Beck

I've always held the opinion that people who choose to stay in town and wait around REI all night waiting to get in to the big "garage sale" were a bit out of touch with the notion of quality recreation time- the people camping on sidewalks to get into a store to buy more gear to get outside themselves... And it's all returns and crap gear we used to always be able to buy anytime in the bargain basement up at the old store. They are manipulating their members into a false supply and demand scenario and generating a damn good plubicity stunt that gets on the news every year and makes me want to puke.

Teddy Rux dropped me like a hot potato when he got the chance to be "best boy" on the Brittany Spears movie. That bitch can't steal him away from me that easy.. I'm planning on heading to LA, dress up in my Fraulein shirt and Kevlar falsies and kidnapp his delightfully furry hide out for some Joshua Ttree hijinks. Stay tuned. I'm HOPING Jon might want to put my last climbing tale with Teddy R. up in the epics or superstars stories sections, Teddy R truly is a forgotten master at climbing disaster.

and "Guiness is good for you" isn't it true that a pregnant woman in Ireland gets free Guiness because of all the vitamins in it? I think that grease/lube/joint connection is right on the money, also gives me an excuse to super size my fries because I take the ones I can't eat and apply them topically to my knees before going skiing, you can just mash them into a poultice and smear them on the affected areas underneath your longjohns. Also comes in handy as extra food for unplanned bivies. [ 03-14-2002: Message edited by: Beck ]

Just wait until the Bush Administrations sends out a RFP requesting bids to contract park entrance operations out to private industry- Hasn't the USFS already done that with campgrounds? Does anyone remember the USFS cabins all over the country (over twenty THOUSAND of them) that you could rent for 10 bucks a day? Those got axed by the Reagan Administration because they weren't cost effective. I believe that our current administration (and that includes the legislative branch!) are very interested in reducing federal outlays by privatizing whole sectors of operations previously maintained by the feds. Look at the privatization of the postal service, deregulation of the energy industries, giving the states the burden of welfare and refusing to subsidize Amtrak, or numerous other debacles showing the erosion of our governments interest in protecting intangible rights of we, the people. THERE'RE GOING TO TRY AND DO IT!

...The direction the Bush administration is taking on all sorts of wilderness issues is absolutely reprehensible! The Secretary of the Interior is a pro mining, anti-regulation harlot who's going to open up exploratory drilling in wilderness areas and neglected to send comments from DOI regarding wetlands issues to the Army Corps of Engineers, ensuring weakened status of wetlands protection. Does the administration want to privatize the running of wilderness- yes! Why wouldn't they, they are NOT concerned with such trivial issues like wilderness when there's a bunch of energy policy to write with some dudes from Enron. And not to mention there's a bunch of TERRORISTS out there we need to hunt down and exterminate. We the people are getting a royal screwing by the Bush administration, thas fo sur.

...skyhooks, baby, skyhooks. I think Raold Dahl invented them, sold em to charlie in the chocolate factory if you need some...Jman, no 'fense intended about your manhood, just spewing away!!

...some idiot was yelling he's going to shoot me one time when I kept passing him on my bike while he was stuck in traffic on the way to the U district on eastlake once- I 'd pass him and he'd start screaming and yelling at us asshole bikers, catch up in a few blocks, try to block my bike with the nose of his car, etc. etc. All I could do was laugh at him, foolish man stuck in car. NEVER heard of a man not standing up for his wife and waiting for a lawsuit, who cut his balls off? Her?

...I think that Peter Puget dude's some big dog with the AAC- but can't say who.

...I only intended to bring up that the focus of our national parks are to preserve the land and wildlife for future generations, not unlimited access for current generations, even if that's what the public wants. I'm totally AGAINST a monopoly in concessionaires (whether climbing related or not) in the Parks system, and I firmly believe the current DOI wants to wrest more of the services parks provide out of their direct control and let outside contractors run in the park operations- Look at the influence the ARC and Disney has had on the Recreation Pass program. I'm aware the scoping process currently under discussion for MORA involves regulating and bringing more or less competition into the consessionaire bidding and that it's been in the works since before the current administration. I just wanted to bring these two points into the discussion.

