Fairweather

Any paraglider pilots out there? A friend and I are thinking about a new hobby this spring up at Tiger Mtn. (As if climbing isn't enough distraction from life's responsibilities!) I'd love to hear your thoughts/suggestions. http://www.tigermountainparagliding.com/

I agree 100% with this portion of your post. Please keep in mind however, that ONP has strict overnight use limits in place at Lake Constance, Flapjack Lakes, All Costal sites, Royal Basin, Seven Lakes Basin, Grand Park, and a couple of other areas I can't think of right now. Whether or not these restrictions were "administrative" or based, once again, on 'solitude', I don't know. I think "preserving the user experience" is often NP/USFS code for solitude enforcement. As for Muir and Schurman, these are within non-wilderness corridors. I can envision pressure groups trying to apply Wilderness Act standards in these areas if they perceive they can make a case and find a lawyer hungry enough to take it on, just as they have tried to do down at Mount Hood. ...But then again, I'm cynical regarding these matters. With all of the flooding of last October, you can also look for environmental groups to be petitioning for permanent closure of washouts. Look for these groups to be using salmon habitat/recovery/ESA as the mechanism with which they can make road repair costs prohibitive. Each year the list of permanent road/access closures gets longer, and unreasonable environmental mitigation is a BIG reason.

Actually, MRNP is 97% designated Wilderness Area and subject to the governing rules of The Wilderness Act. I'm not sure about the % of wilderness designation for ONP and NCNP, but I believe it is close to 100%.

I've been there a couple of times. Skagway is the coolest little town on Earth. Chilkoot Trail is neat, but I haven't done any climbing. The Sawtooth Range/Laughton Glacier area looks like it would have some good (unclimbed??) alpine climbing. I asked a NP ranger about climbing Mount Harding just across Taya Inlet, but he didn't have any info and said he had never heard of anyone climbing it since the first ascent to celebrate President Warren Harding's visit back in the 20's. Should be lots of B/C skiing opportunities in the area too, but I've never been there in winter time. Skagway is a tourist town for sure. Something to consider. My favorite towns are: Skagway, AK Winthrop, WA Homer, AK Skagway is

Are we to believe then, that the avy hazard is 100x greater on the day of the full moon than it is on the last day of a waxing gibbous phase?? Or the first day of the waining?

Who's cosmic string is that hanging from your chin?

Matt, WTA supported closure of the Middle Fork Road. Their position is part of the public record regarding this matter. They actually tried to convince their membership that this road closure would provide for more hiking opportunities! (I guess I don't understand the math.) ALPS sued the USFS to prevent use of chainsaws after the winter of 99' when hundreds of miles of trails were buried beneath fallen trees. When asked about the effect this action would have on hikers and climbers, the spokesman for ALPS reply was 'too bad'. ( I understand ALPS only relented when the local Forest Supervisor pointed out that it was perfectly legal to use hand drills and dynamite to clear the windfalls!) As for user limits in National Parks, most are a direct result of the 'solitude' provisions in The Wilderness Act, or an indirect result of lawsuit pressure brought by environmental groups under this arbitrary concept. The Wilderness Society has even threatened to sue the Mt Hood National Forest for their failure to impose a 25 climber per day limit on Mt Hood. Limits at Mount St Helens are not for resource protection, but rather to maintain an ill-defined 'experience' for the user. I agree however, that climbers need to get organized and speak up for access. The Access Fund is, in my opinion, the only group that speaks for true balance in this regard.

Those issues aside, and from a purely selfish point, the only 'interest groups' that I see limiting, or attempting to limit my access to mountain areas, are so-called environmental organizations like ALPS, Sound-to-Mountains Greenway, WTA, Wilderness Society, etc. This Alpental issue is, in fact, a non-issue IMHO. The industries you cite above represent a seperate debate. BTW, my original post was just a general reply. It was not directed at you personally, I just hit the 'reply' link to advance the thread.

Just a few personal observations: A I don't see the big deal with an extra 5 minutes to access the 'normal' start. Parking at the lower lot is the standard start for Mt Snoqualmie/Cave Ridge. Do you all cry 'foul' when access is denied for avalanche control there? B Some of my favorite access roads: Westside Road, Carbon River (MRNP), and, now The Middle Fork are/will soon be closed. These closures are much more than a FIVE MINUTE inconvenience! It's funny how 'access' only becomes an issue when it comes home to your favorite spot(s). I'm having a hard time finding sympathy for the complaints posted here. C I'm seriously not trying to sound insensitive here, but I can't help but note that this controversy was partly precipitated by a snowshoe party that decided to head up the valley during what were reported as (at least)'high' avalanche conditions. Sometimes our (questionable?) actions have consequences beyond the risks we are willing to accept at the personal level. We should consider how the ultimate failure reflects on the sport and how it effects all of those involved, such as rescuers/searchers, family (of course), and other back country enthusiasts.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man Commits Suicide to Escape Nagging Wife DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (Reuters) - A Tanzanian man killed himself by drinking a chemical used in cattle dips, leaving a suicide note saying it was to escape a nagging wife, police said on Wednesday. The body of the 32-year-old was found in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam on Sunday with the suicide note and a glass containing traces of the chemical, used for killing insects on livestock, regional police commissioner Alfred Tibaigana told Reuters. "I've decided to end my life," Tibaigana quoted the suicide note as saying. "I am fed up with the constant nagging of my first wife." Police did not have any further details about the man's death in the east African country, where polygamy is common.

