JayB

Just bribe by promising people with free copies of the new guide, or better yet with promises to credit them with FAs of non-existent one-pitch lines with approaches so daunting that no one will bother to go for the second ascent. Better still, swear that you'll make the said imaginary lines at least WI6 and use the word "testpiece" a few times in the description and you will be overrun with volunteers to ready to swarm any gulley at your command.

FWIW I rapped by the pin that I think you are talking about on my way down (it had a loop of black webbing on it) and it came out as I was soon as I grabbed the webbing to pull myself in towards the wall and take a look at it. Anyhow - a pair of 60's will enable you to touch down if you rap off of the lowest tree, but take care getting to the said tree as a slip en route to that rap station would be a very bad thing.

Dude: There was a cute waitress at the pizza joint by the Mile-O this Saturday night. Hook up with her and your problem is solved, e.g. you'll only get to see your girlfriend when you leave town and head north to go climbing....

Like mine too. I think they offer one of the best compromises between warmth and dexterity out there. No blown stitching or any other problems to speak of. Sounds like you may have just got a bad pair Paul.

I got kertwanged pretty good by a grapefruit sized hunk of rock that must have fallen off the wall quite a ways above the approach gulley that leads to Salmon Stakes a couple of weeks ago. I think we were about 50 meters below the base of the climb when I got hit. Anyhow - I heard a click that sounded like it was about 10-15 meters away and I glanced up expecting to see a small rock tumbling down the side of the gulley. Instead what I saw was a dark mass rocketing towards my face - just a few feet away. I guess reflexes took over because before I had time to analyze what I was seeing I lowered my head and felt the impact just above my forehead. It felt like someone cracked me over the head with a bat. The impact knocked me off of my feet, had me seeing stars, and left me with a headache that persisted for 3-4 days. Beyond the normal thoughts about how messed-up/dead I would have been if I hadn't been wearing my helmet - I also thought about what the impact would have been like if I had been wearing another style of helmet. It seemed to me that the impact would have been much more severe if the helmet hadn't deflected much of the blow (I have a Petzl Ecrin Roc). I can hardly be certain of this, but I suspect that If I would have been wearing one of those foam deals with a thin plastic skin over the top the rock would have pierced the skin and penetrated into the foam - likely transferring much more momentum to my head in the process. In the end the outcome may have been the same - but I came away from the impact glad to have been wearing a helmet designed to deflect blows from falling rocks rather than absorbing them. Side Note: If you are approaching Salmon Stakes my hunch is that it would be get it over with before the light starts hitting the wall above the approach gulley. It was cold (-10/20C) for the entire day when we were out there - but even the weak winter's sun was enough to let loose a fair amount of rock fall on us. I would hate to be in that thing when it warms up, rains, etc...

Just bought one of these. The combination of one superbright lensed LED for trickier terrain and two regular LED's was definitely a plus on the descent/walk out from Synchro... "The Zenix Headlamp is the first all-LED headlamp to introduce "HyperBright" LED technology. These "HyperBright" LEDs are compact, incredibly energy efficient and provide five times more light than traditional LEDs. Their energy efficiency results in a reduced environmental impact, because battery changes are less frequent and LEDs never need to be replaced. We’ve designed the Zenix Headlamp to generate an intense, focused beam of LED light—a beam that rivals that of lower-wattage xenon bulbs. This lamp incorporates a “lensed” Hyperbright LED that is flanked on each side by a SuperBright LED; a switch allows the user to toggle between the SuperBright LEDs for proximity illumination and the lensed HyperBright LED for beam-throwing light. Unlike xenon bulbs, LEDs never need to be replaced. Waterproof to IPX standards and weighing a mere 90 grams, the Zenix sets a new standard in backcountry hands-free lighting. A great option for the user who wants an energy efficient, beam-projecting headlamp. Approximate burn time of 12-15 hours at full strength, and 140 hours on two SuperBright LEDs. Reengineered battery pack holds 3 AAA batteries." http://www.bdel.com/gear/lightware/zenix.php

