mtnnut

Yes, as far as I know there isn't a fully featured phone/GPS combo. I think so far all they have done is made it possible for others to find you when you are talking on the phone, for like you say, emergency services. I don't think you are able to pull your coordinates off of the phone for your own use in the field. They have combined GPS units with radios however.

Not sure what information you are looking for. Yes, it works. Yes, it is convenient. Typically, locations with WiFi have high speed access, so they are going to be faster than a dial up line. Most of the time the WiFi speed is slower than if you plugged straight into the ethernet port like you would with DSL, but it still is pretty good. Some networks restrict you from using your POP email for sending mail out, but usually you can receive it (probably to avoid responsibility for spammers). I'm guessing here, since otherwise I'm not sure why sometimes it doesn't work for me. Web based email like hotmail and yahoo are no problem though. Free access points http://seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/WhereToGetOn http://www.wififreespot.com/

Here is a standard passage that you can use to provide more of an explanation. From Ultralingua:

Volunteering to pay fees into a system that is wasteful and ineffectual at fixing the problems it is supposed to address doesn't solve anything either. Unless the goal is to lighten the wallets of anybody within reach.

cold weather three-legged races?

So having to pay a user fee to get the privies cleaned is the same as living in Nazi Germany? Please. No, the fee just encourages the Forest service to install the outhouses. And that is only because they want to have the minimum "improvements" to be able to charge fees. They are under no obligation to maintain them whether you pay or not. One of the things that bugs me about supporters of the fee is that they don't do it based on reality. If you believe the money goes to the trail maintainence you are for the fees. Yet if the Forest Service were a charity soliciting for funds, they would be taken to court for fraud for how little money actually makes it to the purported cause. Wake up, the money is not going to the trails (at least not in the proportions that they would like you to believe). Lest we forget, the GAO report revealed that the Forest Service misrepresented how much it costs to administer the program. For every dollar that comes in, 1/2 is spent in administering the collection program. This is before they have made a decision as to what to spend the money on. There is no obligation as to what they are able to spend the funds on. In addition, they have no idea if they are contributing in any meaningful way to the reknown "maintenance backlog", because they don't track it. Nor do they even have appropriate accounting of what these maintenance needs are. http://www.americanwhitewater.org/archive/article/851/ Now this new legislation proposes to make permanent a mismanaged, inefficient program. That is like taking the Chairman of Enron and putting him in charge of national energy policy (oops, now why does this sound familiar?)

Not exactly an easy question to answer, since not all publications even embrace digitally captured images today. A good bet though, is whatever someone thinks is "just good enough" today, will not commercially be worth the price of the bargain CD its burned on in a relatively short period of time. Also if you are concerned about maintaining quality, you should probably be thinking about RAW files too. The best quality you can use now extends the usable lifespan of your photo inventory. Beyond that, here is an organization that is working on getting folks to talk about standards more: http://www.disc-info.org/specifications/

Always interesting to see how the press reports this since it causes problems with swearing over the airwaves. King5 referred to him using the "F word", while KUOW (or it might have been NPR, I'm not sure which) said: "Cheney told Leahy to do something that was anatomically impossible"

MSR Simmerlite is lighter than the Whisperlite and has some modest improvements. Slightly more controllable on the flame. In reality, you have to decide if you are a weight nazi or want something relatively cheap on fuel. Weight nazis seem to like the canister stoves like Pocket Rocket (and others) but they are probably is best used for circumstances where you aren't melting snow and are making simple stuff that doesn't require extensive fuel consumption like simmering. Longer trips, melting snow, and longer simmer times might direct you into a refillable gas stove, of which my current preference is a Simmerlite. If you need to be able to use it in third world environments with multi-fuel capacity, the XGK is a long established standard.

Once you try to tell a story, even if you try to tell both sides, you selectively edit what to include. In the process, an opinion is made as to what would tell the story. You would never be able to show it all, so you abbreviate to make the story as clear and full of whatever impact you are trying to convey. My point is if the editor doesn't have a clear opinion of what story he is trying to tell, you have a film that is unwatchable because you can't figure out why you are wasting so many hours watching someone else's life pass before your eyes.

"All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth." —Richard Avedon To have a true documentary, you would be trying to tell a story in real time, and your audience would have left the theater before any point could be made. Even then, you would still suffer from the prospect that merely the presence of someone recording the events might have changed the outcome compared to if someone wasn't there.

