JoshK

Perception - it's all in the marketing of the SUV. The auto industry is really bad about creating images that promote these stereotypes. Look at the typical SUV commercial - some fun hog tearing up the side of a mountain or up a ski slope without regard for anyone or anything. I ask you to consider the minivan - the icon of family, motherhood, and apple pie. Why is my SUV bad when its gas mileage is the same as the typical minivan, seats five comfortably and hauls gear, yet where is the outcry on the minivan? Attack this icon of familidom? That would be anti-American! Flame suit on! Have at it! I hate to start up the SUV fight again, but if you think your SUV (which one is it, BTW)'s milage is the same as an average minivan, your an idiot. Your SUV is also allowed to meet truck safety, fuel economy and crash standards. The minivan has to meet the same standards as a car, which are far higher. I've almost just come to accept the SUV thing as a joke. I don't care if people buy them, I just feel bad that they are such lousy consumers to pay more for less.

I've trespassed before, which is pretty much the same thing. Does that count??

I went with the 160z full bag from WM (highlight, megalite, whatever it's called...it's the purple one) I thought for the wegiht a light full back was better than the half bag for 2 reasons. One, the half bag doesn't keep out drafts very well. Two, I like the feeling of having the full back around me if it's a bit on the cold side. It feels nicer being able to tuck your head and arms into it. I can go pretty cold with that bag plus my cloghes. personally, the verio seemed pretty pointless with me. If it's warm enough for a halfbag, I dont think I'd bring a bag at all. My 2 cents.

Greg, I'm curious about what your specific complaints with the assault weapon ban are? I don't know much about it, but do know that their is no good reason why people should be able to own "streetsweeper" 12 shot automatic shot guns, sub machine guns and the like.

More-importantly, I want to know about the risks of having every fucker on the plane using his/her laptop at once...and the assholes who leave their cellphones on...or the dipshit kid who leaves his CD player on during landing... Small electronics don't do shit to planes. This is more fear-mongering. I think the cell phone crap came to be from the desire of airlines to get people to use the on-board pay phones. I think this crap is about as dumb as the no cell phones at gas station BS. Might as well just say no metal objects at all are allowed, esp. cars themselves.

That really sucks. What a pathetic way to go though...esp. if he was actually a real climber and not somebody just into screwing around on buildings.

What's so about that? It's all easily soloable terrain.

THat's very cool that you could see puget sound from a peak so far east!

It's just cause there are a lot of subarus on the road. The vast majority of *all* drivers suck. At least they can't do as much damage as a clueless driver in a suburban or expedition.

No, not enough to be useful.

Huh? From the MSR web page... the minimum weight of the Simmerlite is 8.5 oz. The minimum weight of the Whisperlite Shaker is 11 oz. So the difference in weight between the two stoves is 2.5 oz. The difference in "packaged weight" (less relevant) between the stoves is even smaller, 2.3 oz. Even the fatty XGK is not 5-6 oz heaver than the Simmerlite. It is only 3.5 oz heavier (and for those extra ounces you get another 2000 BTU of heating over the simmerlite, at max efficiency). http://www.msrcorp.com Fine, believe what you want. I had them both, I weighed them both, it's a much bigger difference than 2oz.

PP, you're an idiot if you think the administration hasn't been lying through their teeth.

In hindsight I wish I had taken it so I could have it butchered and donated for a rope up venison BBQ!

Weight: It's only about 2 oz lighter than the Whisperlite. Design: The bending of the fuel tube is a little off, so my stove doesn't sit flat (adding a pot of water fixes that) and the inlet plastic tube in the bottle isn't at a low point so the stove peters out before all the fuel is gone. The top nut on the stove came from the factory loose, so on my first trip, the stove turned into a fireball. Tightening it has fixed that problem so far. Simmering: The flame is adjustable to some degree, but since I don't 'cook' on the stove, I can't qualify it. There is a much bigger difference than 2oz between the two. Try more like 5 or 6oz. Overall I like my simmerlight much more. i got rid of my whisperlight. the simmerlight doesn't simmer really well like the dragonfly but it does it good enough and is well worth the weight savings. It's also quiet like the whisperlight so you can actually talk to somebody while it's running.

Haha! Great TR, Ivan, and well summed up. I really enjoyed this route, esp. considering it was my first time ever on Forbidden Peak. The view on top with Inspiration ice cap on one side and boston glacier on the other can't be beat. Hitting that fawn definitely sucked, but I'm sure some darrington resident found it the next morning and made himself a nice meal of it. Scott, the east ledges descent was pretty easy, IMHO. I had heard bad stories from people, but I thought it was a pretty straightforward descent. We rapped 5 times if I recall. After the first 3 or so, it seemed like you could downclimb pretty easily, but with the rope out and us being tired, continuing to rap seemed like a good call. From there you basically just traverse level across the face and you are back at the notch before you know it.

I was on forbidden peak yesterday and it was pretty depressing to see smoke in basically every direction. We could see it coming from the fire near j-berg and also from somewhere down near moraine lake. there was tons of smoke further north and also out east, like usual. i guess it's the natural course and good in some cases, but it makes the summit views kinda hazy.

Shit, I agree! It would be great to actually be able to pass on a 3 line freeway rather than get lined up behind a Suburban, an Expedition and a Land Cruiser all going 58mph right next to each other.

The autobahn also would never work here cause of the vehicles we drive. When everybody is driving around in nice european touring cars you can safely drive a lot faster. Expeditions, suburbans and the like aren't safe over 60mph, let alone 100mph.

Cool pics. That's a neat looking crack. What is up with that summit carin!? It's gigantic.

Whadda they got up there, a roadblock or just some state partrol directing you around the closure?

I wasn't ripping on you, I was just curious. The question marked seemed to simply phrase the subject as a quesiton, with your answer being "well I got it", which is why I asked.

Maybe it's because it's Monday morning and my brain isn't on yet, but isn't that several hours *more* than 48 hours?!

I agree on the androids. I've loved mine ever since I got them.

In Nevada you'll get to deal with the eventual radioactive waste problem in Yuca mountain!

Us middle class white suburbanites in Redmond on Education Hill will more than balance you mutants out. You gots style. We gots CASH. Redmond is where you buy a place when you want to sport a big house but don't have the real CASH to live in a nice neighborhood. OK. I'm white trash but at least I don't get awaken by gunfights at night or get chased by gangs of skinheads anymore. I do miss the ethnic diversity tho. heheh... I was just kdding around. Curious...where were you chased by skinheads?