Beck

...at least they actually review the stuff!! and, it does feed the easiest, out of any TRS devices sold stock to climbers

actually, quite a bit has been published about the yates rocker, ryland moore, you may not be reading enough, but a test of Top Rope Solo devices in 2003 by a brit climbing mag showed the yates rocker to be superior device for TRS, and explained in detail why... Yates rocker operates similar to the ushbai, but with less potential for slicing into the rope. and the yates was rated the freest feeding TRS device on the market. when you try them out side by side it is apparant. the poster is well recommended to give pause and consider what it is they are really trying to do..?...?...

the Miox pen (this thing works GREAT! I field tested it for MSR when it was being tested FOR the military , this thing makes chlorine dioxide out of table salt, an electrode, and a tiny electric current- size of a magic marker and easy to use, you can even use it in complete darkness without needing extra illumination... and the lightweight Bibler tents made with lightweight silicone enc. nylon are two of the actual innovations from the show

naw , sisu's a yooper, which combines unique elements of toughness and balls of steel dipped in the icy waters of the biggest freshwater lake on earth! yoopers can sleep in snowbanks, live for weeks in the woods with nothing but a knife and some fire starters- there's no mistaking the fact- hes one tough mutha. by birthright.

is this a planned event?

mer, you should work at my office at the Pike Place Market- my boss keeps a neverending supply of Labbatt's Blue in a compact fridge, which we toss back regularily, sit around and BS, and people watch out a huge picture window- I'll be going down there in about an hour for a big party at the Market, have a beer or two up in the office as well... this is all part of my job!

as far as this ropeup is concerned, someone is planning it???

the Old Post Office is where Rope UP was schemed up back in summer 2001- (free pool on sundays)

there are several plaques around the snoqualamie pass area including those up by chair. There are two on Lundin, one on Kaleetan, and i think there's one on something across the road, up by silver peak up on Abiel or tinkham, I think. the two on Lundin are memorials, and the one on Kaleetan is some way funky one.. The Washington Alpine Club is a source of useful information for plaques and peaks in the Snoqualamie Pass region.

i'm voting plaquette or stitch, love the modulation of a stitch plate with the spring, talk about a smooth feed and a graduated catch!

Trask, that is, the most amazing post of yours. What an eloquent piece of american history!! Is that something you'd want published?

...I hear Teddy Ruxpin'll be pimpin at the OR show for a competitor to carhartts in the outdoor industry; A German company, Varmit Montane. In response to their contrymans amazing interest in american wild west culture, Varmit Montane is showing soft shell chaps made out of 100% buckskin- I'm suprised, Tex, you hadn't heard of these guys, they're pretty new. and a big plus is, they'll serve you well at the 'wet bars' on Castro Street or Miami's South Beach when you're not climbing!

...and cuba is certainely not a successful stand-alone socialist economy, but there are no stand-alone economies in the world but mentioned its efforts FOR THE PEOPLE in the light of being torn from your biggest trading partner to you're north for the last fourty years? Socialism is the theory of social aspects of production and its consequences. Socialism is characterized by enormous variety. It generally involves the argument that economic production has an essential social, as distinct from individual element hence, much different from liberalism Socialism requires and justifies a public share in and reaping of awards. considered by the marxists to be the stepping strone to communism. Communism is 100% ownership of production, Jay, not socialism! Conservativism: a political state based on tradition. also, notions that human abilities are not evenly distributed, and hence it is for the good of all that those with superior abilities lead in politics, economics or social affairs. Private property is deemed good for individuals and for society as a whole, but government should preserve it but not interfere with its distribution. and THAT'S why this country is in trouble. We got the oil men, wildcatting energy futures in policy from the get go of the current administration, and the way our conservative system of government is set up, we are getting hosed by the bussinessmen who are also politcians, and politicians listening to big business interests instead of the , oh, say, 8,000 doctors who releasesd in the AMA's journal backing a national health care plan yesterday.

