wolffie

One reason USFS isn't getting enough money for trails is because Amerikans are staying home playing video games and such crap instead. It's time to support a movement to repeal the Forest Pass system because it discourages newbies from hiking and using our public lands, and it is the newbies and their kids who are going to become the next generation of stewards. I suspect that this was part of the hidden agenda behind the "user fees" idea. Just the sort of thing Rove & Norquist would think of. Think of people toying with the idea of hiking for the first time: "...yeah, it would be nice to try taking the kids hiking, but don't you have to pay or get a pass or something? I don't know where to get one, such a hassle, why bother..." The Amerikan Right is very strategic in their actions. For example, "Tort Reform" is not just to cap high jury awards for the convenience of corporations so they can predict such damages and budget them as a business expense (they can figure how many workers and consumers they're going to kill or hurt); it also destroys the Trial Lawyers (one of the Democratic Party's highest contributors) who would no longer be able to take on tort cases, this defunds the Left, and destroys the judiciary (which they don't own yet) as a means of enforcing the law. It removes one of the last public defenses against corporate power. Similarly, adding barriers that discourage Americans from exploring public lands and discovering wilderness is a way of throttling environmentalism, in addition to stamping out the subversive communist notion that governement can be used to promote the general welfare, as suggested in that quaint, old-fashioned document, the Constitution.

MSR Sumner ice axe 80 cm lost in Enchantments somewhere between Asgaard Pass and one of the lower lakes to the north(?) of it. Oct. 1998? 99? It has some sentimental value, that's all. All metal, remnants of blue paint. wolffie@u.washington.edu When you take your pack off to stow your axe, don't take a picture instead...

For Three Fingers access, remember the "Millenium Bug" and Y2KY Jelly, which allows 4 digits to fit where only 2 would fit before. Take your bulletproof vest, too, 'cause the gun nuts apparently think that that road is Vietnam.

Skiers: do this NOW. If you want snowmobiles banned from Yellowstone, send email to the following, deadline midnight May 29: <grte_winter_use_seis@nps.gov> Tell the Park Service pros that you support Alternative 1a, which reinstates the Clinton ban on snowmobiles in Yellowstone. This is a really high-profile issue that has gotten a LOT of national press and it is well worth your time because the Republicrats are watching this closely. The snowmobile ban was one of the last things Clinton did, probably because he knew Frat Boy would repeal it and get dragged through the mud by the environmentalists. If that's you, start dragging. The policy wonks are watching, too, and the noise you make now will affect future decisions about jetskis and other baneful machines (a you read this, someone somewhere is inventing something even worse). For details, go to: www.nps.gov/yell/ and follow the "current issues" and "Winter Use" links. You can even send snail mail to: Winter Use Draft SEIS Comments Grand Teton & Yellowstone National Parks PO Box 352 Moose, WY 83012 Don't wait to clean up your weekend gear, do it NOW, or you'll never be able to complain about The Curse again and you'll have to wait 'til somebody invents a shoulder-fired sound-homing missile.

My daughter is 12.5 and I'd like to find some other climbers who have daughters-with-altitude, 'cause pretty soon, if she doesn't have some good friends along, climbing with Dad is gonna be like, I mean, so totally BORE-ing that, like, I'm gonna be like totally out of a climbing partner 'cause Dad is such a Prodigious Git. She has a lot of outdoor experience, mostly climbing the kinds of peaks that have trails to former fire lookouts. We haven't done any rock outside of a couple trips to Stone Gardens, but she liked that. Nordic skiing is a favorite, she is used to alpine starts, and thinks hiking out by headlamp and getting home at midnight is normal. Want to try some snowshoeing this winter. Face it: catching frogs and making mudpies at a lake can be more appealing than a summit, so we're up for that, too. Backpacking the Olympic beaches is possibly the best. Also open to trading/sharing childrens' climb & route info, if you're looking for or know of some choice secret places accessible to smaller critters. wolffie@u.washington.edutakawolffie@msn.com

I'm looking for other (ex)climbers who like to do fairly ambitious stuff with their kids. My daughter is 12 and sometimes has more fun with a playmate(s) along. We've been climbing easy peaks -- the kind that have trails to former fire lookouts -- since she was 4, she's used to alpine starts and hiking out by headlamp, got to 6700' on Daniel last June in a 14 mi. roundtrip day that included a bit of roped snow travel. Haven't done any rock outside of a couple trips to the gymn, but she seemed to like that. Mostly long alpine hikes and overnights. I THINK she likes summits, but face it, a lake with friends can be a bigger draw -- catching frogs and making mudpies are high on the list. She loves nordic skiing and gymnastics and seems comfortable with kids outside her age range. We love the Olympic beaches in the offseason and can even talk Mom into going there. When I cannot talk, coax, wheedle, cajole or bully the twerp into going with me, Plan B is usually a long solo to some weenie Mountie peak, and if I had a partner with a vehicle, I wouldn't have to stick the mom without a car for the weekend (my pals mostly fled Seattle when the rush hit 12 years ago). We're in north Seattle. Contact me at:wolffie@u.washington.eduJohn Wolff