Erik, I think the NPS mission statement starts with the preservation of national lands and preservation of the wildlife, not people recreating...

...I think some of the current administration's appointees in the Department in the Interior would love to see private enterprise takeover more operations in the parks service, maybe let Aramark Services and the like just start runnin all the parks! I know these scoping meetings are focused on the guiding services at Rainier, I just see a deeper anti environmental conspiracy amongst the DOI that is currently working to weaken environmental protections of public lands and degrage the quality of our nations wilderness resources- Yellowstone brought to you by, Disney.

...a second for Rene Daumal's "Mount Analogue" being a book of fundamental importance in Mouuntaineering literature and it's slim enough for the top pocket of the pack-

Jerry- get in touch with Scottish Lakes High Camp,their camp is pretty close to the Chiwakum range and I think they'll haul you in on a snowmachine or snowcat for 10 bucks or so- I think they're on the web-

...once you try a wool baselayer you will be sold and never want to go back to polypro again (although i haven't tried wearing wool baselayer in summer yet) -funk factor goes WAY down, esp on multi day trips, and the performance is way better than poly or capilene, it seems to stay dry a lot longer and then never be as wet and saturated feeling as a soggy set of polypro

Good one, A.K. you one serious badass skier thas for sure

lightweight and low bulk, go for a down w/ wb shell, unless your doing lots of 5 day trips I think you'd be okay. none of the synthetic jackets pack up "small"- but primaloft is supposed to compress more than other synthetics, I don't think there's that much of a diff- LL Bean used to sell "belay" style primaloft jackets with hoods for cheap! I wouldn't take it to AK with me but it likes Cascade nights just fine- as to my edit, I went and looked at LLbean.com and it looks like they've discontinued making it- which a lot of manufacturers do with even quality clothing and gear that doesn't meet their sales goals- [ 02-28-2002: Message edited by: Beck ]

... Cavey's either out on some chosspile with Beckey or his boss at work found out how much productivity time Ray put in at CC.com and pulled the e plug!

...I think 4mm cord wouldn't have enough safety margin to be using in an anchor setup-what's it rated breaking strength, 600 lbs- 3kn, something like that? and a knot reduces cord strength by like 50%- Kurt H., how's a 6mm cord worked for you? Notice a diff from 7mm weight/durability wise?

...Have you guys seen the wall that sits just outside Eatonville? I only noticed it last week driving back from Rainier, North east of town...

...I'm looking to pick up a gross of those really nifty bigass plastic REI tags to sew on all my non REI clothing/gear

..whatever, rat, I didn't go.

...I posted this in the hopes of enlightening any cc.comers who want more info on skiing Snoqualamies' backcountry as he's got a lot of good info

It's the full macho, that's for sure. I rode one while training in luge at Mount Van Hovenburg back in 1984-85 and let me tell you, us lugers' IQ's seemed to go up about 15 points whenever the skeleton team showed up to practice. Those sleds are 80 pounds of steel and lead and the runners are frickin' ROUND, totally circular, with only the smallest of hairline ridges in the back foot or so to aid in tracking, I guess. You DO steer them, somewhat, by shifting your weight side to side and dragging your toes. I took a couple runs on a skeleton and found it to be a reckless, extremely dangerous way to enjoy yourself.

Hi all, just read in the Times that Marrin Volken's giving a talk tonight at 7pm at the main REI store on "skiing Snoqualamie Pass"- I think he's got a new edition of his Backcountry guidebook out or something. In addition, he might drop some beta on the upcoming Randonee Rally his store's sponsering with Lifelink up at the pass March 31

What a vaucous NON-event- a 1000 years ago they weren't looking at their digital watches and thinking "wow, in a thousand years..."-