pindude

So, did your doc fiddle around with you with Vaseline?

In my 40+ years of living in the northwest (mostly east of the Cascade crest), I've pulled more than a 1,000 ticks off dogs, horses, sheep, and a few off myself and others, and NEVER have I pulled the head off. I'd expect the tick to be dead if by chance you did; certainly it's not going to regenerate a body. Ticks generally latch on in hairy areas. You don't need need tweezers. Position the tick so it's ass end and body are as perpendicular as possible to the skin it's attached, and separate it from hair as much as you can. Pinch it gently on its abdomen as far forward as possible, between your thumb and forefinger. Pull gently. The tick will likely take a few tiny flecks of skin with it, but cause no or minimal bleeding. Some say to pull on the tick for up to 60 seconds before pulling it completely away, causing the tick to fatigue a bit and relax it's clamp so less skin is lost, but I've found that their grip is pretty tenacious and that doesn't help much if at all. You can't easily smash their tiny exoskeleton bodies by stepping on them. If pulling off one or two, I'll smash them between a pointed small rock and a hard surface; for more I'll put them in a jar which can be emptied in a toilet. One tick does not make a "savage attack." Most recently I pulled 17 off my folks' dog in mid-April when we realized ticks had just come into season here in eastern Washington. I immediately after that topically applied to the dog a product called Frontline, a systemic prevantitive that will keep ticks from latching on to dogs or cats, and lasts about 30 days. The ticks will go away once we get a few days in a row of real heat, but they could last for a couple months overall. Lyme disease in incredibly rare in the NW. A boating buddy of mine was diagnosed with it 20 years ago. His doc told him his was the first reported case in the Inland NW. Tick Paralysis is another malady: Coming home after a week of climbing, I went to my folks' house to pick up my dog. His hind end collapsed underneath him as he came running toward me. I immediately found and pulled off a fat female who had latched on right on top of his spine near the base of his tail and likely had been there the whole week. He was fine after that. Jeez you guys, you're supposed to be burly, manly climbers, what gives? Check your pets and yourselves frequently, and have some fun with it with your wife/girlfriend. Eric, Rocks of Sharon is crawling with the little buggers right now, be careful. Not sure how well DEET may help. Bigtree, good thing you've got a non-squeamish wife. And Mtn Mouse, buck up, or we'll send Donny Baker over to take care of you.

Mmm mmm mmm mmm. Forgetting something, Dru? Always thought it was a Canadian thing since the Crash Test Dummies wrote about "shaking and lurching all over the church floor." Leave it to Yanks to perfect it, though. -4WbwwhBmRk

My personal opinion is that it's not all that controversial. Westerners and Yanks have continued to explore and climb in Pakistan over the past 10+ years, although there certainly are areas of Pakistan to avoid for gringos. Thanks for posting, I didn't know much about Mountain Fund before. If their website is an accurate portrayal of the organization, they'll do many great things.

Right, that's nymphodema

Hey NYC Just head out to the local crag and show up there on your own. Before the advent of climbing discussion boards (in the old days), Spokane-area climbers used to just show up at Minne and find partners that way. It's still the best way. I've been out there a few late afternoons so far this spring, and there've been several groups of climbers. Most are pretty social and would be glad to share a rope or a belay, including learn or be pushed a bit by a climber such as yourself. For quite a few years, especially in the late 80s, the varied group of folks that hung out there were pretty tight. Back then and up through the early 90s, I'd show up most weekday evenings. Finding partners was usually not a problem, even with less climbers back then. If I didn't find or didn't want a partner, I'd boulder or rope-solo. I'm sure Post Falls/Q'emiln will have a similar scene as Minne nowadays. It can't hurt either to twist Bigbro's arm. I'm also sending you a PM for another possible partner who would swap leads with you. [edited to add: yeah, spotly would be a good podner too] Good luck.

