Jim

What is troubling is that it appears that they lied to get public backing they could not get otherwise, both in the US and around the world. It appears to have somewhat worked in the US, not around the world. Scare tactics have been used before and will again. But there is nothing Democratic about it. This just reflects the will of the neo-conservatives that are pulling the strings on our puppet president.

You're kidding, right? The administration line was that Iraq had all these weapons (biological and chemical), would soon have nuculear, was searching the world for bomb-grade material, was in line with Al Queda. And now? Opps, well we'll just kick all those "facts" under the table. As Luna said, it was just propoganda

That may be, compared to some, but I may also be a bad weather magnet. We got caught going up to the Spider/Formidable col from behind by a cyclone storm coming up the valley. Nasty - hail, lightning, 1 foot visibility. Or it could be I choose to (try to) climb in the North Cascades.

Tried the Pickets once - weathered off. Completed the Ptarmagin after being weathered off twice. Do I detect a pattern here?

. KALAMA COUGAR JUMPS, KNOCKS DOWN MALE ANGLER Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife enforcement officers on Wednesday issued safety warnings to residents near a section of the Kalama River while a private hound hunter continued searching for a cougar that reportedly jumped a male angler Tuesday, knocking him to the ground. The man, a Fort Lewis resident in his mid-30s, was not injured but his frame backpack showed claw marks. WDFW officers, assisted by a hound hunter, searched the area about 10 miles northeast of the citiy of Kalama for several hours after interviewing the angler. The Kalama River flows into the Columbia River in southwest Washington. The man told officers he was jumped from behind and knocked face-first to the ground as he was hiking out from the Kalama River shortly before 11 a.m. with a 25-pound chinook salmon wrapped in a plastic bag and tied to the outside of a frame backpack. When he rolled to his side to get up he saw a "huge" cougar disappearing into a brushy area about 12 to15 feet away. The man hiked out to a nearby mini-mart where he encountered a state hatchery worker who reported the incident to WDFW officers. Hunting hounds summoned to the area of the attack were able to pick up the cougar's scent, but with daylight waning could not follow the cat's trail into a steep area. The hound hunter returned to the area Wednesday. Meanwhile on Wednesday, a WDFW officer visited a residential area along Greenwood Road above the area where the cat disappeared to alert residents and children who wait along the road for school buses. The enforcement officers plan to distribute written cougar safety information to area residents. "We are following up to protect the public," said Murray Schlenker, the WDFW regional enforcement captain for southwest Washington. "We consider this an extremely serious incident." Under WDFW policy, cougars that attack humans are tracked and killed. The department offers the following safety tips for citizens who live in or near cougar habitat: -- Closely supervise children playing outdoors, and make sure they are indoors by dusk, when cougars are more active. -- Keep pets indoors or in secure kennels at night, and never leave pet food or food scraps outside. -- Light walkways and remove heavy vegetation near the house. -- Store garbage in secure containers so odors do not attract small animals that are prey for cougars. If you encounter a cougar: -- Stop, stand tall, pick up small children and don't run. A cougar's instinct is to chase. -- Do not approach the animal, especially if it is near a kill or with kittens. -- Try to appear larger than the cougar. Never take your eyes off the animal or turn your back. Do not crouch down or try to hide. If the animal displays aggressive behavior, shout, wave your arms and throw rocks to convince the cougar that you are not prey, but a potential danger. If the cougar attacks, fight back aggressively and try to stay on your feet. To report a cougar encounter that is a risk to human safety, immediately contact the Washington State Patrol, which will relay the incident to WDFW enforcement officers or call the WDFW emergency incident hotline at 1-(800)477-6224

I did read that article. Very interesting. The cats seem to be very adaptable. Down in the Klamath basin they seem to be increasing. One rancher I know has called in a trapper as he's getting a bit nervous, though he hasn't suffered any livestock loss. Very cool critter.

Does this mean ALL TYPES of climbing, or just rock climbing? Does it mean just Washington (as it was listed under WA closures), or just tribal lands (which we shouldn't be on anyway), or just National Parks? Anyone else ever hear of this? I'm aware of seasonal closures at Painted Rocks (in Yakima) and Devil's Tower, WY. Further elaboration/clarification appreciated. ...sobo No. Go to the Access Fund site. This is for Devil's Tower.

The thing is - no one is climbing up the side of the Mutual Tower to disturb the birds. Generally it's a short closure season and there's lots of other places to climb.

I was going to post a quict TR about the climb up and ski down Shasta on Monday but it was straight-forward. Fun and sunny. But what was more interesting was the cougar encounters we had on Tuesday evening. We were conducting spotted owl and great gray owl surveys in the Klamath basin. Basically you get to different calling stations via ATVs and use a voice recording to see if you get a territorial response. We were checking out a couple of new stations in the daylight so we could keep from getting lost at night. We saw a cougar jump out ahead of us near a station so we followed it tracks and found a buried deer about 20 feet from one of our stations. Great. That evening when we went back there was one cat just sitting up near the station so we bypassed it for the next one. On the way down there were two cats, females I think, knawing on the the carcass. At another station about three miles away we finished up when we though we heard a coyote rustling around the underbrush. We had a 1,000 watt maglite and searched down the trail and saw a couple eyes looking back so we walked that way. It was a big male cat - walking towards us. The cat got to about 25 feet away and sat down on its haunches and just looked. We decided to shush it away and it slowly walked into the forest line where we backed off. We started walking back down the trail to the ATVs but stopped to check behind us and the cat was plodding along following us. We chased it away again, got on the ATVs and headed out. Never saw one that close before.

