slothrop

Why would you want to hold your axe with the pick forward for self-belay, anyway? If things are spooky enough that you're having to self-belay, isn't that all the more reason to be ready to whip out the self-arrest quickly?

I got some comfy Gramicci pants, padded bike gloves, and a Windstopper jacket, but my girlfriend made out like a bandit. She came away with a new lightweight shell and full-zip bibs for about $70, trail running shoes for $10, and numerous other cheap goodies. I wish Scarpa Invernos fit my feet -- there was a barely-used pair for $100. It's amazing what people get away with returning to REI. I saw a pair of skis that looked like someone had skied on rocks in them for two seasons, and numerous pairs of boots whose Vibram soles were worn smooth. Not to mention the used underwear...

A pair of bulges are known to form to either side of the central offwidth if the weather is cold enough. Note that the bulges might require some tweaking in order to get a solid placement. Although it seems unlikely that there will be a female ascent of this route, many hardmen would enthusiastically cheer such an effort. [ 03-14-2002: Message edited by: slothrop ]

quote: Originally posted by Rodchester: What I cannot understand about this post, is how this guy's article connects to Bush Administration policy? Is the author now in the Bush Admin? You say "below is Mr. Anderson's vision" but the article was penned by Beckwith? Am I missing something here? The CATO insitute (Mr. Beckwith's sponsor for the article) is well known as a right wing liberatarian style think tank. They purposefully generate all kinds of crap. Beckwith's source for the passage about selling the "sky, broad vistas, and fragrant flowers" is Terry Anderson, who, according to Scott Silver, is an advisor to Pres. Bush. Anderson is a leading proponent of enviro-capitalism -- "doing good while doing well". He runs a think tank in Bozeman, MT called the Political Economy Research Center (PERC), "The Center for Free Market Environmentalism". A dubious marriage of ideas, if there ever was one.

quote: Originally posted by Bronco: You self righteous guys must have a hard time being such perfect drivers. What's it like never having made a mistake in your life? Eh? How do you learn from your mistakes if you get no negative feedback? If someone is totally oblivious to almost killing me, they should damn well know about it, so they are more aware of those of us who aren't driving cars but have to share the road. Sure, I've zoned out while driving and almost gotten into accidents, it happens. And after getting yelled at, I sure drove safer.

Yeah, it's a great in theory to try to be "the better person", but you have to let out your frustration at almost getting killed. I may be floating in a pool of inner peace as I ride or whatever, but as soon as someone swerves their deathmobile into my lane, I notice. That self-preservation instinct takes over, so for at least a second I want to rip off the driver's head. Usually, I can let it go. When I have caught up to people who almost ran me down, most of the time I am calm enough by then to wave, make the roll-down-your-window motion, and tell them very matter of factly "you almost hit me back there at Madison and Broadway, could you please be more careful?". Often, these people say they didn't even see me... riding in full daylight next to them.

Thanks for the discussion, everyone. This fee demo program sounds like some serious bullshit Dammit, it's frustrating knowing that your interests are out-represented by corporations... I know, nothing new there, but it still pisses me off. What sort of protest is going on June 15th?

quote: Originally posted by jon: People can cry all they want about other drivers, but it's nothing compared to commuting on a bike, as I'm sure Beck and Dan Larson can attest. Not like I don't drive but there is a population that sits somewhere on left end of the bell curve who just shouldn't be driving. An asshole a while back decided to pass me, then cut right in front of me, then immediately stopped trying to park while talking on his cell phone. He put me in a pretty sticky situation lucky, so I decided to get him a new drivers side mirror. Oh man, this kind of shit happens to me all the time. I think about carring my ice axe with me and so I can sink it deep into the asshole's trunk as he blazes by me, thus inflicting righteous punishment and giving me a free joyride.