Not that you want to count on it, but recall that the other most recent death on Liberty Ridge managed to have their rope snag on something during the fall and that kept them from traveling further down.

It seems like that airfare doesn't change a whole lot, as it was about the same 1100-1200 or so 15 years ago too. The only advice I can think of is watch your restrictions for rescheduling. You will likely be gone a while, and by the time you get closer to your return trip, you may have changed your mind on when you want to do it. That, and look at the prospect of using outfits like Thai Airlines, as they have a track record of better service than folks like United. It used to be you could save a few bucks flying into Malaysia (may or may not be the case now). From there, you wouldn't be that far from the skinny middle part of the country where you typically might go for your beach visit.

2mm is relatively little. Probably more important is if all the components of the binding are equally off-center (assuming there is a toe and a heel piece). If the toe were centered and the heel off (or vice-versa) then additional wear and tear on the bindings or if they are releaseable, release characteristics might be affected. If you have a choice, you might have the side that the binding is mounted closer to be your inner edge. I would imagine it would be easier to get edge bite that way.

They may have done right by you on this, but I just tried to book a domestic ticket, and on one leg the software only offered one return trip time for a given day. When the same info was entered in expedia.com, I had the choice of about 5 times that travelocity acted as though they didn't exist. Much as I hate anything remotely connected to Microsoft, I ended up booking a time with expedia that more fit my needs. Anybody have recommendations for web choices other than these? You definitely need to pay attention with these web options, because they put in default dates whenever the page gets refreshed. At least they don't let you travel back in time (I tried)

If you want brakes, the Freeride makes more sense. Supposedly the toe piece and bar on the bindings are the same, so the strength is identical. My understanding is between the two styles it is brakes vs. no brakes, moderate DIN vs. Maximum DIN, return spring vs. no return spring. The higher DIN might not be a big issue unless you are skiing the lifts, but as long as you fit in the scale somewheere it isn't a detriment to have that higher setting available. The return springs break eventually, and though they can be replaced, it is easier to do uphill kick turns and set trail without them anyway.

I'd say yes under the conditions where this shortcut is really practical. In early season conditions no napalm/agent orange is needed. Later in the season you've probably got more to deal with than what a near-the-road defoliation session can address anyway.

I won't disagree with JoshK. The route isn't without crevasses. If you can avoid doing something thoughtless along the way it is feasible to go alone, however. You may choose to wander a bit more to give the crevassed areas a greater berth if you have doubts. This of course pre-supposes that you have enough experience to make those decisions and read the terrain. The area where you will be in the greatest proximity to crevasses is the low point where you go below LeConte to get on the LeConte Glacier on your way up to Sentinel. This part is not really practical to avoid entirely, so you might even have to step over something here. Next would probably be the Middle Cascade Glacier, though you can avoid much of it by climbing up high on the left (when going North to South) and then coming into the Spider/Formidable col from a contour. One other spot is getting onto the Dana Glacier on your way to Spire Point, though that might be more icy than crevassed at that point. Most of the rest is pretty benign. Depending on your comfort level, most of the peaks have scramble routes (class 3-4) up them, but the rock can be loose. Spire Point is a little more exposed than the other major summits along the way, so you might not be inclined without a rope on that one, even though it is only low-mid 5th class. Whether you climb or not, there is plenty of sightseeing to do on the way, so that could keep you busy enough if you decide to forgo summits. If you want to snag Dome along the way, it is a bit of distance over there so the not-too-rushed format gives you greater odds of being able to fit that into the schedule.

The most "scramble-y" of the scrambling here is usually not on rock. There is some steep dirt and grassy hummocks going up Louis Creek, at times without the comfort of branches to grab, depending on where you go. The rest of your proposed route is easier than that.

Exercise bike or wind trainer can be used on the well leg with the aid of toe clips. This is a standard therapy for folks with knee surgery and can be done as soon as the person can sit on a bike without falling over. Just find a stool or table for him to put the injured leg on.