I was there. Paco and I were descending Synchronicity along with a couple of other guys from Seattle, and we saw the emergency vehicles pull up across the Canyon while preparing for the rap below the final pitch. We saw a few more vehicles arrive as we continued to rappel, and by the time we were at the base it sounded as though the emergency personel across the canyon were trying to communicate with us although the sound was so distorted it could have been Turkish folk-poetry and we would never have known the difference. Anyhow - the other party from Seattle began the descent a few minutes ahead of us, and we spotted their headlamps in the about 200-300 feet above the river bottom. We made our way to the scene and were relieved to see that the victim was conscious, responsive, and pretty lucid although obviously cold, in pain, and a bit shaken up. His primary injury was a disclocated shoulder, sustained during what he estimated was a 200-300 foot fall initiated on steep snow covered turf just to the right of the gulley he ended up in. One of the other guys from Seattle had WFR + some more advanced training for his job as a guide, so we let him take over and helped out where we could. They eventually stabilized his shoulder enough for us to get him moving - Paco set up an anchor off of a nearby tree and lowered him off of a munter while three of us accompanied him to the base of the gulley. Shortly after arriving at the base of the gulley we met the rescue team - a group of Canadian Para Rescue specialists from the Canadian armed forces who were in the area to conduct some ice-climbing training and just happened to be pass directly past the scene. They attempted to reduce the shoulder in the field but weren't able to, at which point they stabilized the shoulder and assisted him back to the bridge. Kudos to all involved, especially the other guys from Seattle who put their emergency skills to good use - their conduct was definitely a credit to their trade in general and Mountain Madness in particular - and the Canadian Para Rescue guys - very effective and professional. So - thankfully - no major trauma involved, just a matter of escorting a fellow climber back to the road after a nasty tumble in a difficult location.

That was your guide?! Nice work. I still have a copy in my truck that can be used as a reference if needs be.

Something like 4000 political prisoners were executed in the century prior to the revolution. Horrible. At the peak of The Terror the Communists were executing 1000 a day. More horrible. This is in addition to those worked to death or starved for political purposes. I'm surprised to see you dismiss them as two bit.

If you've ever been at the base of route that you'd follow but wouldn't be willing to lead (as I'm sure you have) then you've got your answer.

I did leave out math, physics, and engineering. Other nations made greater contributions without the death toll though. And I don't think that the folks on that message board were directing their criticism towards America's mathematicians or physicists so I remain amused.

JayB- You may want to look at the change in literacy rates in Russia under the communists.(To among the highest in the world, from one of the lowest) Though it neither excuses, nor negates the horrors, they did make substantial change for the better in the lives of their population. Yeah - I would have to agree that those who were not killed by the Communists were more likely to be able to read than their predecessors who lived under the Czars. But show me a nation Europe in which the average literacy rate did not increase during that same interval. Means vs Ends. Anyhow - It's just incredibly amusing for me to see Russians who think that their history - go back as far as you like - puts them in a position to criticize any nation for anything outside of literature and Vodka production - the second of which even the Swedes do far better than they IMO.

Harry - Thanks so much for sharing that account on this board. What a pleasure to read! I'm especially amazed by Dr. Trott's conduct. This is the first case that I'm aware of in which a fellow climber declined the opportunity to claim a first ascent of this magnitude and a garner all of the accolades that such a feat would warrant. That he appears to have been attuned to the significance that the ascent had for Lionel Chute and decided to let things stand as they were on that basis is in some ways a rarer and more impressive deed than the ascent itself. However, even now that the full story is known I think that Lionel's accomplishment will long be remembered and respected by anyone who even looks at that mountain - let alone climbs it. This would make a wonderful addition to the as-yet-unborn Cascades Alpine Journal if that ever gets going.

I can see where they are coming from since Russia has long been in the vanguard of human progress on all fronts - and has always been loathe to encroach upon its neighbors in any fashion whatsoever - and in my mind these achievements make Russia uniquely qualified to criticise the rest of the world in general and the United States in particular on all of these fronts.

