Mtguide

Not to mention the ruined manicure.

Boyscouts now=Mounties of the future.This is about par for the course in Boy Scout troops around the country.I had a great time in Scouts growing up,and we had a really good Scoutmaster,son of a trapper from northern Maine.But even he almost got us all killed by choosing to camp one time in a dry wash in west Texas.Overnight a heavy thunderstorm upstream sent a violent flash flood down the wash.We lost all our gear and food,but amazingly no one drowned. I went to grad school at Utah State,bc skied and climbed a lot in Logan Canyon.Very,very dangerous place in winter and spring.The only son of my literature professor was killed,along with two friends, a few years after I graduated, by an immense avalanche that traveled 6 miles from the canyon rim all the way to the highway.I can't believe these Scout leaders were so stupid,especially since Utah State has an important and well-publicized avalanche research and forecast center.And Bruce Tremper,the 800 pound gorilla of avalanche research,teaches not far away at Layton and is on TV all the time with the backcountry snow forecast.

You got it nailed,except for the loft prices.Try 400 to 700K.Can't think of any other reason a BD Yosemite hammer would cost $87.50.Hayzoos Kee-rye-OST.Watch for 'em to go to $100 pretty soon.

Go to p.71 of Selected Climbs in the Cascades Vol.II by Jim Nelson and Peter Potterfield,pub.Mountaineers; and pp.248-250 of Beckey's Cascade Alpine Guide.Have fun. As far as other climbs in the area,well,it's only one of the most incredible rock climbing areas in the NW.It is hard work getting in there,so you might as well plan your trip so that you can spend some time as long as you're in there, and do a bunch of stuff.You won't be dissapointed. Also: the pictures of McClellan Ridge and Nightmare Needles are great; but that's not where the Flagpole is.It's actually one more canyon(and it's a big deep,steep,rugged one)and ridge over,just below Pennant Pk. on the upper part of what's called Cathay Ridge.Like I said,you got your work cut out for you just getting in there.

Like I said,all that money had to go somewhere... --------------------------------------------------------- "Wull,huh!Whaddaya know,all them bubbles got little dollar signs on 'em!"

Absolutely; regardless of whether Martha's actually guilty,she's just taking the fall for Enron,Worldcom,and a host of others who simply have vastly more money,power and connections with which to prolong,delay,obfuscate and disseminate until the heat blows over.Martha is definitely small potatoes,and even smaller is Bacanovic.Anyone who thinks Ken Lay will ever spend so much as 30 seconds in jail is naive and misinformed.The government is simply making a big show of pretending to actually do something about insider trading,not to mention ripping off the Federal treasury and outrageous influence peddling in the process. Has everyone forgotten so soon that Enron wasn't just a stockmarket scandal? Or haven't you noticed the tripling and quadrupling of your electric bill? All that money had to go somewhere; but it's a trail we'll never get to follow,if the current administration has anything to say about it.They still haven't managed to get Cheney to turn over his documents on the meetings with "consultants" from the energy industry.There's all kinds of stuff that we may never be able to unravel. So,what's next? Oh yeah,now for that waitress in Topeka who didn't report her tips.... "where the executioner's face is always well hidden..." -Bob Dylan

We also call these the Rabbit Ears.Refer to p.126 of Portland Rock Climbs by Tim Olson.Although I've never done them,I've been told that the first pitch would probably be best protected by those 2 foot long round metal stakes used to set forms for pouring sidewalks,if that gives you any indication.Your second presupposition seems to be more accurate.But everyone I've talked to who's done them said they had fun,and a number have repeated it.The second pitch,to the (either)summits,is actual rock,pretty decent. -------------------------------------------------------- Is it rock-like mud,or just mud-like rock?

Bullseye; just that women might be a little more dangerous. "Next time,instead of getting married,I'm just going to find a woman I don't like and give her a house." -Robin Williams

Now you're huntin'!

