JayB

If you ever plan on riding them with downhill boots on the lifts the extra expansion range may come in handy. Has for me.

I'd go somewhere remote and torch it up there.

Killer.

Sweet. Sounds like the right call.

You've got a point FF, but there's a fine line between being an intrusive wanker and doing nothing amidst an accident waiting to happen at sometimes. I think the things that make the difference for me are: 1)The seriousness of the mistake/oversight that they are attempting to correct. Is this simply them trying to broadcast their preference as gospel "NEVER attach your nut tool directly to a carabiner!!!!!!!!!!!," or is there really a grievous/dangerous error that they are addressing. 2)Their motivation for making the correction. Is this a self-aggrandizing gesture to heighten their status amongst the gaggle of gumby-disciples that they are taking out for a day of TRing or is this someone who appears to be acting out of a sincere concern for the correctee's well-being. 3)The tone in which they deliver the correction. Courteous and self-effacing or condescending and overbearing. 4)Their competence. I've found that 1,2,3 and 4 are usually closely intertwined with one another. I've seen beligerent gumbies hustling over to admonish their fellow climber's for the most trivial deviations from UIAA standards in order to compensate for the fact that they can't climb worth a damn, and low-key old-schoolers amble over just in time to avert a potentially tragic technical mistake as gently and courteously as possible given the circumstances, but I've never seen combinations of the two occur. I'm sure it happens, but nine times out of ten this is how the correction/intervention ritual seems to go in practice.

Yeah - my bad. My understanding was that you should credit a photo if it's taken off of someone else's personal/professional web page but if it's dumped on a public site it's not as critical, but I stand corrected. Many apologies. The funny thing is that I originally had the credit in there originally , but then stopped and asked myself "Is anyone really going to care if I poach this photo from summitpost" and I edited it out. Shows you what I know.

Climb: Red Mountain Ski Descent -South Face to Commonwealth Basin Date of Climb: 4/17/2004 Trip Report: The original plan was to head up to Camp Muir, but a look at the temperatures displayed in the forecast left us haunted by visions of clattering down an endless continuum of filling-loosening chunks of refrozen spring snow, so the hunt for an alternate destination was on. After scouring the report for warmer temperatures, we were stunned to see Snoqualmie Pass at the top of the list. So it would be off to The Pass and Red Mountain the next morning. We further resolved that not only would there be no alpine start, we would make it a point to delay our departure in order to allow the snow to adequately thaw itself in preparation for our arrival. The forecast didn't actually call for freezing temperatures overnight, but when you are out avoid the nightmare that is the refrozen slop o' death, you can never be too careful. Shortly after exiting the parking lot we encountered the one and only significant objective hazards of the day - the festering minefields of recycled purina besotting the first hundred yards of snow beyond the trailhead. After navigating this treacherous strait with nary a skin tainted by our passage through the fecal gauntlet, we felt unstoppable and cruised along Commonweath Creek for a while, then veered just a bit east until we found ourselves just right of the base of the ridge that joins the south and southwest faces. We broke left and skinned to the crest of the said ridge on old spring snow that was decidedly less than frozen, and slogged our way to the ridge's junction with the southwest face. From here we zig-zagged through a variable procession of rain, mist, and snow flurries towards the summit, skinning through snow that varied from isothermal slop to an inch of late spring powder on the way to the summit. After taking in the view, rehydrating, and unwittingly ingesting a pack of long-since-expired beef-sticks, it was time for the descent. The nausea induced by the consumption of the said beefsticks generated a state of mind roughly akin to alitude sickness, which from this point forward lent the outing a more alpine feel. The new snow lasted for all of one-hundred vertical feet of the descent, followed by a corn-harvest for the next several hundred feet, beneath which point it was non-stop crud-busting and chunk hopping down a gulley to the skiers right of the summer route up the ridge. A brief detour to the skiers left put us on a more open aspect leading to the base of the south face and eventually the basin floor. Toss in a mile or two of skinless touring down a gradient that's almost continuously working in your favor and another safe passage through the minefield and you've got yourself one hell of a pleasant day in the mountains. Line O' Descent.. PAUL KLENKE PHOTO!!!!!!!!!!! Squigly red line by Jay Brazier Gear Notes: Usual BC Stuff, keen ability to distinguish between feces and pine cones.

