Jim

on that. The site doesn't "disprove" anything.

Well I don't think I'm getting to 8,000 m, maybe 6,500. But I do want to stay warm and dry. I did not know the BD was only water resistent - thank you.

You can interpret his reaction in plenty of different ways. Oh that's rich!

Since I've been climbing for a while most of my stuff is really getting old (like me!). I gotta get a tent. I've been looking at the BD Lighthouse and the Bibler Eldorado. Eldorado is a bit roomier but the BD is so light (2.8 lbs w/o fly) but how sturdy is this thing? Though most of my mountain trips are 3-4 days and I camp above treeline but not up on the glaciers, I do go for the bigger peaks sometimes and have South America and European peak trips in the works. So - go for Bibler with more weight and sturdiness or go cheaper and very lightweight with BD? Any experience with the new BDs?

You've brought up a major point on how the US population percieves the war. They get little information on it! Oh yea, something like "Explosion rocks Baghdad, 4 soilders wonded". With no concept that they just lost arms and legs. Nor do we hear about the more than 700 Iraqis who died - just in Baghdad last month. Ya know, it's just a little messy war that's mostly out of sight. The place is a mess, and we've had the major hand in it.

I think the basic premise of the move, that we were lied to, that Bush is as sharp as a fern, and that the war was for political reasons and not necessary stands up pretty well. The scene with Bush continuing to read "The Little Goat" for close to 10 min after he's been told we're under attack is priceless. No one was telling him what to do, so he did nothing.

Unfortunately the Bushies are now more interested in the facade than reality. Over 700 people died in Iraq last month from insugent activity. Don't hear that on the CNN report. The US is only in control of portions of Bagdhad, broad portions of the country are back under local right-wing militia control. Most police stations for 70 miles around Baghdad are abandonded. Does anyone seriously think that meaningful elections are going to occur as scheduled in January? What a mess. What a rathole for our cash. And for what? The grand vision of a few neoconservatives. My heart goes out to the grunts who are working their butts off in 110 deg heat in an untenable situation.

This is the part that is ironic. All religion has made-up stories as their source. Heck, Jesus was elevated from mortal to son of God by a vote of the church for crying out loud (and a close vote at that). I have nothing against faith but when they treat writings meant to be metaphorical solutions to the mysteries of life as dogma, that's when it gets scary. And the folks that do it cleverly ignore the evolution of their own religion. As usual it centers around power grabs.

Hmmm. If I remember correctly it was Ronnie Reagan that set a pretty good example of trading arms for hostages.

Part of my ride from downtown to NE Seattle has a nice loop. Start at Myrtle Edwards Park and continue on the trail thru the train yard, and then follow it as it makes a sharp left. Up the small hill and another left brings you on a big hill (1mi) leading up to Magnolia. The outside loop follows Magnolia with great views of the sound. Head thru Discovery Park, up to the church and down the closed road to the main entry road. You can hit 40 mph on the downhill here and if no one is at the 4 way stop you can keep it up. Just keep going straight down the hill and you will connect up again. I think this loop is on the Seattle Bicycle map. You can vary it by taking the wooden bridge over the tracks and down the back way thru the Locks, then do a loop thru upper Ballard and down the huge hill to Golden Gardens.

