catbirdseat

Where do the grizzly bears come in to the story? Were they attracted to the vomit?

All of this discussion issues from the fact that we rely entirely on that one piece of equipment, the "parabiner", for our lives. There is usually nothing backing it up. When you are belaying off your harness with it, you can ensure it's proper orientation by using your guide hand to provide tension as necessary. But in rappelling, until you get started and have weighted the device, the parabiner might flop into an undesireable orientation. If using an ATC, you will not break the gate by cross loading the biner, unless you put a lot of slack in the system and fall on it. The Figure 8, however, has much more leverage and can break the gate. The use of the autoblock in rappelling should be encouraged more because it represents not only something that can protect you from uncontrolled descent due to inattention or injury, but also because it independently backs up the parabiner/device. Having said that, I have to admit to not using it myself most of the time just because of the extra time it takes to set it up.

The Kleimheist sounds like the most appropriate knot for webbing. The prussik knot doesn't work well at all for that application.

This issue has been debated, ad nauseum in numerous other threads, but the general consensus is that canister stoves aren't as good as gasoline stoves for melting snow. The cold reduces the vapor pressure of the liquid in the canister. Higher altitudes improve flow at a given temperature, but usually temperature drops with altitude. Gasoline stoves are pressurized by a pump and thus the pressure (and hence flow) is independent of temperature.

Translation: "I'm done gone have meself a Lucky Lager, you ass, and eat some horsecock too. Then, ahm gonna cozy up with m' little lady and afterwards take a nap. So sayonary and say hi to those chatty little wankers on cc.com for me."

Will, get on the ball. It's not picrograms. It's FEMtograms, dude.

...not to mention not worksafe.

Bear Drinks 36 Cans of Favorite Beer BAKER LAKE, Wash. - Rain-eeeeer .... Bear? When state Fish and Wildlife agents recently found a black bear passed out on the lawn of Baker Lake Resort, there were some clues scattered nearby - dozens of empty cans of Rainier Beer. The bear apparently got into campers' coolers and used his claws and teeth to puncture the cans. And not just any cans. "He drank the Rainier and wouldn't drink the Busch beer," said Lisa Broxson, bookkeeper at the campground and cabins resort east of Mount Baker. Fish and Wildlife enforcement Sgt. Bill Heinck said the bear did try one can of Busch, but ignored the rest. "He didn't like that (Busch) and consumed, as near as we can tell, about 36 cans of Rainier." A wildlife agent tried to chase the bear from the campground but the animal just climbed a tree to sleep it off for another four hours. Agents finally herded the bear away, but it returned the next morning. Agents then used a large, humane trap to capture it for relocation, baiting the trap with the usual: doughnuts, honey and, in this case, two open cans of Rainier. That did the trick. "This is a new one on me," Heinck said. "I've known them to get into cans, but nothing like this. And it definitely had a preference."

Ben, how do you pronounce your name, again? Help me out here.

The reasons many people respect McCain, even though they don't always agree with him, are the same reasons people respected Goldwater. He talks straight and says just what he means.

Since the newbie chicas have been agitating to lay siege to the Tooth, I thought I'd bring this one back to the top for their amusement.

Planet Mountain makes reference to a "Marchand Knot" but doesn't show it. I tried googling it and did not come up with anything.

Take a look at the DMM Belay Master sometime ( the one mentioned in the article). REI carries it. It is a manual screw gate type with a plastic clip that snaps over the locking screw ensuring that it cannot turn. Furthermore, the clip will not close unless the screw is completely closed. The clip divides the carabiner into two sections preventing it from rotating and thus avoiding a cross-loading situation. I needed a new pear shaped locking biner and thought about buying the DMM, but finally went with the Petzl Triact. I wanted the keylock feature. Also, I thought the DMM locking clip would prove to be a pain in the neck. Certainly, if I used a figure 8 device, or a bod type harness, the DMM carabiner Belay Master might be the way to go.

The important thing that one can learn from that photograph is that he likes gourmet ice cream.

Today I saw a truck pulling an invisible trailer. How do I know it was pulling a trailer if it was invisible? I could tell by the way the driver pulled wide during a right turn that it was there. It's a damn good thing I don't make a habit of following too close. Harry_Pi can back me up. He's seen invisible stuff too.

In fact, they do, Iain. Also for nurses and doctors and those who have taken WFR.

When I did that route, we camped at 6,400 to the left of a rocky moraine. To the left of that moraine was snowfield. To the right crevassed glacier began with some big crevassses opposite camp. As we were roping up at 2 am we saw some headlamps coming up on the right. I went over and saw that they were not roped up yet. They were unaware they were on glacier. I pointed out the huge crevasse and that's when they figured it would be a good time to rope up.

The Basic Course is Alpine Mountaineering. It covers, in addition to following on rock, glacier and snow climbing. If rock climbing is what you are interested in, they offer the Crag Course.

Now that you mention it, they do! Seeing is believing.

nEEther-nIEther, EEther-EIther, let's call the whole thing off.

Of course they are. No one knows what they are. Unless it can be determined, they will remain UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS or UFO's. UFO does not mean "alien spacecraft from another planet". Apparent slow speed and lack of tails, would seem to rule out meteors. The only other possibility besides aircraft would be ball lightning.

Great TR, Iain. Top notch.

Well said pope. Dechristo was apparently reading judgement in wally's post where none was apparent- at least to me. Wally was just calling attention to what can happen. People can't make choices for themselves when they don't know the consequences. When we participate in a dangerous activity, each time we do it and nothing happens our brains become desensitized to the danger. The danger may in fact be always the same, when in fact the perception of it decreases.

Super, thanks for the great pictures. I don't think I'll be doing that route any time soon.