Alpinfox

THAT THING'S NOT EXTINCT??? Two interesting features of the almiqui: -They secrete venemous saliva from grooves on the lower incisors (primarily to subdue their prey of worms and insects) -The mammary glands of the females are located on the buttocks.

Best ever.

Junkyard?

I find it hard to believe that a vacuum applied to the external hand would prevent vasoconstriction.

No pair of gloves is worth $85. For leading, get two or three pairs of gloves with good dexterity. I have a pair of REI "Mistral" schoeller gloves that are good. Those cheap, rubber-coated-palm, insulated work gloves that you find at hardware stores are good too. Then get a pair of warm, cheap gloves (think thrift store ski gloves) for belaying. You don't want to be fumbling around due to thick gloves while leading hard shit. Put some chemical "toe warmers" (adhesive) on the backs of your hands in cold (0deg F) conditions. They will boost the temperature rating of your thin, dexterious gloves by about 20 degrees. $1.25. Spend the money you save on good ice screws, tools with detachable leashes, and pinky hooks (or give it to me).

Immediately after the accident, Sam sat up. At that point we put his jacket on him and put the foam pad under him. He then said he wanted to try to walk. I protested, but he wanted to give it a try. He made it about 20-30 steps before figuring out that he was not going to be able to keep it up. We then put the pad down and he laid on it. We had nothing to immobilize him with and trying to use tree branches or something would have resulted in a mess and been uneffective. As long as he laid still, his spinal cord was not in danger of further traumatic damage (although damage from swelling was a problem, but out of our control) so I was more worried about the hypothermia issue. I held his head still while we waited for the rescue. Due to some signs/symptoms that Sam presented, Sam and I knew for sure that he had a spinal injury shortly after Dave left, although we of course suspected it earlier.

Actually we didn't have a sleeping bag with us on the climb. Dave hauled up two sleeping bags (and a COLEMAN STOVE!!! ) after the accident. The stove ended up not being useful because Dave didn't bring the propane-canister-to-stove connector, but we didn't end up needing it. Sam stayed warm without the stove. I think a down jacket with hood, food, water, and a headlamp are the bare essentials. A small piece of foam pad cut to fit nicely inside your pack is a great idea and doesn't take up much room/weight. A cell phone (if it works in the area) is a really nice thing to have too. Basic self-rescue and first aid knowledge are worth getting as well.

Guinness Gully is a three pitch ice climb located near the small town of Field in British Columbia Canada near the Alberta border. In between the 2nd and 3rd pitches of the climb is a low angled section of about 100m in length. In the upper third of this low-angled section there is a small cliff band (~5m tall) that spans the gully. A footpath skirts around the cliffband on the climber's left side. After topping out on the climb and rappelling the upper most pitch, my partners and I were hiking down the low-angled section in order to get to the rappel of the second pitch. When Sam was directly above the highest part of the small cliffband, he tripped and went over the cliff headfirst. He was knocked unconcious briefly, but was awake albeit disoriented, by the time I reached him. Dave and I quickly determined that Sam would be unable to rappel unaided, and could not weight his harness due to extreme pain, so we would not be able to lower him. We assisted Sam in putting on his down jacket and he then laid down flat on his back (position of most comfort) on a small piece of foam pad. Since Dave has more technical rescue training and I have more medical training, I stayed with Sam while Dave fixed two lines and rappeled to the base of the climb. He was able to initiate a rescue and then returned to the base of the second fixed line with a pack full of supplies (two sleeping bags, water, food, etc). I hauled the pack up and the gear was essential in keeping Sam warm and hydrated. Our first sign that Dave had been successful in initiating the rescue was the arrival of a Lake Louise fire truck which shined a very powerful spotlight up at us. They were able to quickly locate us because I had set my headlamp on its emergency flash setting and hooked it over a prominent tree branch. The arrival of that powerful spotlight lifted our spirits tremendously. Sam and I had a long wait for the rescue folks to arrive with him suffering intense pain in his back and a few minutes of paralysis and some other signs of spinal trauma. Eventually a group of Canadian National Park Wardens (a professional mountain rescue group) did arrive with a full-body vacuum splint, another sleeping bag, and a sled/litter. We immobilized Sam in the vacuum splint and transfered him into the sled. Once Sam was packaged, the Wardens did an excellent job of lowering Sam all the way to the base of the climb with one 200m-long static line. Sam was then loaded into an ambulance and finally given morphine after ~9hrs post-accident. We later learned that Sam had four badly broken ("burst fractures" of all three columns) vertebrae in his upper back. Statistically, more than 80% of people with three or more of that type of fracture are paralyzed instantly at the time of the accident, so Sam was very lucky to not suffer that fate. Sam's spine was imaged and immobilized at a hospital in Calgary and then, after several days, he was flown to Harborview Medical Center here in Seattle. He underwent surgery on Friday to install two titanium rods in his back and to fuse 7-8 vertebrae. He is recovering very well and is being transferred out of the Neuro ICU this evening and will likely be discharged from the hospital by the end of the week. He will be out of work for about 6 months, but is expected to make a nearly full recovery with only a loss of ~30% mobility in his neck. Hopefully he will not have any chronic pain, but that is a possibility. Sam is extremely lucky to be alive and not paralyzed. He is in good spirits, considers himself "the luckiest guy in the world", and plans to get back to physical activity as soon as possible. My heartfelt thanks go out to everyone involved in Sam's rescue and treatment, with special thanks to the Canadian National Park Wardens based in Lake Louise and my partner Dave Burdick. I don't believe that there is much to be learned from this accident. Sam simply tripped while walking on low-angled terrain with crampons on and unfortunately his trip happened at a very bad time. As a team, we had the supplies, training, and level-headedness to keep a horrible situation from becoming tragic, and for that I am very thankful. Be careful out there folks.