Climb: Mt. Maude-North Face Date of Climb: 7/24/2004 Trip Report: A week late but I was in the Sawtooths for a week right after this. We hiked up into Leroy Basin (Nelson's suggestion) rather than coming from the other side (east to west) in Becky. Nice camping on a bench around 7,000 ft below the Seven Finger Jack - Maude col. A bit buggy and it was a hot weekend. Watched the copters dropping water on a fire one drainage over in the late afternoon. Started around 6:30 on Sunday. From the col we dropped down some steep snow (50 deg) for one hundred feet or so, and then we started traversing the two large rock ribs (going east) This was straight-forward, if you find yourself on exposed 4th class you're in the wrong place. A big billy traversed ahead of us, staying 50 yrds away and occassionally making classic poses on rocks. We had to drop only about 100 ft to reach the base of the route. I was worried that the snow would be soft in the heat wave but it was perfect for kicking steps. We chose to use running belays off a few pickets, but those more confident on steep snow could go without the rope (except at the top). About 4/5s up the route I was in lead when handfuls of baseball-sized rock and gravel started coming from the rock band above. It was our goat friend taking a curious look at us. I had to keep side-stepping a few whizzing rocks while warning my partner below. Yikes! I started traversing up and right and the goat was shadowing me, trundling away. I thought it would be good to move closer to the rock band to let the trundles pass over me when I found the moat quite far from the rock. I first plunged the ax into empty space - oh-oh. Trying to back away one leg poked through and while trying to move along the lip collapsed way back and I dropped in about 8 ft. Sputtering as I pulled out and over the lip, with snow under my sunglasses and in my ears I sat and rested on the lip when I noticed that trundle goat was continuing his efforts to bonk me. That was enough and I yelled at him and he wandered off. The top 50 ft or so of the route was ice, which we protected with one screw. Would have been fun if this were a couple hundred feet or so. This top part is about 60 deg or so. At the time you could bypass the ice to the left on 4th class rock. We chose the left hand chute option, it looked like the right side option was a bit steeper but had no ice. Nelson suggests the "easy gully" to the west for a decent. We read a nasty account of some climbers trying this but it turned into an epic. We tried to find the way down but kept getting cliffed out -so were not in the right gully spur I suppose. We climbed back up 1,000 ft to the summit and went towards Ice Lakes, then made the traverse. Thanks to the team of three that came up the standard route for showing use this traverse back to Leroy Basin. Gear Notes: 7mm rope took crampons but did not use 3 pickets 3 screws, used one Approach Notes: Hot

Stevens Pass to Snoqualmie Pass.

May be going up there this weekend, or Maude. Thanks for the pics and straight-forward information. Good style, well done mate!

duh!

Did this a long time ago (15 yrs). Thought it was in late spring. Partner wants to do it soon - will it be in decent condition now? Thanks.

With the fire and temps near 100 tomorrow that may be the case.

Maybe they could trade for the Cheney energy task force notes and Bush could sign the release so his National Guard records would be released by the State of Texas library system (since the Pentagon records were "mistakenly" distroyed). Seriously though - this is the what the white house has to concentrate on as national issues? More mass distraction.

True - once they take the money they can't plow again. That's their choice. No one is forcing them into the program and they can choose not to participate and keep plowing. What's the problem? It's the law. Get over it. Losses of wetland habitat directly translate in to other costs - increased flooding, decreased water quality, less ducks to hunt, non-game habitat, blah, blah. As a society we decided we want to protect these resources. Seems like a good idea to me. Yes, the forest industry gets a pass on many issues and are a significant contributor to the degredation of salmon habitat.

Just spoke to a friend in the FS over there. It's going to keep them busy - very dry. She strongly suggest alternative plans to the Icicle this weekend. Rats! That's what I was planning.

...you mean the farmer who can now only use a portion of the land he owns because extremists like you have declared wetlands preservation trumps food production and said farmers right to earn a living?? Of course, you paid him fair market value for this taking. The same farmer who's heirs will likely sell his farm to a developer so they can pay the inheritance tax? Another left wing-nut sacred cow. You need to do a little research. Wetlands on farmed land are exempt from regulations under the Clean Water Act section 404 if they have been continually farmed since 1988. In addition, there are numberous "assistance" programs for farmers to provide incentives for them to replant these areas in native vegetation or to not plow them. It's a rather generous program. So before blasting off on the republican talking points investigate a little first.

What is typical about this, and almost any news article, is the lack of any critical analysis by the author. It's always a report of this guy says this and the other guy says this.

I like this idea. Stop road-building and harvesting on the public dole and put resources into managing forests around communities. I've always thought that if we stop throwing money away to the timber industry we could hire local folks who know the nuts and bolts of land clearing for managing the urban-wildland interface. Better than creating more fire problems thru the subsidized forest industry. http://www.spokesmanreview.com/idaho/story.asp?ID=15492

Nope. Not my friends helmet. Corrct color but my notes from the day said his went trundling down the glacier side of the peak. Thanks. I suggest geraniums.

Does seem unlikely to bounce that far, but could have been carried by 12 years worth of snow slides. I will rummage for a photo or two this evening.