catbirdseat

Whipper: sadomasochism

Not everyone who visits this site is as experienced as you. Experience levels are all over the map. We are just putting out in front of people various ways to do things. Each person ultimately will decide on his or her own what to employ and what not to.

OJ is still playing golf with his entourage, and he murdered somebody. Somehow I think Martha will manage. As far as celebrity criminals are concerned, I'm much more interested in what happens to Kobe, the rapist athletic star. It goes to show how important good council can be, doesn't it?

Jason, there are two issues at play, safety and etiquette. Lowering from chains is safe, but not considerate of others, especially those who maintain routes.

All I have to say to Tex is that it takes one screw up and you are dead. It doesn't matter how experienced you are, you can still screw up. You do things the way you prefer. If one is climbing at the crags, time is not a concern. Some would prefer to increase their safety margin. Don't criticize them for it.

Not lame, this is a valid concern. What you can do is tie in through the chains with a sling as a back up. Tell your belayer to Take! and weight the rope. If everything looks good, unclip the sling and lower.

Jason, great post. This is the first I have heard of your system in which both climbers clip in for rappel at the same time on extended rappel devices. Interesting concept. Anyone else ever do that?

I was sort of just kidding. There's got to be a first time for everything. Dr. Doo, pat yourself on the back.

Move this thread to Climbers Forum! Hey, has that ever happened before? Usually it goes the other way.

Glad to hear you are recovering. Vancomycin has some serious side-effects too, like potential hearing loss. My wife lost some hearing after taking it. Be sure to get your hearing checked. Last night I watched About Schmidt starring Jack Nicholson. Kathy Bates was in the movie. She showed up in one of my nightmares. Believe me, you DON'T want to have Kathy Bates in your dreams.

Because of the description of the route being between King Pins and Tilted Pillars and the fact that the fall was 100 ft, I have a hunch that the route was Choss Master. This route can be done as either a two pitch climb or a one pitch climb, but you need a 60 m rope to top-rope it.

The author of the third article has some misconceptions about the fluoroquinolones. He attributes their side effects to "fluoride" ion. The fluoroquinolones all contain fluorine, but it is a very strong carbon-fluorine bond and the fluorine is not liberated as fluoride ion by the body. That is not to say that fluoroquinolones are not toxic, just that the mechanism is not attributable to fluoride ion. It seems to me that while these drugs are not as toxic as chloramphenicol (causes aplastic anemia in 1:25,000), they should only be used in life threatening infections. It is highly unlikely that my minor sinus infection is life-threatening. Certainly, anthrax is life threatening, but there are a whole host of older, cheaper and safer drugs that can be used to treat it. Anthrax has not been subject to the constant selection pressures that organisms such as pseudomonas, strep and staph have been and therefore there is little or no drug resistence to the older drugs. It has been marketing pressure on doctors that explains the use of fluoroquinolones as first line antibiotics.

I did a route at the gym on Saturday on which the last four or five holds in a row were two fingered holds on a 5.10 route. They are hard on the tendons to be sure, at least for fat guys like me.

Do you think so?

Supposedly, the thief knot did have a purpose. Sailors used to commonly tie their sea chests shut using a square knot. If a sailor suspected that someone was going through his belongings, he would substitute a thief knot for the square knot. The thief mistakes the thief knot for a square knot. When he refastens the rope he uses an ordinary square knot and is detected thereby.

I went to the doc on Friday about a sinus infection. She prescribed Alelox. They cost $7 a pill, but she happened to have a bunch of free samples that she gave me. Got home and noticed that the generic name is moxifloxacin. Turns out it is a fluoroquinolone. Egads! Now I have to decide what to do. Monday, I'll call her and ask if she can switch me to something else. I suppose we can try good old amoxacillin. It didn't work for the last sinus infection I had. Thinker, did you end up on a different antibiotic? If so what was it? I haven't had any hallucinations, but I did sleep rather poorly last night.

Not much to go on, but it is possible that he didn't anchor himself to the rappel anchor and slipped. I guess we'll find out soon enough. Personal Anchor Thread

How about the parody avatars? Caturdeat Son_of_Caveman Succubus

Reminds me of the story of an Issaquah family who have had three cars wrecked by out of control drivers in three separate incidents. In only one of them was the car actually on the street. In the other two the driver crossed their lawn to nail the parked car on the driveway. I think the best solution is a good rockery with huge boulders. Let 'em drive into the proverbial immovable object and see how they like that.

I've been trying to put my finger on what it is about Martha that makes so many people claim to hate her. She's rich, but wasn't born with a silver spoon in her mouth. She earned what she has. All of it. I think what drives the ill will in people is jealousy. Martha can do what she does because of an incredible amount of energy and drive. People like that are rare. People know that they could do what she has done it they worked hard enough, but very few are willing.

I never said that rockfall wasn't a serious issue. What I meant was that it is manageable.

A well built snow cave can't be beat when there is avalanche danger. Had they been in tents it would have been a very different story. Even had the rescuers not been called, it seems likely that everone would have been able to dig themselves out on their own. That would be weird to be sleeping warm and soundly in your sleeping bag and have an avalanche probe stick you in the gut. "Hey, can't a guy get any shuteye around here?"

I almost went to Frenchman Coulee today, but chose to stay home instead. Riverview is probably where I would have gone. Yikes.

Some people I've spoken with have told me they thought reading about accidents was morbid. They couldn't understand why should anyone want to read something that would make them scared when they climb. I like to tell them that I would prefer to learn from the mistakes of others that I may avoid making them myself. Knowing what can happen will make me think twice when setting up for a rappel. I think everyone could use a dose of reality every now and then.