catbirdseat

Silicone to be more precise.

I didn't know theyb made PTFE waterbottles. I imagine that they'd be expensive and heavy. Are they? They should be quite inert, I should think. I think Don meant HDPE - those are the softer, nearly opaque white bottles that Nalgene makes, and as far as anyone knows so far, they're perfectly safe. PTFE is commonly known as teflon, as used in non-stick frying pans and waterproof-breathable laminates, and, apparently, as a protective coating for certain politicians. I happen to know that one can buy PTFE bottles. They are made for laboratory use. They are expensive. I have one. It's kind of heavy. HDPE is pretty safe as far as I know but it smells funny.

I didn't know theyb made PTFE waterbottles. I imagine that they'd be expensive and heavy. Are they? They should be quite inert, I should think.

Ferret?

Polycarbonate is the hard clear plastic bottles. The whitish ones are either polypropylene or polyurethane. It all comes down to how much Bisphenol A leaches out into the water. It's not clear exactly how much leaching takes place. It can vary from lot to lot of plastics.

Get well soon, Rob. Best wishes.

REI is doing a brisk business selling metal water containers these days.

Congratulations buddy!

Forget the tent. Just stay in the hut. That's what it is there for.

We went looking on Dec. 1 and didn't find any ice. I have to work both days next weekend, so no joy in Mudville. Temperatures are expected to plunge starting Wednesday evening, so by the weekend there could be some ice formed up. Good luck.

The Drunkest Cities

While that may be true north of the border, there wasn't that much snowpack in the Central Cascades to absorb any of the water. I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't more damage to roads and trails.

The climb that Duchess, Tom, Oyvind and I did followed two weeks after a previous ascent that I did with Marek. The conditions could not have been more different. The snow was firm and Marek and I with a third fellow fairly flew up the mountain in 5.5 hours from Muir. The second trip with a stronger party took 8 hours of post holing and we only just made it. Conditions have everything to do with success. You should start out with the assumption that you will let weather and snow conditions be the determinant of go or no go. You can expect one or maybe two weather windows each winter of suitable duration for a summit bid. Then, the snow has to be good during the weather window. There is good reason why Rainier has some winters with no successful parties. Go look up the old trip reports. They are from February of 2003.

We heard that there was a dozen people swarming that thing so we didn't even go there. Got a report from J. Street that Hubba Hubba isn't formed up, either. We hiked up the road along Mountaineer Creek and saw nothing. We continued on up and hiked part of the way to Eightmile Lake for exercise.

This is proof positive that punctuation matters.

We can thank W's papa for deciding to waste $100 billion on the International Space Station. I thought it was a waste of money then and current events confirm it.

I think the argument can be made that this is not a battle of religions, but rather a battle between different ways of thinking- of rationalism versus mysticism/ fanaticism/ absolutism/ irrationality- whatever you want to call it. We pretty much are all rationalists. We have a hard time thinking any other way and it's hard to even conceive of any other way. It's hard to believe that much of the world truly remains mired in the Dark Ages. It's the way it is. We have to live with it.

Be sure to mention the 2,000 lb block of ice that nearly fell on Will. The only thing more dangerous than mines and ice climbing is ice climbing in a mine. I think I'll pass.

The garbage disposal is the laziest invention. It's for people who are too lazy to scrape their plates into the garbage. Nowadays, it's the yard waste container. The ultimate is the diswasher with built-in garbage disposal unit.

I have no idea if the ice is in yet at Mountaineer Creek, but I'd like to go look. Even if it's not, I'd like to get some exercise and maybe hike up to Eightmile like or something. My two buddies are going Sunday, but I gotta work, so let's go pick out all the good lines for them. PM me if interested.

I'm going to miss you Mike. Come back and visit. You should look up Thinker in SLC.

Wow. I just watched the second video. Everyone should watch it- the whole thing.

DAMN. That poor guy had the patience of Job. Almost anyone would have gone off on that cop. There's one cop who has no business being a cop. Period.

Just wear ice camouflage and blend in with the face. They won't even notice you. Parking can be a problem though.

They need to do a commercial with Segourney Weaver at the controls!