fern

your wife doesn't want to go in the woods at all and has found a convenient excuse with the pee question. Don't be so whipped and give her the obvious answer: Diapers.

wow. lots of guys are experts on women peeing. those funnel things are gross. no way I am carrying that around. just undo the quickrelease elastic legloop straps at the back and pull your pants down and do the business. You don't need to take your harness off. Or if you do, maybe you have the wrong harness. If this is going to be a deal-breaker for your outdoor adventuring I recommend a sessh in the change room at REI trying out various models and harness/pants combinations until you find a system that gives you the correct exposure without having to take it all off. Then maybe practice your hanging belay technique in your garage or something if that's gonna be another issue - rigging a temporary chest harness can sometimes be handy here, but it's totally possibly to do the deed free-hanging without messing with your tie-in or buckles at all. Pee doesn't corrode slings.

if cost is not an issue then those battery powered heated ones from the Sharper Image might be good. Unless said hands are super tiny, BD Guide + heatshake packs are good. If opinion can be swayed to the mitten side, boiled wool are absolutely the best. They can be totally soaked and still pretty warm. Tough to find around here, but can order them online from Ortovox.

I wouldn't totally count on White Blotter unless you are very tuff. It did not look very substantial. The Plum area has lots of ice. But also lots of running water. A degree warmer and it would have been spitting chunks and death-trap. A degree colder and it would have been Rockies fat-pants. Breakable crust approach was un-fun.

I'm actually surprised and relieved they didn't let him off.

awesome. Everytime I drive out to Manning I peer through the gap at it. Super cool you got in there!

Michael Layton, I wish you the best for your future and your happiness in a new place. I think you are a super person and I hope you believe that about yourself too sickie . Thank you for climbing with me a few times around here. I hope we will climb again sometime around there.

pushit ... pushit good ... pushit real good will you be ready portlyer? will you???????

IKEA has some good cheap mattresses. When I was looking, it ended up better value than buying from a custom foam shop. Zip-off washable cover, variety of stiffnesses and thicknesses etc. Just buying straight raw foam was surprisingly expensive.

wow ... sunday spray makes people all serious and shit! you are all SUPER. group hug. Bug, the one rope-up when our attendance coincided, you dropped in with your kids briefly. We haven't met properly. But you're cool. Hi five!!

I am heartened that the "rare" and "NEVER"s are leading the poll. I think what is happening to my right foot big toe is revolting. My lesson taken to heart is: "Overweight baggage be damned! Bring the big sturdy boots for long alpine ice routes, not the fruity lightweight ice craggers" Despite many thin crack toe crushing pitches I have never had such a violation to my delicate and beautiful lower extrema. I look forward to the day that this nascent grey bloom forms into a proper and righteous toenail and the nightmare is behind.

I am going through a traumatizing experience for the first time in my life. I need community support here. Please respond to my poll.

I think I met archenemy in the dairy section once. But I'd meet her again. I'd like to meet CJ00if. I've met lots of jerks who post on this stupid website. Mostly you are all cool even though some of you are boorish loudmouths. Oregonians (that includes Layton honorarily) are better at the campfire partying than the Washingtonititises.

fun. I spent my 30th birthday in Vegas. congrats to your mom on the jackpots

cornice collapse under them on the descent. Victim was a friend of my cubicle neighbour. Sad.

encyclopedias are good. Nice and heavy. Put 4 or 5 in a pack and go climbing.

carpool? partner?

what's "cheap" to you? linky

PM not received. feel free to try email too. ____@gmail.com where ____ is fern.webb

it has. by a long measure. but now I get to fly business class to my climbing spots

here is a photo topo. Red is the Barber route. Yellow is the Lowe route. Blue is the descent route down the upper Barber route (ice face) and lower Andreeva route (rock buttress)

death by frontpoint. I could barely walk the next 4 days.

I bought this jacket in Bishkek a couple of weeks ago and wore it for one 5 day trip. I slept in it, but I am not a stinky person and it is still very clean and nice. It is "Summit Series" 900 fill down - good fill, but not overstuffed. Sewn through construction. If you run cold this would not be a super choice for a winter belay parka. But o it is light and packs fairly small into its own pocket. Hood is insulated but also tucks away into the collar. Hood will not fit over a helmet. Tag says size Large, but I think its probably more a mens medium. I am 5'2" and I don't totally swim in it. I paid 3000 Kyrgyz Soms. Yours for $75.

speck is smoked pork fat. so the recipe is probably something like: 1) kill pig, 2) hang over smoky fire no immediate plans to go back soon, though I will likely be over there again in 2008.

Trip: Kyrgyzstan - Ak Sai Glacier - Peak Free Korea - North Face - Barber Route Date: 10/14/2007 Trip Report: Here's some photos from a short climbing adventure in Kyrgyzstan: The trail to the Ak Sai glacier looks like most trails. Above Ratsek hut the path follows the moraine beside the spilling ice fall of the Ak Sai, and Peak Free Korea starts to come into view. Like all civilized alpine venues, cell-phone reception is excellent. "Food is Power" ... "Speck is the first food of all Russian Climbers". Even at midday the North Face gets no sun. We spend a day busting a trail through the heavy powder and fixing a rope across the bergschrund. 700m of climbing below us, we approach the crux exit ice ribbon to reach the summit ridge. The summit at last, a quick photo of Dima. A quick photo of me. The sun sets across the Tien Shan. Time for a dark and long descent. Tired out now. Time to pack up the teapot and head back to Bishkek.