faust

Interesting statement, can you site the source? We once sprayed a blackie that was on our back porch looking for garbage (Wanted to know if the stuff actually worked). From about a two foot got him right in the face and he was GONE. Definately worked in this situation, the bear had been about regularly and we never saw him again. However, I would be curious to hear about a more scientific study, especially for aggresive or attacking bears. On a side note, I was sitting on a beach once and a black bear snuffled the back of my neck and scared the living crap out of me. Anybody been closer?

Approach slab, Spire Rock

This is good stuff, guys, thanks a lot. Just one more thing to practice and practice I guess. Better get out there and go climbing.

I've spent this spring getting comfortable with leading trad, and have just started doing multipitch climbs. I'm having a blast, but at belays my rope ends up a mess. What kind of techniques/tips have you accumulated for keeping the rope neat and ready to go?

I thought after the change in ownership 'Climbing' moved to florida (!)

yes, but they admit that they don't have the resources to stay ahead of the problem.

Funny you mention "shacks" Girdwood (30 miles south and cool as hell) has a perpetual problem of squatter shacks in the woods. Some of these are real architectural masterpieces. They showed one on TV that had a nice bouldering wall. If you're not into that scene, I'm sure you could find a cheap a-frame or something north or south of town. And you wouldn't have any problem finding a free place to park your camper either. Good luck!

THAT was the name I couldn't remember fully. Thanx faust ...sobo No prob. AMH is a cool store and they're somehow connected with the Mountaineering Club of Alaska, who maintain several climbing huts and a good climbing library. I was in a hurry on my last post, I have more thoughts. The Chugach is very close to town and cool for hiking, biking, camping, mountain scrambling, and technical snow/ice/glacier routes. There are dozens and dozens of trails/routes, the state park made a great map you can get at AMH or REI. The further east you go the bigger the peaks get, Marcus Baker is a big honker at 13,000+ (less then 20 miles from tidewater). But the rock is chossy greywacke melange shite. (Hence "Worst Crag in America" along the Arm) I really recommend spending as much time as possible in the Talkeetnas, much better and more aesthetic rock. Unlimited technical rock routes, within a day of Anchorage. Check out my pic of Troublemint in the photo gallery. There's a lifetime of fantastic hiking and biking on state park and forest service trails both in the Anchorage and Mat Valley area and further south on the Kenai Peninsula. Good long trails include Johnson Pass and Resurrection Pass. The Kenai Mountains on the peninsula are also chossy but great scrambling and more. I doubt you could do any river kayaking near Anchorage, but a couple hours north on the Glenn near Chickaloon there are river raft guides, and I know there is good whitewater down on the Kenai Peninsula (Six Mile Creek amongst others) For ocean kayaking, Whittier is close to Anchorage (one hour?) and provides access to Prince William Sounds. Two hours south near Seward is Kenai Fjords National Park, spectacular. Lots of stuff to do up here, I recommend it. Anchorage sucks to live in, but it is within 10 minutes of Alaska.

Hey scott, I'm living in Anchorage right now. Cragging: Just out of town the rotten roadcuts and cliffs along Turnagin Arm were recently voted "Worst Crag in America" by Climbing Magazine, but they're really close. About an hour north of Anchorage in Hatcher's Pass is unlimited granite, and a guidebook will be coming out Spring 2004. There used to be an internet guidebook but I think it's offline right now. Check out www.globalmotion.org Alpine: The Chugach is right there and the Talkeetna Range is close. Don't know much about ice climbing but I know a lot of people do. Check out the MCAK at www.mcak.org Mountain biking is everywhere. River kayaking is everywhere. DON'T go sea kayaking out of Anchorage, Whittier and Seward are close and much better. And when you get to town, go to Alaska Mountaineering and Hiking, it's on Spenard Road very close to REI, and I hear they have route updates for Hatchers. Drop me a line if you want to climb when you're here turbidite@hotmail.com

You guys kick ass, I'm completely convinced. I'll look up some stretches.