Yeah, the one between my legs.Seriously,what man who likes women wouldn't find it extremely useful and practical to know more about the way they think?And you're just not gonna see or hear that by butting in all the time.I'm a former long-time big game hunting guide,and one of the really important things you learn from that is that you have got to know your prey,their habits,patterns and how they think.And don't for one minute ever think that women don't do the same thing.Besides,women(and people in general)are a lot more interesting-and fun-when you just listen and let them be themselves,than when you're trying to argue or fight with or control them. As for learning more about ourselves,that's just an ancient(and very valuable)martial arts principle.The samurai,and many other martial arts masters,put it this way:"If you know your enemy,you will win 50% of the time;if you know yourself,you will win 50% of the time;If you know your enemy AND yourself,you will win 100% of the time." Never hurts to know as much as you can. It's a different world,you get a lot farther if you quit dragging yr knuckles and throw the club away.Oh,and check out the thread "stupid things to say at work" over in Spray.A perfect example of what I'm talking about;that kid's got it goin' on.What we talkin' bout,baby.

Whoooweee,boy;careful,there-- better check this out first.Best of luck.

Defintely fast on your feet,man; so did you get her number? Gotta remember to follow through when you take a swing.

Bush is a uniter? The last time I looked,he's completely squandered our international diplomatic goodwill,and an international poll quoted on CNN,MSNBC,and FOX showed that fully 2/3 of repondents in 6 European nations thought Bush was largely having a negative effect on international relations.When even FOX news reports something like that,there must be something to it. Domestically Bush's suggestion for a constitutional amendment regarding gay marriage(yeah,right,like that's gonna happen)has already exacerbated division between people of all political and religious persuasions all over the country,including within the Republican party.Your statement is not apropos of reality.About the only uniting Bush has done is among the fat cats,the upper 1% of the economic scale,and narrow-minded religious right wing bigots.Some unity. Furthermore,Bush administration positions on abortion,womens' rights,and family planning are hardly anything that any group of intelligent,free-thinking women would likely want to emulate.So please,let's NOT have anyone or anything being more like Bush,the most disastrous so-called president we have ever had. Getting back to the subject at hand,I think the idea of a women's forum is an excellent idea,and should definitely be free of male postings.And we might stand to really learn something about women AND ourselves,guys.I'd certainly welcome the opportunity;show me one guy who says he understands women,and I'll show you a big fat liar.I hear women say the same thing about men all the time.

I bought one of these at the Seattle REI in 1966,and I know they were still available in '69-'70.

"Next time instead of getting married,I'm just gonna find some woman I don't like and give her a house." -Robin Williams What I'd like to know is,how does gay marriage threaten hetero marriage? Just because gays would be able to be legally married,how does this threaten the ability of hetero couples to marry or sustain marriage? Seems to me it supports and strengthens the whole idea and institution of marriage,on all levels;social,cultural, ethical,religious,political and civil.The whole uproar over it is just another non-issue non-news pile of absolute crap,news/disinformation designed to distract the public from more serious issues.

I've been very pleased with my BD ATC-XP.Excellent belay device,very smooth for rappelling,and handles skinny ropes for alpine and ice just great.I still have my old Sticht plates,Trango Tube,figure 8,and an HB Sherriff,too.The XP seems to do everything all the rest of these do,and the Sticht plate is the only thing that compares to it for rappelling.

"Bouldering and sport climbing are valuable,but they are not legitimate forms of climbing." -Yvon Chouinard But yeah,not a bad looking website.

The only section I described as bulletproof is the 3rd pitch,the huge chimney;and it really is perfectly sound basalt,nothing loose there that i can recall.I just did this about a year ago in the fall.I totally agree,the rest is a chossdancer's waking fright.Also Alpenjaeger refers just to the 50 ft. pinnacle on the right side of the main big chimney.This is the last pitch,and it is indeed,as I said,mossy,chossy and poorly protected.Sphincter-squinchin',all right.Hell,let's do it again sometime,we can compare our memories to reality.

