chelle

Hi Rob. Bummer about the shoulder. I tweaked mine earlier this spring. I had the same troubles as you with manteling and arm-baring. Two of my rotator cuff muscles were involved and then the PT my doc prescribed was too aggressive and further tweaked a couple more muscles. I could hardly move my shoulder and was really bummed about missing out on the climbing season. What I learned is that soft tissue injuries cause immediate weakening of the muscle/tendon and the scarring that takes place during healing can also limit mobility, elasticity and function of the tissue. You need to take some time off and get some combination of therapy/rehab. Here's what worked for me. After about 6 weeks of PT and actually feeling worse, I decided to get some massage work on the shoulder by someone I knew was an expert in working with injuries. She did work to breakdown scar tissue, calm the spasming of the larger muscles that were working to stabilize the rotator cuff (and causing a lot of pain) and also did some lymph drainage to help with the inflammation (I don't like taking anti-inflammatory drugs). I continued to see my PT and told him I thought he was being too aggressive with the strengthening, so we focused on stretching to increase joint mobility and range of motion. I also saw the massage therapist once a week for 5 weeks. In my view the massage and stretching along with rest from strengthening got me to a point where everthing calmed down and I could work out and climb again. It was a long process and I am not back to full strength/endurance yet, but that takes time. Hope you feel better.

I guess I didn't read that far. I already knew who the guy was from his name and just read the description of what happened. Yes, he played with fire and ended up getting burned. I think the two situations are completely different, although both are sad. He wasn't slathered in blood or sitting on a pile of salmon he was trying to keep from a hungy bear. From what I observed in his programs he took precautions but understood the risks he faced since he refused to carry a gun because he thought it was in conflict his fight against poachers and against the law. In the last show I saw I recall he made a comment about how he felt he needed to protect himself more from poachers than from the bears. He'd been out there doing research for 14 years. Obviously he wasn't stupid, the odds of an incident simply caught up with him. Being callous about the loss of life just seems wrong to me. Both you and Cracked were doing just that in a pretty cavalier way. I hope if either of you or someone you care about die in an unfortunate way, that none of us calls you/them stupid and says youthey deserved it. That would show little humanity, no compassion, and no respect for who either of you are.

Hmm. I thought you recently argued in another thread on the subject that ratings really don't matter and especially the soft ones in Canada...

Dunno. I don't feel sympathy for stupid people. This guy got what he was asking for. Props to the bear! well, it's not the project grizzly guy, and i don't think its the same desensitizer guy because he was an actual academic funded researcher, not some recovering drug addict. i wish i could remember what book it was! then again a wild animal is never truly predictable, just look at Roy Horn Gosh Paul and Dru. That's a pretty shitty attitude about the lives of a photograhper/researcher and his girlfriend. I haven't heard that Tim was a drug addict and if he was and has recovered to become a productive member of society by photographing and defending the habitat of a beautiful and powerful animal then good for him. He put himself in danger for his passion and unfortunately the bears won. I can't believe you guys feel good about yourselves with such callous attitudes. Grow up and get a conscience!

Sounds like health, youth, strength, and attitude are all on your buddy's side. I'll send my positive thoughts his way. I hope his recovery is swift and complete.

Wow! That is such a bummer. This guy was really cool. I had seen a couple of his programs on bears, either on Discovery or PBS. His focus was educating the public through information and study of the bears, and to defend their habitat from development and poachers. What a loss.

A guy can't even enjoy a cold beer anymore without having to consider the political ramifications he's indirectly supporting? What is the world coming too? sheesh! How about Schmidt? Is that stuff still NW brewed? Lucky? Oly? Henry's? What's a guy with an obsession for cheap beer to drink while maintaining a firm moral stand? Your best bet is Henry's; which is now being brewed on contract by Full Sail brewing company. The mind boggles. And Full Sail is employee owned. Another bonus.

Cracked - not if cynicism is used as a way to avoid or limit some of life's experiences because you're too jaded to step up to the plate. If you don't have enough optimism to put yourself out there (in any arena not just relationships) you may miss out on some great experiences and life lessons.

