ScottP

"Got up the nerve to introduce myself to Lynn Hill at a climbers party at that teacher's house in J-Tree." That teacher is Todd Gordon. One hell of a nice guy and solid climber himself. Met him at City of Rocks. He offered me a sip of his "ice cold" Mt. Dew at the back of Parking Lot Rock. It was luke warm. He started the conversation by admiring my antique Fire's that were identical to his.

Fred glowered at me once as I passed him while skiing up the Muir Snowfield. Another time I was witness to a major ass grabbing session by him on his female climbing partner at the 3 O'clock Rock parking area.

That place reminds me of the head of Squire Creek, but with a logging road cut into it. Some nice looking rock, for sure.

"The (Cascade River) road and river valley were also at the center of controversy over access to the new park. During the park campaign, preservationists had argued for including the Cascade River Valley in the park to protect its scenic and wilderness qualities from destructive forest management practices. Based on Forest Service plans to manage the area for its natural beauty, politicians left the valley out of the park. After the park was established, however, the main point of contention became the protection of the sensitive, subalpine environment of Cascade Pass and nearby lakes." More to the story here...

nobody needs your whiny candy ass puke neither. you tryin to take away my constitutional rights? you ever read the second amendment? 'A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.' it dont say 'cept for assault rifles' now does it? Somehow I don't see your "whiny ass" being part of a well regulated militia.

Look again. The obvious dihedral on the formation Al Pine mentions is the Northern Dihedral. To the left of it, there is a tip of a tree pointing directly at the right edge of Library Ledge. But that was last summer.

You're only supposed to eat the roe.

If you set it up right, you don't have to remove the cable/hotwire for skinning up. just lock it on the backside of the heel plate riser. I didn't know you could do that. When you say "set it up right", do you mean the cable settings, or the heel plate riser?

You're points are good ones. I hadn't seen the removable cable aspect of the Viole' bindings (most of my research so far has been on-line.) The idea that you can remove the cable for skinning up slope, touring and skiing powder is very appealing, as is the ability to still be attached to your ski if the cable blows. Thanks for the suggestion.

It's time to get a new pair of bindings. I do about equal amounts of lift and backcountry skiing. I currently ski on a pair of Riva classics using some Garmont CXA plastics. I was looking at getting either the G3 Targa T/9 or the BD O2. Care to share experiences with either binding, good or bad? Thanks.

I'll second the Lizard Chimney at Index and add that frickin Blockbuster thing. It spanks me every time.

Don't you just love unsolicited advice? I have used the wallhauler. It takes a little practice to set it up so that it feeds the rope properly, but once I had that pegged, I found it to be an improvement (speed and versatility) over the standard ascender system.

The scoop on poop

J. Blackstone does a cover.

I've always been under the assumption you were a guy.

Sorry for the double post then. I attempted to draw no lessons from it. It just helped remind me of the risks inherent in our sport. Definately not a sick fascination...I only ever want to see that once, in a video or real life. But, again, if it makes me continue to be as aware of all the potential risks as possible, then I am glad. Feel free to flame though. That seems to be the MO around here... The "before" post b-rock mentions.. Although the clip is quite graphic and sickening, I am with stinky in thinking that keeping in mind the possible consequences of what I do can only keep my head more in the game and therefore keep me safer. When I was in high school, I came upon the result of a friend of mine who had minutes before collided head on with a car while riding his Kawasaki 500 at over 100 mph. It forever changed how I rode motorcycles.

I have always been under the assumption you were a guy.

" The single biggest influence on the planet? " I'd agree that the combination of the energy from the sun and the gravity from the sun are primary and secondary influences respectively. "single most destructive thing we do to our planet" I still say procreation. Like bacteria in a petri dish, we will continue to grow and prosper in the medium until we overpopulate, soil that medium and die in the poison that is our own waste. Overpopulation brings plague and disease; even when there is enough food. With crowding, not only do social ills come but also physical illness...disease...plagues.... BTW... The United States leads the way in waste production: 200 million tons a year. The average American citizen consumes 17 times more overall waste than our counterpart in Mexico and hundreds of times more than the average person living in African. The idea that a higher standard of living is a population check might be accurate, but a higher standard of living isn't going to slow the resource depletion and resultant waste flow.

"the single most destructive thing we do to our planet" I've got to differ with them on this one. IMO the the single most destructive thing we do to our planet is procreate.

This image looks like Peter Boyle portraying the monster in "Young Frankenstein" as the blind man Gene Hackman pours hot soup in his lap.

The parents are being paid by the companies. I try to explain to my middle school students that the clothes many of them are wearing (insert any number of corporate clothing logos) are nothing more than advertising that they, or their parents, paid money to wear. They just look at me like I am some kind of idiot for not wanting to wear a Gap or Old Navy label. The concept of paying to wear an advertisement just doesn't compute in their concrete operational brains. "What should we wear then, Mr Presho?" "Clothes without logos." "You mean with nothing on them?" "Yes." "Why would we want to do that? That's boring." The corporations have a stranglehold on our youth and we are starting to see it manifest itself in the subject of this thread as those same youth become parental age. Creepy.