catbirdseat

Ding Dongs are aid.

Wirlwind has experience with these sorts of situations. You should ask him how to handle it.

I think Black Diamond deserves to take a lot more flack for a poorly made helmet. I think they are being let off the hook here.

Speaking of golf, my back aches.

Oh Ruuuuuuddddyyyy! Yer wanted, ye scurvy knave!

Why did the monkey fall out of the tree? You walked by and he laughed so hard, he couldn't hold on?

And to think some people find the sciences uninteresting, or even boring! Why, if that doesn't knock off your socks and curl your hair, you don't have a pulse! Okay, you want to know the interesting part? The mice don't need norepinephrine to survive after they are born. So if you can come up with a drug that blocks the converting enzyme, you have a possible treatment for addiction, that is free of side-effects.

I just read about a clever experiment using knockout mice at UW that showed how norepinephrine is responsible for the rewarding effect of morphine and not the usual suspect dopamine. Dopamine is converted to norepinephrine by an enzyme in a single step. When the converting enzyme was knocked out, the rewarding effect of morphine was lost. Doubtless norepinephrine is involved in the reward for climbing as well. So next time you are halfway up some north face with that shit-eating grin (or when you shoot up- if that's your thing), just remember, its the norepinephrine.

First alpine ascent in winter?

Perhaps you can get by without them now. Have you tried it? If you did special exercises to strengthen the muscles then you wouldn't need the braces.

It is not insane at first glance. If you want to minimize fall factor you really do have to sew up the early part of your pitch. Run it out all you want after you get some altitude. The main reason we are taught to build a redundant, bomber anchor is because for practical reasons we don't generally put enough protection early in the pitch and we want to guard against the possibility of ripping out all gear and sustaining the dread fall factor 2 fall onto the belay.

Knelson, you are correct. The gully lies beneath a very steep section of cliff. As shown by the Red Dot on this map.

Chickens with alligator teeth could defend themselves against varmints like racoons. On the other hand, you might draw back a nub when you go out in the morning to collect eggs.

Several of my best friends are members of Everett Mountain Rescue. These two tragedies have been very hard on them.

Keep it up. Soon we'll have 8 pages of dross, just like RC.com!

Yikes! A helmet should be strong enough that you could could jump up and down on top of it. I am certain you could do that with the Ecrin and it would be no worse for wear.

I am also told that snugtop and Loose Brie were also there.

Yeah, and you can tell him he can get in his car and drive 400 miles just to get in my face.

Did you check to see if a head was attached to the helmet?

Fair trade: crampons for story. Dish.

I say don't sweat it. It's not a route, just some manky crack.

I'm still picking glass shards out of my chest! Good to see: mattp, klenke, Jens, trogdor, Weekend_Climberz, SilasWild, Gary_Yngve and Tread_Tramp Here's to Guinness Stout!

Bronchitis claimed most of my last winter season. It sucks. What finally worked was a course of Zithromax (azithromycin).

Two old buddies that come to mind would be Stim Bullit and Tom Hornbein. These guys still know how to have fun. Not sure they are still doing Rainier, but they climb.

You used to be able to park down the road from the bend known as "nevershine curve" for the hotsprings, but the State Patrol got it signed as Emergency Parking Only. Now the closest overnight parking would be the Surprise Lake TH. I suggest that you dump your partner and gear at Tunnel Creek and drive your car back to Surprise Lake TH, then hitchhike back up the hill. The only other idea I can come up with is to find a friend who is going skiing at Stevens Pass and make arrangements to be dropped off.