About a week ago I tweaked both of my knees on a long mountain climb. It hit me real quick, a very sharp pain that started on the outside of both knee caps (tendon?). The only way I could bear it was to keep my knees from bending. Needless to say it was a very long walk out of there. Went to a doctor the next day who wasn't very impressed. Told me to take advil and strengthen up my quads. He led me to believe I pushed too hard and was just sore. A week later and I have no improvement, still walk without bending my knees. Do I get a second opinion or just wait this out? The weather up here is beautiful and I'm sick of the gimpy crap!

Nellie Juan is the spelling. Did the rock there really look that good? I've been curious about that (quite remote) area ever since I noticed the granite on a geologic map. If it's that pretty, then I'm definately going to visit.

Didn't see the picture there, but I have noticed that the ice along the highway has been looking GREAT lately. On a related note, did you see that the Seward Highway was voted the Worst Crag in America (for rock) in the latest Climbing? Finally, some recognition!

some of you are beer snobs. favorite 40: mickeys ice favorite food w/beer: pork rinds favorite beer drinking song: ole by bouncing souls honorable mention for coolness: lucky's hand gernades (I like the puzzles) [ 10-24-2002, 11:16 AM: Message edited by: faust ]

quote: Originally posted by eric8: quote: faust favorite british isle beer: guiness stout That is Irish there is a difference Ireland is one of the British Isles. I realize that it is not part of the UK. I meant to say it was my favorite beer of the entire archipelago (including England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, etc.) At least we can agree Guiness kicks ass?

favorite good beer: alaska pale favorite affordable beer: kokanee favorite cheap beer: ice haus favorite ghetto beer: high life mmmmmm..... thought of more favorite british isle beer: guiness stout favorite german beer: spaten oktoberfest favorite mexican beer: pacifico favorite seattle beer: red hook esb mmmmmm.... [ 10-23-2002, 06:08 PM: Message edited by: faust ]

well that doesn't sound too bad, i can handle the annoying anecdotes. sounds like it would be worth to try to pick up the other guide, though. thanks [ 10-17-2002, 05:30 PM: Message edited by: faust ]

i'm heading to red rocks in the spring and i keep hearing terrible things about the swain guide (for example, this thread) how bad is it? is it basically worthless (as in: "I wouldn't send my worst enemy to Leavenworth with Jeff Smoot's guide book") or is it just a little annoying? i have the book, should i try to get something else? is there anything else?