Most of the French leadership has made comments that suggest that their foremost strategic objective is to limit what they percieve as American hegemony. Whether you think that's a goal that will promote outcomes that are in France's or humanity's interests is a matter of opinion. My own contention would be that if the effort in Iraq fails, this will lead to developments that will threaten both Europe and the Middle East as much if not more than the US. The Kurds will almost certainly begin an armed campaign for independence, which will hardly go over well with Turkey. The Shia, with Iran's assistance, will be equally likely to assert themselves millitarily. Neither development will be welcomed by the Sunnis in Iraq, nor will the presence of a mass of armed Shia engaged in active collaboration with Iran go over well in Saudi Arabia, which sports its own restive and disenfranchised Shia population. Toss in a sizable contingent of suicidal mujahadeen who will only be too happy to turn their attention to the regimes in charge of their respective homelands once the US is no longer providing convenient targets for them to strike in Iraq and you've got yourself quite a conflagration, with potential ramifications that stretch well beyond Iraq's borders. How any one of these developments would benefit either nos Amis in France or the Arabs is an open question, but their collective stance has been such that one can only concludc that their primary objective is to undermine American efforts in Iraq, while mitigating the potentially negative effects of their conduct later. They may well have ample opportunity to just that. Bon chance, mon amis.

I was there with some friends on the 11th as well, and also enjoyed the healthy dent that mass attendance at religious events put in the crowds this Sunday. This phenomenon was notable due to its stark contrast with every other Sunday of the year. Now, if I was a believer, I would have to ask myself just how likely it is that the omniscient, omnipotent being that I am ostensibly pleasing by my attendance in the said church is overlooking the fact that I am situated somewhere besides the structure erected in his honor on the other 51 Sundays in any given year. I might page through Deuteronomy or The Book of Revelations for a moment or two and reaquaint myself with the manner in which this fellow deals with folks that don't walk the walk - if it were me. I can't say for sure, but some have suggested that there is a firm scriptural basis undergirding the contention that if you set foot outside of your church of choice on any sunny weekend (or powder day) you will fester in the darkest pits of hell for all of eternity. They may be wrong, but is it really worth the risk? Indeed. Think Carefully. Is a little bit of powder under the skis and blue sky overhead worth it? These guys don't think so. On a related note, the ever increasing pressure within his Dark Majesty's Foul Kingdom - first noted in a groundbreaking paper on the thermodynamics of hell (link) - has generated enough heat to begin melting out a few sections of trail in the woods on the approach to the worm flows, all of which will no doubt be quite a bit larger by next weekend if people stoke the fires by falling back on their old ways and skipping out on next Sunday's sermon. You can bypass the trail and one or two of the melted out sections by continuing your descent on deeper snow (still deep enough to muffle the faint hysterical wailing and bitter lamentations of the sinners underfoot that are clearly audible if you stop on the dry patches of the trail and listen for a moment) if you stick to the gulley just a few feet off of the trail on the skiers right when you re-enter the woods. Continue in the gulley until you hit the second short rock step that's big enough to require a few feet of downclimbing.. Once you've cleared the second step, take a hard left up the side of the gulley and look for a blue trail marker, which will put you on the Swift trail, which will eventually take you back to the main trail if you follow it downhill. Don't descend too far though, or you may end up here... Whatever you do, don't end up like these people- Sell your skis and repent.

There's some climbing just off of the side of the Mesa that most of the folks live on out there, along with some beatiful views of the river valley from the base of the crags. Could be worse!