Thanks spotly for your offer. Yes, we need to get everything we can from the main bouldering area, to main to secondary faces including Don Q, and the bouldering area we can reach above secondary face. It'll be an effort. I estimate it'll take a full day with at least 4-5 people to pull compressor, haul around and load sand pot, blast, and cleanup. For areas off the ground, I have a steel cable to hang from that can be rigged from above. No date yet, but it'll take time to plan and recruit. Here's three photos from 2002's gargantuan effort where we blasted over 4 days, and 200 folks showed up for the final full day. Folks showing up on the wet morning of the big, final cleanup day: Novice Rocks blasting with compressor, sand pot on truck: Blasting on Heart Route:

My wife recently traveled to Wisconsin. She asked me what I wanted her to bring back. I said simply, "cheese." She brought back a white cheddar with cranberries in it. Took me a week of thinking about it plus some hunger before I could try it out, which was about 45 minutes ago. It's actually pretty good.

Thanks, E. A few weeks I am glad to wait. I'd like to see her results too! Cheers

High, Glad you said something. I was just about to sandblast all that off. I don't want to take anything away from your cutie. How long does she need for her little experiment? BTW teach, it's spelled Minnehaha, "Minne" for short.

Man, mccallboater, you've climbed and skied everything! I'd hate to ask what you've boated. I've only looked at this coming and going from a couple other points in the area. Oh yeah, never mind...there's no climbing in North Idaho, none at all.

From what I'm reading in the online medical lit, there isn't a standard treatment for chronic lymphedema. In addition to Layton's suggestion of drainage massage, there's a procedure called Sequential Gradient Pump Therapy, and also compression, "therapeutic exercise," and topical treatments. Not sure if you've seen the following, but for anything health-related, I typically go to Medline first. Medline search: http://search.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/query?MAX=500&SERVER1=server1&SERVER2=server2&PARAMETER=lymphedema&DISAMBIGUATION=true&FUNCTION=search&x=101&y=7 Vascular Web: http://www.vascularweb.org/_CONTRIBUTION_PAGES/Patient_Information/NorthPoint/Lymphedema.html Even Wikipedia has some good lay info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymphedema Good luck with it all, Oly.

Arch, I don't think you've heard of ex-BD engineer Chris Harmston's lab tests and evaluation after the incident, which is some interesting reading. Surprised no one's mentioned this yet. Rope age initially was a question considering Osman had left his ropes and rigging up for quite a while, although I can't remember exactly how long, before his last jump. Harmston did some personal testing of the actual rope and came to his own conclusions, among them that the rope was okay and he would have climbed on it himself. He concluded the rope broke not due to tensile overload but because it came into contact with another rope during the jump, with nylon rubbing on nylon. Here's Harmston's report in pdf format at AdventureGuides.com. Yes, just an opinion, but an informed one nonetheless. I agree with your bottom line Arch that one always wants to ensure they're on "good equipment." For those just getting started--what this thread is supposed to be about--know that it is incredibly rare for a rope to break. Lastly, climbing IS dangerous, but there are ways to mitigate risk, least of which is to learn from others.

Hey Spotly, You're forgetting your local resources. Looking through my own library, I've got 3 guides you of all people are more than welcome to borrow: 1. The Climber's Guide to Lake Louise, by Krause & Vincent. No date, but I bought in '97, has same list of climbs Gene Pires ref'd above. Tiny guide, only 30+ pp. 2. Bow Valley Rock, Perry & JoJo, 2000. Real comprehensive, beautiful work, 400+ pp. 3. Banff Rock Climbs, Toft, 2nd ed. Again no date, I bought in 1988. About 100 pp. So when are you goin?

Rad, thanks for the review. I haven't seen the movie, but have read Harlin's book. He mentions much in the book that would better enlighten anyone viewing the movie. Harlin was originally doing this only as a personal experience. Stephen Venables, employed by MacGillivray-Freeman, was hired to do the story line for The Alps and knowing Harlin wanted to climb the Eiger, talked him into having it filmed. One of the concessions Harlin requested was that he didn't want the climbing experience impeded by the film crews. Outside of the obvious intrusion of having to wear helmet cams, a helo hovering around, and cameramen at strategic spots, Harlin in no way wanted the climbing altered/stopped/changed/repeated for the whims of the film crew. Too bad, saw that in the trailer and wondered how it would fit myself. Harlin actually led many of the pitches, but then these must not have been compelling enough for the film editors. Right, Harlin did the classic route vs. the Harlin Memorial diretissima, and he details many reasons why including wishes of his family and that this route was his first attempt on the face. Considering all the weighty personal issues, I can't fault him for the choice of route. After all, it's still the Eiger Nordwand. The book's a good read, and you might like it better than the movie.

