing me that the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit will accpet comments on the Cave Rock Management Pland Final Environmental Impact Statement until March 31, 2003. Write to John Maher jmaher@fs.fed.us in addition to The Honorable Scott McInnis Chair, Subcommittee of Forests and Forest Health United States House of Representatives 320 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515-0603 Fax: (202) 226-0622 http://www.house.gov/writerep/ The Honorable Jim Gibbons Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands United States House of Representatives 100 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515-2802 Fax: (202) 202-225-5679 mail.gibbons@mail.house.gov The Honorable Ann M. Veneman Secretary of Agriculture U.S. Department of Agriculture Washington, D.C. 20250 agsec@usda.gov

Kinda like these: http://www.karhu.com/sweeper/

Climbing stars\bums somehow get in, too.

The concert and competition were supposed to be on NBC last night. I was the the dude wearing a hat and jacket in the crowd (actually, everybody was wearing a hat and jacket). Snow's been falling all week. And now the temps have dropped to seasonal levels. Base depth at most of the resorts hasn't hit the magic 60" mark, but it covers the rocks. Backcountry, ditto. Check http://www.skiutah.com/ for the snow report. Ice in the state is in, but thin. With the low teens to single digit nightly temps, it'll build fast. Check out the Winter Market trade show if you're in SLC at the end of January. It's always interesting.

Fish oil added to your diet could really help, too. It helps alleviate my own arthritis.

The Red Hot Chile Peppers rocked and the snowboarders threw some sick shit. The boarders on the pipe were very impressive. Guess that's why they're pros at it.

I did Ptarmigan in two days. I climbed Liberty Ridge a few years ago in two and a half (1st week in June, as I recall), but only because we were so itching to start that we began hiking the evening we arrived. If you go earlier (late May, early June), snow coverage simplifies the approach and route conditions can be more forgiving (it's easier on MY legs to climb neve rather that ice, anyways). Downclimbing Ptarmigan ridge would suck. The chute under the rock wall is a shooting gallery. No place to linger fucking with rap anchors, IMO. If you go light --and why wouldn't you-- a carry over isn't too bad and get you on a lot more of the mountain. The technical difficulties of Ptarmigan ridge are over at the top of the rock wall where you're still a couple thousand feet from Liberty Cap's summit. BTW, there's an awsome bivy platform just before the gully through the rock wall. If you linger on the route, it would be spectacular to stay a night there. (For Liberty Ridge, if you got an alpine start on the approach, you could be at the Thumb before lunchtime walking at a leisurely pace).

Starting my weekend with a session of "Peppers and Pipe" at Park City. Maybe some ice amidst falling snow for Saturday and Sunday. Happy Holidays have begun.

May, or June? Depends on the year and your own schedule. Personally, I'd wait until the trailhead at White River opens and a cattle trail gets beaten into Liberty Ridge. It's just a grim slog up to the 10,000' bivy from the Carbon Glacier. Sweet exposure for the last 1/4 mile, too. Further advice? Start the approach --which you can do in a day-- very, very early to avoid wading through mash potatoes. good luck

Febreze is the shizzy foshizzy

Sure. Why not. It's relatively cheap to finance (wasn't last year's budget around $200,000? That's like half a toilet in cost.), and the good press is great marketing for the park. But I don't think climbers should be the ones footing the entire bill. I think it's clear that the Climbing Rangers benefit MRNP much more than they benefit the climbers on the mountain. I thought $15 for a one-time visit was excessive. The $30 proposed fee is crazy.

And one levied without representation. Since Congress got out of the decision making process by approving and continuing the Fee Demo Program, with regard to fees at National Parks, Monuments, and Forest, there is no regulatory control such as a popular vote. The bureaucratic managers make fee increase decisions. Can't vote those guys out of office. I've written my Representatives and Senators, and all I've gotten back is that the Fee Demo Programs makes money, so it stays. BOHICA, as they say. I choose non-compliance. Homey don't dance for the man (ranger, in this case).

trask, check this page for details.

A ricer looks like a giant garlic press, and is used to press spuds and other stuff. I think the name comes from the size of pieces that drop out. I dig the Q for cooking meat also, but it's not always convenient to brave the weather (I don't have a covered porch on my hovel). If you've got an iron skillet, just try it. Use a bit of safflower oil on the meat after you've put on salt and fresh pepper. I actually saw this method on Food Network show "Good Eats" on my sister's TV last month. It works great.

I don't have a TV, so I can't watch Food Network, but I do enjoy throwing out the killer chow. What's a cool gadget depends on what you like to cook. I've got a $20 ricer that's indespensible for making gnocci and comes in handy for the mashed spuds. An insulated carafe for coffee is something I use almost daily as are the couple of 9" and 10" blade Henckel knives. A recipe book from which you could prepare stuff together is always a good gift. If you don't have a cast iron skillet, it's the best way to cook a steak (30 seconds on each side on the top burner, then a about 5 minutes in a 500 degree oven. 3 minutes to rest. Awesome every time).

Ah hah. You're NOT getting laid. You need to get on with a whole gang of strange.

Is was like a BILLION, and now the whole Great Salt Lake smells like shit.

Need more data. Are you bumping uglies on a regular basis with this one? Does she buy you drinks and welcome your climbing? What kind of car does she have, and does she let you borrow it?

RobBob, in an early post on this tedious thread, you put forth that you "challenge anyone to point to real evidence of significant acquifer contamination from livestock operations." So, I gave an example of a hog-farm siphoning 800,000gallons of hog sewage into the ground. For a response, you write that I "want to tar & feather animal agriculture". FYI, I was just responding to your "challenge".

If that's the only flaw that disrupted the suspension of your disbelief, whoa! I knew the plot was BS when James Bond only banged two broads during the whole movie. Is he gay now? WTF?

RobBob, you're a trip. The fact that "livestock operations" can and do pollute is incontrovertible. Hog mega-farms in particular do this since they rely on lagoons (which are susceptible to leeching and overflow problems, not to mention evaporation) to re-mediate waste whereas cattle feedlots mainly just deal with solid waste. Near Milford, Utah, the Circle Four Farms company admitted accidentally siphoning 80,000 gallons of pig sewage into the ground. Oops. Bacteria blooms occurred in nearby wells thereafter. Significant? Real? There are plenty of other examples to point you towards since you're too lazy to look yourself. But arguing with you is a waste since you'll probably parse your own language and go off on a tangent of what's "real" and what's "significant". If you really don't believe that animal waste management is a problem, how do you explain the increased level of respiratory problems in dairy and hog-farm workers? Is the spreading of raw animal waste over acres of field a safe practice? Do waste lagoons not leak, or overflow? Is the bacteria blooms found in wells near hog-farms the work of enviro-saboteurs out to discredit corporate farmers with the larger goal of ridding the world of human carnivores (PETA's influence runs deep)?