pindude

Nice TR and pic's, guys. Getting out and seeking is better than not getting out at all, fo sho. Especially with a ten-ton hangover, impressive. Wadja do Sobo, mix types of beers? Your TR makes me want to get back into the Wallowas, but I think I'll be looking more for snow. Even with your TR, I can't wait to try TG's beers.

Roger Clemens'--and the Mitchell Report's--Day Of Reckoning is near. Should be an interesting day in Congress tomorrow. ESPN's Howard Bryant's take on it.

Gary, Assuming all is better now. Sounds like you had torticollis, or what is more commonly known as a wry neck. I've had it several times in my 5 decades of existence, caused by sleeping wrong and a few traumatic incidents from playing as a soccer goalie, falling off a horse, and falling hard/badly on skis. NSAIDs and ice might help, but only in time (short time--just a few days--thankfully) does it go away. Meanwhile, you get to walk around with your head cocked to one side, possibly enduring new nicknames like "Tilt." Having a virus at the same time can complicate things, making it last longer. Knottygirl, what cult do you belong to?

Wishing your wife, you, and your family the best, Brian.

It's very fair, at least as far as Mountain Hardware is concerned. Mtn Hardware should not give a full monetary refund. You'll only get a full cash refund of the retail price from the retailer. Their 30-day return window seems a little strict, but not returning it within that time seems to be the problem re. getting cash back. Considering the circumstances, it's too bad they couldn't make an exception, but maybe there's more to it than what you've said. Mountain Hardware sells their clothing (like most other specialty outdoor clothing manufacturers) at wholesale at about 50% of the retail price to the retailer: if they were to give your gf a cash refund, they'd be out 2x their price of the jacket to the retailer. Mtn Hardware makes many great quality items. I know I'd be able to pick out several other items that are on my wish list. As far as the "year" wait goes, if it's a winter item, it'll be available from Sept to Oct or maybe even sooner. That's 6+ months or so. If your gf is on the impatient side, I think you need to give her something else...

Looks like Rick should've contacted you, Daryl, before he wrote his fairly recent guide. I recall seeing an 80s-era bolt when rapping in for climbs there about 5 years ago. Tim, you can always call Rick too. You likely know, but access to The Peninsula has changed since the book came out. On that side of the lake you can no longer drive much past the Barker Canyon boat launch, necessitating a longer hike in, but that would also be the closest place to launch a boat from. Another boat launch site would be on the eastern side of the lake near Northrup Canyon. --Steve

Go back to PETA. Bug's right: it's not the zoo's fault. It's yet another case of people not accepting responsibility for themselves. A couple things: 1. Siberian Tigers--one of the most beautiful animals on this earth--will be extinct in the wild long before the last one dies in a "zoo." 2. Many animals you see in "zoos" are rescued. Here's one less than a half-mile from my house, where ALL animals are rescue cases: Cat Tales

Prior to now just the last 40 years was available. As of January 8, the complete collection dating back to its origin in 1929 is available online. All of it searchable. Index added too. Also, current 2007 journal available online: you can login and see it if you're a current AAC member.

Finally saw your reply here, wirly. No, not my stuff I don't think. For starters my last rip-off was about 3 whole seasons ago , but the stuff hasn't shown up around Spokane-CDA. Alpinfox just got ripped, though. A little more than half my stuff was newer (full set BD cams, plus all the regular biners were wire-gate Neutrinos and HotWires), with a few older items from the 1980s (the 3 smallest sizes original Met TCUs, a few second-year BD Camalots, old rigid stem Friends, set of WC Rocks). Twelve or so draws with newer BD and Petzl dog bones, 12" spectra slings. The crag pack it all was in was a real 1980s time-piece: a beat-up, ~3000-cu-in Wild Country with Husky colors: purple with two yellow daisy chains on back. All gear was marked with blue and white electrical tape. Doh. I'm still in the process of painting my current stuff. Just read in latest R&I about this: Boulder Based Designs "The Mark."

Where'd you dig that one up? The Milkweed was forced to remove that article from it's website as the cheese supplier claimed it did not use polydimethylsiloxane in it's cheese. link

No kidding, can't imagine what she had to go through, as well as everyone else who knew about it before knowing Erden was indeed OK. Good to know about limitations with the ARGOS system, but even better, that folks including the USCG are ready to roll if the shit really hits the fan.

Hey wirly, you've got me really curious. There's several on this site who've had whole racks or packs of gear ripped off...highly unlikely it's some of the huge amount of gear I've lost in two big rip-offs, BUT the only way for one of us to know is to (1) know the name of the shop, go in and check for ourselves, or at the least (2) get some sort of description of what the gear was, so we can check it out. So wirly, since I'm about 350 miles from B-ham, what shop, and without going into great detail, what specific gear is there? Thanks, Steve

Greeley Tribune article Sorry, Charleton. My condolences to you and all of Lygon's friends and family.

Charleton, Other popular climbing discussion forums--frequented by CO climbers--that you may want to post at: RockClimbing.com MountainProject.com Supertopo.com Not sure what other hiking- or climbing-related discussion forums may exist specifically for Colorado...anybody else? My best to you. I'm praying for a good outcome for Lygon.

He's not writing less. His frequency and length of dispatches has been fairly consistent since he started--exactly 6 months ago today. It's been common for Erden to go a day or two without a dispatch, and most recently he's provided 6 since Jan 3. Not sure what all Erden's been telling you privately over the phone, wayne1112, but at least his overall tone in his public dispatches is positive. Yes, in today's dispatch he mentions how the rain's been getting him down, but he also figured out he had standing water in his cabin, possibly from his Dec 20 capsizing, causing what must have been a really fine smell. That would've gotten me down as well, but he's now got that taken care of. He's had a tough time trying to get south of a strong countercurrent and it's secondary currents. However, from his Jan 6 dispatch, it appears he's cleared them. In today's dispatch, he mentions his goal of landfall in Australia. His tracker has him now going southwest and near 6 deg latitude, making great progress toward the equator. Chin up is right. Looks to me like things are looking better for Erden than they have in at least 2 months.

