genepires

those sound like reasonable expectations for risks involved. curious what our local fire fighters & police have in case of severe accidents / fatalities.

so snarky-ness aside, you are saying that Sherpa support should be paid the same US dollars as the western guides? Does that same belief apply to workers who make everything else that is outsourced?

Usually the employers are richer than the employee. client hire guide service and service hires employees. person upstream is richer. and the problem is.........? what is the strike over? if it is wages, then it is an issue with the guide service. If it is over working conditions, then it an issue with the mountain. If it is over getting rich people up the mountain, then they are in the wrong business. Now I am confused. Are you suggesting that rich people not be allowed to travel to poor countries? If the guide services are paying their employees well, are you suggesting that the clients give much better tips, enough for each Sherpa to retire at a early age after one season? You went from the problem being a few media sources not highlighting the labor issues (and choosing to tell about the clients grief's) and going to economic inequality. What exactly is your point and possible solution?

what he said. awesome TR! sweet looking trip.

My idea about comparing the relative wages between the 2 cultures in support of the clients is based on something I read about the sherpa guides jump to nepalese middle class with the work. The western guides that work in nepal that I know are no where close to middle class based on the nepal season alone. Maybe half way there when one includes the other 9 months working. Of course, that sherpa wage comment I read could be untrue. not verified in any way, FWIW.

This quote doesn't help your argument that the sherpa are not paid fairly. relatively. BTW, I am not in disagreement about the wages of sherpa. they deserve more. they should live like kings afterwards, relatively. Speaking of that, it would be interesting to see a comparison relatively between sherpa and guides. compare nepalese currency to dollars in buying power. Willing to bet it would be relatively close. (yeah I know that sherpa are exposed to more risk, factor that in somehow) maybe the reason you don't see much media coverage about the wages of the sherpa is because it boils down to what the market will bear and the theory of supply and demand with regards to labor. The guide services can only charge so much and as long as there are adequate supply of sherpa, the wages will be what they are. It is not some grand scheme of businesses trying to screw over the locals which would be a good story. but the story is not there. Imagine a labor union for sherpa. That would be cool.

taking one quote (one that fits your paradigm) and posting that as proof of your claim is so very fox news. yes there MAY be anglos who are acting poorly, but your quote is not proof of such. Who knows how this Ken Stewart really feels. This is one quote out of a possible longer discussion about his sadness for the sherpas. We do not know his true feelings based on this one quote. This was just his feelings about the missed opportunity to climb a dream and I am sure that most reasonable people would feel some sadness for not being able to climb after spending so much money/invested time as well as feel sadness for the dead sherpas. And what is failed to either read or share by the OP in this article is other quotes such as: “I have a great plan,” he said. “I am going to go home and hug my 12-year-old. I’ve seen numerous things in my life, but nothing was ever driven home as to watch those guys on cables being brought down. “ Heading home, “there’s just a tug of war going on within me,” he added. “I have put years of my life into this. But I am going home alive. I think I’m done with the mountains. I’m going to cherish what I have and count my blessings.” So yeah, all those white rich climbers are ass-hats. Not. get off the high horse and see the world for what it might really be.....mostly full of good people just trying to get by.

Is this a trick question? Because the work takes them from nepalese poverty to nepalese middle class real quick. The wealth is relative. what is a pittance to you is a lot of money to them. I never did the finances for a guide service but did hear something from a reputable source. He said that the everest trips did not net that much profit after all the expenses where paid out. the everest gigs acted as a pinnacle that the clients could strive for. Along the way, the clients would take a lot of profitable education courses and other profitable high altitude trips. This is what kept the business in action. Maybe this was all a line to keep the worker monkeys in check. So yeah, clients pay a lot for the trip and whities don't pay the sherpas as much as white guides, but there may be a financial reason for such. Damn I sound like a conservative republic-turd.

makes sense. while the face would be free of snow, being east facing means lots of leeward side snow accumulation. The avalanches would build up the snow pack on the base of the face and ledges till june. heck, the first pitch of total soul and silent running is still under snow and that has a somewhat southerly aspect. I thought you were asking about the dryness of the face itself.

did not actually see squire creek wall. but the lingering snow seen on exfol dome suggests that the same would exist on squire. maybe lines protected from melting snow patches and/or seeps? Illusion seems like a good fit for these 2 conditions needed.

speaking of the quality to the road and the big walls back there.

some kind soul even cut all the little vegetations that were creeping in on the side of the road. like driving to yosemite now...sorta

the NPS, gets something in return for the special privilege given to guide services. It may or may not a written obligation in the permit application, but guides in the area are expected to assist in any emergency responses as long as their clients are not put into harms way. At least that was how I interpreted it some 10 years ago. I helped out in one rescue in boston basin in this kind of situation and was glad to do so.

sounds like you are talking about yourself, Mike.

video shows a pear shaped biner. is there a smaller regular sized biner version?

what if the plastic owls were ugly? or of word got out that these plastic owls regularly posted on cc.com?

flylows on sale at campsaver for $120 after a additional 20% discount

how much sole is left near the toe. picture is hard to see well but it looks thin. maybe I am wrong.

maybe a little DIY is in order? get a cheap pair of softshell pants and sew on a waterproof section to the rear of the pant? may look bad but the fashion police are not patrolling the mtns and the media don't care about splitboarding. I waterproofed my kids cheap ass part of his ski pants by putting on LOTS of seam grip. looks funny. works for lift skiing. prolly won't work for high exertion sports. wet sweaty butt.

is that from your triple C adventure? bummer.

another option for the N ridge baker plan, do it in 2 days but do it as a cross over. go with light overnight packs. Day 1 hike in and cross the glacier to the ridge in the daylight (nice for the complicated glacier travel) and climb up the ridge to some bivy spots about a rope length or two below the ice wall. next morning, climb up down and out to the car. solid forecast required. this would make your summit day easier and you won't be so tired afterwards so that you may actually climb something on your day 4. west face of south early winter spires is my favorite line on the west side if the spires. late start is OK. east side of spires, east buttress of south early winter spire. Longer day and earlier start required. stuff harder than 5.9 can be aided.

no physiology degree there is reliable evidence to show that the body will burn protein sources before fat reserves, when carb reserves are depleted, in endurance events. Most of the serious sports nutrition drinks contain some protein, in addition to carbs, to allow the body to burn these ingested proteins instead of muscle mass. But one does not need much protein to stave off the catabolism. you are still young. you may be able to get away with it but putting a little vanilla whey in with your Gatorade is a cheap way to make a inferior (but still working) sports drink. I don't think I could get away without a decent sport drink though. Look into Costco. they got 5 pound bags (something like 60 servings) for $40.

in case you are unable to read BS, the above is BS. except for the ticks.

I once ran across the stevens pass parking lot in 3 minutes. is that a record? or a record in stupidity?

if you leave for work before 6am, the drive to woodinville is about 20 minutes. after that, it is as previous described. coming back to monroe in the afternoon is not as bad strangley enough. monroe will be better destination whe the walmart gets built. give me a pm sometime