Exactly my point. I couldn't agree more. I dunno: General irrational behavior including consistent bad decision-making or showing an IQ far below 100? Or specific acts, even by a "smart" person? Perhaps this? (except only for "his decision" to finally RELEASE the Brit hostages): Let's be careful. Don't want this thread moved to spray!

He didn't die because of the rope's age. He had just jumped on it previously the same day. Using the same basic anchor system, and wanting to set a new record for length of a dynamic rope jump, he jumped from a new spot. It was determined by his friends who reconstructed the accident that the rope most likely broke because of friction at a point where it erroneously crossed over his anchor rigging, something he obviously overlooked when he jumped from the new location. Danno wasn't dumb, but that sure can be argued because of his incredible risk-taking. How'd the "getting started" thread end up here? Hey, KitCat, let's get you out climbing. The rock has warmed up in the spring-time sun, and it's calling your and your husband's names!

Yup, another great slogan. I'm sure'd there'd be glass as well if the same rocks were plunked down in the urban area in Seattle or Tacoma. At least we've got the nearby rocks!

No direct link, but at this site http://www.acrelectronics.com/ listed under "outdoor 406 PLBs" among a couple other places. Retails around $650-700. Looks like it's the shit IF you want a PLB in the mountains.

+1 "Mirabeau" used to be a TR'ing and bouldering area just a very few locals climbed on when it was surrounded by the Walk in the Wild zoo, now defunct. Good to see all the work out there documented; now we need route names and FA info to make it more complete. Mirabeau is what I've heard it called since both kinds of development (real estate + lead routes). Way to go, Kurt.

I should add: I can tell you a little about use of PLBs in the US, nothing about Canada. PLBs are essentially a smaller, personal version of ELTs and EPIRBs, which were originally designed to be used for planes and boats. Test program in only the state of Alaska in about the 1990s for use as Personal Locator Beacons on land: was successful enough PLBs were adopted for voluntary use for all of USA. I sold all 3 of these types of emegency rescue beacons until 1998. ACR made the only easily available PLB during that time.

You'll want to do your own research, but Doug Ritter's site "Equipped to Survive" will give you most of the info you ever wanted to know. I'd start here: http://www.equipped.org/plb_legal.htm and then link to all the info Doug has, including this comparison chart of PLBs. It appears ACR with several units, and McMurdo with one unit, are the only current manufacturers of truly affordable PLBs. Doug's a pilot and a long-time, well-respected survival authority.

Great TR, E! Glad y'all had a great time.

Clarification and correction. Not true, you're supposed to have a permit--see below. According to your link, an org that call themselves the Mt. St. Helens Institute: - Permits are required year-round for folks going 4800'+ - Permits are free Nov 1-Mar 31, but cost $22 Apr 1-Oct 31 - "Climbing use is unrestricted" Nov. 1-May 14 - "Climbing use is restricted to 100 daily permit holders" May 15-Oct 31 A clarification: Yes, every climber (going above 4800') is supposed to have a permit, that, according to the website, must be registered for and picked up at Jack's between Nov 1-Mar 31. Between Apr 1-Oct 31, the permit must be purchased online in advance then picked up at Jack's during their business hours. A correction: Mother's Day 2007 is on May 13, Sunday, so that date will not "fill," and as many climbers/skiers/boarders/cross-dressers that want to, can be on the mountain above 4800'. K's second question still stands: What's the penalty for no permit?

OK, thanks. It's not listed at all at the Imax site for Omni, but now I see is here...best to check those show times..."at 11, 1, 3, 7, and 9, today."