JoshK

American View: I did this really fast, but some other guy did it faster, which sucks. Euro View: It was fun. What a great experience pushing my limits. I'd love to do that part of the trail, but more likely as a mega-light overnight or something. I don't think running it would be my thing but a very brisk hike would be great.

Sing us a song, you're the piano man, Sing us a song tonight... We're all in the mood for a melody, and you've got us feelign alright...

Good for beating Notre Dame! How do you Oregon guys feel that a 1-loss pac-10 team (Oregon) gets passed over for the second year so we can watch fucking Notre Dame, a 2-loss team that has only beat 3 teams with winning records!? Fuck Notre Dame.

Isn't "hair raising adventure" the same thing as "we got lucky and nothing bad happened, cause of it did, we would have been fucked"?

You've obviously never done it with McBee driving. It's 675 miles, 670 on I-90, and I've done it every time in 10 hours or less including a sit down dinner. 10 hours is a far cry from 7 hours man. That's another 200+ miles at interstate speed. I would agree ten is about average.

The road is closed, but you can get there by skiing down through the flats from Paradise, and over to the Reflections lake area. Getting to the Tatoosh from Paradise is definitely easier than getting to most peaks in the winter.

hahah!

Miami!? Oh no...what a loss...

Damn, too bad I'm in a different state - that sounds like a really fun idea.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/11/29/wilkerson.interview.ap/index.html OK, Spin PP, spin!!!

So you argue a large deficit is a GOOD thing? This wasn't a case of deficit spending to facilitate an economic recovery. This was a case of a tax break that generated very little economic output due to the fat that it didn't actually reduce taxes to the segment of the population where additional spending is required to stimulate an economy. What, do you think millionaires suddenly decided to buy a second yacht because they got a tax refund? Oh, no, wait, the common masses obviously spent tons due to their whopping $230 tax break or whatever it amounted to. You are so lost, PP. The way you continue to defend this bogus administration despite so much evidence of their failures is laughable at best. I am curious, what do you do for a job, anyway?

Those haven't been the "qualities" of the Republican party in years. The only one that possibly applies is "lower taxes", of course at the expense of fiscal stability and the future generations getting fucked for it. They'll be some good solid Republican losses in next year's elections. Most encouraging is barring a large turnaround Rick SantMORON will be gone from Pennsylvania.

Ivan, i know if I was dumb as you (oh wait, you often talk me into being as dumb as you ) i would go with a tree descent. the doug's direct is going to cross a TON of avalanche terrain. That bowl above the middle fork is huge and of perfect pitch. The traverse below mix-up peak is also seriously scary with snow. I went down into Pelton basin and up some couliors to avoid that one spring since Mixup has huge snow deposits that can bomb you from above. I think C-J is just plain stupid, but I'm a pussy. I like DPS's idea of retracing the route down. It's steep but you don't generally see avalanches roar down vertical tree-covered ribs. Other than that there isn't really a way that I think anybody would consider "safe" to get off the mountain in winter conditions other than wait for very settled conditions during a good weather window and following a very solid melt-freeze. And we all know how (not) easy it is to get one of those during a PNW winter.

7 hours from Seattle to Bozeman? I call BS...

A nice pick and now Shawn has gotten rolling. They are lookin a lot better.

Truck ads have traditionally shown "tough" guys using their trucks for various construction or dirt-related activities. I just saw a Ford ad that asked "How tough does your truck make you?" and then there is the Chevy ad with Howie Long where he convinces "Jerry" to bypass road contruction by driving his truck off road. So, I ask...does this seem like advertising geared towards people using their trucks for work or a new push to sell trucks to insecure suburbanites looking to be more "tough", a la SUV ads?

This may be the new topper for my stupid statistic! What would be particularly interesting is to see numbers breaking down religious vs. secular giving and how the states compare.

Verizon. works in the pickets. the other carrier we tried there did not. 'nuf said.

Yes...out with the details! What piece of pro held? Singles or doubles?

There is an insane amount of rap slings going up the north face/rib/whatever it is called on the north peak of index.

Or you can learn how to keep a down bag dry and manage your gear. Every time this stupid discussion comes up it amazes me how many people claim all these benifits of synthetic when the real problem seems to be their inability to take care of their stuff. It's pretty simple - if you want the lightest weight invest in a good down bag.

I like the headlamp.

You also have to consider lens speed, not just write/bufer speed. It doesn't matter how big the buffer is if your shitty lens isn't up to the task. The D70 is a great camera. I have the D100 and I'd rather have the D70 for the better buffer and lighter body. The Canon Rebel is alright (not the equal of the D70, imho) but if you have Canon lenses, that would be the way to go. -josh

Have any of y'all been up the Ruth Creek drainage recently? If so, what should I expect in terms of distance booting it on a road? Any other information on snow pack, conditions, etc. would be very helpful as well. thanks! -josh

My mom bought a TDI Beetle. It's quite quick and gets awesome milage. I also tend to think TDIs are a better option than hybrids right now.