JayB

I have Wolfe & Hopkins's book, which names the architect for the UW and includes some details about the construction. I'll post the architect's name when I get a chance. As for the construction, I believe that they essentially made large, sand-bottomed moulds on the ground, placed rocks in the sand, poured in the concrete, placed more rocks on the other side, then waited for the slabs to cure and tilted them into place on the site.

Dean is a Karl Rove fantasy come to life, perphaps even more so than Ralph Nadir...

Good info to have on the G3's and the cowskins. I was pretty much set on buying the cowskins after reading the skin reviews on Offpiste.com, but this pretty much seals the deal. They will have to kill a couple of artificial cows to furnish all of the material necessary to cover the 112mm shovels that the new boards are packing up front....

Necro: If you need to vent your feelings concerning the media, feel free to do so, but you should channel the righteous indignation and invective at a more a more appropriate target, at a more appropriate time. Elizabeth is no more responsible for the conduct of the media at large than you are responsible for the dismal performance of American public schools in educating a large percentage of the children in this country, and let's remember who ultimately controls the content – the consumers. The manner in which the news is covered is a direct function of the average American’s viewing and reading habits, so if you want to launch into a diatribe there’s your first target. It is quite clear that Elizabeth logically concluded that news of a climbing accident in Leavenworth would be of interest to local climbers, and passed along the story as a favor to those that post and lurk here. The fact of the matter is that climbers are interested in climbing accidents, both because they hit close to home emotionally, and we want to know precisely what happened in the hopes that in doing so we might be able to prevent something similar from happening in the future. If this were not true there would not be any ANAM, and accident reports would not be a staple of every climbing related discussion board on the net. As far as exploitation is concerned, one could argue that you are exploiting this tragedy as a platform to air your laundry list of grievances about the media in a manner that is just as dishonorable as the behavior you are accusing the media of. Let’s remember that the victim’s friends and family suffered the loss here, not you (so far as I know), and if they have issues with the manner in which the media covered the story they should be the ones to articulate them, rather than someone with no personal connection to the deceased climber appropriating the tragedy for use as a platform to condemn the media - ostensibly on their behalf. And lastly, if you took issue with her posting the news here, you could have communicated your feelings just as well without the personal insults and abuse. I’m sure that you would not appreciate someone talking to your wife like that, to say the very least. In the absence of the said civility, you could have least backed up your statements with your real name. -Jay Brazier

Techwash---> Revivex----> Dryer.

Tragic News. Many condolences to the friends and loved ones.

Some folks feel the same way when people sanction the deliberate slaughter of civilians by means of human bombs as a legitimate form of protest or political expression on the Palestinian's part. Better denounce these tactics while you are denouncing the use of snipers which, at the very least, are not indescriminate.

I can only handle about 1 day of Vegas at a time. The entire place reminds me of a combination of the movie "Soilent Green" with a B.F. Skinner experiment. Red Rocks and Mt. Charleston are cool though, and the cheap buffets are also a plus.

Ice Gapades....

Also good news for exporters and US-based multinationals with substantial Euro-denominated earnings from their European operations. It sucks for anyone looking to score some climbing gear from the Euros for cheap. Every financial publication was talking about how massively overvalued the Dollar was Relative to the Euro last year so I made my purchases then when you could buy a Euro for 73 cents.

Stop trolling me Matt, you deceitful bastard!!!! If Mattp was actually trolling I'm sure he'd be very satisfied to see that you were upset enough to come out with a mini-essay in response to his troll.

I like the idea of something like an annual or perhaps bi-annual "Ascent"esque alpine journal for the PNW with a bit more emphasis on route documentation. To answer Lowell's question, I'd certainly be willing to contribute in whatever fashion I could, which could very well be licking envelopes or something just as cerebral...

As far as Dwayner is concerned, I want him to stick around so that he can continue steadfastly discrediting opinions that I disagree with. If he wants to limit his contribution to tiresome diatribes that are only tangentially related to the topic at hand in THE NEW ROCKCLIMBING FORUM I have no problem with PP & Co moderating his ass into oblivion in there. Plenty of room for his comments in another forum, along with all of the disturbingly compulsive insertions of Patch Adams and Taco Bell jpegs he can muster. If he actually has something to add that's germaine to the discussion and does so in a somewhat respectful manner I doubt he'll have any problems in THE NEW ROCKCLIMBING FORUM.