You usually can add one or two summits in per day without having to be too much of a chestbeater. Depends on how many days you give yourself to complete the traverse as to how much time you have. I've often heard of folks that are physically taxed enough that all they manage to pull off is just getting to the other end even if they take 5 days or more. Of the things along the way, Spire Point is one of the few that encourage you to bring a few pieces of pro. You could bring a few slings and pick up some stones to use as low-tech chockstones to save weight. Dome adds some time, but is probably worth it since it gives a different view that you wouldn't see otherwise. Spider is fine, as long as you use the snow routes on the south and stay off the rock (just an ice axe is all that is needed). Actually, it is probably easier than Formidable for that reason.

Some of the areas that you are wondering about got specific exclusion in the authorizing legislation. Likely some politicians decided that some should be exempt for some reason. Check out the attachment to this posting for the full text of a document that this comes from. "UNITED STATES CODE SERVICE Copyright © 2003 Matthew Bender & Company, Inc., one of the LEXIS Publishing companies All rights reserved *** CURRENT THROUGH P.L. 108-30, APPROVED 5/29/03 *** TITLE 16. CONSERVATION CHAPTER 1. NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES OUTDOOR RECREATION PROGRAMS LAND AND WATER CONSERVATION FUND GO TO CODE ARCHIVE DIRECTORY FOR THIS JURISDICTION 16 USCS § 460l-6a (2003) § 460l-6a. Admission and special recreation use fees ...... (9) No admission fee may be charged at the following units of the National Park System: U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, Independence National Historical Park, any unit of the National Park System within the District of Columbia, Arlington House--Robert E. Lee National Memorial, San Juan National Historic Site, and Canaveral National Seashore. (10) For each unit of the National Park System where an admission fee is collected, the Director shall annually designate at least one day during periods of high visitation as a "Fee-Free Day" when no admission fee shall be charged." Here is a very interesting note at the bottom of this document: "INTERPRETIVE NOTES AND DECISIONS Department of Interior is enjoined from charging fee under 16 USCS § 460l-6(a)(4) to those residents traveling roadway through Colorado National Monument but not using Monument for recreation purposes where (1) action of Secretary of Interior in authorizing 36 CFR § 71.13(d) for payment of fees by residents using roads solely for transportation and not recreation exceeds his statutory authority, and (2) charging fee constitutes arbitrary and capricious regulation since Interior could place fee collection stations at another location so as not to interfere with those not making recreational use of Monument. Wilkenson v Department of Interior (1986, DC Colo) 634 F Supp 1265." Merely driving through national forest area was not recreational "use" of area subject to exaction of user fee under 16 USCS § 460l-6a, where statute allowing Forest Service to collect user fees did not repeal existing legislation that prohibited Service from charging toll fees. United States v Maris (1997, DC Or) 987 F Supp 865. Climber who hiked into recreational fee area in national forest and who camped within area overnight was engaged in recreational activity so as to require payment of user fee under 16 USCS § 460l-6a, notwithstanding his contention that he entered fee area for purpose of engaging in some type of religious ritual, and that hiking and climbing activities were collateral. United States v Morow (2002, ED Cal) 185 F Supp 2d 1135." 205978-Public_Law_108-30.doc

I've had choppers fly by while up on Baker before. I think sometimes they get a report of someone needing a rescue, and either get incomplete information, or just want to make sure they've covered all their bases and check out the other parties to make sure they aren't the ones in trouble. Baker does seem to get a lot of rescues. Once they dang near landed on our tents on the top of the Railroad Grade on the Easton just to ensure our group wasn't the one they were looking for. Turned out that time, the victims had fallen in a crevasse on the lower reaches of Roman Wall. Perhaps they didn't spot the site on the first pass and wanted to see if some sort of self-extrication was accomplished. Then, even if they know where they are going, they might circle around to check out wind or perhaps dump fuel before they get down to business. That is an interesting question: I wonder how familiar the heli crews are with where the climbing routes go? Do they rely on the SAR folks for this?

Seems like one of the problems was having the Sat phone and thinking this made you more "connected". The problem is you can't rely on scheduled times for flying anyway so you just have to plan on being self-sufficient and safe. That is sort of the price for admission to be able to experience a place as wild and isolated as it is. If that is not comfortable, maybe that isn't your style of trip. You can work up to it though. There are plenty of places in the Cascades and BC that give you the chance to arrive somewhere multiple days away from help. At least if you arrive there under your own power, it provides some feeling of control that you can get out when you want. Even then, you don't want to do things that will get one of your party hurt.

Sunday, start in clouds Breaking vistas unfold Link turns; end day: smile