Fairweather

If that keeps a 'Massachusetts liberal' from getting elected, I'm all for it. But we're not really that cynical, are we Matt?

Sounds like an affirmation that Al Quieda is getting desperate and grasping at straws. Kinda like the little punk who lands the first sucker punch and then wants to sue for peace when he discovers the recipient of his attack outweighs him by a large margin. I would guess, based on this pathetic plea, that 'we're getting warmer'. (In the mountains of western Pakistan.)

Don't forget! You MUST have your studded tires removed by Sept 15th or there is a huge fine.

I didn't see any Trip Reports! Can you drive (by car) to the trailhead at Schriebers Meadow already? ...or close? How was the climb? Did you go up Railroad Grade or Sulphur Moraine?

Road, tourism changing Antarctica's face RAY LILLEY; The Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Six Americans have just ended a second year of what looks like an impossible mission: carving out a road to the South Pole. The 1,020-mile "ice highway" from the coast directly south of New Zealand will enable hundreds of tons of supplies and equipment to be hauled across the world's most inhospitable wilderness on tractor-pulled sleds to the pole's Amundsen-Scott Base, a U.S. research station. Currently, cargo planes fly in scientists and supplies during the four-month summer. Where once there was only ice wilderness, now there is a packed surface 20 feet wide and lined with green flags, winding through huge crevasse fields, "snow swamps" and flat pack ice. After two summers of hard going, the $20 million South Pole Traverse Project has covered 425 miles, and manager John Wright is convinced it can be completed, though not by next summer as originally hoped. The completion date is the end of the polar summer in 2006, followed by an international environmental review before it can be used, probably no more than three times a year. In contrast, C-130 cargo planes use ice runways in Antarctica several times a day during the summer. "It is just a matter of time and work," Wright told The Associated Press in an e-mail interview from the U.S.-run McMurdo base on the Antarctic coast. "Last year it took us three months to go three miles across a crevasse field ... full of dangerous hidden crevasses. This year we were ... 'breaking trail,' a long, slow slog in soft snow." In the "snow swamp," a 180-mile-wide, 6-foot-deep field of powder snow, progress slowed to as little as 10 miles a day for the three tractors towing accommodation huts and fuel tanks. Instead of gliding along the surface, tractors and sleds plowed deep into the snow, stuck fast and had to be hauled out by vehicles traveling behind them. Wright said the route's newly compacted surface will remain solid over the winter and be useable next year, though the road itself will move, as the whole ice shelf is in slow, fluid motion. From one summer to the next, the crevasse field moved about 1,000 feet north and grew about 100 feet longer. "The ice had stretched," Wright said. Also, five new crevasses appeared in the road surface during the eight-month winter and had to be filled with snow and ice before the tractors could continue. Crevasse filling is expected to be an annual chore. The U.S. National Science Foundation is paying for the project. Wright said early studies by U.S. Army cold regions researchers estimated the road eventually will mean a 30-day round trip between coast and pole. When work stopped in late January, the team was still 270 miles from a vast area known as the Polar Plateau, and a long, flattish run to the South Pole, Wright said. Alan Hemmings, an Australian environmentalist, said the road "is the greatest single footprint of activity we've seen in the Antarctic" and has "the potential for far-reaching impacts." Apart from the 13,000 tourists who visited Antarctica by sea last year, Antarctica's scientific community has to cope with ever more adventurous visitors. In December, they signaled their frustration by refusing to refuel the homemade plane of a stranded Australian aviator, accusing him of failing to prepare properly for his polar flight. He finally got fuel from another aviator whose expedition was aborted by bad weather. Hemmings said tour operators "might want to piggyback on this U.S. route - and the U.S. will be able to do little about that." Hemmings is senior adviser to the Australian-based Antarctic and Southern Oceans Coalition, an environmental advocacy group. Commercial operators already take tourists across the frozen land mass to the South Pole by plane. The more robust adventure tourist can get about on skis. "The route may attract other activity ... facilitate greater access," Hemmings said. "We are beginning to change Antarctica." Karl Erb, head of the National Science Foundation's Antarctic program, said the route is subject to stringent international safeguards. Its "sole goal is to provide an alternative to air-ferrying cargo and scientific personnel to the pole," he said. The first person to drive to the South Pole was Sir Edmund Hillary, the Everest conqueror from New Zealand, using a modified farm tractor fitted with tracks. He arrived Jan. 4, 1958, as part of the British Commonwealth Transantarctic Expedition. It took him 81 days, and only 23 gallons of fuel remained in his tanks when his small team reached the pole. To Wright, of Silverton, Colo., Hillary is a hero. "My hat's off to him," he said. On the Net • Environmental impact assessment: www.nsf.gov/od/opp/antarct/ treaty/cees.htm