There seems to be a fundamental confusion between intelligence and actionable intelligence amongst some of the posters on this board. Vague warnings such as "Al Queda Plans to Attack the United States Within the Next 6 Months" are the intelligence equivalent of the fortune cookie or one of Nostradamus's prophesies. WTF can you do with that? Call a halt to all commerce? In order for such things to enter the realm of actionable intelligence you need specific information before you can do anything constructive to eliminate the said threat. Had the administration had such intelligence and acted upon it, a fusilade of editorials and speeches denouncing their actions as simple fearmongering would have issued forth from the usual mouthpieces. Guaranteed. I've also been amused by the response to Clark's testimory. Every member of the "No Blood for Oil" chorus has come out and hailed Clark, who wanted to invade Afghanistan long before 9/11, as some sort of a secular saint. I would have supported such a measure for a number of reasons, but the fact of the matter is that those on the left who retrospectively support such a measure would have been out in the streets waving placards condemning every single aspect of such an operation.

Skiing. St Helens on Sunday muchachos.....

May 1 and I will be there.

I vote for the weekend after this.....

I second the motion's for the Buckskin Gulch and the Canyons around the Escalante. There's a permit sysem in effect for overnight camping in the Buckskin Gulch area, and you'd do well to reserve your spaces a few weeks in advance if you plan on hitting the canyon during peak season. The Canyons of the Escalante are pretty well covered in Kelsey's book, and are well worth visiting if you are in the area. I take that back. Escalante is an overdeveloped patch of hell that no one should ever visit under any circumstances, and there are no good slots within a 100 mile radius. Stick to Moab and Zion and avoid Escalante at all costs.