Likely a turkey vulture. Their heads are small and feather-less (red) sos not to get matted feathers while sticking their head in a carcass. Pretty common bird, 5-6 ft wingspan, soars with wings in a V-shape, as opposed to eagles (golden or bald) that have a flat wing profile.

RB - Where exactly is the pain? At the a/c joint - the outside end of the colar bone where it meets the scapula or in the shoulder joint itself? I've had some problems with both that got resolved. A/c joint flareups are a common problem with big-time weight lifters, or the weekend warrior overdoing it. Problems in the rotator cuff are often associated with overtraining of muscle groups and low flexibility. I would go with the previous advice and get some PT guidance.

On the lookout for a new bivy sack. Let us know what's up.

I use the handspring and the IBM for field work. I make up data forms on the PC and download them to the pda, and you can make popup choices to fill in. I also use the pda with a clip-on gps locater. Then you can correlate a data collection point with the data and download later to the GIS system back at the office. I've also used a waterproof case for them. For this stuff it's handy. I never use it for any kind of scheduling. A small calander and a pencil work fine. Some folks here do use them for scheduling, phone numbers, etc., and two have lost all their info when the battery went too low. Seems like a pain to have to backup this stuff. But if you're on the road a lot you may need it I guess.

Last word - then I gotta get ready for field work, put the chainsaw in the truck (for cutting fallen logs across the road) and use a truck that was made for going where you'll never take that shiny yup-mobile. What I was agreeing to is "If you buy one for how it makes you look, then you're stupid". You said you wanted " to poject the right image to you employees". And at the grocery store I bet. I love to sticker those shiny new ones. It's obvious when rigs are used for work or serious play - and when they'er driven to pick up the kids and lattes. Posers deserve the riducule they get. http://www.changingtheclimate.com