Hey Fairweather. This must be the second time I agree with you. Thanks Catbird. I hereby declare your views balanced.

Wow! Thanks for the links SB. Here is a sample of their bullshit. Unbelievable! How many recreationalists are they willing to alienate, and at what ultimate cost to the very causes they hope to promote long-term. Short sighted idiots, all.... "Deep in the habitat of the endangered Northern Spotted Owl—along the Dosewallips River where it flows through Olympic National Forest, just 35 miles west of Seattle—the Bush administration is gearing up to log off hundreds of trees—some believed to date to the time of Columbus. The old trees are only a tiny part of what's at risk on the Olympic Peninsula: if Team Bush gets its way, the entire Dosewallips watershed will be put at risk.... The old growth trees in question have not even been surveyed for endangered spieces, and yet their statement above leads one to believe they have. The area in question is not in a protected wilderness area. And "team Bush" is at fault, of course - not local folks who just want to maintain traditional access. How do these people sleep at night?

Wilkeson dog killing teens are idiots. Dog killers belong in jail. But PETA is nothing more than an assembly of blathering extremist idiots who exist only one miniscule step above their ALF terrorist brothers. PETA is simply attaching themselves to this Wilkeson issue to lend some sorely lacking legitamacy to their brand name. PETA sucks.

Thanks for the info Sailboi! Exactly which group(s) are contesting this? It is exactly this kind of shit that turned me AGAINST the so-called 'environmental movement' over a decade ago. I was not aware that there was organized resistance to such a simple and logical road repair. (...But then who ever said these guys were driven by logic.) I'll write! Thanks again, and keep me up to speed on any public hearings to which I can lend my support/presence to your cause.

Im with you 100%!! But I believe this issue has already been resolved.......a bypass is to be constructed..... http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/olympic/news/index.htm

Climb: Ellinor-chute Date of Climb: 4/10/2004 Trip Report: Took the kid up Ellinor this morning for a little exercize. The road is still snow covered about a half mile past the lower trailhead in that shaded area that where the snow always seems to linger (est 3100 feet), but it is melting fast. The bypass trail to the upper parking area and on up the wooded ridge is snow free all the way to Big Rock, just below the first meadow. Still a bit of a cornice on summit. The chute glissade is in bob-sled condition. Time up 2hrs, 30min. time down 1hr, 5min.

Maybe Scalia is averse to the press because, in general, their coverage of the high court hasn't been exactly 'even handed'? http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=%5CNation%5Carchive%5C200403%5CNAT20040323a.html http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/21011.htm Hey Double E! You sound like just another leftist thug. Maybe you should try to break my kneecaps instead.

Rest assured, Dolittle, that if a newspaper in this country published lead stories/editorials calling for the assasination of political opponents and police officers, it would be shut down. The Iraqi newspaper in question clearly stepped outside what is protected speech...even in the USA. I think you're a bit confused about press freedoms... in this country. You really sound like a hysterical little girl...or like chicken little. Get a grip on your emotions...and then sprinkle a little 'grow powder' on your shriveled sack and hope some of it soaks through to your underdeveloped testicles..

Lately, doesn't he end every sentence with "Praise be to A-llah!"?

That's just the federal expenditures (for education) which are a small percentage of the total spent. ...but your point is well taken.

Cj, That's a good program, but what about schools in low income areas, or those without wealthy benefactors? Are they just SOL? One might conclude that the illustration you used blows the "level playing field" cliche to pieces. ...and what if that 1.2 million were spent on books or tech upgrades instead? Just a thought.