...my posts don't favor one political model over aanother, but if you look at cuba, Jayb, a 'socialist' country facing blockades and embargos by a big brother nearby, has a BETTER literacy and less child birth deaths than the US- huh? plus, look at the success of 'socialist' minded countries like the netherlands, or finland... 'socialist' is one of those terms that was reworked a hundred years ago to equate with the progression of communism, yet, social notions by government or populace isn't inherently bad... just taxing... some countries have no homeless except in the case of non compliant mentally ill, in this country we have dual income households living in shelters in san jose because the cost of housing is too high... where is a non engaging, liberal approach (that is more republican than democrat) going to lead us? big business, not individual rights, is the current status quo of focus in Washington. And it is astonishingly liberal, from both sides of the aisle..but it certainly does not favor the rights of the individual, as the liberal founding documents of our country lead us to believe... its the era of American 'big business' liberalism...

...were you trying to establish a 'relationship 'with your soft shells? because, softshells do not 'let people down,' they are an option in an active layering system... many, many enthusiasts find soft shell to be a big improvement in motion clothing...whatever works for you, you can send the patti pants to me, i'll destroy them for you, but it might take a decade or so!

WOW! I left the house this AM with a couple of hopeful "keep the thread alive" posts, and come back from work (where I enjoy a liberally guaranteed wage and perks like overtime- (whoops! the republican party just cancelled that out for about 45% of american workers) actually, gohawks and jb, dr jay post is a rich historical post about the foundations of labor in America. If you do work in this country, I think his post is a great discourse on the development of organized labor and the resistance to engage the socialist model while determining this country's approach to big business. the failure of the socialist model is evident in this country. But we are one of the few suppossed 'free market' democracies in the world. There is so much tarriffing, taxing, subsidying, exempting, and penalting, that this is not what I would construe as a free economic model, but there are many examples of successful socialist countries all over the world that have better rates of child literacy, or health care, for instance. Higher taxes, but universal health care, better care of elderly, control of weaponry that makes our country the most dangerous to live in! despite all the war all over the world, a persons chance in america of being a victim of deadly violence is so much greater per capita here, than in almost all the countries in the world... it is a confusing paradox. Liberals would be against gun control, if people could be entrusted to own them responsibly, like they do in Switzerland. lots less murder there, even though- Every male occupied household in Switzerland has a gun. EVERY household, unless you have done time as a contientious objector or work at the post office as such, a CO, you serve in the swiss military- now, THAT'S what I call a well regulated militia!!! (second amendment- a liberal document, not a conservative one) my fifty cents...

unfortunately, the reassignment of the words intended meaning is part of the reshaping of political language unfortunately being fed by the news media and the conservatives. thus the proud history of a valid model of political system has been reshaped to equate to "anyone that is unpatriotic" or "anyone who is critical of the government's war on terror" and "against economic recovery" and we are the unwitting, unwilling participants in a republic that has only the illusion of a democratic society- noblesse oblige, it is not. democratic model, no. But "Liberal is a disease" is an idiotic joke by an extremely wealthy guy probably going to be california's NEXT movie star governor- I bet he would favor a liberal approach to his finances and liberal notions about HIS empire building. republicans are suprisingly liberal when it comes to big business- deregulation is a liberal action, not a conservative one. my two bits

.. will reserve comment on intermediate class and mountaineers, other than its a large and old mountaineering organization that are exemplary in the outdoor publishing industry. an observation from this last winter/spring... at some point in the last season, the shop I work at was completely sold out of a certain type of spectra cord- other shops were calling us, asking if we had it... we were calling REI, PMS, FF, etc to try and find some for customers... it seems the entire intermediate class from the seattle branch were in possession of some written course specs, that stated that "brand x is the only acceptible material for cordalettes. Hmm, a stiff cord that doesn't hold knots well, needs to be retired sooner due to material fatigue, and besides being a completely innacurate statement about cordalette materials...very interesting... the shop contacted the steering committees, SEF, etc and found out they were aware of the error, and we believe they corrected this innacuracy during the lectures... we were honestly worried the mounties were going to misinform climbers, that would in turn misinform everyone else they ran into (including, presumably, some mountie at rotowall or barnies rubble with a ton of gear, and gaiters, screaming up at climbers they were "doing it wrong!")

liberalism- a broad body of political theory based on the significance of the individual- Liberal socities protect the rights of the individual to enjoy liberty, including the liberty to own and produce wealth, and to publish and assemble with others in public as freely as is consistent with the avoidance of harm to others. governments principal responsibilities in a liberal political system is to safeguard the rights of the individual, and government is suppossed to be relegated to a secondary activity, but neccessary. theres not much liberalism left in congress on EITHER side of the aisle. I would doubt Maria Schriver fits the definition of "liberal"

...send them to me. I will destroy them, no charge... and if you don't love soft shell, you don't get out enough!!

