Off_White

If you want to argue from the Libertarian fringe I'd urge you to head to the Spray forum where politics are more acceptable topics.

Summitpost.org has a good summary complete with pictures, timelines, and youtube videos: link When an official accident analysis is released, we will post it here. Until then, speculation is pointless.

Summitpost is a nice place that fortunately avoided being linked to assorted media outlets. That's a good summary.

Jim: the newbies forum has an enforced politeness policy, and does much of the rest of the board. The Climbers Board, up at the top, is also an okay place to ask questions of a general climbing nature. It might be best to wait a week or two for things to calm down, all the flap has folks riled up and feeling touchy, any community, online or flesh, can only absorb so many new people before the cease to be seen as individuals. Many of the people engaged in the wild speculation are not climbers looking for clues as to how to avoid the situation themselves, they are people looking for drama and vicarious thrills, rubberneckers at an ugly freeway wreck. High winds, zero visibility, hypothermia, and avalanche conditions are quite enough to explain their demise. It's likely a more specific analysis will emerge from official channels, but it won't change what experienced climbers already know: sometimes, things go wrong. Bear in mind that while this story has been played up, in part due to geographic and temporal proximity to the Kim family tragedy, it's not a unique event and most folks who've been in this sport for awhile know people who've died. We also know people who have died of heart attacks, cancer, and in car accidents, so I wouldn't make too big a deal over the fact that we are not dissuaded from doing something we love. The regulars on this site are all kinds of things, and like most people, different things at different times and places. If you want to find a home and friends here, it's likely you'll be able to do that.

The cat probably won't achieve the iconic status of Blue Blocker Guy.

I was on the internet before all of you. I also invented post-its.

Sunshine on my shoulders just makes me sunburned.

My special friend Chinook is most certainly not a doberman, and I was assured that the photos Timm@y took with his camera phone will never see the light of day as long as I behave.

Hey Oly, I know what that is, THAT'S AWL!

Don't take this personally, but I'm surprised that you as an admin would post something like this.

Well, don't take this personally TekEss, but you came here because you've been sold a bill of goods by the media who's flogging a soap opera for the sake of making the kind of money you seem to think the owners of this site should be bellying up to the trough to get their share of. Don't get me wrong, it's a very sad thing that has happened, and strikes a chord with the members of this site because it's the sort of thing that could happen to anyone here. The three climbers sound like good folks, and were certainly very special to their friends and family, but the tragedy of untimely death is repeated a thousand times a minute across the globe. I've had six friends die in the mountains, and odds are you've never heard of any of them. There's nothing especially noble about climbing, and as you've noted, about climbers in general either. This site is a place for climbers in the Northwest to talk amongst themselves, about ideas, adventures, plans, and all kinds of stuff. Many have the same kind of black humor you'll find among firemen, ambulance drivers, and ER docs. We also shoot the shit, argue amongst ourselves, insult each other, and have bitter battles over things that are essentially trivial in the greater scheme of things. We're not about explaining what we do to the world at large, and it's merely happenstance that we've been one of several ground zeros for the kind of frenzy a good disaster with a human element excites in a public that chooses to live vicariously. For the record, I'm not an administrator or owner of this site, I'm a poster who was asked to become a volunteer moderator. More specifically, I'm a Spray Moderator, which means I have a thick skin, a wicked sense of humor, an inclination towards irreverence, and am an advocate for intellectual freedom and free expression. This site may very well not suit you. It's certainly not for everyone. You might want to check out rockclimbing.com, summitpost.com, or nwhikers.net, all sites that cater to different aspects of climbing.

Why are you mooning me like some pesky goat in heat? Never mind, I don't care, I'm gonna fuck you anyway.

Please, it tickles when you blow smoke there. In this case, I'm only a Spray Mod. A tired and crabby spray mod.

Please, can I make it clear for you all? None of you bitches have done fuck all for this site. Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

No offense intended all, but this is a bare bones information only thread, so I've deleted comments, compliments and well wishes. Feel free to comment in another thread elsewhere on this board, or send your appreciation or condolences via Personal Message to the individuals involved. We're winding down coverage and focus on what is now officially a lower intensity body recovery operation. thanks Off White - Cascadeclimbers Moderator

This is not news. It's time to stop. Move along please, refer to the post at the end of the second mt hood thread if you have any questions or need some guidance as to what's appropriate with regards to posting on this bulletin board at this time.

well, that'd be a bit racy if you said you'd "known" him then, eh what? Nudge nudge wink wink, say no more! say no more!

Maybe that's "over a million pwned" over the gates to Spray...

Hey there escondido - I don't know about the sentence, but it seems he's out now, which means there was some serious screw up in the prosecution if you get out in a year and half after being busted with 300 some odd pounds of cocaine. His posts here about basejumping were great and well written, but the revelations of bestiality courtesy of casual Google research were just a wee bit much even for the hardened denizens of this cyberburg. Oh, and I don't mean to suggest that d-dog is anywhere near a most annoying poster, this is just an aside to the equestrian board business that came up. PS: don't take the insults personally, they're certainly not meant that way. This is liberty hall, you can spit on the mat and call the cat a bastard.

Batteries would be long dead, but it make for some sweet booty for resale on ebay.

Careful, you'll dislocate your shoulder doing that.

Great idea, here's that link again: http://www.pmru.org/

Speculation by the ill informed = moving your lips/fingers for your own entertainment = spray. As was pointed out, it's pisses a lot of people off, and I'm not going to waste my time trying to get people to be polite or monitoring posts. It's not useful to the search effort, it's not helpful to friends and family, it's just a bunch of blather. Blather is just fine, we all do it, but it belongs here.

Portland Mountain Rescue website is here and offers daily updates.

I find people who post the same thing three times pretty annoying. Hey equestrian board person, did you have D-dog aka Doug Spinks post on your board? We may have something in common. S