allison

The info I found was over in the section on Enchantment et al permits. Just too lazy to dig it up @ the moment

FYI that TH is going to be closed next summer starting around 7/15. Details on the Leavenworth WNF web page. Now.."how" closed it actually is, and if we'll be able to sneak in there, well that remains to be seen.

Beck, your analogies are killing me. Are you stoned?

Thanks, boys.

Oh, MN, you won't catch me dead doing any of that sissy mountain biking stuff. That's SCARY! BTW it was so great to get together at the end of each day w/my dad and swap stories of our death-defying adventues. We both tried really hard to get the other to try out our respective sports but we were both too chicken. THAT's what I seek in a good parent/child relationship. Plus he did all the driving.

Ok, I gots'ta know what this means. What's a 'freshie'? I sort of think to me it is a male climber under 25, but I suspect a male climber under 25 is going to school me on this...

Well, yeah, silly, what's your point?

You've got to look past the packaging here. These athletes are at their absolute primes. Awesome! Beck, everything I know about the Skeleton would lead me to believe that it makes the luge look like preschool recess. I love the fact that it's legitimized by its history rather than being some XGames freakshow they made up just to get the big TV ratings. Going down a really steep ski hill has nothing to do with jumping out of a helicopter. Especially since their little graphic cartoon skier was wearing a parachute. Thanks for the link to the nice balanced article in Testosterone Magazine. Of course I would have read it sooner but somehow I let my....subscription....lapse. Silly me! My favorite part of the article was where they were talking about how much women enjoy the athlete profile dealamajiggers. I say forget the sports, let's see more of those scintillating profiles! Of course that's the best part but I also enjoyed the opening ceremonies and all of the insightful commentary from that brill Bob Costas. NOT!

Like I said, I didn't think through it very well.

I am having a hard time with stuff like half-pipe in the Olympics, but there's something delightful about speed skating, the good old downhill, ski jumping, you just have to look past the commercialism. I also have issue with this 70 degree nonsense. Questionable. And what about that stupid video they showed last night explaining the DH course? With the parachute and the graphic of the skier on the car? WTF? The new, revived event of this year, the "Skeleton" looks like it should be way badass. Think about going headfirst down the luge course on a cafeteria tray....

Kaput. No more. All gone.

I could give you some nice pics of the fat sun in Bend last week, but that would just make you miserable, believe me. It was just AWFUL being down there.

If you want to ensure that the gear isn't removed and reused my some intrepid gear thief, I don't see any reason you couldn't put a smear of epoxy on the bolts as you drop them in, though given the properties of epoxy it would be a hassle. Having not tried it I guess that it would cause the bolt to shear upon removal, and hopefully discourage the thieves from continuing. It would work. Now this just comes to me off the top of my head and may have other implications, feel free to comment. No flamey.

A Prozac weekendOlympics and Internetspray can kill you OK, I need for it to be spring now. Right now.

Indian Creek is very cool, and there's tons of other stuff in the Moab area too, obviously. The Big Bend Boulders are a major kick in the pants. The nice thing about IC is that there's water there, which is unusual in that area. In the town of Moab there are 2 climbing shops but when I was down there I met climbers at the coffee shop in the middle of town, on the north side of the main drag, in a kind of strip mall. I was sent there by someone who worked in one of those 2 shops. It's been a few years and I was solo (dad was doing that sissy mt. bike thing and I tagged along) but I'm sure it's all still there.

Here's the deal with quicklinks: Far as I know there aren't any around that are rated...which basically means there's no guarantee they will hold you. Now it doesn't take so much to hold a 150# climber on a rap with minimal shock load potential, but I will say that in my work we do a lot of overhead rigging where QLs would be mighty convenient (backstage) and we never use them for hanging scenery, and we never, ever, ever use them if we are flying people. Having said all of that they are cheaper than anything else I'd risk my life on. I do use them but only to rap. I didn't know MEC had them super-cheap, but if that's not convenient I'm inclined to go to a real hardware store for my QLs (can't remember where I bought them last but it sure as hell wasn't Home Despot) like maybe Stoneway or Tacoma Screw. You're probably not gong to pay more, and it's highly likely you'll get a better quality unrated piece of crap there than at the Despot.

Poor guy...see, guys, you CAN get hurt clipping bolts, even with the Good Doctor on the other end of the rope....! Ice, Vitamin I, Vitamin C (that's Codeine, my good man), elevation, ass time and the Olympics...and Xrays, maybe. Sorry to hear of your misfortune. At least it's wintertime.

Yeah, you don't have to be cranky just because you haven't realized how much FUN clipping bolts can be... ...lighten up, sugarpants!!

EEEEExcellent gathering tonight!

Uh, yeah, MY mom told me to be leery of peepul whu kan't spel....

Yeah, uh, Tacomaboy seems to have it out for me....

Yes, that is the Nickerson. Wear fleece so I can find you. BTW icegirl, your mailbox is full. I tried to respond to the pm you sent me but no room at the inn-box!!

Basil Hayden, you PUNTERS!!

FYI: News Release Release date: January 28, 2002 MSR ISSUES CONSUMER NOTIFICATION REGARDING DENALI SNOWSHOESMODELS AFFECTED: DENALI ASCENT, RED DENALI CLASSIC SEATTLE, Wash. - MSR has issued a consumer notification regarding all DenaliAscent and red Denali Classic snowshoes manufactured between September andNovember 2001. These snowshoes were made with a different plastic deckingthan previous shoes, which tends to crack under extreme flexing or hardimpacts. To identify the snowshoes in question, retail stores and consumers can lookat two date code dials on the bottom of the shoes. The snowshoes in questionare coded 9/01, X/01 and Y/01. Retail stores with these snowshoes in stockhave been asked to contact MSR immediately to exchange them. Consumers mayalso exchange their shoes through their local retailer or by calling MSRdirectly at (800) 531-9531. Erik Flink, snowshoe product group manager, noted, "The typical cracks we'veseen - a cracked toe area, small pieces breaking off the bottom, etc. -won't generally affect the function of the snowshoe. People will still beable to use the snowshoes to get back, but they will want to exchange themwhen they get home." Since the discovery of the problem, MSR has returned to producing snowshoesusing the original plastic material, which has proven reliably strong anddurable over the last seven years.Since their debut in 1995, MSR's family of snowshoes has grown to includefour models designed for a variety of backcountry uses - the Denali Ascent,Denali Classic, Denali Hiker and Denali Tyker. The popularity andperformance of MSR snowshoes can be attributed to the unique platform designand to the many features invented by MSR, including steel traction bars forstability while traversing and flotation tails, which created the firstmodular snowshoe system. Founded in 1969 as a supplier of expedition climbing gear, Mountain SafetyResearch currently supplies the outdoor recreation market with stoves,cookware, snowshoes, water filters, organic dehydrated food, tents,hydration systems and trekking poles. More information is available on thecompany's Web site at www.msrcorp.com or by calling 1-800-531-9531. # # #

I haven't done the hammock thing personally, but it's been discussed at some length over at nwhikers.net