PLC

I flew to Salt Lake City two years ago with a double trad rack in my carry-on bag, including ropes, nut tools, the works. I must have had 50 pounds of metal and nobody in security said anything.

Except that rendition has not been banned. In fact, Obama signed an executive order to specifically allow rendition. So, you are pretty much exactly wrong.

The quickest way to improve your skiing is to invest in some new equipment. Two years ago, I would have rated myself as a decent skier on groomed runs, but worse than useless on moguls, crud, or bowls... Then, I bought my "magic" skis, and suddenly (like the very first day in those skis) I was skiing all the blacks at Whistler with no problem. Next, I got new boots and had them fitted, and suddenly I could ski the double-blacks. Now the blue runs I used to ski are horribly boring to me. I took no lessons, don't really ski that often (10-15 days per year), but I went from a blue skier to a double-black skier based entirely on fancy new equipment.

Back when I lived in Atlanta, we would climb nearly every weekend, even in Winter. In Chattanooga, there's the Tennessee Wall (mostly trad, and don't miss Shuford's BBQ). Nearby is Foster's Falls. Across the border in Alabama, there's Sandrock (aka Rock City) and the Little River Gorge. The Little River is a semi-secret location with hundreds of steep sport climbs, generally 5.11 and up, but they can be made easier if you just climb the first 80' before the roofs begin.

I'm fairly experienced with crossfit, and I'd say it's moderately useful, but I wouldn't get too caught up in it - it really won't improve your fitness any more than any other workout schedule. I followed the workout of the day on my own for about six months and then joined Crossfit Eastside and went there 3-4 days a week for about a year-and-a-half. While I saw improvements in my "crossfit workouts", I can't say that I actually got any fitter. Basically, the crossfit workouts always try to include some obscure movement that allows you to improve your time as you acquire the "skill" to perform this movement. It's really a charade, but I'm not sure if the crossfit people know that its phony or if they've fooled themselves? Anyway, climb as much as you can, ride your bike, run, do some yoga or stretching and lift weights a couple times a week. That should cover basic fitness and you won't have to bother joining a cult of idiots.

I have half a dozen cameras, but the one I take climbing (and kayaking/mountain biking) is the Olympus Stylus SW - it's virtually indestructible. I've dropped it >20 feet, I've take it to coral reefs 20' down, no problems whatsoever. Plus, it comes in cool colors.

Thanks everybody - it sounds like no easy top-roping, but accessible alpine ice, which is only about 1000 times better!

My wife and I are headed to Banff for our 10th anniversary in August and I was wondering if there's any accessible (as in daytrip) ice climbing in Jasper, like in the Columbia Ice Field. I'm looking for something similar to climbing on the seracs at Mt. Baker. From the pictures I've seen online, it looks pretty flat, at least near the road.

With my parents, the yelling/beatings/etc. never really had anything to do with our behavior - it was entirely dependent upon my parents mood. Basically, they were two crazy people living in our house who might blow up for no good reason. Our reaction as kids was to treat them like crazy people - we never took them seriously and we paid no attention to thier discipline. I can remember distinctly my mom saying something like "you better get this kitchen clean before your dad comes home, or you're in for it" and I replied "whether or not the kitchen is clean has nothing to do with it - either he's gonna be in a bad mood or he's not, there's nothing I can do about it".

I'd be interested in a weekly after-work climbing group... I can't do Tuesday because that's gymnastics night (yes, I'm a 35 year old man who does gymnastics), and Friday night I head for the hills, but any other night would work.

Here's your answer: do nothing. The dad pinching his kid was an asshole, but even if he's beating the kid at home he's not really harming his kids as much as we've all been lead to believe... People are much more resilient that you think - numerous studies have shown that the vast majority of abused kids suffer no long term consequences. We get over things, it's just what people do. That doesn't excuse a parent for beating their kid - its still a moral outrage, even if the kid can shake it off. I'm qualified to offer these opinions, from a personal level, because my parents beat the shit out of my and my seven siblings when we were kids. We all turned out fine. Now I have two kids of my own and I've never even had to raise my voice to either one. The truth is that hitting your kids, yelling at your kids, pinching your kids is almost never done out of a desire to "discipline" - it's done because the parent is angry or out of control or self-obsessed. If your kid is acting up in the video store, don't pinch the kid - calmly leave and punish them appropriately in a dignified, rational manner like an adult.

I lived in Atlanta for five years during grad school and immediately afterwords... there's lots to do within a couple hours, but you'll need a car: In the city, you should see the Aquarium, one of the best in the world. The Zoo is just OK. Little Five Points is a cool area to catch a concert or eat some food. You could go for a run around Piedmont Park or on the trails past the Jimmy Carter Center. The Ferndale Science Museaum is really cool. You could catch a game at the Ted, if you like baseball. While you're in the South, you definitely need to get some BBQ and some sweet tea. The best BBQ, and frankly the best food, I've ever had is at a place called Shuford's in Chattanooga, TN. It takes about 1:15 to drive there from Atlanta, but it is worth it. Best of all, it is located directly under Tennessee Wall, which is probably the best moderate trad climbing location in the country. Hundreds of 5.6-5.9 crack routes. All long, steep, with great protection. Besides T-Wall, you could head to Sandrock, AL or Foster's Falls, TN for sportclimbing, both are less than two hours away. There's also lots of great mountain biking just 45 minutes north of the city in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Oh yeah, Stone Mountain is a nice park, and the Calloway Gardens are amazing...

