catbirdseat

Dru, what concrete object you put you hand on? The screen, the CPU, or the keyboard?

Found this thread after searching "for us or against us". I just saw Star Wars. Do you think George Lucas was taking a swipe at Dubya when he put this line in the light saber fight between the nacent Darth Vader and Obi Wan Kenobi? Just speculating.

I hadn't heard of this 2 kN figure before, but it seems completely reasonable. It makes total sense when you think about it. If belay biners could fail by cross loading, they would, but you never hear about. I think I've heard about maybe one instance.

You'll get used to them. Soon anything less than a 6.0 will elicit a yawn.

How dreadful.

In poor visibility, the map isn't as valuable without the compass. I climbed Vesper in a total white out once and damn if the compass didn't come in handy.

If you listen to NPR radio right now you'll here my old P-Chem proffesor, Sherwood Rowland talking about measuring carbon dioxide.

That direction leads to the Sultan River, eventually.

Here's another stupid hiker story from the book. A helicopter pilot was flying over Havasu Canyon, I believe and noticed a flash flood forming high in the canyon. Knowing that there would be lots of people hiking in the canyon, he decided to ignore regulations and fly down the canyon to warn people. He went from group to group using hand gestures to indicate they should leave the canyon. Most understood him and moved. He came to a pair of women who were wading in the creek and when he signalled, they just waved back, thinking he was being just being friendly. When he persisted, they finally moved out of the water up onto the bank. The pilot continued down the wash to warn others. After he left, one of the two women went back into the water and SURPRISE! was caught by a wall of brown water with rocks and trees in it. She survived only by dumb luck when she was pushed against a boulder and was able to wriggle her way on top of it.

Authorities will do little to stop identity theft because credit card companies profit handsomely from it.

Nah, I doubt it.

Last thing I heard on the radio was that searchers have found tracks in the snow.

DRUG

I have a pair of Asolo AFS Guides that I bought from the same source. I've replaced the liners with new ones. Size 11.5. I'll sell them for $75.

Bummer. It's tough enough without the NPS giving out misinformation. I hear that it doesn't really get all that much cooler at night, but it would have to feel a lot cooler without the sun beating on you.

Get your story straight. The rescuers were on horseback and the horses scared him.

Everybody always asks that same question. If you are doing the shooting and you miss, he's going to throw the grenade at you. You don't want that to happen.

This probably isn't her as it was taken last year. 2004 Slide Show

Speaking of solo hikers, I was wondering when you'd weigh in, Michael. Last night I read about some boyscouts who picked the hottest day of the year to hike to Phantom Ranch and back in one day carrying only 1 gallon of water each, lead by a 71 year old man on an expert only route that only he had done years before and almost died on that trip. Only one of the boys made it to the river where he was able to carry water back to some of the others and then flag down a group of rafters. In the end one of them died and several others were helicoptered to the hospital. Had they all been successful in reaching the river, it is almost certain that all of them would have died on the return trip.

Dru, that is not very nice.

Yep, don't give away your favorite bootleg camping spots. Larry will read all about it an come get you in the middle of the night with his high power spot light and roust you from a sound sleep.

Another remark made by the author is that the Canyon is the reverse of a mountain. When people climb a mountain and going get's tough, they turn around and go down hill. It is easier to retreat than it is to go on. In the Grand Canyon, it's easy going down, so people don't have a clue how hard it is to hike back out until they reach the bottom and turn around.

Let me get this straight, the missing man told someone before he left that he intended to check out a rock formation that was shaped like a "reverse cantilever"?

In the context of the Grand Canyon, we're talking about falling usually 200 ft off a cliff and sometimes 1000 ft. So it comes down to avoiding a 100% fatal fall, not surviving one with aid of a partner.

It was the funniest book I have ever read.