Somebody needs to be a hero and scope the gorge, snap some pics, and post them....

What the heck is Powderdry? Who sells it? What does it cost?

Ditto on the props for the 750's. Not an especially light ski and I wouldn't use one of the lighter, more touring oriented boots to drive them if you've got a choice. I've got Lowa Struktura EVO's and 185's, and think they'd feel a bit squirrelly with less boot. The skis themselves seem to get better the faster you go. A good ski for a mix of yo-yoing and resort skiing with the occaisional tour IMO, or for folks who want near Alpine performance on tough terrain. Not the best for long trips into the BC.

All I can say is thank God I bear no resemblance whatsoever to any of the caricatures on that site. Phew! "Despite assumptions to the contrary, Capitalista is not always a wealthy fat cat; being a Capitalista is a state of mind rather than a reflection of affluence. A strident and extraordinarily self–satisfied Warrior, Capitalista takes every opportunity to loudly extol the superiority of the United States and routinely expresses a powerful aversion to all things European. When left-leaning Warriors attack the free enterprise system Capitalista will instantly spring into action, fiercely bludgeoning all “socialists” and “fuzzy-minded liberals” with Adam Smith, Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek. Though often rather limited in his range of interests, Capitalista’s command of tendentious historical facts, abstruse statistical comparisons and arcane economic theory renders him nearly invincible in battle"

Hey I recognize that truck. Who was the loser driving that thing anyways?

The specific causes of death are accounted for as well as possible in "The Black Book of Communism." Reading some of the reviews of this work on the web will give you a general idea of the specifics in each country. As far as specific details of who was killed when and how within the Soviet Union, I think that the best books on those particular subjects are "Harvest of Sorrow" and "The Great Terror" by Robert Conquest. Works of a similar nature that are concerned with China are a bit less definitive since the Communist Party is still in power and has been strangely reluctant to open its archives to historians. Review - Harvest of Sorrow The Harvest of Sorrow is the first full history of one of the most horrendous human tragedies of the 20th century. Between 1929 and 1932 the Soviet Communist Party struck a double blow at the Russian peasantry: dekulakization, the dispossession and deportation of millions of peasant families, and collectivization, the abolition of private ownership of land and the concentration of the remaining peasants in party-controlled "collective" farms. This was followed in 1932-33 by a "terror-famine," inflicted by the State on the collectivized peasants of the Ukraine and certain other areas by setting impossibly high grain quotas, removing every other source of food, and preventing help from outside--even from other areas of the Soviet Union--from reaching the starving populace. The death toll resulting from the actions described in this book was an estimated 14.5 million--more than the total number of deaths for all countries in World War I. Ambitious, meticulously researched, and lucidly written, The Harvest of Sorrow is a deeply moving testament to those who died, and will register in the Western consciousness a sense of the dark side of this century's history. Review, "The Great Terror." "The definitive work on Stalin's purges, Robert Conquest's The Great Terror was universally acclaimed when it first appeared in 1968. Edmund Wilson hailed it as "the only scrupulous, non-partisan, and adequate book on the subject." George F. Kennan, writing in The New York Times Book Review, noted that "one comes away filled with a sense of the relevance and immediacy of old questions." And Harrison Salisbury called it "brilliant...not only an odyssey of madness, tragedy, and sadism, but a work of scholarship and literary craftsmanship." And in recent years it has received equally high praise in the Soviet Union, where it is now considered the authority on the period, and has been serialized in Neva, one of their leading periodicals. Of course, when Conquest wrote the original volume two decades ago, he relied heavily on unofficial sources. Now, with the advent of glasnost, an avalanche of new material is available, and Conquest has mined this enormous cache to write a substantially new edition of his classic work. It is remarkable how many of Conquest's most disturbing conclusions have born up under the light of fresh evidence. But Conquest has added enormously to the detail, including hitherto secret information on the three great "Moscow Trials," on the fate of the executed generals, on the methods of obtaining confessions, on the purge of writers and other members of the intelligentsia, on life in the labor camps, and many other key matters. Both a leading Sovietologist and a highly respected poet, Conquest here blends profound research with evocative prose, providing not only an authoritative account of Stalin's purges, but also a compelling and eloquent chronicle of one of this century's most tragic events. A timely revision of a book long out of print, this updated version of Conquest's classic work will interest both readers of the earlier volume and an entirely new generation of readers for whom it has not been readily available. "

