billcoe

OMG we look dumber than the dogs. 2 purebred Jack Russells, both used dogs: Sadie is the Puddin' Jack on the left, Hank the dog is on the right. Took the pic of the snow Christmas Day on our front porch steps to show our daughter, who's been living in Hawaii for 4 years (it was over 70 degrees there that day:-), what she was missing. .........slush.... She'd worked up at the ski resort for a couple of years, hoping it brought back memories for her:-)

Well I heard ya John but I wasn't listening.... my bad... Which means I'll really be listening closely next time:-) I don't see an announcement of record profits and increased future financial projections as well resulting or coinciding with a stock dump often, but I'm hanging in for the long haul anyway...as these phones go into various countries, the potential market is huge! Now, not to be a contrarian, but another buddy tells me to NEVER bet on a company who is in a market space Microsoft is getting into. (Google) Intel rules BTW, but Peter Lynch says that a company that is toooooo huge or big cannot get you multiples on investment. So, Microsoft is a great company, Intel is a great company: but..... BTW, own up...besides me, who here jumped on a few shares of Lucent (now Alactel) before Cisco decided to jump in that space and disrupted that company in a huge way? cough*cough* NO investment advise from Moi.

Interesting Mikester. Sounds like you weren't in heavy cover. One of the areas I head is original old growth, close growing to the point where everything except for a few Huckleberrys and Hemlocks are gone: and I want good topos too, thats the point for me, to find and climb on things which have not yet been found. The Garmin Colorados came out just today, and REI has an exclusive on the 400t...for now. cough* $599, cough* cough* for the 400t (for topo). I don't see how it's better than the Delorme though. Lets see, USFS quad map... $ 6.99 or something like that, so $599 divided by that = hmmm lot O' paper Topo maps.

I'm keeping out of the financial sector advice and stock tipping industry and maybe I'll do better in the cow tipping industry instead. The other day I talked up Apple. Yesterday they posted record profits and "guidance" of 29 perent qtr over qtr increase in profits and the stock dropped as low as $29.00 a share off the prev days close, or over 15% off today at it's low. I'm in STFU mode. But I'll talk about panties.

Hunchback of Notre dame redux ?

OMG, thats funny and different. Bet he F*ed Miss Piggy more than once.

Oof Da: With 50 lbs of Crisco I could probably "Master" that Couch:-)

Remember the Pueblo? Anniversary January 23, 1968. One day you're in international waters and a couple of fishing trawlers pass too close for no apparent reason. The next day all hell breaks lose and for 11 months you and all your compadres are beaten and tortured daily. Link

Light weight and ease of use sound important. Garmin seems to have the ease of use down. It really sounds like you can easily get the Garmin to download your route onto the National Geographic 1/24000 topos. So before the trip, you upload the 1/100,000 Garmin map and comeback and download your waypoints onto a computer with NG topos. It would be nice to have the actual scanned USFS quad topos and not have to do this rigamorole, but it sounds like you can't read them on the unit anyway....and it doesn't sound like a lot of trouble.... Hmmmmmmmmm

No not mine you idiots, I'm a gear whore. I just hurt my knee skiing, it wasn't amputated or anything:-) Click on this

Thanks Blurpe, that looks awesome - you must have been ass deep to snow. I tried the other side of the ditch @ 2weeks ago and didn't get the car higher than 1200' before I got it stuck and all tore up. Luvshaker, totally agree, and a compass with that altimeter for sure. In fact, if marginal weather is possible, it wouldn't hurt if every one in a party had one. I have one of the new school watch altimeters and it was cheap and surprisingly fairly accurate. I wish the watch had the compass too, some of them do. Then I'd have it all the time. Kind of like, I rarely get stuck out without a headlamp any more (unlike when I was young and headlamps were serious affairs) as they are so easy to stuff one of the lil guys in your pocket. Good stuff!

Thats fantastic news Drew~! Awesome stuff!

