j_b

"Onward to the 19th century"

i am not sure this holds where it rains a lot. freeze-thaw also probably makes material available for rain to trigger. hmmm. need audio sensors in some choice gully during rainfall before deciding what to worry about.

magnitude and frequency change with climate for a maximum following deglaciation but even today there are rain-triggered rockfalls of all magnitudes at a wide range of frequencies in the mountains. isn't it fairly commun to find reference to rockfall during rainstorms in the climbing litt.

blatant thread drift. it said "slighly used with a shortened handle".

I'd think rain is a major cause of rockfall both above and below treeline. Studies have shown that high water pressure during and after rain storms plays a major part in slope failure (including bedrock), and it is not too difficult to imagine that water surface runoff destabilizes loose rocks and boulders.

conclusive proof. Dru is wrong AGAIN!

hmm, the rock on the upper half of the NE buttress doesn't look igneous intrusive to me (but i could be wrong), by opposition to the lower part which is some kind of diorite. There are chunks of terranes older than the plutons all over the North Cascades and my not very detailed geologic map of the area shows that part of slesse is some kind of metamorphic rock.

i don't know if it's just me but i tend to have my memorable closest calls on non/semi-technical ground: rapidly sliding toward a drop off on steep very hard snow with ice still strapped on the pack, and unable to stop when falling down a steep wooded slope, no laughing please ). So, am I the only one?

anybody seen Layton lately?

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." - G.W. Bush, 3/13/02

Eminent land grab

real climbers have talked about esthetics of line, means, etc .. for a long time now, and perhaps none more so than wrt everest.

certainly not. if climbers ranting about gapers getting to top from the backside doesn't belong on a climbers' board, what does? won't happen. it's just PR to increase visibility for their products. but the sense of accomplishment also comes from doing something that gapers can't/won't do.

but wouldn't the point be that to climbers the means do really matter?

http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2005/06/14/spin-lies-and-corruption/ An aura of sanctity is descending upon the world’s most powerful men. On Saturday the finance ministers from seven of the G8 nations (Russia was not invited) promised to cancel the debts the poorest countries owe to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The hand that holds the sword has been stayed by angels: angels with guitars rather than harps. [...] You are waiting for me to say but, and I will not disappoint you. The but comes in paragraph 2 of the finance ministers’ statement. To qualify for debt relief, developing countries must “tackle corruption, boost private sector development” and eliminate “impediments to private investment, both domestic and foreign.”(2) [...] The idea swallowed by most commentators – that the conditions our governments impose help to prevent corruption – is laughable. To qualify for World Bank funding, our model client Uganda was forced to privatise most of its state-owned companies, before it had any means of regulating their sale. A sell-off which should have raised $500m for the Ugandan exchequer instead raised $2m.(6) The rest was nicked by government officials. Unchastened, the World Bank insisted that – to qualify for the debt relief programme the G8 has now extended – the Ugandan government sell off its water supplies, agricultural services and commercial bank, again with minimal regulation.(7) [...]

business will be good

http://www.ashra.com/mp3/1721sc02.mp3 http://www.ashra.com/pages/gallery.htm

same thing happened to us a couple years ago (about this time of the year as well). 2 out of the 4 cars hit on the street were ours. they grabbed rocks right out of the neighbor's yard.

interesting article ChrisT. Japan has been working on conservation for quite a while and they are getting excellent results. I read somewhere they just had a campaign to get people to dress more casually (i.e. fewer clothes) so that they'd use air conditioning less (huge issue in Japan). All this energy conservation and need to replace old appliances, cars, etc ... just don't add up to the fossil fools argument "kyoto will destroy the economy" Tivoli_mike wrote: at the risk of sounding like a broken record, let me say that i doubt oil is cheaper than alternative sources of energy if all costs incurred in securing access to oil, safety of oil transport, subsidies, tax breaks, external costs (health, environment and climate damage), etc .. are included in gas pump prices. also if there was any doubt as to what motivates administration policy toward climate change: White House sought advice from Exxon on Kyoto stance

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=645071 An unprecedented warning as global warming worsens By Steve Connor, Science Editor 08 June 2005 An unprecedented joint statement issued by the leading scientific academies of the world has called on the G8 governments to take urgent action to avert a global catastrophe caused by climate change. The national academies of science for all the G8 countries, along with those of Brazil, India and China, have warned that governments must no longer procrastinate on what is widely seen as the greatest danger facing humanity. The statement, which has taken months to finalise, is all the more important as it is signed by Bruce Alberts, president of the US National Academy of Sciences, which has warned George Bush about the dangers of ignoring the threat posed by global warming. [...] Lord May of Oxford, the president of the Royal Society, Britain's national academy of sciences, lambasted President Bush yesterday for ignoring his own scientists by withdrawing from the Kyoto treaty. "The current US policy on climate change is misguided. The Bush administration has consistently refused to accept advice of the US National Academy of Sciences ... Getting the US on board is critical because of the sheer amount of greenhouse gas emissions they are responsible for," Lord May said. Between 1990 and 2002, the carbon dioxide emissions of the US increased by 13 per cent, which on their own were greater than the combined cut in emissions that will be achieved if all Kyoto countries hit their targets, he said. "President Bush has an opportunity at Gleneagles to signal that his administration will no longer ignore the scientific evidence and act to cut emissions," Lord May said. "The G8 summit is an unprecedented moment in human history. Our leaders face a stark choice - act now to tackle climate change or let future generations face the price of their inaction. "Never before have we faced such a global threat. And if we do not begin effective action now it will be much harder to stop the runaway train as it continues to gather momentum," he added [...]

here are some comments on Friedman's fairy tale: French-Fried Friedman, Nouvelle Globalizer

much darker humor: our next UN ambassador

play the video

Elite Protectionists

well, there is little doubt that snowboarding is a sport, but what is economics? "The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, which shall be apportioned as follows: one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics; one part to the person who shall have made the most important chemical discovery or improvement; one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine; one part to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction; and one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses. The prizes for physics and chemistry shall be awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences; that for physiology or medical works by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm; that for literature by the Academy in Stockholm, and that for champions of peace by a committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Storting." extract from Nobel's will