Matt, This is the classic bureaucrat bullshit argument; "now... you see....that money comes from that piggy bank over there....but this poor piggy over here is just starving...." Ok, now you're trying to put words in my mouth. At no time did I state that the education my kids are getting is sub standard. My original point was to counter Alpine K's ridiculous quip that Peter Puget "didn't care about education...." simply because he questioned how his taxes are spent. Nice try though...this is just a classic MattP tactic.

AK, ...more reading for the research-impaired: * At the federal, state, and local level combined, America spends more for K-12 education than it does for defense. And if you count spending on higher education, vocational training, special education, and other educational programs, the amount the nation spends is more than twice the entire defense budget. * Since 1965, the federal government has spent more than $321 billion on K-12 education. At every level of government combined, America has spent more than $10 trillion on K-12 education over the last century. Total spending at all levels of government for K-12 education is more than $470 billion this school year. * More than 35 years after Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), public school spending per pupil has more than doubled – even when adjusted for inflation – from $3,331 per student in 1965 to $8,194 per student in 2000-01.

You must get all your info from the NEA junk mailers you receive. Did you read the link I provided? Biased, for sure - but I don't see you contributing stats, or anything more to this debate than hyperbole or worse. BTW, I have two kids currently in K-12. I may be more in touch with these issues than the average childless Seattle liberal. Tacoma is in the process of replacing all of their aging high schools. The current project, Mount Tahoma HS, is a grand sight! Artistic brick inlays thruought, great glass cupolas, and a stadium with a pair of grandstands that would make an NFL program proud. The whole spectacle makes even my liberal-Democrat father-in-law shake his head in disgust. Schools aren't cheap. I realize this. But aren't these priorities just a bit askew?

I see you still manage to demagogue issues, if not well. Tell me, AK - exactly how has PP demonstrated that he is 'against' public education? Federal education spending has increased 118% since FY 1996. Why don't you tell us all, Alpine K; how much $$ is enough? I have recently toured several Washington State college campuses with my university-bound daughter. At each there were major construction/expansion projects underway. One in particular was very impressive: At WWU the new english dept. building is clad in brilliant, shining copper ($$$! wow!), the new non varsity gym has a state-of-the-art rock climbing wall, elevated track, and latest high-tech workout equipment. The new campus security building, with its massive timber beams, looks like a giant alpine chalet. I'm having a really hard time understanding the "underfunding education" argument. http://edworkforce.house.gov/issues/108th/education/funding/budgetfactsheet020403.htm

Damn. Nice trip! :^saluting graemlin:^

Nice belay knife you're sportin' there. ...a 'Kershaw Amphibian', I believe. Nice pics too.

Nice! Cool looking mountain too! I've had Iliamna Volcano (to the south) on my short list for some time now...does that guy fly into that peak too? I'd love to see those pics that didn't load on the first try. Throwing all your gear down a 3500 foot couloir! That's classic!

I'm so confused.... I've never smoked a cigarette in my life. I hate the government telling adults what they can/can't do with their bodies. I like the smell of fresh second hand smoke. I hate the smell of stale smoke in my hair and clothes when I leave the Naches Tavern. I don't believe that 50,000 people die each year from second hand smoke. The health care - taxpayer cost argument is old...and dangerous. Could, and is being used to restrict freedom. Girls who smoke are easier to get into bed. (So I've heard!) People who work in taverns have a right to work in a smoke free environment...so they should find a job in a place where smokers don't traditionally gather. How much $$$ do low income families spend on cigarettes each year? ....While their children eat canned pork and beans? WHY DO SMOKERS THINK THE WHOLE WORLD IS THEIR FUCKING ASH TRAY? It seems clear that tobacco companies manipulated nicotine levels in their cigarettes to addict more people to a potentially lethal product. Those responsible for this should be in prison, or worse. What has happened to all of the tobacco "settlement money"? New cars and perks for state bureaucrats, I suspect. I've seen climbers light up on the summit of Rainier a few times...and I'm truly impressed. But I suspect I'll still be climbing well into my seventies, and I doubt that many smokers will be. Again; their choice. Iwo Jima didn't kill my grandfather; lung cancer did in 1980 at the age of 68. When I was a child I used to ask him why he smoked. His reply was always the same, "I don't smoke...the cigarette does!"