klenke

Thanks, chucK. I'll read through his stances on the issues. I better not read anti-Bush venom in those stances.

Addendum per John Roper: the locals (i.e., those who live in the Marblemount/Newhalem area) refer to the peak as The Stump. Roper didn't go for my suggestion to call it "The Polyp."

I tell you what, Kerry better get himself a better platform than "Bush sucks this, Bush sucks that" come November 2 or he's going to find himself on the short end of the election stick. I'm no fan of Bush or Kerry and I don't particularly care who wins the election at this point. If Kerry would prove to me that he's worthy of the POTUS position, then I'd vote for him. But he has not done so. I get tired of hearing him (and Gore and all you liberal losers on this site for that matter) spraying anti-Bush venom as their only modus operandi. It only goes so far (how many times can you go to that well of stating the obvious?) and I'm willing to bet most discerning voters know this. I want Kerry to stop focusing on Bush bashing and start focusing on providing a more Kerry-oriented plan for the United States' future. It will be interesting to see what tact he uses in the Presidential debates come fall. Anyone of you have an itemized list of his plan that I can read through?

I like the new avatar name. It threw me for a loop last night while deleting some private messages ("who is chelle?). There was an Everest site that provided data for # of deaths on the 8,000m peaks: Data for Everest Data for all 8000m peaks Some specifics: Annapurna has the highest death per successful ascent ratio: 41% (130 successful, 53 deaths). The page doesn't give data on the number of people who don't succeed AND don't die. If this number is, say, 10 times the number that summit, then the percentage of deaths per attempt would be something like 4%, meaning 4 out of every 100 climbers you might see at a basecamp will die. Nanga Parbat is 2nd at 216 summiters, 61 deaths (28% deaths/summits) K2 is 3rd at 198 summiters, 53 deaths (27%). The 8000m peak with the most deaths is Everest at 179. This is not surprising given the draw of the peak. The deaths/summits rate is only 9% though.

Huh? Your age? Your IQ? Your catch?

I was living in England and watched The Spitting Image all the time whenever it came on. It was pretty funny, as I recall. The Ronald Reagan caricature was pretty good. The Genesis song using the caricatures ("Land of Confusion") I think hit #1 in the UK charts, but I'm not positive.

Dru said, "Excuse me while I make an ass out of myself. I am nobody wishing I could be somebody like Ronald Reagan." You (and others) can say what you want about the man's policies, but don't shit on the character of this important 20th Century figure on his death day. You will never be 1/90th the man he was throughout his 90+ years.

NOLSe, explain to me your U-turn infraction and what it cost. I'd like to compare how your violation compared to mine.

Apparently so. The crack for me is in the center of the windshield just below rearview mirror level. It's about 15 inches long but does not extend across my main view forward. The ticket for it is $101. My insurance deductible to get it fixed is $100. Hmmm, to fix or not to fix? With such an old car that might kick the proverbial oil bucket at any time, is it worth it to fix it?

Brian: I think you can get out of an expired proof of insurance ticket if you fight it in court where you can prove to the judge that you had insurance at the time of the infraction. After all, that's what counts, not whether or not you had a piddly piece of paper saying merely that you are covered. Also, if you don't have your license with you, you can recite to them your license number (I know mine by heart: KLENKPW299##). Sometimes that helps. It might depend on the mood of the officer. Sometimes, such as in eternalx's case(s), the officer recognizes a bigger hassle if he gives out a ticket in such circumstances than if he just lets it slide. If there is a reasonable chance that a ticket will get contested in court, the officer may opt for a warning because he doesn't want to deal with the extra paperwork and/or need to appear in court. I bet appearing in court is an officer's least enjoyed activity.

Yes, Martin. That time I did get pulled over just E. of Stevens Pass. I was a dead duck. Motocop got me. Walked into the middle of the road on that downhill after the pass and waved me over. $153: 76 in a 60. First ticket since late 2000. I was late meeting up with you. Perhaps snugtop was late so that's why she was speeding.

Ah, that explains it then. Addendum to my pull-over last weekend. Since I was nervous when the guy asked for registration, etc., I was mumbling something and then gave him my debit card instead of my ID card. He took the debit card as he listened to me. Taking half a step back as if to leave, he then realized I had given him my debit card by mistake. I think I went for the debit card because I use it so often. I later was joking with myself that I hoped he didn't think I was trying to BRIBE HIM by giving him my money card.

How can you not know what the registration looks like, snugtop? You get one every year when you renew your license (at least I do). Light-green paper, although I think they recently changed the format. I once got out of a ticket by telling the cop I was only going over the limit so I could get to the bathroom in town quicker since I really had to urinate. This was only sort of true but he didn't know it. This only worked because it was open highway (north of Winthrop). If I had been in a heavily populated area, the excuse would have been void. It was real funny faking walking like I'm going to pee in my pants to the bathroom while the officer watched. Then, it was humorous to me to have to loiter in the bathroom longer than I would have so as to make it appear my bladder was full/taking a long time to empty. It must have worked because he waited for me to return before informing me I was only to get a warning. I then had to endure his rapid-fire statistical enfilade of why speeding--particularly on this stretch of highway north of Winthrop--was a bad idea. "Yes, officer. Uh-hu. I understand. Yes. Yes..." I got out of a ticket last weekend up by Roosevelt Lake (E. Washington) by simply playing nice. The infraction was for doing an illegal U-turn (I had always thought that type of U-turn was legal but I guess not), not speeding. The officer (park ranger) seemed to understand. He also warned me of a broken brake light and cracked windshield. The latter two fines are $101 each.

