j_b

what a bunch of horseshit. they are taking responsabilities, they keep going there despite the risks. it does not mean they have to say thank you when they get shot at and killed. mistakes are not ok and should not be shoved under the rug because 'shit happens'. the evolution of the situation there depends on it. i, for one, am grateful for reporters working there. if it wasn't for them we'd hear that everything is ok, which is obviously very far from the truth.

are you for real? 31 journalists killed since jan 1, 2003

so why was the skagit gorge selected? hydro-power politics? what were the arguments against cascade pass?

how could reporters feel they were targeted ?

from the evidence available we can pretty much rule out that enemy combatants were shooting from the hotel. i remember reading as well that no sound of shooting was on the tape prior to the tank firing. i am not implying that the tank fired at reporters on purpose but it is obviously how the reporters on the scene felt (for whatever reason). myself, i think it's probably a mistake similar to other mistakes that happen daily in iraq today.

so caveman, why did the tank fire at the hotel?

awesome! everybody should have one in case the bad guys want to mess with the wife and kids. with good marketing it could become as essential as a can opener.

it's probably what they had in mind: what they meant

it is probably too late if he got a taste ha! the most dangerous occupation there is.

the crystal backcountry has lots of opportunity for yoyoing (and typically good snow). all relevant info is in bugdorfer's

while we are on the subject of hypocrisy. what about finding out if there is a correlation between those people who extol the virtue of the free market every hour of the day and those who support monopolies in national parks? anyhow, more seriously. one aspect that is little discussed is that guiding is a tough business and most companies usually pay low wages and turn out essentially no profit. this is the reason why so few companies stay in business for very long and why the level of professionalism is on average low (at least compared to our neighbors to the north and in europe). there are a few exceptions in the usa and those are usually the outfits that have a permit on very popular mountains (rainier, tetons, yosemite). mt. rainier is the largest mountain magnet in the us. rmi has benefited from this monopoly tremendously whereas all other nw businesses have struggled to stay alive or gone under. rmi has not had to diversify its offerings whereas other companies offer trips all over the northwest and the world just to make it from year to year. offering several concessions on mt. rainier would provide several businesses with the opportunity to rely on an assured income while they still would have to offer a complete service (glacier and rock, and cascade climbs). this would be good for the local guiding industry because it would guaranty some stability in the business and thus provide the basis for a higher level of professionalism. moreover, successful guiding (money wise) is very much due to clients returning after successful trips. if the company holding the concession doesn't entice mt. rainier clients with a variety of goals throughout the range (and again rmi does not have to do it), this is a lost opportunity for the industry and a loss of tourism revenues for the state of washington.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=466406 Ozone layer 'sacrificed' to lift re-election prospects By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor 23 November 2003 President George Bush has brought the international treaty aimed at repairing the Earth's vital ozone layer close to breakdown, risking millions of cancers, to benefit strawberry and tomato growers in the electorally critical state of Florida, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. His administration is insisting on a sharp increase in spraying of the most dangerous ozone-destroying chemical still in use, the pesticide methyl bromide, even though it is due to be phased out under the Montreal Protocol in little more than a year. And it has threatened that the United States could withdraw from the treaty's provisions altogether if its demand is not met. [...]

hopefully someday you'll find the time. toodles

and what kind of problems do i cause you?

for a preschooler coming out of a strange home that's not bad.

i triggered a 2 foot slab in the selkirks a few years ago. i slowed down and turned just as i crested a steep convex slope (short steep drop then ~35 deg) to give myself the time to inspect the best descent line (something i do instuitively) and the slab sympathetically released a few feet in front of my skis. i ground to a halt and saw the avalanche propagate ~100 yards on either side of me. it stopped ~300 yards downslope in timber. it was a class 2-3 (2.5). i have released smaller loose snow avalanches before (in gullies in such) but that was a first (and hopefully a last). i suspect it's not too bad in 20+ years of backcountry skiing. that day i learned that not charging straight over steeper convexities in the terrain was a good thing for one more reason than i initially thought. btw sobo, your 'incident' is quite something.

being an american does not mean you have to lose your ability to think critically, on the contrary. why not reevaluate the policies that underly the situation. iraqis are not inherently evil, nobody is.

do you really believe this is the measure of whether they are getting a good deal? ~30000 casualties and climbing, no end in sight to occupation (still in saudi arabia 14 years after gw1), widespread insecurity, routine 'mishaps' at check points, sporadic basic necessity if any at all, ruined economy and infrastructure, at least half the pop unemployed and little propect it will change fast, little if any say in the new politic and economic models, flat taxation, local companies essentially shut out from the reconstruction, national economy (including banks) to be handed out to foreign interests that can export their profits entirely, etc .... what a deal! before a logically challenged nitwit interjects, i am not justifying anyhting.

the southwest chutes is also one of my fav. i am not sure there is another run in the nw that combines the vertical drop, elevation, down the fall line skiing, steepness (could be a just tad steeper imo but i won't complain too much) and the big alpine ambiance the way the chutes do. anyone? as for my other favorites i suspect i'd have to think of those sunny, waist-deep powder days in the selkirks. fortunately they are not too uncommon

when i did the climb, it seemed about right to me but what do i know (a bit sustained may be). i am not sure i can discriminate within one letter grade anyway. cool pitch though.

so what do you feel it is? (i assume you mean sisu) i always felt the 2nd pitch of godzilla (the start off the ledge) was harder than advertized but i am kinda short

more specific info or how the intelligence community dismissed the data in the report more than a year ago.

case closed

i just remembered something that may be relevant to the story you were told by your friend. i read several reports how some cambodian and laotian soldiers would eat internal organs retrieved from their kills. if i remember correctly liver and heart were choice (cooked with local vegetables is the detail that struck me ). presumably by eating a specific organ one gained properties associated with it (courage and what not). may be going from the above to believing in all powerful cannibal american fighters was not such a big stretch after all?

pretty crazy. it does not surprise me that some of them may have fallen for something like this since the average level of education of laotians at the time was probably not very high (mostly fairly simple horticultural mountain people). in turn, it is interesting to ponder what the fraction of hmong people who sided with the us were told about the vietnamese and laotian commies: the bad guys are coming to steal your women and your poppies? what is more surprising to me though is how easily the stereotypes portrayed in trash movies have been accepted by a fragment of the population in the industrialized world where presumably most folks have gone to school for a minimum of 8 years. you know what i mean: the ubiquitous bloodthirsty maniacs in the rambo/norris/etc movies; of course they also happen to be russian or arabs or vietnamese. that's pretty wild too. the most 'funny' part in those flicks is how these people can only be sickos or stupid. it's an either ... or, no other option