Thanks for the good wishes everybody. My partner (a cc.com reader, not a poster) is doing very well considering the injuries. He is very lucky to be alive. I don't have the words to express my gratitude for the work of my other partner Dave Burdick (AlpineDave), the Lake Louise Fire Department (for lights) and the Canadian National Park wardens (a professional mountain rescue group) for their speedy response and phenomenal work in packaging and lowering my partner. Also a big thanks to whomever the folks were that climbed the route on Saturday and retrieved some of our gear and the warden's gear. Just to be clear, Dave and I are 100% healthy. Dave is writing up an accident report, some form of which will probably be posted here eventually. Thanks again.

I was part of the party that had the accident. My partner is injured very badly, but is currently recieving excellent care. I'm not going to post any more information at this point. I'd appreciate it if everyone could send out their best wishes for this great guy.

Yates Rocker.

We climbed "Weathering Heights" yesterday. I led the first pitch which didn't look too bad from the ground, but ended up being an eye-opening and knuckle destroying 40 meter test of fear control. Yee-haw! We heard wolves howling on the hike out in the dark. "Anorexia Nervousa", the climb across from ours, looked awesome. We might go back and get on that one after our rest day or we might head up the icefields parkway. Temperatures are dropping now. High of -13 in Canmore today. Lots of climbs should be coming into shape.

My group climbed "This House of Sky" today in The Ghost River Valley. Good stuff; what a fun route. We climbed at Haffner yesterday. Good stuff there. Led my first ever WI4 on the first day of the season. Off to bed now; heading back to The Ghost again tomorrow.

The best job I've had in my life was ski patroller. I was in high school getting paid $8.40/hr (fast food at that time paid ~$4/hr) to.... get this..... SKI! FUCKING INCREDIBLE! And my friends and family got to ski for free.

Women at PUB CLUB!!?!?!

Bullshit. I recieve BETTER CARE for my knee problem from my ND than I ever did from an MD. I mean just BETTER CARE; I'm not a "spiritual" type of person and wasn't looking for that from my doctor. I just wanted my knee fixed. The MDs (I saw several) always said something along the lines of, "well, it ain't too fucked up, just stop running, hiking, carrying big packs, climbing and come see me in 6 months if it isn't better". The ND perscribed massage, Xrays, stretching routines, leg-length measurements, nutrition, hydration.... etc. I know there are great general practice MDs out there, but I think due to the insurance pay structure and HMOs and whatnot, they are hamstringed in their ability to give quality care much of the time. Jay, many (I dare say MOST) naturopaths at Bastyr think that homeopathy is quackery and that it gives Naturopathic medicine a bad name. My personal take on it is that it is a form of psychotherapy. The intake sessions are often two hours long, and most of the therapy is talking about the problem. The actual "essential dilutions" or whatever they call them are obvioiusly placebo, but if they work, they work. As for vaccinations, I'll ask, but I think there is a full spectrum of opinions on that in Naturopathic Medicine. I know that my girflfriend (a naturopathic medical student) supports most vaccinations, but I'm sure some don't.

Hey Mike, I don't know if this was directed at me or Selkirk, but I was certainly not trying to be offensive. It was (and is) my understanding that at least SOME chiropractors have a "Doctorate" degree and are therefore "doctors". Are you saying that one can practice chiropracty without a doctorate degree? And are you also saying that as a chiropractor you have to practice under the license of a medical doctor similar to the role of a physician's assistant or nurse practicioner? I was under the impression that chiropractors operated under their own license. Were you being sarcastic? Yes, naturopaths are "doctors" - as is anyone with a "doctorate" degree, though generally people only call MDs, NDs, and DOs, "doctor". I recently starting seeing an ND as my primary care provider and would recommend it to anyone over a general practice MD. The amount of time, quality of care, and commitment to working with me to improve my health that I get from the ND far surpasses anything I've ever seen from an MD; especially an MD at an HMO. I can't imagine a case in which I'd rather see a general practice MD than an ND. NDs can prescribe all of the same drugs that a GP MD can by the way (I don't think a lot of people know that).

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I think "runner's knee" can also be "IT-band syndrome" (that's what I have) which is pretty much just a fancy way of saying tight muscles in the upper legs. Sounds like that is what AJM has as well. In that case, pain is caused by the IT band rubbing across the lateral condyle of the femur and doesn't have anything to do with the patella. I think. Here is some good background info: LINKY

Try eating some and report back with your findings.

You sure Mike? Might wanna tell The American Chiropractic Association and the US Department of Labor and Western States Chiropractic College about that. Back on topic, HERE is a really good article on poison ivy.

And anchor the jockey to the ground with a piece of bungee cord.

OK, but how do those transfer speeds translate into fps?

In fact, many chiropractors ARE doctors. "Doctors of Chiropractic". I also disagree with the statement that MD/NDs and DCs "hate and disparage" each other. In this case, I think it was pretty dangerous to not consult a doctor of medicine, but I'm glad your friend is getting better.