Pinnacle Peak also goes by the name Chopping Block. Probably more climbers refer to it as the latter even though it is called Pinnacle on maps. More annotated pleasures

This is in no way meant to trivialize the accident but how does the belayer (below the leader) come to break his wrist while belaying? That's what the ranger lady said happened on TV. Did the leader fall and the belayer's hand get caught at a weird angle? Strange. Maybe, upon the leader's fall, the belayer pitched forward and then broke his wrist when he tried to catch himself.

It would be interesting to see the statistics for how many building fires are caused by BBQ grills. It would then be interesting to know how that stat measures up against the "we simply must do something about this" threshold of the safety police. We should also ban smoking in bed, staircases, window sills below thigh level, low door jambs in case of people taller than 7 feet wanting to live there, bumpy rugs in stairwells, and more. Hmmm...where's that peeve thread...

People named chucK who try to steal my thread thunder by starting their own anti-peeve thread. Oh, and people who .

Yeah, and conversely, I hate when lefties who are ostensibly on my side compare Bush to Hitler. Ridiculous hyperbole just makes your argument completely dismissable. I agree with you there Off. Gary: did you even see/hear Bush's speech. The comparison of the War on Terror to WWII as reported by the media was taken out of context. He was being specific within WWII by referencing the Pearl Harbor attack and comparing that to WTC. I saw nothing wrong with his comparison. It was a speech. Peeve (related to one of Gary's first one): 9. Going to semi-fancy restaurants and being served butter or margarine pâtés in those wrappers. You know, the ones where you can't knife it out of there w/o it being awkward or getting some of the stuff on your fingers. Please just put dollops of the butter/margarine in those little cups. Thank you. Relatedly, going to a nice golf course (a country club type of course) and ordering a hot dog then having to use those little packets for mustard, relish, and catsup. I despise those little packets as it is. But when you're a nice club, put the condiments in those little squeeze bottles.

That's the best analogous description for those asshat machines I've read in a while. Took me a few moments to figure out what you were speaking of. Oh, and sorry, I don't have an answer for you. gasmaggots!

People who know that parrhesia is the word that describes this kind of speech. For MisterE: people who complain about people who complain. For Greenfork: I saw somewhere recently that quite a few of those walk buttons don't work, that they're merely placebos.

I've been up into the Stetattle Jungle. Go into that mizmaze and you might become a noctivagant, never to see daylight again. We got to Torrent Creek south of Elephant's Butt and were thwarted by a deep canyon. I don't know why anyone would want to immerse themselves in that chlorophyll hell unless they absolutely had to see Azure Lake. It may be easier to traverse Stetattle Ridge. I have done this too all the way to the deep notch east of Elephant Butte at the head of Torrent Creek (ran out of time). If you were heading into the Pickets by this route, with an early start, you could make it all the way to Elephant Butte in the first day. It is something like 5,000 feet of gain to make Stetattle Ridge from Diablo then a looong traverse to the notch. A steep, heathery descent gets you into the notch, then there'd be a mildly rocky ascent up the other side out onto EB's south side. From a camp there, you could get into the north side of the Southern Pickets the next day. You could also get to Azure Lake from here. Good luck. Yooooou'll need it! Here is a picture of the spires, the lake, the fury, the butte, and the luna from Stetattle Ridge:

Don't forget the concrete ford on the road itself. That ford might be difficult to cross at this time of year with a lower clearance vehicle. That ford knocked off my Honda's muffler in July one year. The ford is a couple of miles before the Daniel trailhead. Maybe this ford is the crossing Mike is talking about.

ExtremoMtnDoof: Never heard of you. Can a guy who's posted only ~100 times talk smack like that and expect to get away with it. Leave the chestbeating to us 2,000+ posters. Dru, what you got to spray...I mean..say?

An onsite is also known as an mcash. A flail is also known as a klenke.

Sorry, vw, not sure why that link didn't work. Here is another URL to the same map: As you can see, the Cascade (hydrologic) Crest starts up at Castle Peak east of Ross Lake (I'm not sure what Alex was getting at concerning Hannegan Pass), extends down through Rainy Pass (by the J on the map), then down to the various passes described by Alex. Glacier Peak is west of the crest. Stuart is east of the crest. Stampede Pass (SE of Snoqualmie Pass; left of the word "Amabilis" on the map) is on the crest. The Washington portion of the crest stops at Mt. Adams because it becomes ill-defined beyond there. That is, the drainages go southward to the Columbia. For Oregon, the Cascade Crest goes south from the Columbia 15 miles west of Hood River, extends over Mt. Hood, then south over Mt. Jefferson, then Three Fingered Jack, then Mt. Washington where the vast flat expanse of lava fields makes things kind of ill-defined. However, the crest continues over the three Sisters but then west of Mt. Bachelor by about 7 miles. Diamond Peak is on the crest, as are Thielson, Crater Lake (Mt. Mazama), and Mt. McLoughlin.