catbirdseat

Here is a link to that other story I mentioned. Rampage in 2000

At noon today I took the dog and went for my usual 3 mile run. I headed north on 10th Avenue NE and noticed news media vans when I approached 195th St. I had wanted to take the foot bridge over I-5 but couldn't get to it because the area had police tape across it. I came up to some people milling about who looked like reporters (from the good hair) and asked what was going on. I was told that a neighbor had heard gun shots the night before, but didn't check on it because he figured it was from the freeway. When he walked out to the driveway to go to work, he found a dead body. They asked me if I'd heard the shots- I had not, as I live two blocks away. This was the same area where about five years ago police arrested a young man who had gone berserck and attacked a woman with a hoe in her front yard. So in the end my run ended up being longer, since I had to run down to 185th to get across the freeway. Story

There are numerous threads comparing the two cam types, but the consensus is that you should avoid the Forged Friends in the smaller sizes. If you are pressed for cash, you can buy used Camalots, but the new design is so much better in my opinion, it would be worth it to buy them new. You could buy Purple and Green Camalots and then complete your set with the corresponding larger Friends. Later, you can work to complete the set of Camalots up above Green, a cam at a time until you have a complete set plus extras in the form of Forged Friends.

Red Foxx also once said, "Beauty is only skin deep, but UGLY goes clear to the BONE." Something said a couple pages back reminded me of a woman I climbed with a couple times a few years back. She was really enthusiastic about climbing. She bought the best gear, trained hard. She aspired to climb K2. Then I never saw her around any more. I asked someone who knew her well what happened to her. "Oh, she met some guy and fell in love with him. He doesn't climb. They moved to L.A." K2, huh?

Keep the stories coming. This is quite entertaining. Memory pills. I could use some pills that help me remember. You know, sometimes, you get out on a really scary lead and you can't remember why the hell you thought it was a good idea to take that pitch. I think perhaps the best climbers are the ones with the worst memories for things like pain and fear.

It's snowing a little here in Maple Leaf (I just got home). It was snowing like a sumabitch in the E-V-T. I had about 8 inches on top of my car. I just returned from rescuing my daughter from the hill out front of our house. She couldn't go up and was afraid to go down and risk sliding into traffic.

I found a lonesome ski at Stevens a few years back and never did find its owner.

They need to show the before and after pictures of the computer monitors.

Dru is channelling Dale Earnhart.

But for the grace of God go I. I'm glad I wasn't there. You can go as slow as you like, but if everyone else is flying past you and the pileup is in front of you, you will become part of it whether you can stop or not.

Just saw on the TV news a story about a huge 60 car and truck pileup on I-90, westbound, west of the summit. One of the reporters remarked it was the worst he'd seen in his 17 years on the job. Eastbound lanes are also closed. Story on King5 Website

I think he means Truth is Stranger than Friction I had a partner long ago who was fond of chewing tobacco. He wasn't able to chew at work, but would partake on his way home. We went together to climb Liberty Bell one Saturday and found it was raining when we pulled into Blue Lake Parking Lot. If the weather forecast was to be believed, it would clear by the afternoon, so we decided to chill in the car and try to wait it out. I passed the time by napping, while my partner enjoyed his chew. Well, he was used to about an hour's worth of such enjoyment a day, but on this day, he'd already been at it 3 hours in the car on the way, plus another couple in the parking lot. By and by the clouds parted and we were off on the trail. After a few minutes I noticed my partner was lagging behind a bit. I stopped to let him catch up. His face was literally GREEN. He'd made himself sick on tobacco. Fortunately, by the time we were ready to climb, he'd "composed" himself a bit, but he had me worried.

So you finally got your rocks offed! Aye?

The manufacturer will tell you not to do it. I wouldn't recommend it on rock under any circumstances, maybe on glacier, if it was a nice, mellow glacier that I was pretty sure I could avoid a crevasse fall. Prusiking up 8 mm would be hard and rigging a z-pulley would also be hard because it is so stretchy.

It was an awesome show. Fantastic pictures. Very enjoyable. Thanks Colin.

REI's cources tend to be oriented towards use of GPS receivers. If you don't already have training in good old fashioned map and compass, you would be short changing yourself if you skipped over this essential skill.

Seller has reduced the price. The Helios to $100 and the Thermawrap $100, or both for $180. He doesn't want to be bothered with shipping. You have to be willing to come to Shoreline to look at the jackets. Cash only.

Says you.

I'd like Sheaf_Stout to clarify his position for us. Which of the following does he believe? 1) Global Warming is not happening, therefore there is nothing to worry about. 2) Global Warming is happening, but not as a result of man's activities, therefore there is nothing we can do about it. Que sera sera. 3) Global Warming is happening, is the result of our CO2 emissions, but the immediate cost of doing something about it is not worth the benefit of avoiding future hardships that result from it. It has to be something close to one of the above, but rather than bring out his true motives into the open, he decides to obfuscate his position, by instead making ad hominem attacks on a messenger, Al Gore. My guess is that most conservatives are actually in Camp 3. They don't like to admit being in Camp 3 because that means they are telling all the poor people in places like Bangledesh and the Maldives "too bad, you are going to lose the land on which you live, while I can afford to move to higher ground." This just doesn't look good.

Stiff can be a good thing, depending on how you look at it. Stiff ropes are less likely to form hockles.

Sheaf_Stout's tactic remind me of an old banned poster, Martlet. Remember him? He's a bit more reserved perhaps, but similar.

If there is one species that is plentiful, it is sea lions.

A bowline on a coil is essentially the same as a bowline but is considered a different knot. What about the clove hitch? Yes, I could get by without it, but wouldn't want to. And it's such a damn easy knot to tie.

Sounds a lot like long distance sailboat racing.