Watching and hearing the glacier calving on JBerg is one of my favorite passtimes in the Boston Basin area. Other than climbing loose blocky ridges of course. Cavey - can we post video on this site?

So do you let your back up plan partners know they're the back up so they don't consider you a flake if your original plans don't fall through?

I think that article is bs and the author is an angry cynic. If any of that was 1/2 true it would be so depressing...

I posted a few photos in the gallery. Enjoy!

The weekend was awesome! It was great to see people I hadn't seen in awhile and to meet some more of the faces behind the computer screen. My arms feel like lead weights today after 3 fun days of cragging. Thanks to all my top rope heroes who let me climb fun cracks in the lower gorge. You are super plab.

This is where you lose me. Got any links to articles/info?

Sounds like potential data mining to me. While 3000 males aged 25-59 might be representative, I fear their approach leaves a lot of people who struggle out of the analysis. "We restrict our analysis to male household heads in their prime earnings years (age 25-59). This group has been the focus of much previous research on the distribution of earnings, due in large part to its high degree of labor force participation. We include men who worked approximately full time for the entire year (at least 1,750 hours), so that our analysis focuses directly on the trends in rewards to market work and is relatively unaffected by cyclical variation in job availability. "

There's some interesting items on this site too.

JayB - I don't follow your points. There is an increasing amount of evidence about what has gone into their thinking/policy making and more people have come forward with statements about what the admin knew prior to the attacks. How can you just dismiss this as some crazy conspiracy theory? Yes, it is unthinkable that our government would actually sit back and do nothing about the hijackings, but they didn't even follow FAA policy to immediately scramble fighter jets. Why? Also, Bush's comments about "casualties of war" makes me inclined to believe he could actually rationize 9/11 events as necessary means to his end.

Or could it have been the story of Arnold admitting he behaved badly. Or the one about how Spector suggested that Ashcroft should recuse himself from the investigation on the leak about the CIA agent. Or the one about Moussaoui and how the administration is working the trial rules to get the charges dismissed so they can try the guy in the super secret military courts. Lots of great news on that page.

A UK MP's views/analysis on whether there really is a war on terrorism and US motivation.

Very cool Murray. Thanks for posting this link.

Good one Ivan. I'll try to remember it. I'm rolling in with a couple cc.comer's on Thursday night (early Friday am). We'll try to find the others in the neighborhood to get some pitches in on Fri. I have a little gas lantern that I can bring.

I've been using Sprint for many years and have been fairly happy with them in-city. Their covferage is excellent in Seattle and along I-90. However, over the last year their "collection tactics" on past-due bills have made me pretty unhappy and I've considered switching because of it. Does anyone know if there is a provider that can be used in both the US and Canada? Alex Alex - Sprint sucks. Static and dropped calls. They used to have the computer call me regarding my bill every month even though it was automatically paid by my company AMEX card...total pain. AT&T works in Canada. The calls are expensive unless you sign up for the "Canada Plan" which is I think $20 a month and adds Canada to your home service area. You don't have to keep it for the whole year either. If you're going to be up there for an extended period and making lots of calls it might be worth it to add then delete when you get home. If you just want coverage in case you need to be reached, then pay the $1.50 per 1-2 minute call or just use the phone as an answering service and pull your messages using a phone card from a pay phone.

I guess if you're into the whole mixed climbing scene than routes like this feed that need. The route Paco and I looked at this past weekend is shorter than the one pictured and is further up the gully. It is through a roof and has a swaged cable fixed in the middle of the roof (looked like it could have been a funkness used as a quickdraw). The chains are about 10 feet above the roof under some tree limbs. Erik - yes, I doubt I could climb this or any other ice climb on lead since I have exactly 0 ice pitches under my belt. But that wasn't what we were discussing. Personally as I explore ice climbing in the next couple seasons I doubt mixed climbing will be my focus. I think it's a bit contrived and silly to work gymnastic rock/ice problems with so many sharp points attached to my hands and feet. But it is where the big names are pushing the sport so I don't doubt the masses will follow...

The route is only about 35 feet in length. Isn't that more of a highball problem. Seems like a stretch to call it a route.

Vector on the apron in Squamish. Looks sweet from the ledge but then you realize...this is wider than I thought!