One Iraqi's thoughts on the matter: "Thursday, April 01, 2004 Crime and punishment. - What happened in Fallujah yesterday, when foreigner contractors were killed and disfigured, was more than I could take. I felt extremely angry, disgusted frustrated and desperate. What was worse is that it’s not the first time, nor do I feel it will be the last. There was nothing I could say to explain it, and in fact I don’t want to, nor do I expect anyone to understand. However it made me think a lot trying to understand why such things happen and how to respond to them. If I was living outside Iraq, I probably wouldn’t bother this much and I would settle with saying that evil exists everywhere in the world and that we shouldn’t generalize this, which is true, but since I live with evil next door, I can’t satisfy with just concluding. I find myself forced to look for answers that may help to stop this madness and to put this country on the right track. I’m not stupid enough to think that I can do it alone, of course, but at least I can do my part, joining those who went there before me, and waiting for others to do the same. Before going further, I’d like to say that we still have to work our minds while we combat evil and should never surrender to anger alone. There are many criminals involved in this terrible crime on different levels. There are those who preformed the attack (the terrorists), there are those who disfigured and cut the bodies of the victims, (the savages) and there are those who cheered the process, (the disgusting potential criminals) and last but not least the Arab media who celebrated that horrible event and kept showing those scenes again and again. All these should be punished according to their crime. I’m not going to bother myself with the reasons behind the crimes committed by the terrorists and the savages, and I think we all know the motives of the Arab media, which I have deleted from my list forever and will never watch again. They’re serving the terrorists goal by terrorizing both the coalition people and the Iraqis who cooperate with them and they want to create and promote hatred and distrust between the Arab Muslim world and the west, and discourage those who don’t carry such hatred on either part, all in the favor of the dictators who finance them. These should not be dealt with as journalists; they are a disgrace to this honorable profession. The only people that I think should be punished less severely are those kids and teenagers who were cheering that terrible act. These are just children who never heard a voice other than that of the mullahs and Saddam’s propaganda, which is still working with no less efficiency, thanks to Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabia. They probably haven’t seen any place other than their poor miserable town. Still they should be taught a hard lesson. The problem with many Iraqis is that they still don’t understand the meaning of freedom, as some of them look at the present situation and the semi absence of punishment as an opportunity to do whatever they want, as was shown by the last riot in Basra lately (which I know that it was carried by a group of professional criminals who claim to be an Islamic She’at group, who are supported and financed from Iran in the obvious hope of starting a civil war or at least a considerable disturbance, and should be dealt with seriously). These people should be lectured about that and when this fails they should be forced to follow the law and respect human life and values. They should know that the absence of a sovereign government does not mean the absence of law. The CPA should by now have distinguished Iraqis who are cooperative and willing to build a new Iraq, and those who are just not satisfied with them or just have some complains, from those who are (immune to reform) and they have dealt with the second group quite patiently and wisely and gained many allies. Now it’s time to deal with the third group and this should be done firmly. We have the tapes that show the faces of most of those who took part in committing and celebrating that crime and I’ve heard that the CPA is already following them and I hope this will be done soon, but I must add that even those who were just cheering, should be arrested, sentenced to prison for a long period and that this should be shown on the Iraqi TV and all the media, so that the others, especially those who fear the terrorists should learn to fear the law if they can’t respect it. I for my part have decided, instead of cursing the darkness to light a candle that I know very well it may burn me and my family. I’ll report anyone I even suspect of cooperating or knowing something about the terrorists. And to those who might wonder why this should be a risk, I think the answer is that-despite the great improvement in their performance and ethics- there’s still a considerable number of corrupted members on the IP and even agents for the terrorists and one just wishes to be lucky not to contact the wrong guys, and even the CPA is not a very promising alternative, since they need hard solid evidence, which is quite good in natural circumstances, but unfortunately not available most of the time, and just for the record, this is not the first time I do this. I think they need to be more hard on those who are strongly suspected on committing or helping terrorist attacks, so that the people who turn them in will not fear their revenge once they are released, which happened many times. I’m not calling for violence like that of Saddam’s, I’m calling for enforcement of law and justice and I’m ready to do my part. We are going through a very critical period and strict punishment should be applied to those who try to hinder the development or further disturb an already unstable situation. Anyhow, my life and my family’s are not more precious than those of all the victims of terror, and I’ve already sent messages to the CPA of all the information I have about people I have strong suspicions about, and who are supposed to be my people and some of them are actually related to me or consider me a friend or a neighbor but simply I don’t consider them so anymore, not until they denounce terrorist activities and stop cheering them as resistance, as my friends and my family are those who help me and the Iraqi people and whish the best for me and for Iraq. In case that will not work I’ll take the risk of going to the IP. The reason is why I’m doing this now and not before is because I don’t have solid evidences and it’s almost impossible to contact the coalition forces directly, but I’m also SICK of living with fear and I’m sick of getting, with all the good Iraqis and Muslims, the blame because of these terrorists and barbarians, because this only serves the terrorists plan, that is to block any way of communication and understanding between Muslims and others, and they use comments made by westerns in such times to show the other Muslims that hatred is eternal between them and all the others. This is not between Isalmists and the west, not between Saddam loyalists and America this is between good and evil, light and darkness and I can’t sit and watch or explain anymore. You can say, “Nuke Mecca” or “nuke Fallujah” and you can chose the Spanish government’s attitude and submit to terror, or you can join us (Iraqis and coalition) in fighting dictatorship, terrorism and their-no less evil and damaging- propaganda machine. I call for serious measures upon such channels that provoke hatred and celebrate terror and show it as a heroic action. I say, “‘nuke’ Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabia, the terrorists and all dictators in the world. It’s either us or them”. The evil TV channels should be prevented from entering Iraq and spew their poisons into the minds of simple people. They’re more dangerous than the terrorists themselves and no rigid concepts such as ‘freedom of speech’ should stop us here. This is not journalism, its terror propaganda. I don't think there's a need to change the coalition strategy in Iraq in a radical way, it's a very good one, but needs some fine adjustments. I think what should be done is that we go on with our plans to build a new free and democratic Iraq and show the people the benefits and beauty of freedom, but at the same time we should deal firmly with those who act only in response to hatred and fear and have no respect for any law or human values, in other words people who made it necessary that every country should have an efficient law system supported by a powerful police to make sure that law is respected and to punish, and even eliminate when it’s necessary, those who don’t fit in the society. We have suffered enough to get our freedom, thanks to our friends who sacrificed much to achieve their peace and ours, and we can’t turn back and we will never accept slavery again. No, better to die free than live as slaves for our fears. By Ali" http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/