Well you're no fun! See if you get invited - BTW, how old are you? (good advice on the under the bridge tie off thing.)

(Insert high pitch whining noise here which sounds like Mr Cheswicks whine to Nurse Ratchet that he wants his cigarettes back, listen to the U-tube clip to get the feel for this) B5NyyC-UjBM "Sir... (coming into the REI and addressing some pimply faced teenager): My rope is tangled and it's brand new and I want a new one ..... my rope is tangled and I bought it here and I want a new one....one thats not tangled." "I SAID: MY BRAND NEW ROPE IS TANGLED AND I WANT A NEW ONE WHHHHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!.......I WANT A NEW ONE ..........!!!!!!!!!!! I WANT A NEW ONE WHHHHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHAA !!!!!" I WANT A NEW ONE WHHHHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHAA !!!!!" I WANT A NEW ONE WHHHHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHAA !!!!!" I WANT A NEW ONE WHHHHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHAA !!!!!" And you got one too! Remarkable. Want to get into the office pool for the date they stop selling ropes? __________________________________________________________ Stay tuned for part 2, "Rappelling with an Italian (Munter) hitch", cue "As the World Turns" music and lights out.

Sweet! Didn't Todd Skinner have one of those prototypes? BTW, the price to get that stuff made in China would shock all of you. There is no financial reason to stay in N America, even Mexico costs are higher. China quality will be equal or better to what you can get here if the company is careful. BTW, you can buy "North Face" branded stuff all over in China, Nepal, Asia - everywhere over there. However, if you look closely, only a small portion of it is actual North Face brand. Most are done in someones basement factory or quonset hut with a dirt floor and get a North Face logo tag slapped on it for a finale before they kick it out the door. North Face does a respectable job of keeping counterfeits out of the US, but you can find that crap all over Asia. Complaining about the poor quality of a counterfeit seems like complaining when that $1.00 DVD of the brand new movie, which is still in the theaters in the US and still unavailable on DVD, has the black silhouette of some guys head pop up and move right across the screen on the way to the popped rice concession- during the movie. I saw that on "Simpsons the movie" my son got from one of his buddies traveling back from Malaysia (buddy did pay a buck for it) and it was the first indication that I was watching a pirated movie. Anyone see the down coat I was wearing at Jimmys the other night? Sewn in my own house. Frostline kit over 25 years old and still going strong. The girlfriend, now wife, watched me struggle to make the hood for @ 2 weeks and offered put me out of my misery and to do the coat. She sewed it in a day or so. It was a good business model for the time. The idea was that you did the work yourself and saved on the (US) labor, which, as we had ideological issues which rolled over into trade issues (embargo) no Chinese labor or goods were available and India didn't have the infrastructure as well. History of Frostline Regards all: Bill

oughta be clear, dry and cold as neptune's cock - enjoy! As cold and dry as Grandmas crack on tax day?

Fer sure HOR! BUT, Middendorf talks about doing this, and the fall tweaked his back so bad that he could barely walk after his jump, and his back still is ruined to this day evidently. So, in the video where the fella jumps wayyyy out...that gets him an oblique, swinging angle that results in less force on the rope and the body. I think doubling the rope and using 2 static lines or webbing for an anchor, having the rope get a clear shot to the ground and not be over an edge like he has, along with an oblique jump angle...say a swing instead of a slam, would be things to keep in mind and look at. The effect of doubling up the climbing rope would be to increase the impact force ....not desirable. Also, different mfgs ropes have better (or worse) elongation/impact force numbers...something to keep in mind. Also, Dannos #1 concern was that the rope could wrap around his neck (or another body part) and kill him...so body position as you jump relative to where the rope is would be one of the prime concerns as your feet clear the span. Having spotters paying attention to all these details and double checking everything would be helpful as well I'd think. Bryan (Powderhound) might be back in town this summer and maybe we can set up a jump off his bridge. We can call that "Stupidity with a climbing rope part 2" or something equally witty:-)

