Thinker

cool site. definitely best for north america. can't zoom in on London or Paris at all.

Oh, I thought maybe those rowdy Squamish teens had just murdered another lawyer, assaulted more campers in the city park, or started their car clouting season early.

Hell, Klenke, this is spray. I'm giving the most narrow possible snippet of information sprinkled liberally with innuendo, and asking YOU to draw the conclusions.

Jago River Delta, 8/2001 misc junk. edit: oh yeah, I forgot the "why". I don't know exactly why, but could take a guess... from this web page: "Another effort involved developing a system of resupply for the widely separated and remote sites. Most were not located on a road network and could only be reached by waterways during summer months. Initially, the military handled the deliveries. The first major resupply effort began in 1951, when a fleet of vessels departed the Port of Seattle. By 1953, the annual effort had reached the point where it earned a name, Mona Lisa, later changed to Cool Barge. "

This is what the ANWR looked like when I was there:

Some of us HAVE set up scenarios to demonstrate these principles to ourselves and partners. Other data comes from pure observation. I've seen the blood from biners on chest harnesses cutting lips and smacking noses in a fall. I've seen the pain of climbers holding a fall while wearing a chest harness. I've launched partners headfirst down hill on simulated falls...neither good nor fun, nor conducive to their arresting my fall. A properly adjusted chest harness is difficult, at best, to achieve...especially when a climber is continually adjusting layers. If you're keen on wearing a chest harness, consider buying one that's designed as a chest harness. The 1" tubular webbing jerry-rigged as one may have been OK back in the day, but there are much safer options available now. Nobody has really addressed this here, but tying into a chest harness and seat harness at the same time is a skill that isn't immediately obvious. Simply clipping the rope into the biner on the chest harness and letting it run free is a very UNDESIREABLE method. Imagine what happens in one kind of fall....climber sliding headfirst down a slope, rope comes tight, biner on chest harness is immediately pulled to the tie in point on the seat harness, back/spine is bent and compressed, what happens then is all a function of how flexible your body is, how poorly or well adjusted your chest harness is, momentum, impact force, etc. Truly less than ideal. Same could hold true if a climber somehow took a header into a slot. So, in my personal assessment, I don't clip a chest harness on steep terrain, and very sparingly on flat terrain...at least in the WA Cascades.

Another quick exercise to demonstrate the effect of center of gravity is this: don your harness and chest harness. tie in, run the rope thru biner on chest harness. have someone pull on the rope while you're standing. compare the effort it takes to keep standing to that without the rope clipped thru chest harness biner. major difference.

I went thru this a couple of years ago. Most of it is summarized HERE. The last post references this document. While poorly translated, it can provide some pertinent info to the savvy reader. The gist of my opinion is this: It appears that if a chest harness is rigged properly, it can provide additional safety, esp when wearing a pack. But, if rigged improperly, can cause more damage to the climber's spine than not having one. I may wear a chest harness, but will likely only attach it to the rope if I'm crossing a snow bridge where I risk a signifcant vertical fall. I agree with Jason in that having the rope run thru the chest harness will tend to line up the person catching a fall with their head toward the crevasse...not my preferred orientation. IF you get the fall stopped from that position, then you have the whole problem of setting the anchor from that position. I'd much rather be free to pivot around my midsection, where the rope is tied in at my waist.

Put no stone at my head, no flowers on my tomb No gold plated sign in a marble pillared room The one thing I want when they lay me in the ground When I die tear my stillhouse down Oh tear my stillhouse down, let it go to rust Don't leave no trace of the hiding place Where I made that evil stuff For all my time and money no profit did I see That old copper kettle was the death of me When I was a child way back in the hills I laughed at the men who tended those stills But that old mountain shine, it caught me somehow When I die tear my stillhouse down Oh tear my stillhouse down, let it go to rust Don't leave no trace of the hiding place Where I made that evil stuff For all my time and money no profit did I see That old copper kettle was the death of me Oh tell all your children that Hell ain't no dream 'Cause Satan he lives in my whisky machine And in my time of dying I know where I'm bound So when I die tear my stillhouse down Oh tear my stillhouse down, let it go to rust Don't leave no trace of the hiding place Where I made that evil stuff For all my time and money no profit did I see That old copper kettle was the death of me

I played lazy city boy this weekend...my scalp was still peeling from a skiing sunburn last weekend. Fri night: Argentine Tango dancing Sat: Volunteered at a benefit auction and partied with 4 gals who invited me to the bar afterwards. Sun: Couch surfed til the hangover was gone then tuned up the Saab

121 hits when searching 'hilleberg' here over the last 4 years. The Nallo might be nice to pack along on a bike trip when you've got a support vehicle, but I wouldn't count on it to provide shelter in high winds typical in the alpine environment. 4 season?...I don't think so. IMHO, you're much better off spending your $$ on a Bibler or Integral Designs.