"If you can say one thing about the muslims, you can say that they don't tolerate apparent injustices to other muslims." ....unless of course these injustices are being perpetrated by their fellow Muslims.

Never. You are hereby condemned to an eternity of left-to-right scrolling.

Well - I had high hopes for this trip but well over a week of record high temperatures more or less put the kibosh on the ice climbing. I new that heading out there this late in the year would be a bit of a crap-shoot, and I brought along all of my fly-fishing gear, some rock gear, and a snowboard as back-ups. As luck would have it, I ended up using all of the "back-up" gear and none of the ice gear. After rolling into town on Monday morning, I strolled into the local fly-shop, got wind of a killer blue-winged olive hatch, and bought a one-day license after explaining to the guy at the desk that I had come out to Cody for the ice climbing but was glad to have something to do on the days when I didn't have a partner. After coming in every single morning thereafter for the next four days, this had become something of a joke, and the occupants would have themselves a good chortle after asking me "How that there ice climbing'd been yesterday." Both my girlfriend and I thought that we might be able to squeeze some midweek climbing in together, but she ended up putting in far more hours than she had imagined she'd have to before the trip - so it was basically just me and the trout going mano y mano all week long. Thankfully, I was in the midst of the best dry-fly I'd seen since the late 80's, and found ample consolation while wading the Shoshone River. And this was right in the middle of town - amazing. Anyhow - a pal from Colorado was scheduled to arrive Thursday evening, so I took some time early in the week to check out the ice. The last I heard Wyoming was the final refuge of the "you can have a drink while you drive but you'd better not drive drunk" philosophy, so I picked up a few and had a couple once I had more or less arrived in the valley. Despite the warm temps, it looked as though there was still plenty of ice in the valley, even if most of it was looking a bit white and sun-rotted by the time I got there. I was hoping to take a few shots of some of the ice in the distance and blow them up to see if that would tell me anything more about their condition and even resorted to the poor man's telephoto (sticking a pair of binocs on the end of the camera) to help things along. I spoke with one of the locals at the end of the Hunter Creek Ranch Road about access, saw the fractured remains of a route or two on the shady side of the valley, then turned around and spoke to the aftorementioned pal about the conditions, and checked in with some locals for good measure. In the end we ended up heeding their advice, stayed away form the ice, and stuck to the rock in the upper Shoshone Canyon. We did find an incredible stash of ice the following day, but unfortunately it was carpeting the slopes out at Red Lodge, MT. After a kicked back day on the slopes there, it was time to head back to Colorado for a day or two to check in with a few friends from my time there, then catch a ride back to the PNW.

That sucks. I think just about anyone who has climbed for any length of time has heard that voice you speak of, failed to heed it, and managed to get away with it - then wondered what the consequences would have been if they had fallen. I hope you have a fast and complete recovery.

