troubleski

I have recently jumped on the digital SLR bandwagon for several reasons. A 1 gig card can be purchased for about 300 bucks. I find that without the marginal cost of film processing I can convince myself to take 100s more pictures than I normaly would. I ususally end up with 100s more sucky picutres because of this. But I have gotten some gems that in the past I would have been reluctant to burn film on. Sure ... all of this can be done with a digital point and shoot as well... but speed and control offered by a digital SLR make a huge difference trying to catch your buddy flailing. and you can always put the $2000 lenses on a film body if you need to make big prints. As Will pointed out... the technology/price isn't quite there yet. I have a Digital Rebel that I am hoping will tide me over for a couple of years until the full frame 35mm sensor cameras (D1S) are down in my price range. Happy picture taking!

some interesting articles pertaining to outfitter liability and specificly in Washington can be found here http://www.vglaw.com/html/articles.shtml

yeah... due to the same process that gives us surface hoar... water vapor will always move from warm to cold... there have been many times when, in my rush to get a plastic cup of Snowcap, I have made the mistake of forgeting to turn my jacket inside out... only to discover that the water stuck to the dirt on the outside of my jacket had been pushed to the inside by the temp gradient... making for a clamy return to the slopes. I suppose if I just washed it one time, and maybe re DWRed it I could just shake a lot of that water off... but that would require doing laundry. Softshells seem to work in the same way... and as long as the water doesn't stick to the dirt on the outside of the jacket or soak into the fibers (or the voids between them) than my body heat seems to keep me dry as long as it is decently cold out and I keep moving. Epic always seemed like a good fabric from the stand point of keeping water from actually getting trapped in the fibers....

with the rope swing? Damn... I have some good memories of that place.....

A tiger is rolling a joint in the middle of the forest. As he gets ready to light up, a rabbit comes hopping along and says, "Hey tiger! Why do you need to smoke pot! Come running through the forest with me - it's much better!" ...The tiger looks at the joint, looks at the rabbit, and throws away the pot and follows the rabbit, running through the forest..... The two come upon a gorilla who is getting ready to blow a couple of lines. The rabbit says, "Gorilla, be free with us and run thru the forest! No need to get blitzed on drugs!" The gorilla looks at the cocaine and decides to follow the rabbit and the tiger running through the woods..... The rabbit, tiger and gorilla come upon a lion who is getting ready to shoot up some heroin. The rabbit says, "Lion, put down that needle! Come and be happy with us!" The lion sets the needle down and proceeds to beat the shit out of the rabbit.... The tiger and gorilla say, "Lion, why are beating up that rabbit! We are having a good time with him." The lion says "Fucking rabbit always has me running through the whole damn forest everytime he does ecstasy."

...and her father asked ... so how are you doing in school? ... and his daughter replied. "Great, I have a 4.0 and it all comes really easily to me!, I spend most of my time goofing off and eating pizza, I haven't done any homework all quarter, and I missed my last test, but I am somehow managing to get a 4.0 still" ... and her father asked .. so how is your friend Mary doing? and his daughter replied. "She is having such a tough time, she works so hard, spends hours studying and gets really good scores on tests. But because the class is on a curve she will only ever get a 2.0 as long as I am getting a 4.0." "Well," said her father, "good thing I donated that new library to the school then isn't it"

DAMN IT!!! why did I have to post that!!??!!?? thats ok... temps will be dropping again soon....

http://www.seawfo.noaa.gov/products/OSOMTB

... and it has been snowing at baker today...

the ground clearence comes from the angled drive shafts. not from it being much higher off the ground.... we wouldn't want Mom to have to strain.....

looks like he is going after Bush like he went after the Pound in 92.... Poor Bush....

I am pretty sure that all of the Washington State Parks are going to a parking fee. They put that one in at PP at the beginning of the year... From my expirence this year they are being pretty soft about it. I got a nice "We have your License number put 5 dollars in the box or we will mail you a ticket" warning... on my windshield last time.

maybe one of the reasons that anchor building is stressed in instructional settings is that it is more straitforward to teach, and easier for the newbie to practice. Understanding the dynamics of leading on gear requires doing it A LOT, on difrent kinds of rock. you don't even really need rock to show someone what a SEReNE anchor is.... hell... bed posts work just fine...

I am not sure if they both don't have a place for the beginning climber.... Top roping?... ya need to build good multi-directional anchors... practicing trad on single pitches to bolts? ... anchors won't help you... Anna's Fall? (yeah... I have been lurking that long)... probably wouldn't have happened if she would have built an anchor before being lowered.... or her placements were better.... I have been on many climbs where I figured I would be dead from bouncing off things long before I reached the belay.... good pro a must... no gear right off the belay?... anchor better be bomber..... Plenty of reason to approach it from both sides....

take the obvious gully

These things rock!

you can get the ProPore Jacket from some guy up in shoreline for $30 a review here

lame....

my big problem is that I don't feel that my resume is quite up to snuff to do the AMAG Rock Course yet. So I could take the AMGA Top Rope Class but that costs between $650 and $750. Infact this class seems to be taught by private companies and doesn't seem like it covers any more material.... just has the AMGA name... If I was a hardguy climber like the rest of you, I would probably say hell no!!! to baby sitting a bunch of people in a top rope class.... but... I am not... What I would like to do is start building some general work experience while I work my way up a few grades and I feel very comfortable leading all kinds of mid 10's .... then go take the AMGA Rock instructor class.... I definatly agree that these national level certifications are the way to go... I am just not quite there yet. thanks for all the input though...

hmmm... they seem to be all over the place actually... river guide training

thought this might be of inerest to someone .... employment

Actually I think that this is much more limited when advertizing for a roommate.....

I think there is a big difference between looking for lost kids in the woods and technical SAR. I think it is all good... but it needs to be used appropriately.

Camp Rinho V - A2 (Choppers are Aid) Margrett Thatcher Memorial Route (Terrorism, Republicans... really brings you back to the 80's don't it) Antharax Man (nobody knows who did the FA) Florida Ballot (Everyone knows who did the FA.. but some other guy gets credit for it) Sound Transit Grade I -5.0 (First Party bivied 330 times) Civil Liberty, and 401k at Vantage... (Better hurry up and climb them before they crumble away)

Hey Cheese... I think MajorDanger is in the market for a down jacket... see what he says... -Tro