JoshK

Trask and co are somewhat right. I know way to many people who had jobs in various bullshit dotcom, web designer, web artist, HTML "coder" ,etc etc. fields and lost them in the last couple of years. Tons of these people expect to get jobs in the computer industry again when, in reality, they have to realize that writing web pages, etc. takes about as much skill as flipping burgers. About half of the people I know just decided to accept that and moved into entirely new fields, while the other half continue to bitch. I respect the half that moved on.

"Although more than 20 inches of snow has fallen near Norse Peak in the past three days, officials said skiing conditions were safe." Uh... it wasn't safe. At least according to what I heard while in the patrol hut up there today the incident occured on a loaded north aspect slope. The coditions were ripe for slides on those aspects. Also, I'm not sure what they mean by "there were no avalanche warnings up." Since when does a lack of a warning from an outside party make a slope safe or unsafe? I nearly got hit by a slide last year during "low" conditions. In any event, my codolences. When I heard about the incident this afternoon it made me queasy. I never like thinking about that sort of thing and how close to home it can hit.

I had a friend who works there look up "Jerry Chang" and it does appear he still works there. Software tester at microsoft...now that's qualification to climb Everest. I just hope one of these poor unqualified bastards doesn't get himself/herself killed.

Minidisc wont catch on over here (it's been trying for years) because MP3/WMA/etc. devices are better in every way; they run longer on batteries, cost less, store more and feature no moving parts.

Can somebody enlighten me as to what exactly boxing day is? This came up at dinner last night and nobody knew.

I think they should flatten spanaway and parkland and annex them into the park.

soft shells aren't meant to withstand a driving downpour. They are great, however, for wind protection during somewhat active times and really good for climbing in, since they take abrasion much better than goretex, etc. I have that pattagucci shell, and it's very tough. I think a good combo is a durable softshell and a lightweight hardshell. The softshell basically doubles as a windshirt layer too.

Attention all! I have changed my #1 supar sekrit decent plans. I have decided skis are for gapers and should really be considered aid. I will be descending the willis wall, thermogenisis "route" via TOBOGGAN! When I get to the bottom we'll be celebrating with a fox televised special edition of "the bachelor". Fine honeys will be snowmobiled in to the carbon glacier to fight for the honor of my lovin.

I second Bill: BELLINGHAM. It's where I would live if I could move. The problem with Orgegon is your are close to the worst part of the cascades...chossy volcanos and moderate peaks. . Bellingham puts you right next to the north cascades and, imho, the best alpine climbing in the 48. You are also way close to canuck land for cheap gear, runs to whister and squamish and all that. You are also right on the water for all that water activity stuff. Finally, western wash. university is there so you have access to college chicas. Seriously, I think bellingham rules.

Maybe I'll have to follow through with my beater snowmobile plan after all?

You guys are all a bunch of cowards. I plan on soloing thermogenisis very soon and skiing it. I am going to go supar-lite #1 alpine style. I will not be taking crampons or ice tools as I consider that aid, and I will only do the most extreme #1 style supar alpine climbs. I will however, be taking a stick of dynamite which I will shove up the proverbial ass of that ice cliff as I yell profanities and haul ass back down the gully.

My guess is cayuse will bite the dust with this latest closing as well...

I can think of many many places in the cascades where I've had to "au chaval" across a wet log

yum

since iain had page bottom, does that mean I need to do this?

No, I understand you *can* get it in bars, but last time I was in whistler they were using some sort of "red bull concentrate" to mix red bull and vodkas. It tasted very similar to red bull, but it was definitely something different and poured out of a glass vial.

Woo-hoo!! Tracked out sloppy powder on limited terrain with all the other lift-skiers who have been dying to ski. Sigh...I'm *trying* to get Thursday or friday off to tour...

So, Dru, if redbull isn't allowed in canada, what is that stuff they use to mix a redbull and vodka when you order one? It's in a glass vial as I remember, and they dilute it with soda water (and the vodka, of course.) I remember it tasting fairly close to redbull.

Crystal got 15" or so last night, and baker managed nearly 2 feet. Bout fuckin time

I hope we get a good ol' fashioned big ass wind storm along with these fronts, ala the clinton inaguration storm. Those are awesome, as long as the snow level stays down, that is.

Alas...I'm still in search of the miss naked washingtons.

Oh, and to try to answer part of your question...I think the decent off dorado needle should be fairly straight forward. You guys that did the NW coliour on eldorado maybe didn't go far enough over on the inspiration glacier to see it, but you can tell from there that the mcallister glacier runs very high up that SW(?) side of dorado needle. There is actually a moderate 3 pitch(?) climb on that side of the needle. From my vantage it looked like it would be a pretty straightforward downclimb+rappel back to the mcallister.

Agreed. Dorado needle looks awesome in person. That got added onto my list laste time I was on Eldorado. From the looks of it, that entire McAllister glacier area looks very cool and probably not very oft-traveled.

Let me know if you guys decide on the place with miss nude oregons, and I'll drive down from Seattle to join.

Mmmmmm....pizza...