i did some more surfing and found an activist site that has pre- and post- dam pictures. scroll down to the bottom for links to pictures. that first picture i posted was from a sierra club journal in 1908. Paradise Lost and here's the entire times article: YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif., Oct. 8 — An old black and white photograph hangs behind the bar at the Evergreen Lodge, a rustic roadside establishment just outside this park. It shows wildflowers dancing in the thick grass. A river glides between a pair of imposing granite walls. To visitors here, the scene from 1914 looks instantly familiar "People think it is Yosemite Valley," said Dan Braun, the lodge's proprietor. "But it is not. They have no idea that Hetch Hetchy looked like that, too." For most of the past century, the Hetch Hetchy Valley, 15 miles north of its more famous and bigger sibling within the park, has served as a 300-foot-deep bathtub holding melted snow from the High Sierra for people and businesses in San Francisco and its suburbs. Now a group of environmentalists wants to drain the eight-mile-long reservoir and restore the valley to what John Muir once described as a "grand landscape garden, one of nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples." The proposal has generated excitement among employees of the national park, consternation among San Francisco's water interests and political feuding between the environmentalists and City Hall. A citywide ballot measure in November calls for raising $1.6 billion to improve the Hetch Hetchy water delivery system, which several studies have shown to be outdated and vulnerable to a big earthquake, but environmentalists are opposing it. The environmentalists want to dismantle the 80-year-old O'Shaughnessy Dam on the Tuolumne River and release the 117 billion gallons of water behind it in the Hetch Hetchy Valley. More than 1,900 acres of submerged valley floor would be uncovered, an area that Muir liked to call the "Tuolumne Yosemite." "People say this is a radical idea, but wasn't it a radical idea to put a dam in a national park?" said Ron Good, executive director of Restore Hetch Hetchy, which was formed to raise money and support for the restoration plan. "Imagine the opportunity we have to allow nature to recreate another Yosemite Valley." To start, the environmentalists are thinking small and are not proposing any specific way of replacing the reservoir. Instead, they have asked San Francisco to help pay for a study to determine the cost of the proposal and to come up with alternatives — perhaps building or expanding reservoirs or using aquifers. The study would also seek a replacement for the hydroelectric power generated by the system. Mr. Good and the other proponents say they do not want to take water or power away from San Francisco, but rather rework the network "so it is a win-win for everyone." So far the city has refused. But San Francisco's top water official, Patricia E. Martel, said the door was not entirely closed, even though she and many other officials consider the idea far-fetched and suspect it would cost billions of dollars. Ms. Martel, who is general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, said the agency would cooperate with a study that was paid for and undertaken by some other organization. She also said the general notion of replacing the reservoir would be explored in environmental reviews that would soon be needed as part of repairs and upgrades planned for the system. "We are willing to cooperate with the environmental groups, but we are not willing to take the lead and say our mission is to restore Hetch Hetchy," Ms. Martel said. "We don't believe we have a requirement to fund that study." Another leading water official, Art Jensen, also expressed willingness to consider the proposal. Mr. Jensen is general manager of the San Francisco Bay Area Water Users Association, which represents 29 cities, water districts and a private water company that buy Hetch Hetchy water from San Francisco. "It is a fascinating idea," Mr. Jensen said. "I would like to think I have an open mind and never turn my back on a fascinating idea." In the old days, Hetch Hetchy — it was named by the Ahwahneechee and Paiute Indians for the type of grass that once grew there — was a breathtaking glacier-carved valley in a newly established national park, not unlike Yosemite along the Merced River. But Congress voted in 1913 to allow San Francisco, 160 miles to the west, to flood the valley in an effort to secure a reliable water supply. Richard W. Sellars, a longtime National Park Service historian, describes the decision as "the most famous and egregious invasion of a national park." Muir was a fierce opponent of the reservoir, and was said to have died of a broken heart in 1914 after failing to block it. "Dam Hetch Hetchy!" he wrote in his book "The Yosemite." "As well dam for water-tanks the people's cathedrals and churches, for no holier temple has ever been consecrated by the heart of man." Among Restore Hetch Hetchy's supporters is Donald P. Hodel, the former secretary of the interior under President Ronald Reagan, who floated a similar restoration proposal in the late 1980's. Though the dismantling of productive dams is not common practice, Mr. Hodel said he got the idea from Rocky Mountain National Park, where a damaged dam was taken down a decade ago. Since then, there have been other dismantling of dams, especially ones that interfered with fisheries. Like Muir before him, Mr. Hodel was silenced by powerful water interests. Mr. Hodel said he had little in common with the new group pushing for the Hetch Hetchy study, but he was willing to lend his name to the cause because he still believed in it. He also remained incensed at what he described as the duplicity of many San Franciscans. They are known to champion environmental causes, he said, but seem blind to the destructiveness of their own water policies. "All of the arguments made against a study of Hetch Hetchy were about San Francisco's birthright to flood that valley — that it is our vested economic right," Mr. Hodel said in telephone interview from Colorado, where he lives in semi-retirement. "Those are the same arguments made by slaveholders in opposition to abolition." Mr. Hodel was especially critical of Senator Dianne Feinstein, who was instrumental in sinking his proposal when she was mayor of San Francisco and a fierce opponent of any tinkering with the reservoir. "You would think she would say, `Let's look at the facts, let's look at the merits of this,' " he said. "But she had determined to her satisfaction that it would never work and it was unsuitable." Ms. Feinstein said that whether mayor or senator, the idea of tearing down the O'Shaughnessy Dam looked the same to her. "It makes no sense to destroy the source of the highest-quality drinking water around," Senator Feinstein said. The Hetch Hetchy environmentalists said their overall strategy was to persuade and cajole, but they have gotten off to a rocky start with officials by taking a stance against the November ballot measure. The measure, Proposition A, would allow the city to borrow $1.6 billion to help pay for about $3.6 billion in repairs and seismic improvements to the Hetch Hetchy water delivery system. The system brings water from the valley through 280 miles of pipes and 60 miles of tunnels to about 800,000 people in San Francisco and 1.6 million in its suburbs. The proposition is supported by the San Francisco water utility, Senator Feinstein, Mayor Willie L. Brown and a majority of the city's usually fractious Board of Supervisors. Ms. Martel, the utility's general manager, said large stretches of pipeline are more than 75 years old and desperately need to be replaced. But A. Spreck Rosekrans, a senior analyst with Environmental Defense, one of the groups behind the effort to restore the Hetch Hetchy Valley, said that with billions of dollars in improvements ready to be spent, the moment was right to re-think the entire system. Environmental Defense and the Planning and Conservation League wrote to city officials asking them to study the feasibility of restoring Hetch Hetchy Valley. When the officials balked, the groups vowed to fight Proposition A. Other influential environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council, have joined in criticizing the proposition. Win or lose on Proposition A, Mr. Rosekrans said the struggle for Hetch Hetchy had only begun. Because of the great interest in national parks around the country, and the particular popularity of Yosemite, Restore Hetch Hetchy is looking to support from outside California to counter and eventually overwhelm the local resistance. In the meantime, Mr. Good lectures to civic and community groups and leads interpretive tours around the reservoir, where he suggests the submerged rocks "are holding their breath" and the Tuolumne River is "crying out for life again." Standing atop the 312-foot-high concrete dam, water sprinkling from two eyelets behind him, Mr. Good quoted Muir as a source of the environmentalists' resolve: "Imagine yourself in Hetch Hetchy on a sunny day in June, standing waist-deep in grass and flowers as I have often stood, while the great pines sway dreamily with scarcely perceptible motion." (New York Times, October 15th, 2002, www.nytimes.com)