I saw that Garmin had the National parks on 1/24000 scale (but it costs $100 extra on top of what one is already paying for the unit). Furthermore, I rarely (cough*never*cough) get to those places any more. 99 percent of what I want it for is within 60 miles from town where the better topo resolution isn't available. Have you had any success using the National Geographic maps with the Garmin? I understand that after wandering all over hell and back, you can then upload your trip to those NG 1/24000 maps to at least better see where you've been. I don't know if I need more than that. I mean, it might be nice to have great topo resolution on the unit so as to not walk over cliff, but since that's never happened and I never needed a GPS for that kind of thing before and just used my eyeballs: I don't even know if I need the better maps on the unit like the Delorme has. It looks like Garmin put in the national park 1/24000 topo software in them. Which does me no good at all. Looking at paying extra for this piece of sh*t Garmin software looks out of the question: Read some of these reviews to see what you are missing. Reviews are all over the board. GArmin topo software for GPS unit link Here's a dude who blogs about the Delorme unit, check out these Geotagger screen shots he posted. Chads blog Takes a pic (separate camera) and it gets linked to the topo position you mark. It looks like the Garmin units look to have Noaa maps separate, while this Delorme thing comes with them. I use to sail, and might find myself once again doing that if I get an injury climbing. Still looking....but as anyone who has ridden in my car will tell you, I have the paper topo books that Delorme makes for Washington and Oregon in there all the time, tucked behind the passenger seat (pretty crude resolution and hard to see with my old eyes) however, they have been quite helpful. They've been doing topos a for a long time. Here's a link to dudes talkin about the Delorme, they are soliciting advice on updating and correcting errors their maps and their units as well. Which I find reassuring. Delorme online forum It would be cool to get some of these units and try them out first. Delorme has a 30 day trial with a return for full refund policy....but I'll probably still just wait the month and see what the Colorado units have when they come out. Like you say, it isn't about the money. The Colorado looks to have a much larger screen, and thats something I could really use as I never take reading glasses to the woods and wouldn't want to start now. Thanks for all the advice.

OMFG! ouch!

I think that the Metolius 7.8mm 1/2 ropes are the lightest 1/2 rope out there. I used them rockclimbing in Red Rocks recently and the things were great. I think that the tufted rope marking system they have kicks ass too. At the end of a long route, your quads will be thanking you. Metolius 7.8mm UIAA falls: twin 16, half 6 weight: 38 g/m sheath slippage: 0 max. impact force: twin 8.5 kN, half 5.7 kN elongation: twin 7%, half 8% certification: UIAA, CE, EN 892 Beal 8.6mm * Excellent balance between weight and durability * Low impact force / high falls sustained * Weight per meter: 48 g * Impact force: 5.10 kN * Number of UIAA Falls: 16 * Sheath slippage: 0 mm * First fall elongation: 35 % * Static elongation 11.5 %

I fully agree Billcoe Ha ha! How did you know what I was thinking?!

Or a monster jackalope

They say that kind of think is generally a thankless task. I'll try to not make it so. Thank you.

That was nice. Melissa, sorry, but no one took any pictures...... ___________________________________________________________________ Here are some internet representations I found just surfing around to fill in instead. Again, these are only generalizations and representations found on the internet. I've never met any of those people and they weren't there. No one really got sick...and Paris Hilton really wasn't there. Sigh.... Will try and remember a camera next time.

Hi Justin, thanks for posting. Yeah, when it gets vile and nasty out, it's almost unbelievable how the wind can drift you away and push you sideways and off course despite following a compass bearing. Glad things worked out. I saw that your partner had posted on this thread about the experience. Link Bigtree, Holy crap, I just saw the price for that Garmin with the topo: $559.99 !!!! Damn thats heavy scratch! Especially if you only wind up with a 1/100,000 scale topo map. It makes the Delorme, with 1/24,000 equivalent topos look like a bargain (despite the use of the last gen chips for satellite acquisition). Link to Amazon page for the Delorme unit