catbirdseat

Ketch, his profile says that he is a freelance writer. That suggests that he can pretty much live where he chooses. He ought to live in Twisp and hang with Uncle Tricky.

It is called a lenticular (lens shaped) cloud, and it is caused by fairly dry fast-moving air, with laminar flow, interacting with the mountain so that it is forced upward in a smooth arc. The temperature drops just enough for the moisture to condense. As the air falls again on the lee side of the mountain, it warms back to its initial temperature and the cloud evaporates. The reason that Rainier was the only peak with a lenticular cloud cap was because the air was too dry for any other peak but the highest to raise the air enough to cool it below its dew point.

Are you asking whether he has been made to eat humble pie?

I just saw a report saying that they got a ping of the cell phone late Tuesday. Now it seems that he's turning the phone on and off to conserve batteries. If this is so, it is good news indeed. If he can conserve batteries until he knows weather improves for a rescue that will improve his chances tremendously. http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/14/missing.climbers.ap/index.html

Maestro is going to just love that one.

As orginally heard it was a guitar player and not a bass player, but I had to change it just for you.

My recent interest in keylock style biners comes from recent ice climbing where I found the hooks on biners catching on things and making unclipping difficult. Standard biners aren't such pain when rock climbing where you don't have gloves on. I have one DMM Revolver that I have been using to see how it works. The Revolver needs to be part of a draw that holds it captive so that it can't rotate. The sheave is useless unless it is in contact with the rope. Experience tells me that a majority of rope drag actually comes from contact of the rope with rock and not carabiners. I think there are relatively few situations where the Revolver will help, but having one or two on hand might be a good idea. I tend to keep the draw with the Revolver in reserve until I've used all the others so I have it when I actually need it.

It would be nice if that AlpinFox feller would clean out his mailbox so folks could send him PMs. Damn, I wish I were half as popular as he.

You can always tell when a thread has run out of steam when the talk turns to windshirts and neutrinos.

Qwest field! GO HAWKS! Ya'll can look for the good doctor on the sidelines.

That's a good one. I've heard it before. Here's a new one. A bass player and an accordion player manage to get a gig at a nightclub for New Year's Eve. The gig goes really well, so well that the manager asks to hire them for next year's event. The accordian player then asks, "can we store our equipment here"?

Dru, we can count on you to take us from the sublime to the ridiculous.

You might as well go ahead and make the investment in crampons and ice axe. These are essential items for so many climbs in the Cascades. If you are serious about climbing, you might as well just spring for these items.

"Squirrel, it's not just for breakfast any more".

There is an old saying that goes, "why do don't you two just get a room". By the way, if anyone else is looking to go to JTree, my friend Thomas is looking to drive down. He's got a comfortable minivan. If interested, send me a PM and I'll put you in touch with him.

Current temperatures in Joshua Tree is 70 degrees F and calm with scattered clouds. Forecast for tomorrow is for a low of 35 F and a high of 66 F and sunny with winds 4-6 knots from the north.

If you are talking about fall rating then that refers to the number of falls the rope can withstand in a specific test. It is not a made-up number. The test is very conservative. The actual number of falls the rope would withstand in actual use would be far in excess of the test value. Most ropes wear out in practice from abrasion of the sheath.

You stupid mother fucker research before youfucking shoot your fucking pie hole off. "LSD is synthesized from lysergic acid derived from ergot, a grain fungus that typically grows on rye." source for someone as stupid as you is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSD Fucking christ I hope you are in an industry that can afford to employ someone as stupid as you. skull You are right about the ergot, but I was right about the seeds. I was going from memory, whereas you had to go to to the web. I may be ignorant on the subject of recreational drugs, but there is a big difference between stupid and ignorant and you ought to look that up.

I was actually thinking of the Petzl Spirit straightgate for the top. Not the lightest, but more affordable.

I'm sure they must have dug themselves a snow cave. Well equipped and fit climbers can hold out for a long time in a snow cave.

We're a blog now. Who would have thought?

I'm sure many of you have looked at the equipment review in Climbing #253 on quickdraws. The Helium came out with the best grade, but I'd say it has some shortcomings. I agree with the reviewer that the O-ring retention band isn't going to last long. A bar tack would be a better idea. I also agree that the top biner doesn't need to be full size for weight reasons and because a small top biner racks better. No question that the Helium is a great choice for rope clipping though. So what would be a good choice for that top biner if you wanted it to be a keylock and less expensive than the Helium? Which sling would you use for general use that included all sorts of climbing, including sport, trad and ice?

Education over regulation. But how do you get through to people? You'd think there would be enough of these incidents described on bulletin boards, etc. I'm not an avid mag reader. The mags must have plenty of stories about how bad things can get in the PNW in winter.

Jens you have a long list there. Methinks you must drive with a lead foot.

Thought you were going to say "George Bush" there.