[ 10-15-2002, 05:58 PM: Message edited by: faust ]

[ 10-15-2002, 05:35 PM: Message edited by: faust ]

guess i should add a picture . . .

At this risk of stirring up some dam debate, has anybody else been hearing about this? "For most of the past century, the Hetch Hetchy Valley . . . has served as a 300-foot-deep bathtub holding melted snow from the High Sierra for people and businesses in San Francisco . . . Now a group of environmentalists wants to drain the eight-mile-long reservoir and restore the valley to what John Muir once described as a 'grand landscape garden, one of nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples.' . . . More than 1,900 acres of submerged valley floor would be uncovered, an area that Muir liked to call the 'Tuolumne Yosemite.'" NY Times article on Hetch Hetchy Now of course the most important question is, would this uncover untapped granite in Yosemite NP? [ 10-15-2002, 05:58 PM: Message edited by: faust ]

colorado sucks

Greg, I’m sure your father’s story is an inspiring testament to hard work, the value of which cannot be discounted. The problem with anecdotal evidence is that it goes both ways. When my parents were first married they were very poor, but not to a lack of effort (my dad is a excellent carpenter and a damn hard worker, but in that line work comes and goes). When I was born, complications required a long hospital stay and my parents had a choice: accept government assistance or spend the next few decades under a mountain of debt. They took the handout and looking back it was clearly the best option for both them and for their country. Unhindered by a debilitating loan, they were free to work out their way out of poverty and have more then paid their country back (both in taxes and in community contribution). Is their story an exception? Maybe, but again that’s the trouble with anecdotes. Hard work but also lots of luck determine success (I think my life is going pretty smooth, but I can’t say I’ve ever worked too awfully hard). Welfare programs are meant to merely be help for use in special, very unfortunate circumstances. Most things are gray rather then black and white, and you and I may disagree, but I truly believe government assistance does more good then harm. Sorry for barging in on a thread that I may not have paid enough attention to.