Just on the off chance that anyone who reads this actually wants to do something constructive - there are several organizations orchestrating efforts to improve the Iraqi people's well-being, especially the children's. Light a candle or curse the darkness. Your choice. www.iraqischools.com " HELLO All, I have never been a fan of mass emails, but under the circumstances I am willing give it a try to ask for help. The Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): I am asking for your help in bringing desperately needed school supplies to the children of our zones here in Baghdad. Over the past few weeks, we have been faced with the mission to secure, clean up and win the peace in several large zones in the heart of Baghdad. Among the many tasks associated with this mission is interaction with the local schools (grades K - 8 equivalent). Simply put, the conditions are deplorable. The conditions include raw sewage on the ground and in the classrooms, no electricity or water, bullet holes in the walls and on the roofs, broken windows and doors, no desks or chalkboards, and obviuosly little or no supplies with which to hold classes. Despite the conditions, they will continue to hold classes. In many respects, the Iraqis put a greater premium and priority on education than we do in the US. The problem lies in the lack of resources and infastructure. Under Sadam's regime, resources were used as a weapon to influence and control the people. Even water and electricity were engineered such that he could turn it on and off as a way of rewarding those who supported him, while punishing those he did not trust. Our soldiers have had to endure a full spectrum of emotions and feelings, not to mention hazards while confronting the task of improving the schools. We do what we can with what we have, but it is difficult at best given our situation. Perhaps the most difficult part for many of our soldiers is balancing the desire to truly help the Iraqi people, and even more so the children with the hopeless frustration of acquiring the resources to do the job. To many of us, there is an endless list of those who would advertise to help, but in the end these bureaucrats are seemingly more interested in getting their name in the press than they are getting the job done. This is where my request comes in. After seeing first-hand the conditions of these schools and the reactions of the children we help, it dawned on me how fortunate we all are and how much we sometimes take for granted what we have. For what I provide my two boys in one year for school, I could outfit an entire classroom of Iraqi children for the year. My soldiers and I quickly realized the need to reach out directly to you all for help. We knew that by asking for help through emails and phone calls, we could circumvent the log jam of inaction and produce some positive results. I took a look at the group of you who I am able to maintain email contact with, and realized how fortunate many of us are in life, and realized the power and potential of such a group. For those of you who have seen the movie "Pay It Forward", we are attempting to start a grass roots movement to provide school supplies directly from the States to the children and schools here in Baghdad. In doing so, I am asking from each of you a few moments of your time and few simple tasks. My soldiers and I will see to the rest. " www.spiritofamerica.net "The Marines that liberated Baghdad last spring are back in Iraq and they need our help. Commanding General Jim Mattis says, "Your gifts will reduce adversarial relationships and bridge cultural gaps. You have significantly impacted our ability to do good and, I fervently hope reduce the potential for combat." Help the Marines be the best ambassadors possible. Your donation will have a real impact." www.operationgive.org "out at the front gate I noticed a young girl crying behind the barbed wire that separates us from the throngs of people waiting for their chance to speak with someone. Her mother, only having one leg, had hobbled in on her crutches a few moments earlier. The young girl, separated from the only person she was familiar with, began crying, now hiding behind the rest of the crowd. I searched through the mass to see where the crying noise was coming from. She was obviously very poor, in her tattered old dress, totally worn out plastic flip-flops, her hair matted against her head indicating she hadn't had a bath in a long time and her skin blistered from the dirt and weather. Once I saw her I quickly told the MP's to move the barbed wire back to let her in to join her mother. Her crying stopped as she darted in to grab a hold of her mother's long black dishdasha, torn and frayed from years of use. As she stood by her mother's side, grasping her dress, I moved over slowly to brush her stringy hair away from her eyes and to pat her gently on the head, as I told the guard to make sure they don't leave before I could return. I quickly loaded up the sources in my car and returned them to my office in the palace. I told them to wait for a moment, while I rummaged through my FedEx box full of toys sent my by my teammates back home. I grabbed a comb, a brush, a pair of new flip-flops, a whistle, a stuffed monkey whose arms hang around your neck, and a new toothbrush and tooth paste and dashed out the door, telling my interpreter to come along. As I made my way back over to the front gate, I saw the little girl and her mother waiting patiently anticipating my return, not knowing why I had asked them to wait. Bending down I handed her the items one by one, as I explained what each item was, to insure she knew what I was giving her, especially as I gave her the toothbrush, asking her to be sure to brush everyday. Her eyes lit up with such joy as I put the monkey arms over her head. She was so excited to receive everything, being somewhat shy though, not having dealt with an American before. She was so precious as her big brown eyes looked up at me, causing me to almost breakdown into tears as I walked away quickly so as to not bring too much attention to the little girl from the on looking crowd. What a moment! In my own little way, I am influencing and affecting the attitudes of Iraqis one person at a time, taking baby steps, one experience at a time. My sphere of influence is small in comparison to the task at hand, but who knows what the ripple affect will be of my small effort to calm the tears of one sweet little girl. Thanks to my team mates back home who made this moment possible by sending me the toys to hand out to Iraqi children. I have only one request of them and others: please send me more toys!"