Received this from a friend - sucks. Dear Friends - Some you might have read recent news accounts regarding the large number of avalanche incidents, including fatalities, in British Columbia this year. I am sorry to say that I was involved in one such incident on March 17th. I figured that sooner or later you would hear or learn about this event, so I have prepared an account of what transpired. I am OK and getting on with life, lucky to and so happy to be alive and have Chris and Ada, heartbroken at the deaths of two dear friends. Grizzly Slide, March 17th, 2003 There were six of us were skiing out of the Slocan Chief cabin, a backcountry hut located in Kokanee Glacier Park, in the Selkirk Mountains of BC. We had been taking trips into backcountry huts to ski and hang out together each winter for the last ten years. We were good friends, experienced mountaineers and careful backcountry skiers. We spent lots of time each trip digging snow pits and assessing slope stability. We were generally conservative in our predications, and had turned our backs on lots of slopes that we rated unsafe. We carried avalanche transceivers, probes and shovels and practiced using them. There had been extreme avalanche activity the week before we arrived with some of the largest avalanches in decades in that area. It appeared that many of the larger bowls had cleared out, and that the avalanche cycle was winding down and that the slopes were tightening up and becoming safer. We skied very conservatively the first two days, getting a feel for the terrain and investigating the snow conditions. On the day of the accident we went out in the morning with a snow ranger and excavated a very large snow pit. We performed replicate snow compression tests and a rutchblock or ski-block test. We obtained low to moderate scores that were very favorable for skiing. While these tests were not representative of the snow everywhere, we felt comfortable with heading up and then performing additional stability tests before skiing in new terrain. The weather was clear and calm as we looked ahead and sketched out a route to an open glade. It was located above a broad shoulder of tree-covered benches known as Grizzly Benches that we had skied two days prior. We agreed beforehand that we would turn around if found the conditions were unstable. We were nervous but excited as we set out. We gave a wide birth to treeless Grizzly bowl. As was our custom we spread out and headed uphill using a "safe route" along ridges and through trees that were not avalanche prone. The lead group putting in the up-track stopped to rest at the top of Grizzly Benches. I took over in the lead, with Ron Gregg and James Schmidt behind me. Ron and I conferred and decided to approach a relatively small slope above us and dig another test pit to evaluate the stability of the slope. Tim ONeill, Scott Tobiason, and Jon Heller were waiting and watching behind us. I made a curving traverse of the nearly flat bench, heading for a group of trees at the base of a low ridge. I had just made a kick-turn onto the toe of the uphill slope when there was a very loud WHUMP! The whole bench settled underneath us. A weaker layer deep in the snow pack had collapsed under our combined weights. We stood frozen and looked first up the slope and then back at each other. The air was perfectly still. A relatively small section of the slope above us began to slide. It appeared to be no more than a surface sluff, which we could handle. I was looking back down the slope at Ron. He was staring intently up at the slope behind me when a thunderous BOOM shocked the silence. I looked back uphill where I could see a massive face breaking away about 300-500 feet above. This slope had been shielded from our view by a break in the ridge. Ron yelled, “ski like hell!” I threw myself down the hill. There was a lone tree standing about 150 feet below me. “I have to reach that tree,” I thought. Suddenly a huge wave of snow was pouring down onto us from above, breaking apart the trees that we thought were protecting us. I was swept up in a roar of moving snow. I was swimming, trying to stay upright. I hit the tree, a ski on either side and threw my arms around it. The rush of snow propelled me up the tree, the snow folding over and pressing against me with massive exhausting pressure. I thought: “this is It” and blacked-out. Below us at the edge of the bench Tim, Scott, and Jon had watched me turn and ski downhill. They watched Ron and James, who were facing uphill on flatter terrain, try to turn and ski away from the slide. They watched them fall over and try to get up, only to be overwhelmed and disappear into the rising flood of snow. Then it all stopped. I could breath. I yelled out” I’m okay, don’t worry about me!” Tim, Scott, and Jon immediately moved out across the slide, searching with their transceivers, seeking a signal. They quickly found one and began digging furiously. It was Ron, but he was buried deep, with almost 3 meters of snow on top of him. Meanwhile I had pulled my shovel off my pack and was digging myself free. It was taking forever – I was so locked into the snow. Finally I was free to help the others dig. Jon set out to find the other signal. He quickly located James' signal and with Tim began digging. There was so much snow. And they were both buried too deeply. The Coroner later told us that they had perhaps 3-4 minutes - it took us 30 minutes to get to James' airway and about 50 minutes to get to Ron. We had had to move about 14 cubic yards of snow to get to Ron, and about 4 cubic yards of snow to locate James. When we found them there was no “ice mask” covering their faces to indicate that they had been breathing under the snow. I prefer to believe that they blacked out under the crushing snow and quickly died from mechanical asphyxiation. I wanted to tell you this story so that you would know that we were well prepared and that we were not being reckless. We were doing something we all loved and took precautions to manage the risk. Our preparation and plans did not prevent or predict the conditions that we encountered. It is small consolation that the avalanche technicians who investigated the scene could find no fault with our route or actions; they said we could rescue them any time and that they didn't know that they wouldn't have been in the same location on the slope. I have spent the last two weekends at memorial services. The two friends that I lost were both larger than life individuals who left huge holes in our communities with their passing. I have included their obituaries so that you could know a little about them. The silver lining in this has been the immense outpouring of concern and support that we have felt from friends and neighbors. I did not send this to a long list of people. Please share this with others that you think should know or would want to know. Love to you all:

Simple - to the point and sums it up.

I've trail run this route twice. The shortest time was about 4.5 hours. But that was in late August with Montrails, two water bottles, some gu, and a light jacket. Sucking wind up on the plateau. I'd like to do it for my 50th coming up.

Skip the yuppie-mobile, buy a car half the price. Buy some gear and take a leave of absence from work. Travel, climb, drink beer with friends. Or - invest the difference, save yourself the debt, and retire earlier.

But they want to have "No Boundaries". Ugh!

I never called myself a groundwater expert, it's just that I knew the details of the lie you were presenting and you got caught. And tell us about the rugged "off-road" work you'll be doing with the leather-seated vehicle.

Ok, this vision even made me laugh.

Really? And what do you base this assumption on, asshole? Do you know Rob well? Maybe because he said this: Considering it's got oversize wheels and tires, sunroof, leather interior, and a few other options I'm not the gold watch type, but in the parking lot here there are new sedans, Explorers, pickups, even a new Expedition. If I drive a beater, I'm making a statement to my employees...and not the right one. Sounds like the typical SUV uses. 99% if trailheads don't require an SUV, so it's the status thing, as usual. And yes, I use a 4x4 for work regularly, and we're not on the typical USFS road. Better have a winch if you want to follow.

Another yupster-mobile that will never see mud.

I like what I'm doing now. Get to spend a lot of time outside getting paid for what I used to do as a kid - but now I have to collect "data". Going cross-country doing landscape level vegetation surveys, paddling kayaks to do otter and western pond turtle surveys, winching the truck up the road you got down but can't get back up, using little 4 runners to get around 500 sq mile of terrain to conduct bird surveys. In a couple weeks I'll be back down near Shasta checking for winter snake dens, setting up bait stations for cougar, ringtail, and bobcat, conducting yellow-legged frog surveys, and kayaking for pond turtles. There is however lots of statistics and writing once field season is complete. And you're not starting out like a software engineer (or these days maybe you are). Beats the cubicle and shirt and tie deal.

How about reading something. Again, if it's something you haven't heard of in the usual lame media, and it goes against your beliefs, well then it can't be true. Get informed, and form an opinion on the facts. Otherwise it's arm-waving.