...tunnel vents would probably cost about twenty bucks apiece if you get friendly with a seamstress... also the fly is 350, and the Bibler Big Wall I tent is on sale for a only little over one hundred more than that- it would also be a fully functional big muntains shelter, with ground access holes even! - bchamps, we discussed the alpine big wall options and versatility of the I-tent, versus the portaledge fly with nothing- looking at spending an extra one hundred bucks to get a killer tent on top of that was a viable, worthy option for a well rounded mountaineer looking to get the most bang for the buck- the dude

.. and if you can find a pair of the TNF Vector 2 bibs that fit, BUY THEM NOW! High alpine, big mountain bib styling, made out of super stretchy (triple the stretch of dryskin) Scholler outer shell PLUS fleece PLUS WB laminate- under 200 bucks on sale real practical cold weather features (dropseat, high back and chest, chest pockets, triple front sliders, integrated gaiter loops/hooks) did I say stretchy? SUPER STRETCHY! best mid winter high mountain use bib i've ever owned- its a true one layer system-above 10,000 feet in midwinter storms, icestorms, fifty mile/hr winds, these and a set of briefs was all i needed last winter. liftserviced skiing, supurb. Don't wear them ski touring pineapple Pass in april though...

...Me and a buddy were on a two week mid winter trip in the cold climate of the laurentian shield and the Huron mountains (small m, but great granite) on an ambitious 100 mile traverse. we had a feature to cross to get into another part of the hurons, a five mile wide swamp. This thing was thirty five plus miles long, and an end run was out of the question. We planned on a beeline due north thru the swamp, being mid winter. hit the swamp early morning, began the struggle fest. we ate lunch in the swamp. Lucky it was mid winter. It was fighting deadfalls on snow all day. we made it thru, exhausted, at dusk, to some higher ground. In the morning, we look around us, and realize we cannot recognize any of the landmarks and match them up on the map. Oh well, we're going to run into some part of the Hurons soon, so we continue due north, and promply hit ANOTHER swamp in two hours time. We head on in. During the morning a coast guard C-130 overflights us, buzzing at treeline, so they must have seen us in the middle of Bumfuck, in the middle of a huge swamp, and wondered what we were up too, but no biggee, it just scared the begeezus out of us. at some point in the afternoon, we find a thirty foot granite mound in the middle of the swamp. my buddy Rich says, "I know exactly where we are", digs into his pack, and pulls out ANOTHER Quad (we had fifteen or more for that trip) than the one we had in the nav bag. we had gotten so far off route fighting swamps for two days, we wound up on the next quad over! -he had seen that feature during the planning for the trip, and thought is was interesting- we were totally on the wrong quad evertime we tried to orient ourselves!! by nightfall we were on top of one of the Hurons, making camp for a rest day. lesson learned- Don't assume you even know what quad you are in, once you realize you are lost.

I woke up at five AM, worked two hours on writing book, then rode 730 AM monorail to office and had breakfast with a columnist in my newspaper. Then, up to the office (HUGE picture window, great view and people watching, free beer ALWAYS, new computer coming soon courtesy of mayor's office) to plot newspaper domination and have a quick beer with my boss admiring one of the best views in the city at 10AM, then, across the water to work 8 hours, selling gear to people, and now, back, writing... but I just thought I'd check in. Hows everyone doing?

sorry Kitten, I wound up going to a Mountaineers Books shindig at the clubhouse with free food and beer at the launch party for 7th edition of freedom of the hills... saw SEF and a few other CC.comers. I feel i missed out by not meeting you all at the eastside pubclub, though...