Just summarizing the article actually. But - what the heck do the guys at The Economist know about economics anyways?

There's a good article on what's driving this week's oil prices in this week's economist - but unfortunately you need a subscription to their online service or a hard-copy to get ahold of it. In their analysis the current price levels aren't supported by the fundamentals of the current supply/demand equation - although increasing demand from a recovering US and a surging China have helped to elevate prices. The main factors that they see distorting the markets at the moment are intense political risk - a "terror premium" - in the Middle East, as well as in second tier producers like Venezuela, and strong buying by the US government for the strategic petrolem reserve. As when the price of crude has spiked in the past, there's been very little action on taken to withhold supply by OPEC members, all of whom are selling well beyond their quota allotment. One other persistent factor driving up prices at the pump is the ongoing tightness in refining capacity, especially for the blends required to satisfy tougher environmental regs. Political risk - in the form of price controls - is one of the factors that's made oil companies reluctant to make the investments necessary to build the additional refineries necessary to bring more supply to the market.

Another vote for the the West Ridge of Quandary. From what I remember it features almost a mile of traversing on 3rd and 4th class terrain at almost 14,000 feet. Very cool route, reasonably close to boulder by way of Breckenridge, and a route that will keep you away from the teeming hordes. If there was one 3rd/4th class route on a 14er relatively close to boulder this would be it. On Quandary's north side there's there's also the Inwood Arete which has a fair amount of low fifth climbing (5.4 max) followed by a bunch of blocky talus on the way to the summit. The route isn't all that committing as you can bail off of the fifth class stuff and traverse to talus on quite a bit of the route. Mt Evans is a good choice if you are looking for stuff that's a bit closer to Boulder, and the best route IMO is the linkup from Bierstadt to Evans via the Sawtooth ridge (exposed 3rd class - may feel like 4th to some) although this makes for a long day. One other route worth mentioning that's fairly close to boulder is the Kelso ridge on Torrey's peak, which has quite a bit of fun 3rd class terrain and one minor section of ridge narrow enough to be a bit more engaging than the rest of the climb. If you want to knock off two peaks in a day, the summit of Grey's peak is just a short ridge-walk away. Griz is right to recommend staying away from the Keyhole on Long's at that time of year if you are not into obscenely crowded routes and megaclusters. There's excellent coverage of all of these route's in Lou Dawson's guide to the Colorado 14ers, as well as Gerry Roach's book on the same peaks. I imagine there's also a fair amount of info on these peaks/routes available at www.summitpost.com

One more question that I'll post here for posterity. Is it easier to approach Mean Green and H.O.B from the end of the road on the drivers left as you enter the Valley or the road that goes a bit further upvalley on the drivers right? The hike from the left side looks longer but with fewer river crossings, while the hike from the right looks a bit shorter but has several crossings to deal with. Spoke with someone at a Ranch at the end of the valley on the left side yesterday and it sounds like they are cool with climbers walking on their land as long as they are quiet and don't litter, but get quite annoyed when people ignore the "Private Road" sign just past the trailhead and take their cars on their property. Appreciate all the help. There's lots of ice up there, even on the South side, but it's freaking tropical out here right now and some of the higher volume falls are coming down on the North side. May end up looking at stuff and walking away if it stays this warm.