Please pardon my ignorance here, but I'm trying to understand the fee demo issue. The idea is that the USFS is in need of funding because the federal funds (from taxes paid by the outdoorsy and sedentary alike) aren't flowing like they used to. USFS decides that they should start charging fees at sites (trailheads, and where else?) through, e.g., the NW Forest Pass. With such a fee program, the USFS can gauge usage through fee payments, as well as replace "lost" federal funds with funds obtained through the user fees. At first glance, this seems reasonable: ask those people who use the products of USFS' work (trails, parking lots) to pay for what they're using. Anonymous taxpayer (someone who's never walked a mile outside of a shopping mall) doesn't pay as much for something he or she never uses. Personally, I'm not too bothered paying taxes that are used to fund some things I'll never be interested in, like highways in North Dakota or really bad art, because, well, someone's getting some use out of it, and those people are paying for my highways, too. Share and share alike. Whatever. Of course, why does the USFS need more money in the first place? Are its funding priorities screwed up? Are they building trails for ATVs with that money ? I'm sure they have a backlog of trail maintenance, which I don't mind paying for, but how many new trails do they want to build? Are these the issues that people are getting their knickers in a twist about regarding fee demo? Is protesting fee demo a way to affect change in funding priorities? I'd be pleased if all the USFS ever did was keep roads reasonably drivable, trails accessible, and parking lots available. I don't give a shit about bathrooms, more trails, anything benefiting "motorized recreation", or any new facilities.

My roommate, girlfriend and I go usually twice a week. We'll be there Thursday night. I mostly go for the bouldering, but I bring a harness in case one of us wants to use the ropes.

Yeah, he gets tired after about 10 minutes because he's yarding himself up every hold using only his arms...

Yeah, yeah, meow. Look what a shitty day at work does to me. Anyway, I go to the gym to climb, and I'm glad to have everyone there in the gym with me. I've met some folks there (whose names I've never learned or forgotten) who b.s. with me about routes or moves or whatever, it's all good fun. And who is not amused when some football-player-lookin' dude comes into Vertical World with his gorgeous, clueless girlfriend, who struggles to get anywhere up the wall without the weight of her enormous hooters pulling her back into the void? I don't see why anyone would go to the gym *just* to socialize or troll for a date... I'll see you suckas at Stone Gardens Thursday!

who the hell goes to the gym just to socialize? i only go because i'm a gumby antisocial loser with a plastic fetish. bite me, erik

Cool. I'll be the tallish guy with brown pants, purple shoes, and no chalkbag, feeling up a hot blond girl between routes. I'll look for the pink spandex

Veggie, where did you see the incident report? I looked at the NWAC site and the most recent thing I could find was a report on two guys whose tent got buried near Source Lake at the end of January.

I've got a Lowe Triplepoint jacket I found used at a yard sale for $25. It is heavy and not too waterproof anymore, even after I washed it in Revivex (whatever). I only use it for lift skiing anymore and wear a soft shell instead most other times.

BD's 44 liter Ice Pack is on sale for 90 bucks through mail order only (not the website). Call them at 801.278.5533.

You can get More Climbing Anchors for less than that on Amazon...

Trask, you'd have to have an attitude to walk around with all that denim shoved up your ass. Ms. Goatbags would knock herself out cold with her swingin udders if she tried to run away, so you have a fighting chance with her...

First post of the day

I just bought some cheap wiregate biners from sportextreme.com, with a decent shipping cost to the US. I haven't received them yet, but they were about $3.25 apiece. Barrabes has a much better selection, but I've never bought from them, either. Feathered Friends is a good local place. Every time I've bought something there, someone's given me a gear tip, or made an ice axe leash for me out of webbing, or given me 10% more off for buying a bunch of stuff. My experiences at small gear shops have been good just because of the people there, even if it's not necessarily cheaper. I also recently ordered some stuff from a gear shop in Utica, IL (what do you climb in Illinois?) called Starved Rock Outfitters. I picked up a rope, gloves, and some hardware on sale. It's fairly easy to find cheap gear with a simple search on Google, or through GearShark.com. It seems to me like most climbers want gear that does the job for as little money as possible. I've never heard anyone refuse to buy a solid, cheap piece of gear because they know that its "Made in the US of A" label really means that it was sewn in some dank sweatshop in Guam. Personally, I don't pay much attention to where my stuff is made More important to me is that it's made well and will last.

See the recent thread about the Ice Sac, though: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=9&t=000320 Looks like the 5-year-old ones are good, but the new ones are much too flimsy.

rkb (at) speakeasy.org

Does anyone know how to get in touch with Mr. dps? We talked about climbing tomorrow, but I don't have his phone number. Thanks.

Ha ha, Dan Larson. Quit yer trolling.