Wow! That is an incredible suggestion. Especially given your expressed disdain for Republicans who take money from 'special interests'. I won't say it, but you know the word that applies here....

...or to kill a cow in a slaughterhouse.

Good info, Catbird. I've been drastically reducing my beef intake for a couple years now (almost to zero now anyway) and this just about settles it for me. It seems that the beef industry hasbeen negligent in not wholly stopping the use of animal renderings in cattle feed. If they can't get their shit together - and it seems now that they never will - I won't allow my kids to eat it (in their school lunches) either. Fish: PCB's and heavy metals Chicken/Poultry: Irradiated (The jury's still out on this) Pork: The other white meat Beef: Brain wasting disease DAMN! I swore I'd never go 100% vegetarian, but I'm giving it serious consideration.

Looks like you just shot your '90% luck' argument to hell! Education and hard work are indeed what made your father wealthy, and hopefully happy too. Can you now address the original intent of your (assinine) 90% luck premise?

Will, Don't you think 'hangin' out' with an existing enemy just a few months before that enemy slaughtered thousands, is somewhat different than shaking hands with an ally several years before you were at war? I'm sure I could dig up that famous photo of Roosevelt and Stalin together too! This, even as Stalin was purging his officer corps and starving 10 million Ukranians to death. Alliances change. Sad, but true. However, Ratko Mlodik(sp?) was our enemey at the time this photo was taken!! And Clark and he are jovially exchanging gifts!

Here is a good photo of Democratic candidate Wesley Clark. Looks like he has a new friend. This friend,Mladic, slaughtered over 8000 men and boys in the UN-declared 'safe haven' of Srebranica. Photo: (August 27, 1994) Lt. General Wesley Clark meets and exchanges hats with Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladic. Clark accepted as gifts from Mladic a hat, bottle of brandy and a pistol inscribed in Cyrrilic. A US official complained of Clark’s unauthorized visit: “It's like cavorting with Hermann Goering.

Works when I click it. Are you using a Mac or somethin'? Oh yeah....Asswipe.

I guess your daddy is just 'lucky' that he can afford to take junior on a trip to New Zealand? I support higher taxes to pay for those less fortunate among us right here on CC.com! This revenue would cover the cost of private spelling tutors and economics lessons for folks like.....JoshK and Dave Schuldt. Major social undertakings for sure.

For starters, the 'warm period' that lasted through the 1500's and was ended by 'the little ice age'. And this.... http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=mars+global+warming&page=1&offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26amp%3BrequestId%3Dc2a4e25f47667eb3%26amp%3BclickedItemRank%3D1%26amp%3BuserQuery%3Dmars%2Bglobal%2Bwarming%26amp%3BclickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fabcnews.go.com%252Fsections%252Fscitech%252FDailyNews%252Fmars011207.html%26amp%3BinvocationType%3D-%26amp%3BfromPage%3DNSCPTop&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2Fsections%2Fscitech%2FDailyNews%2Fmars011207.html Do you propose that humans are responsible for Mars global warming too? Could solar activity/cycles be at work in both cases? Throw yet another liter o'jet fuel on the fire my young 'Russian Hardman in Training'. WOW! That was a long link!

First place:Peter Puget! For his views! second place: Off-White For his balance.

Yes, I believe 'militant' religion should be suppressed, as should 'militant' communism, or 'militant' secularism. I think Chirac's view that headscarves are somehow militant is way over-the-top though. Now, boys wearing 'saggy britches' to school.....that's another story!

I think this guy agrees with that notion: Now, I'll admit that your original, complete sentence was wholly balanced, but I strongly disagree with the liberal notion that secularism is in any way a more peaceful path for the masses.

1.) Nowhere does the story cite human activity as the cause for the current warming trend. Have I ever denied that global warming is real? No, just that human activity cannot explain the phenomenon. 2.) At least 15,000 of the deaths in western europe were elderly French citizens who died in their nursing homes while the state-run medical program was on their annual 5-week August 'holiday'. I guess French government doctors don't carry pagers while their patients are dying of heatstroke. Nice try Dru.