I think the principal reason that you haven't seen anyone spraying on the N. Cascades Trivia thread is that anyone who did so would rightly be regarded as a worthless sack of shit, and would immediately get a thermonuclear flaming for desecrating a thread with great historical value. As for the recent bolting threads, it seems that the (minimal) standard for participation in some of those discussions is constructive intent - and those that are posting with the intent to do nothing more than berate, belittle, or heap scorn on those that they disagree with don't really meet that standard. I really don't have any problem with that at all. If that's their objective they should feel free to express their thoughts in spray. I have no problem with a format in which 95% of the board is a free for all and there's one forum which is moderated in a manner intended to keep things on topic.

Is the FS planning on closing the South Fork Road on the Snoqualmie anytime soon. If so, might be an opportunity to look at the conflict between recreationalists who want the road to remain open to preserve access to the mountains and those who want the road closed to for habitat preservation, enhancement, or whatever the case may be. As an isolated phenomenon it might not have broad enough interest to warrant broadcast coverage, but I am sure that there are quite a few old FS or logging that are used for access around the NW that might be closed soon...

Harry - Reading your posts has truly been a delight. Many thanks for sharing them here.

New One...

Glad you got out of there okay Rod. That's one hell of a pin you've got in your leg - must have been a pretty nasty break. Ouch. It is a fun climb, but if I ever go back I think I'll go when the gulley is still completely full of snow, as the descent that Bronco and I encountered (in mid- August) was unappealing to say the least. Best of luck on your recovery.

Our War With France By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN "It's time we Americans came to terms with something: France is not just our annoying ally. It is not just our jealous rival. France is becoming our enemy. If you add up how France behaved in the run-up to the Iraq war (making it impossible for the Security Council to put a real ultimatum to Saddam Hussein that might have avoided a war), and if you look at how France behaved during the war (when its foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, refused to answer the question of whether he wanted Saddam or America to win in Iraq), and if you watch how France is behaving today (demanding some kind of loopy symbolic transfer of Iraqi sovereignty to some kind of hastily thrown together Iraqi provisional government, with the rest of Iraq's transition to democracy to be overseen more by a divided U.N. than by America), then there is only one conclusion one can draw: France wants America to fail in Iraq." Rest of Editorial.

your pretense that your own posturing and spray, by attempting to disguise it as reasoned debate, is neither, has failed. It worked on me. I appreciate the perspective Matt brings to these conversations, and the fact that he takes the time to express it in a well thought out and considerate manner. There plenty of other threads where you can chime in with the irreverent/irrelevant quip if that's all that you are willing or able to contribute.

Good info. Good mag. Thanks.

Anybody have these? If so, any comments on how well they climb, glide, quality of the adhesive, etc would be appreciated.

Stalin is in fact a direct ideological heir of Marx's. The Real Marx - not the fantasy Marx that just wanted everyone in the playground to share. When Eduard Bernstein, Marx and Engel's leading disciple began to take note of the fact that both wages and living conditions had steadily improved over the course of the latter half of the nineteenth century, rather than steadily deteriorating as Marx's thesis had predicted, he suggested that advocating stepwise reform in pursuit of concrete benefits within the existing system would be the most beneficial path for the workers to follow, and was villified by both as a result. They stated many times in their work that if the workers could not be counted on to bring the revolution themselves, they (the intellectual elite)would have to bring it for them. With this objective in mind, they stated their categorical opposition to any measures which would lessen the worker's plight, as their increased comfort might well make them less receptive towards the revolution that they would bring on their behalf. Lenin agreed with the notion that it was the revolutionary vanguard's duty to force a revolution upon the workers from above, using any means necessary. In both his objectives and his methods, Lenin was every bit Stalin's inspriation and mentor. The historical record is quite clear on this, and it is a fact that no fans of state enforced collectivism on the Left will ever be able to erase.

Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, were not Leftists. Right.

The best part of that article was the assertion that Stalin, Mao, and all of their miscellaneous henchmen weren't actually Leftists after all. Glad they cleared that one up.