I rode lift with a guy who was sking chest deep powder on Saturday morning with blue skies above. I haven't been skiing much in the last couple years so kept to the easy groomers, myself. There's another big storm system hunkered down over Salt Lake for the next few days...should be another awesome week of skiing. I'm going to try to take off work early and get in a few runs Wed or Thurs. My place is always open to just about anyone I've shared a beer with...and even to people I don't know as long as they come armed with a nice bottle of Scotch (or a couple of cute babes).

Shame on you CBS! You must know how hurt Dryad gets when people wonder if she's gay...

Yeah..... ...care to share any more of your ultimate fantasies there Morph? Alta is just a lot shorter than Snowbird to type into my browser to check snow conditions. I've got a line on 1/2 price lift tix from some Kiwi friends that work at Snowbird, which is where I'm headed bright an early Sat morn.

ALTA SKIER BULLETIN - 70 inches of snow so far this week and still snowing! Come on up to any of our wonderful ski shops and check out the demo ski sales. Job recruitment, Friday, march 25th for New Zealand ski area in the wildcat base area. Eat your hearts out! http://www.alta.com/Frames/snow_report_picoftheday.htm

'The Coming Plague' by Laurie Garrett provides quite a comprehenive overview of infectious disease in modern history, including all the nasty hemorrhagic fevers and CDC 'disease cowboys'. If you're interested in this subject I recommend it. web page

Prankster infiltrates NY museums http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4382245.stm A well-known graffiti artist has managed to evade security and hang his work in four of New York's most prestigious and well-guarded museums. "Trask", who has never disclosed his real identity, claims to have carried out the unusual smuggling operation on one day, during opening hours.

Has anyone gotten this thing to downlaod? I gave up.

Mr E has to do SOMETHING with the vegetation he cleans out of all those cracks he bolts! Nice way to recycle those gnarly little trees.

It's not any closer than the Seychelles, but Toix is one of the cooler places I've been. The greater Costa Blanca region is spectacular.

Here's another classic, in BFE Utah along I-80 in the salt flats. It's the only tree for miles and miles.

Twisted Sister

My place can be quite entertaining, Minx. If you get tired of the snow and need a cozy fireplace to warm up by, feel free to dig me up in Salt Lake.

This is from an email list I'm on. I don't really know it's date or true origin, but here it is: The following message came from the US Forest Service National Avalanche Center via the Mountain Washington Avalanche Center (NH) regarding battery-size issues for the Ortovox M2 avalanche rescue transceiver. The M2 may shut off after incurring a moderate blow. The problem has to do with battery dimensions and not the transceiver. The gist of the following message is that AA batteries vary in size depending upon brand, and smaller-sized AA batteries can shift about causing the transceiver to shut off. To prevent a potentially serious consequence M2 users should use "the most robust AA you can find that is wide, long, and has large terminal ends." For more details, please see the message below. Dale Atkins Colorado Avalanche Information Center Subject: AA batteries and Ortovox M2 shutdown. You guys might find this interesting and alarming. Excuse this memo if this is already common knowledge, but I have not heard anything about this Ortovox M2 problem. Please pass this along through your networks so we can get the word about this concern. I caught wind that a couple of our local guides were having problems with their M2 shutting off when the unit took anything more than a moderate knock, such as striking it in your palm. Initially we thought it was the same problem the M1's had with too much slop in the battery compartment, which Ortovox fixed with the M2. They dealt with his issue by increasing the size of the battery pressure tabs on the inside of the compartment door. 3 of us use M2's so we tried to duplicate the problem. We could get the batteries to shift, but no where near enough to shut off the unit. I was able to get hold of one of the guide's M2 and sure enough we got the unit to shut off. After some trouble shooting it came down to the specific size of the batteries. After getting 6 or 7 different manufactured AA batteries side by side they were all a bit different in size. The largest and the smallest were actually quite substantial. The other issue was the height of the + (positive) nub on the top of the battery as well as the - (negative) contact on the bottom. The best battery for the M2, of the ones we looked at, was the Duracell Coppertop due to it's large diameter and longer length. The negative terminal also protrudes from the bottom while many are either flush or indented. The M2 compartment tolerances are so tight that batteries 1mm shorter or thinner at times was enough to make a difference to shut off the unit. I was able to shut the M2 down with no trouble with more than one manufactured battery. The original problem battery was an Energizer alkaline and one of the smallest batteries was the GSA contracted Kodak alkaline AA that many government employees might be using. I never gave much thought to the size changing from battery to battery, but in this application the consequence could be substantial. I have some additional thoughts about exactly why and how the small batteries fail. Folks can call me if they want the long-winded version. The short of it is use the most robust AA you can find that is wide, long, and has large terminal ends. Chris Christopher P. Joosen Lead Snow Ranger/Dispersed Recreation Supervisor Director Mount Washington Avalanche Center White Mountain National Forest