You bet;it's a fun climb well worth doing.West Chimney:First pitch is the only really manky one,poorly protected but easy(5.2)choss/grass.You can sling some pretty solid bushes and should be able to get a couple of good pins in.There's a bolt at the first belay.Second pitch is a more easily protected and more solid crack going into an off-width and then a chimney,maybe 5.5-5.6.There's a good belay at the top of this pitch.The next pitch is a huge,very solid,and very amazing chimney that climbs right thru the very middle of the formation,fairly low angle,the bottom of this huge chimney is full of loose dirt,rocks and dead leaves.But the walls on either side are clean bulletproof basalt;classic stemming all the way.At the end you come out on the backside of Crown Point.Final pitch to the top of the Alpenjaeger is mossy,chossy,poorly protected but not difficult scramble.See the route description in "A Climbing Guide to Oregon" by Nicholas A. Dodge.It's out of print,but the Mazamas library will have it,and sometimes you can find old copies at Powell's.

Eastwood did the actual climbing on the So.Utah footage(which was shot on Castleton Tower,I believe)and the Eiger footage included some pretty famous top climbers of the era: Scots Dougal Haston and Ian Clough and American Beat expat Gary Hemming.And Eastwood did the actual footage on the Eiger as well,with off-camera rigging by Clough,Haston,and Jim Bridwell.Pretty good company.Eastwood also still does some recreational rock climbing. The movie itself wasn't much,but the climbing scenes are pretty true to 70's era technique,especially the So.Utah footage.Worst technical gaffe in the Eiger footage was Clint wearing a construction-type hardhat instead of a regular mountaineering helmet,as well as soft,bendy boots suited more for a hike in the Columbia Gorge than for the Eiger.They certainly had far more advanced boots for ice climbing,even back then.Also they shot some of the Eiger scenes using goldline ropes instead of perlon,and there was no reason to be that outdated unless they were trying to portray an earlier period.Gold line was still around in 1970,but no serious climbers were still using it,and hadn't for about 5 or 6 years.

"Class Six",old school terminology, refers to direct aid.

Yep; there's tough,and then there's stupid.Any avalanche I've ever seen doesn't give you much time to "read" fuckall.

Conditions such as this are pretty common on the upper Muir this time of year.That's one hell of an exposed,windy place up there,and it seldom gets any heavy show buildup to last long before it gets windpacked or is completely blown off.Boilerplate is more the rule rather than the exception,and I've almost always carried crampons;the few times I left them home,the slowed travel time wasn't worth the weight saved. Prevailing storm winds come sailing across the Wilson and Nisqually and are really cooking by the time they hit the Muir,which is higher.Any cloud or precip bashes up against the west face of Gibraltar and Cathedral Rocks,backs up down over the upper Muir,and it makes that whole pocket up there a dandy little cauldron. It's well worth taking some time to study and observe over time,the localized behavior of weather in places like this.Not only does the entire mountain make its own weather,but the ridges and glacial troughs and headwalls intensify local conditions with all sorts of eddies and whorls as the winds come piling into the mountain.The Muir hut is where it is for some very good reasons besides the fact that it's convenient to the continuation of routes to the upper mountain.These conditions have been very consistent over many years of observation on the mountain.Muir looks very simple and close,and in fine weather,it is.But it can be one of the worst places to get caught out,and in very short order,too.Absolutely nothing on Rainier should ever be taken for granted.

According to research stated in the book Optimum Sports Nutrition by Michael Colgan,the Twinlab brand of supplements has consistently been shown to be the most reputable and trustworthy maker of supplements.If the label says that their Joint Fuel contains 750 mg of glucosamine sulfate per capsule,that's what is actually found in the analysis,time after time. I've used Twinlab's Joint Fuel for over 10 yrs,and it's definitely made a difference for me(shoulder and knee joints).At times I've tried other brands,and have actually noticed that many were not as effective.Nature's Way and Nature's Life are two other brands that seem to be full strength,or accurate regarding what they claim the content of their products to be.Natural Factors is one brand I have found not to be trusted. I've also heard about glucosamine sulfate being tied to elevated cholesterol levels.Anyone else have any personal experience or further info on this?