freeclimb9

I've got a couple sons to spoil. Ages 7 and 9. I've already arranged to get a couple ZipZaps, and I'm also getting a ukelele for their musical education. But I'd like to get a little more. Any cool Christmas toys to recommend? And BB guns aren't an option yet.

dude, you jacked up the server. Now what?

Some cannibals were recently hired by a big corporation. "You are all part of our team now," said the HR rep during the welcoming briefing. "You get all the usual benefits and you can go to the cafeteria for something to eat, but please don't eat any of the other employees." The cannibals promised. Four weeks later, their boss remarked, "You're all working very hard, and I'm satisfied with you. However, one of our secretaries has disappeared. Do any of you know what happened to her?" The cannibals all shook their heads no. After the boss left, the leader of the cannibals said to the others, "Which one of you idiots ate the secretary?" A hand raised hesitantly, to which the leader of the cannibals continued, "You fool! For four weeks we've been eating managers and no one noticed anything, but nooooo, you had to go and eat the secretary!"

quote: Originally posted by haireball: It has been my experience that we get quicker ice formation when it warms into the teens and snows a lot... Wind and snow often help with ice formation. The snow falling into water makes instant frazil. The frazil builds micro dams. The resultant ice will be lumpy. Ever notice that a fresh icicle will be ribbed? That's the dams formed from frazil. Ice is cool stuff, figuratively too.

quote: Originally posted by David Parker: How do you get to the Gallery? http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/cgi-bin/album/album.pl

Alaska had an incredibly mild October. There ain't much snow around.

Check out http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/ if you want to see where the data buoys are. There's plenty of 'em.

quote: Originally posted by mikeadam: How can they predict a 30 foot swell 5 days in advance? Past geometry? By using a Wave Analysis Model. This empirically based modeling is old hat --developed in the eighties-- and uses data from swell buoys throughout the world's oceans for input.

It's building fast. Check the forecast: http://www.surfermag.com/forecasts/west/ Scary big.

The topic has drifted way off from the original thread. Why don't y'all start another labeled "Chickenhawks in Washington"?

trask, you've got no clue as to what's going on behind the scenes. In the Middle East, what is said can differ dramaitcally from what's happening on the ground. The house of Saud has a weakening grasp on power. Lip service to the Saudi people is what I interpret Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faisal's comments as. His statement made on Sunday was probably okayed by US diplomats weeks, or months, ago. You think anyone in the US State Department was suprised? Why do you think the facility improvement in Qatar has been going on for so long?

I'm thinking a bumper sticker, or two, wouldn't be enough to change the spots on der Spanker's ride to something more palatable to my Okie brethen. A spotted zebra is still a queer kinda animal to find in the sticks of the PNW, if you know what I mean. I know a few things about rednecks since I was born and raised in Bakersfield (Hell, I graduated from the same High School Merle Haggard dropped out of). Practically any American car wouldn't have been shot at --especially full-size pickup trucks. Though, American luxury cars would have to be of a vintage inversely proportional to their initial pricetag (eg. A '73 Lincoln Continental with patches of primer paint is Ok, but not a '93, or younger, Cadillac). Something along the lines of a Plymouth K car with a bag of Huggies stuffed onto the back shelf might've even produced a dollar tucked under your windshield wiper. And a Ford LTD, or Crown Victoria with a 10' CB antenna woulda had 'em like whistling past a grave yard.

quote: Originally posted by COL. Von Spanker: Of course there's always Ice to climb if yer willing to travel, Screw the polar regions. The ice is too brittle. Right here in the western US, there's the winter water-ice season, and there's the spring/summer/fall alpine-ice season. There's always something to sink your tool into.

"Chest-beating"? I thought you were gum flapping. For ice-climbing, there's something to climb year-round if you're willing to travel a little. For example, the late-summer, early-spring Sierra classics were reported to be awesome. There's a ice-fest in Bozeman in 2 1/2 weeks, and plenty of climbs already fattened in Hyalite. Up at high altitudes in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah, there are early, early season climbs that are best done now before the avalanche-prone snows pile up. So when you spout about some ice in the NE, it's not that bigga deal. Just more ice.

I spent some months in Australia back when drinking was easier on me. In Townsville, Queensland, I wiled away a night downing stubbies with some locals. Every so often a cane toad would hop onto the porch. A thwack with a cricket bat sent the fucker flying. The goal was to ring to distant neighbor's tin roof. Idol minds at play. More fun than throwing stones at the whistle pigs on the shore of Jackson lake.

You can insulate your bottle, or keep it close to your body. I've been putting a Platypus 1/2 liter bag in my jacket pocket for the last year, and I like it better than a Nalgene bottle because it's malleable. I've also been using a hydration pack type bladder, and keep it deep in my pack. To keep the tube ice-free, I blow back after drinking. The bummer with the hydration pack is not knowing how much water I've got, and I'm afraid of the inevitable pack-soaking blowout. The neprene nalgene bottle insulators do work well.

LMAO

Anna, most of the folks I climb with give excellent belays and happily follow. You don't have to lead to be a climber. Climbing is just another way to enjoy wildness. Climb with joy and an open heart, and you will be centered. PM me if you want to trip to Tucson and schweet climbing in a couple weeks. I'm headed back to my Arizona haunts for a good friend's wedding and would enjoy some sunshine climbs. Damn cold here already, and I'm not thrilled with early season thin and wet ice.

"Real Mountaineers/Climbers" don't have a car. But us poseurs who live on the fringe of society do. I drive a Mazda family MPV (that's "Most Precious Vehicle" to yous) that easily transports young porch monkeys, or climbers. I can cook, change boots, clothes, or bang babes on the rear floor. It only kinda smells like a gym locker, and get shitty mileage. I aspire to a scooby WRX sport wagon with suspension, exhaust, and intake upgrades to achieve that 143mph top end (but we all know it's the ripping mid-range at 5000rpm that gets it). Meanwhile, I'm building a winter-bike and ride alongside the town 'tard ("the happiest man in the world" and my envy for his outlook on life) while I also build my dream business. Anejo and Coke gets it.

quote: Originally posted by allison: Complete bullshit. A rarity on CC.com.

quote: Originally posted by Anna: WOW...Mr Chip-on-his-shoulder...Man...You fuck...you son-of-a-bitch...FUCKIN...FUCKING...prick. BUZZKILL!

and the dude's name is . . . Oliver Moon?

"Bap!", and then he was gone.

I've got a CCW. The bigger one, whatever it's called. I think the waist belt could be improved upon, but it's a great 3-day-trip pack. I also use it for ice-climbing since it's plenty big enough to hold everything inside (I avoid tangles with the brush more that way) including a bulky, unstuffed jacket).