Stefan

High gas prices will not affect addicted climbers. A climber will give up a pitcher of quality beer for gasoline to get him back and forth to Index. It will affect more traditional recreational hikers though. Expect to see less cars parked at trailheads.

You are looking at the Des Moines, Federal Way, Auburn, Kent, Renton areas of living if you want 30 minutes to Kent and somewhat close to Seatac...with top choice being Federal Way, Des Moins. Do not look further north of 405 or Seatac--you will regret the commute.

If you were up there, I would like to know how it went. We saw your tracks at the base from afar....

I would like to know what kind of thermometer they were using.

I remember someone posting a picture of Spire Rock (the fake rock in Tacoma) of the routes and the ratings. I can't seem to find the link in this forum. Does anybody know where this picture exists?

Yeah. I guess you're right. When they are very young and say nothing it is okay for a guy--we just ignore the crying. However, for my wife it was stressful becuase she thought, "Are they cold, do they need to eat, are they sitting wrong, do they need attention...." Now they just tell me to shut up.

Congrats. You are now entering the most stressful part of your life--I don't know how long it will last but so far it has lasted me five years. Trust me. I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old. Sometimes it is fun, but it is also not everything it is cracked up to be. They are not always cherubs.....like I was.

As long as I got my brake hand on the rope....the other hand is free.

Was it hard to get a permit for that area?

I wonder what input Mr. Guathier had into this decision. After all Mr. Rainier has caps on people. And so I would think that the Denali management team would want to seek opinions of people who have more experience at caps on a heavily travelled mountain. I wonder if the caps are only between two months? I can't see any caps for people who want to climb Denali from September to March.

think of the positive--you did not get rained on. great TR!

I don't know of any other choices but those cottony elastic ones.

better check the weather before you go........ http://www.atmos.washington.edu/data/rainier_report.html

You will not able to stop that type of crowd from trundling. I believe animal beer is the most common form of object thrown off. They aint the type of people who can read.

I wonder if Mr. Scalia reads the English translation of the Bible....because you know...there is a slightly different interpretation than what was said in its original dialect at the time... If he does read the English translation....well then, that would go against his philosophy...if he is a Christian.

I do not think any government entity should be in the business of "being in business". Sell Key Arena to a private enterprise and let the private enterprise do the negotiations with the Sonics. Same thing should have been done with all stadiums. Oh, and by the way, get rid of the state liquor stores too. Let's have liquor in the grocery stores.

Meanwhile under the White House administration: On Monday, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta chided Spears as "irresponsible" for driving with her baby son on her lap and announced a new initiative to improve child car seat safety. Ummm...tell me the priorities here? We did not know the accident happened on Saturday, but somebody in the White House admin tells us their opinion on Britney and we know that on the same day?

The "Bro" by Kramer

Is that Buckner and Booker in the background? Nice pics!

The A-Team and The 6 Million Dollar Man

I thought Duck eggs tasted better becuase they were higher in fat and cholesterol.....making it not really healthier.

Oleg, You want him motivated and in the outdoors? Here is the answer. I was the same type of dude at that age. The answer: Northwest Youth Corps. It was run out Eugene, OR when I was there. What is it? The teenagers all work in the forest when I was there. What did we do? We did trail maintenance. We cleaned up after logging companies. We did something called vexar tubing (to keep the animals from eating new trees). It was a 5 week course. You could sign up for more. But mostly in the summer. Everyone is a teenager but the crew chief and they were typically college students. You sleep in a tent, wake up, do hard work for 8-10 hours, then you go back to your camp. Only on weekends did we shower at campgrounds. We never went home. Sometimes the parents showed up on weekends. Sometimes they didn't. By the way, Northwest Youth Corps is a paying job - not volunteer. Another thing. I wonder if he is thinking about a car? Show him how to get the money for the car. Show him your insurance. Maybe he needs a job for the car? Another thing. You are doing more than you know.

Probably true. I need to have more appreciation for what I have.

I bet if I walked into the Dru-brothel house I would find at least one pair of snowshoes.

My hats off to you for taking that risk.