The author, "AT Anonymous" is Andrew McLean, a well known ski mountaineer, randonne racer and gear designer. While he loves to bash tele, I suspect that he could still rip it up if properly incentivized. A few offers have been made on Telemarktips, but he's never stepped up as far as I know. Well known is right. I didn't realize it was "AT Apostle" himself, author of the Chuting Gallery, ex-Utah avy forecaster, and one of the biggest names in BC skiing. I should've known before now, as I first saw that vid many months ago (maybe a year or so?). Too funny. Used to speak with Andrew when he worked for BD. IF he's one of the tele'ers shown in the vid, I can see why he likes to bash it. Certainly he's a helluva good alpine skier, but I ain't taking back my "barely skilled" quote. And they were likely much, much better than me. In the mid-80s I was still learning (oh, and I'm still learning now) and back then doing a lot of face-planting with a large, external-frame Jansport pack that threw me around on skinny skis during a few multi-day trips into the Wallowas, in addition to the bigger passes closer to home. Here's a trailer of one of my fav ski vids. And, yes, that's Andrew McLean appearing at around 3:35 from a segment called "Master Piste Theatre" from the actual movie, where Andrew is the erudite, brandy-snifting, pipe-smoking, Alastair Cooke-like host, reciting "lines" from The Chuting Gallery. N-KFEJ6R8kk

Yup. You know I'm kidding right? I was piling it on, as it was deserved. Yes, great vid indeed. Ah, that explains. No wonder. Couldn't do it, so now you disparage it. Feck, was it the Moscow/UI or Pocatello/ISU folks? About what year? Can't say I'm good at either fixed- or free-heel, but I do both and can get down stuff. Tele isn't new age as much as it's been rediscovered. When I first started skiing in the backcountry in the 70s, AT wasn't readily available. At least primitive tele gear was. Even though I was more experienced as a fixed heel skier, I went with tele equipment to go where I wanted away from the lifts. The only other stuff I saw out in the BC in the greater Inland NW (Kettle Range, Selkirks, Bitterroots, Wallowas, occasionally the Cascades) was tele gear until around the late 80s. Even through the 90s, it was mostly tele gear in the BC. Now I see lotsa both. And now that AT and tele gear are fairly similar, it's more up to the skier as far as performance goes. E, Technology of tele gear has progressed by leaps and bounds in the last 10+ years. A lot more than even AT gear. If you never got the tele turn down, by all means go with AT as it's easier to learn and progress on. If you do go AT and your plans are to get into the backcountry, remember only two words: Dynafit Tourlite. However, I've got a couple different tele ski and boot/binding systems (we're pretty similar sized, and my feet are about US 10.5) you're welcome to borrow any time for the lifts or to use in the BC with skins. Lightweight gear still has it's place, but as tele gear has gotten bigger and better I've been going with that too. Yes, teach you did, and I'm STILL learning! And if I keep at it, I might just be able to keep up with both you and Feck.

Spotly, Glad to hear you're getting better. Keep at it and stay strong! --Steve

Yup. Too bad the video author showed some *barely* skilled tele skiers (one of 'em certainly had to be the author himself). high on rock: your tele gear's already too old to be used anywhere but for display on a wall. Give me a call and I'll set you up with some real gear. Interesting that a few of my friends who've switched over to the dark side in the past few years--a current trend--the biggest reasons are lack of skill on tele boards, or old age/injury. mccall boater: you're too funny, you instigator. This vid has been making the rounds for a year or so now, and it is pretty darned funny. I assume you're still cranking p- or tele-turns on lightweight NNN-BC gear (among the other set-ups you have in your quiver)...I just got a similar set-up myself for days like we currently have, but doubt I'll ever be able to keep up with you. Regardless, whether it's AT, tele, or boarding, it's all bliss when you're sliding downhill on good snow.

In steep, deep powder, long GS turns are surely beat by regular, quick, rising-and-sinking, short-radius turns straight down the fall line...I've just had 3 straight days of 'em!

About 45 is right...I remember he is just slightly younger than myself. New dispatch just posted: Erden's first in 3 days. No mention of his "progress," but it's like Erden to not dwell on the difficulties and focus on other info. Over the past 3 days he's traveled SW for a distance of 58 nautical miles, so perhaps he's breaking through the countercurrent. I'll hold off on the moondance figure until we know for sure. Here's another photo, this one showing Erden in his boat, and taken by Terry Schmitt as shown on the oceanrowing.com site. Not sure, but looks like it was taken in SF Bay about the time of his departure.

Good to hear his voice on the audio clips linked from the P-I article, although the subject matter is sobering. From the recordings made on the 22nd, he said it was his fourth attempt to get through the countercurrent, and he hoped he would get through it by the 25th. Can't wait for the next dispatch. Here's to you getting through, Erden, and back to regular steady progress, and some sunshine!

His boat is designed to be self-righting (eta: cbs, you beat me to it), which it did while Erden was in the enclosed cabin grabbing a few winks of sleep while he thought he could. He estimated it had rolled 120 to 150 degrees before it snapped back to upright. Here 's more on his boat. You can read more about Erden's recent capsizing here as Wayne posted originally. Scroll to the bottom and read the most recent previous dispatch "...and capsized!"

Inspirational site, Wayne. Looking forward to more TRs: may you compile at least 10 more pages of major routes!

May they all be together for tonight if they're not found by morning. Good luck, Sobo. It'll be a Merry Christmas indeed if they're all found soon and well.