Thinker

Even easier is hard cider. My favorite variation is this: 3 gallons of apple juice from the grocery store 1 gallon of pear juice sweeten to taste if desired (honey works well for this) champagne yeast toss in a little fresh ginger if you like it ferment 10 days. wave the magic wand over it after bottling, and VOILA!! a pear-apple beverage that tastes remarkably like a very dry apple champagne.

Agreed, though it's not been an issue for me as I weigh in at 200#. I do keep a couple of big pear biners on my rack for anchors and the occasional munter.

The belay loop is flexible enough to allow the biner and belay device to rotate easily to match the position of the belayers hands. So, if the belayer's hands are to the left and right of the waist, the ATC will automatically orient itself in that way...there's nothing to keep it oriented with the slots in the vertical position you describe. The problem I encountered when I bought my first harness with a belay loop was the extra 'slop' in the belay while taking in slack; those extra 3 or 4 inches irritated me. I solved the problem partially by switching to the smallest locking biner I could find. Compare biner load ratings to the big pear-shaped biner your probably using now....there's not much difference in strength, but it made quite a bit of difference for me. Another problem inherent with belay loops and large lockers is the tendency of the locking mechanisms of some biners to 'catch' on belay loop as they rotate and turn around during the belay motions. I was using a large BD biner with a knurled barrel, and the barrel caught all the time. If I would have had to catch a fall with the biner in that position the gate would have been loaded...less than ideal. To solve THAT problem I first tried the HMS Belay Master biner with the plastic insert to keep the biner oriented properly. That thing is functional, but a real PITA to screw with all of the time. Switching to the smallest locking biner with a smooth profile on the gate/lock also helped this situation. I just don't see a need for a big belay biner when using a belay loop. This info is strictly for rock climbing. For glacier travel I still usually use the bigger biners, which seem easier to work with when I'm wearing gloves or mitts. I agree with Jason about tri-axial loading on the biners when they're rigged thru the waist and leg loops. In addition, harnesses are now designed to be loaded at the point of the belay loop. If one changes the configuration, one can also change where and how the harness is loaded, with potentially significant effects. I've seen some study results published to that effect somewhere. The lack of redundancy in the belay loop bugs me sometimes, though I know it shouldn't. One thing I often do is clip my belay biner thru both the belay loop AND the loop my rope makes when I'm tied in, which is generally thru the same parts the belay loop is rigged. This gives me just a little extra peace of mind. PS, if your harness doesn't have a belay loop then it's probably old enough to consider replacing very soon.

update: He hasn't asked for the ring back, yet. In fact, he hasn't contacted her at all....tail between the legs was a good call.

We've all heard people ask us why we climb and what we get out of it. I must pose the same questions to these people:

420

Klenke, maybe you'll need to take a trip to the library and use one of their unfiltered machines with current software...

If you can open the blacked out version, then you can copy and paste it into a MS Word document to see all the juicy details.

Will, let me know if you have any extra time here on Thurs; I'll meet your for a and show you some of SLC's better dives.

Readers 'declassify' US document http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4506517.stm When news started circulating in Italy that a heavily censored Pentagon report into the death of secret agent Nicola Calipari had been decrypted, many thought it must be the work of some top-notch hacker. In fact, it turned out that the classified document, containing top-secret details - such as the name of the soldier who fired the deadly rounds of ammunition - could be made readable with two simple clicks of your computer mouse........ *************************************************** I found both versions of the docmuent here: http://www.macchianera.net/archives/2005/05/il_rapporto_cal.html Scroll down the page a bit. The black 'highlighted' document is the original. The yellow 'highlighted' document is the restored version. I'm saving a copy on my hard drive to read completely later. Suppose the person responsible for that screw up is doing tequilla shots about now to forget the pain...or are they being questioned under hot lights in an FBI interrogation room?

The real question is, WWJD?

Looks like Layton went in 'Beckey Style' for the FA on the highpoint. There's plenty more opportunity for real rock climbers to grid bolt the cliff band.

from web page Moon and Mars Skiers, mountain climbers, and others who like the great outdoors might someday look for new adventures on a new world: Mars. It has some of the tallest cliffs and longest slopes in the solar system -- and no waiting lines. The Martian slopes are found at its poles, where thick ice caps form during the winter months. They partially evaporate during the summer, as frozen carbon dioxide vaporizes into the atmosphere, but caps of frozen water remain. We don't know how smooth or craggy the slopes are. They look fairly smooth from orbit, but no probes have landed near the poles to give us a detailed look. Still, it's likely that parts of the ice caps are smooth enough for skiers. They'd need well-insulated pressure suits for protection against the extreme cold, but in the centuries to come ski resorts could pop up near the Martian poles. The cliffs are found in several places. The tallest are around Olympus Mons, the tallest volcano in the solar system. It's about as big as Missouri, and towers several miles above the surrounding plains. Its edge is marked by sheer cliffs that are thousands of feet tall. In the lower gravity of Mars, these cliffs could be compelling targets for rockclimbers. Look for Mars near the Moon before sunrise tomorrow. They rise about three hours before the Sun, and are low in the southeast at first light. Mars looks like a bright orange star just to the upper left of the Moon. Script by Damond Benningfield, Copyright 2005

nah....it's only fido Howett practicing how to be cool. edit: cool code, I wasn't expecting that.

Excelsior!

A guy named Nate is the creative juice behind it; he posts here on rare occasion. I've had the joy of drinking, road tripping, and climbing with him a time or two... He's a funny (humorous) guy and a great writer.

"the nutria, a large, burrowing, oversexed rodent with an insatiable appetite for flood-control canals--that means a dose of maximum justice" sounds almost like a lot of the folks here "the cc.comer, a large, spraying, over-sexed rodent with an insatiable appetite for flaming newbies with foul language--that means a dose of maximum justice."

OMFG....OTTERS!!!

I can think of worse ways to spend a vacation...

nice!

sorry, I had to skip out to a jobsite for a while this afternoon. (Damn, have you ever watched a high-tech cone penetrometer rig do it's job?...impressive with all the real time read outs of multiple parameters) I'm not sure this is the right forum to post her photo or his personals ad...at least not yet. If he does take out the newspaper ads to try and get the ring back you can bet I'll scan and post. Being a typical guy, I don't really listen to all the little details. I'm not sure if it was a 3 year engagement or if it's been a 3 year long relationship. I do know she did say the words "3 years" and "engagement" in our conversation. Sucks being a guy...I always forget to ask the important questions like...is it a boy or a girl? edit: relax guys, she's over 1500 miles from Seattle

A girlfriend called her at work this morning and had her log on ID the sucka.

If it were me, I'd subpeona her cell phone records and see if she was gabbing away at the time of the accident. That may add some weight to a case of negligence, may up the award, and would certainly make a statement to other non-attentive cell phone driving pricks.

I 2nd that nomination. I usually buy a really good bottle of scotch and a 2nd tier bottle at the same time...just to stretch it all out a bit. More often than not, the 2nd bottle is Bowmore.