If either of you are available on Friday the 18th, I have that day off work and would be interested in a Libery Bell climb. I can lead, belay, or swap leads - it doesn't make any difference to me.

You missed the point entirely. Today is better than yesterday, but tomorrow will be even better...

Depression? What the hell are you talking about? Everytime there's a slight downturn, idiots think its the end of the world... Let's see: 1. record life expectancy 2. record low unemployment 3. unprecedented economic growth over the past 25 years 4. record "happiness" levels, worldwide (announced last week) 5. booming economic growth and freedom in India and China (only 1/3 of the world's people) 6. continual reductions in pollution for the past 50 years 7. unprecedented freedom of movement, worldwide For the past 250 years, life has continually improved in almost every concievable way. Things just keep getting better, and they will continue to do so... anyone who doesn't recognize this is some kind of massive idiot.

I contracted Lyme Disease back when I lived in CT - unfortunately, I had been travelling around the US for a couple months prior to getting sick, camping, so the doctors didn't know what I had at first. Also, this was back when Lyme Disease was relatively unknown, so the CDC got involved and I was put in one of those cool vacuum sealed isolation rooms. Basically, I spent a week in the hospital with a fever north of 105 with multiple IVs. I don't really remember much of that week, since I was so out of it, but the recovery after getting out of the hospital took about a month before I was back to normal. The wost part was that I had to get a spinal tap, which resulted in something called the "spinal tap headache" - essentially, I had a non-stop headache which could only be alleved by lying perfectly still with my head below the level of my feet. Medicine did no good. The headache lasted three weeks. 24/7 for three weeks. Long term, I'm pretty much fine - I just have some minor arthritis in my hips and shoulders, and I have difficulty swallowing, occassionally. Apparently, these are common side-effects if you don't catch it in time.

The amazing thing is that all of this new development isn't actually resulting in increased density. We're simply replacing single family homes that housed 4-5 people with four apartments which house a single person each. If you look on the census bureau web site, you'll find that while housing units are increasing in Seattle, the population has actually declined since 2000. Vacancy rates have increased and the average number of persons per household has declined. At this rate, in another twenty years there will be no families whatsoever living in Seattle.

Actually, Washington IS an open carry state - as are most states... OpenCarry.org

So long as you weigh approximately the same as your partner (within maybe fifty pounds) and you stand pretty close to the wall, you won't get pulled off your feet. That being said.... I once witnessed a small chick belaying a big dude at Lake Summersville in WV. He probably weighed 220 and she couldn't have been more than 100 pounds. She was also sitting on a rock about twenty feet from the wall. He took a whipper near the top of the wall, she was launched like a rocket, dropped the rope when she hit the wall, and he ended up cratering. Not a good scene.

Compared to this time last year, driving from my house to Leavenworth will cost me an extra $12, round-trip, and I drive a Sequoia that gets 15mpg. Big whoop... On Sunday afternoon I got sick of the rain, drove over with my kids and played catch in the meadows near the fish hatchery for two hours and then drove home. Just seeing the sun for a couple hours was definitely worth the $55 in gas...

There's an article in the Seattle Times today, that might be of use... I spend a couple weekends a year biking in the Methow, and I'd say if you haven't been there before, start at Sun Mountain.

A couple years ago a friend and I climbed Shasta in a day, door-to-door from Seattle. We left home after work on Friday night, drove straight through to the start of the climb. We arrived around 3AM and slept in the bed of my pickup for 3 hours. We then climbed up and down the mountain in about nine hours. It would have been faster but there wasn't much glissading on the bottom half of the mountain. We then got in the car and drove home, arriving back home before midnight. For comparison, it took me 28 hours to climb Rainier car-to-car. So, obviously, Shasta is a much quicker climb. It's about equivalent to Mt. Adams.

My shoulders "pop" all day long - my wife can hear the noise from twenty feet away. It tooks years for me to find a doctor who could figure out what was wrong with me - I was born with two extra, "floating", ribs which sit up in my neck/shoulders area and screw up everything. For me, the answer was to increase strength training and to avoid working at my desk as much as possible. Also, I've found that cutting down on my sugar/flour intake tends to reduce inflammation in all old creaky joints.

On our honeymoon I took my wife (who had never been camping) on a canoe trip down the Green River in Utah. My advise would be to avoid any honeymoon where you need to poop in a bucket which you will carry with you...

Actually, the Tesla is vaporware. Let me know when they start selling production models... and when did 35 become middle-aged? Maintenance costs on high-end sports cars can be a significant cost factor - the 30K mile service on a Ferrari can cost upwards of $20,000!!!