Most of the books in question were motivated by a desire to provide an accurate history of precisely what transpired within the major Communist powers this century, and as such they spend most of their time describing the precise manner in which the political systems within them operated, and how many people died as a result. Most of the books also spend at least some time chronicling the popular perception of these regimes in free countries over the course of the 20th century, part of which involves asking why the leaders of these nations and the causes/ideologies that they championed retained widespread sympathy and support in the West long after the true nature of these regimes was no longer in doubt, as by this time they had exterminated several times more persons than all Fascist regimes combined. That the vast majority of those who provided the regimes with the aforementioned sympathy and support were Leftists with an ideological committment to economic collectivism is simply a historical fact that will admit of no dispute. The BBC estimates that Pinochet and his regime murdered 3,000 political opponents. This is horrible. The best scholarly estimates to date calculate a death toll of somewhere between 40 and 65 million under the Communists in China. This is between 13,333 and 21,667 times as horrible. The same studies estimate that roughly 25 million people were killed as a direct result of state policies in the Soviet Union. This is 8,333 times as horrible. Pinochet and his regime were indeed awful. The regimes presided over by Lenin, Stalin, and Mao were several orders of magnitude worse, but one would never know it by comparing the Left's denunciation of Pinochet with the stunning silence directed towards their former heros. Exhibit A: Eric Hobsbawm "IN A 1994 BRITISH television interview, the journalist Michael Ignatieff put a startling question to Eric Hobsbawm, the distinguished historian and long-time communist. ''Had the radiant tomorrow actually been created,'' Ignatieff asked, referring to the Soviet Union and its bloody history, ''the loss of 15, 20 million people might have been justified?'' Hobsbawm's answer was perhaps even more startling. ''Yes,'' responded the historian. He did not hesitate." Source Had anyone been mad enough to offer such an estimation of the Nazis or National Socialism, they would have rightly been denounced from all quarters. Yet here we have a man who is widely respected, if not revered on the Left cheerfully offering up such an assesment with no loss of esteem amongst his fellow travellers. Amazing.

Might I suggest "The Passing of an Illusion," by Francois Furet, "Communism" by Daniel Pipes, "The Opium of the Intellectuals," by Raymond Aron et al, "The Black Book of Communism" by Stephane Courtois et al, "The Great Terror," and "Reflections on a Ravaged Century" by Robert Conquest, and the last chapter of "Gulag: A History" by Anne Applebaum for starters.

Many apologies to those with slow connections. Here's a bunch of pics from the trip this weekend - including some of the ice visible across the river from Highway 1 in the Fraser Valley. CAYOOSH CANYON ICE Synchronicity Carl's Berg Shreddie LILLOOET AREA Honeyman Falls BRIDGE RIVER Jade Falls Old Dogs New Picks. Double Click on the image in the gallery for a much larger image. Michelmoon/Hell Creek Area Ice (?) Scary Looking line somewhere between the Old Dogs New Picks area and the Silk Degrees/Salmon Stakes area. May have been climbed by Polish Bob a few years ago? Silk Degrees Salmon Stakes The Gift (I think). Might be The Theft. The Theft. Might be The Gift. Shriek of the Sheep - I think. Night n' Gale FRASER VALLEY ICE Ice in the vicinity of Sawmill Creek, across the Fraser River Valley from Highway 1, North of Yale. More Sawmill Creek Area Ice Still more Sawmill Creek area ice.

Not very. Breathability test I saw that chart too - and discounted it after hearing comments from people that had actually used the fabric. WB-400 is way, way, way, way, way,way more breathable than any hardshell fabric I have ever used, and not a whole lot less breathable than the Dryskin Extreme - and the wind protection is far better than DS Extreme.