catbirdseat

I don't feel any of us have been given a true picture of what Ms. Schiavo's true condition is. I certainly don't know what to believe. If she is in a "persistent vegitative state" it is not possible for her to be sitting up and talking in a video. The doctors never said that she was "brain dead", which means a total lack of brain wave activity. No one can really know what is going in inside her head. She could be cognizant of what is going on around her, but be utterly unable to make her body do anything. Man if that was me, I'd want to be dead in the worst way. So is this an assisted suicide or a mercy killing? I wouldn't want to be in her husband's shoes for anything. I can't judge the man, because I can't imagine what it would be like to be him. I think that the courts did the right thing in letting him be the one do decide. No one else should have that right.

I hope, for her sake, that it was a photoshop job and not a surgical "enhancement".

REI relies on it's climbers cachet to get non-climbers in the door to bask in the aura of adventure. City folk who don't enjoy outdoor activities still like to project that image to their urban friends. The store needs to maintain some degree of support for climbers or they risk losing the only thing that distinguishes it from other retailers. It's like a balancing act. You definitely make more money from the non climbing goods, but you have to keep that image to get people in the store. I feel that at the moment, the balance is tipped too far away from climbing for it to sustain its hip image, long term. So far, though, everything is just swell with the balance SHEET, apparently.

That is probably true. You dilute yourself quite effectively, so to speak.

You forgot to mention OUR own good.

There were a trio who did Dark Rhythm last Sunday. They filed a report. Bring your mountain bikes.

I've used the B-52 with two ropes and non-identical biners, a locking Jake and a non-locking positron-type. It causes a slight tilt to the device which, while not ideal, is still functional. Two identical non-locking biners, opposite, AND opposed should work fine, and be perfectly safe. My guess is that ovals would be best, or at least cleanest-looking.

I liked this post: "Earlier this year she won the difficulty part of the Petzl Roc Trip in Millau, France by sending a 14a on 2nd try that France's best female climbers, 20 and 30 years her junior, failed to top out on. She was breast feeding her infant son between redpoint attempts." New relaxation technique.

Nope, the rope pulls through the belay device. This is not really any different than the classic Z-Pulley when you think about it.

I think that horn is off the "normal" route. I remember traversing below and to the left.

This rendering shows a three to one hauling system for raising a climber who is perhaps injured or unable to make the moves? I rather like it. A good one to file away in the old bag of tricks.

We could use the snowfall, that's for sure. Have you put a brick in your toilet tank yet?

The only trick I see to the Petzl version is getting the sling the precise length on the sling or cordelette so that you can pull down on it using your harness. By using your foot, you get more travel so the length isn't as important.

It's a poster, $7 Link

I think that the point is being reached where demand and prices are such that oil companies are thinking of adding refining capacity. They may be waiting for Bush to order EPA to roll back hydrocarbon standards before they do. That would allow them to build at lower cost.

Whatever happened to talk of developing Canadian tar sands in Alberta? Anyone got an idea of how high oil prices would have to get before that huge reservoir could be tapped economically?

Here is the ultimate climbers chariot, the Klenke Mobile: Great gas mileage and gets you where you want to go, or even where you don't want to go.

No question about it. I've done the second pitch and it features a huge loose rock that moves when you touch it, and touch it you must. Mark said that he pried like hell on that rock with a big crowbar and couldn't get it to go. That's why the new guide lists the second pitch as "not recommended".

Sure. I like it. It's a good book. My only complaint is that it doesn't use a consistent ordering of routes. Sometimes it is left to right and other times it is right to left. Right to left requires that you flip a bunch of pages whenever you move from one named area to another.

I looked closely but couldn't find the words, "light weight". Best thing since ferrocement boats.

You were at The Oasis. The Fan was put up by my buddy Mark Glidden. It's a pretty nice route, isn't it? Mark spent a lot of time cleaning that route and trundled a tremendous amount of loose rock. When I climbed it last year, I found one more chuck of column to trundle. One nice thing about that climb is that it traverses a bit to the left, so if anything comes down, it won't hit your belayer. There aren't any adjacent routes either, so no worries!

Presumably the reason for the closure was work in progress, but I was in there on Saturday and there is no evidence whatsoever that they are working on that road. The ranger I spoke to didn't have an explanation for why the road is closed.

I'd like to see them take target practice while descending at 10 ft per second. You might not want to only have one at a time.

Nope, the route just appeared to end at that point about 20 ft below some bushes.

The author needs to see a good psychiatrist. He's got some serious reality issues.