allison

Eddie, Keep your eyes peeled for me. I'll be in black from head to toe, as per usual, probably wearing pink sunglasses, and with an exceptionally good-looking man in tow. We'll probably both be on the bunny hill by lunch from being out of shape and trying to ski the steep stuff on the first day up this season.

I've written some articles about gear maintenance and repair, and am very close to someone involved in the manufacture of down sleeping bags. Don't bother spending $$ on fancy down soaps. The down mfrs recommend our good friend Woolite. Front loader, the biggest one they've got, extra rinse cycle, that is all good. Also the tennis ball/tennis shoe dryer thing does no good and is just plain hard on your sleeping bag. Down sweaters and pillows can be safely done in a top-loader. I consider the REI repair department to be every bit as good as Rainy Pass. When faced with repair problems I couldn't or wouldn't conquer, they have done great work on my gear.

"admit it, you carry a daytimer " Naw, but there's a Leatherman and a hand grenade in my purse, which generally covers any emergency.

I wouldn't say I can pull a black line out of a green run, but I'll be up Saturday draining all of the blackness out of all of those blue runs. Can't wait!! I'll be the one laughing maniacally!

I think I'll stick to taking this sort of advice from the people who run the board.

I got it, thanks to all who offered.

Actually, the download is pretty massive for we who still use dial-up. Iain, does that mean you might have a copy of Pagemaker? I'm not looking for advice on what is the best graphics program, just looking for a copy of Pagemaker that isn't a six hour download. Greg, feel free to direct your hatred elsewhere. I've got no issue with you, so save your breath.

AhHa!! Thanks, missed the tryout option first time around.

Thanks, Trask, but I'm not in the market to buy it, just need to learn it for now. CVS, PC is the platform I run.

Need to learn Pagemaker. Would like to borrow copy, employer will provide copy soon. Please PM if you can help.

Beach One Beach Two Beach Three Poo Poo Point

If your hands are getting warm while rapping, it's because you are burning the sheath of the rope.

I am putting my double ultra flame suit on. What I am seeing here as the cause of rope burns on hands is careless belay technique. If my perception is correct, a gri gri is going to do more to save lives and skin than gloves. I really can't see any reason to wear gloves besides keeping your hands clean and warm. 'Course the problem with a gri gri is that is has to be threaded properly.... Please be careful out there.

What kind of weight are wew talking about here? Gloves still seem excessive....though of course rules are rules....

Oh, crap, that's it, I need more STUFF! MORE STUFF! Hey Santa, can I have a Gri Gri? I know it's entirely unnecessary, heavy and expensive, but hey, what would look better in my Petzl-gloved hands? Trask, don't answer that! In 7 years of (albeit fair-weather and sporty) climbing, I too have never seen or heard of 'hand burn'. In 17 years at my job, I have seen two cases of hand-burn, both were pretty bad, but when you are handling an out-of weight piece on a friction wrap, often in the range of 500-800 pounds, you want every bit of touch you can get, and the risk of losing the piece and potentially having a major accident is too great versus the slim chance that you'll burn your hands. They do heal, though from what I hear it hurts like a mutha for a while. I'm curious as to the logic behind requiring SAR to wear gloves as Iain mentioned.

Klenke, if you are going to dis me on usage, at least explain yourself. I got curious and went so far as to look up 'eschew', which my little dictionary says means 'to shun, avoid.' Perhaps you'd care to elaborate on my usage problem, because I am not bright enough to spot it without your help. I'm seeing here that a major reason for wearing gloves is keeping one's hands clean. I'm down with that! So, assuming there is no 'real' reason for it if you've got some callouses already as I do, I'll continue going barehanded. Thanks.

Another thread got me thinking: what do people think about the practice of wearing gloves while belaying? Before all of you alpine types chime in, let me say that I'm wondering specifically in the case of rock climbing. In my work, we make it a practice to *not* wear gloves when performing certain tasks, including the handling of lines with a live load on them. The logic behind that is that you can feel what the rope and the load are doing without the loss of sensitivity associated with gloves. I've always eschwed gloves while belaying (and rapping, for the same reason), but I wonder if this is really considered necessary. Any opinions?

Yeah, I be bragging too, iffin' I lived in Fircrest and worked for a major sody pop maufacturer.

I'm walking on sunSHINE wooHoW I'm walking on sunshine WoohOOw I'm WALKIing on SunSHine..wooohoo and don't it feel GOOD

We were gunna go to Crystal but the weather's not cooperating....did some Xmas shopping with everyone else on the planet, and off to the VW later this afternoon. Traffic is heinous out there people!

...a hero's grave is six feet deep...

I'm rocking out to The Jam as we speak. Wat a great, great pop band they were.....

Every day's like Christmas day without you it's cold and there's nothing to do-ooo

Someting Elvis Costello, I think.

A trend seems to forming: The more likely you are to express an opinion, the more likely that you have less stars.