randygoat

Hey I caught a little of the Black Keys act opening up for Sleater-Kinney in Massachusetts a couple months ago. Seamed pretty cool what I heard. It would be interesting if the Black Keys and the White Stripes toured together.

Since it is a diuretic, the last water consumed should be done at least one hour before bedtime and a last trip to the pee hole is usually necessary to keep you from making several more trips throughout the night. Sleep with a pee bottle in yer bag. Keep a water bottle with you to, and drink through the night. The pee bottle can add sometemorary heat to yer bag also. Just don't confuse the 2.

Hey Norman, I had some pretty bad altitude sickness[ probably early cerebral edema] in South America around 15-16'000ft.I wassick as a drunken dog. I was puking everything,including water. Total halucinations/delusions/ and confusion. Couldn't stand, etc.... Anyway the guys got me to take some electra lite powder mix[ wasn't gator aid] and forced down the water. I was spyched when the Jolley Ranchers would stay down. Anyway, I also started to take the Diamox. It seamed to start to help a bit within the day. I went down to 9-10'000 ft continueing with the diamox and ate and rested for a day. Next day I ws able to reach 19'800, although I was getting totally hammered again and halucinations came back. It probably did help me to even get that far, probably not as far as actually spending the time to get well aclimated first. I think next time I may bring some with me,just in case. I don't think I would need it anywhere in the western U.S. other than Denali.

I have 2 peaks I HAVE to go back and finish. The first is Mt. Chimorazo in Ecuador[ 20'700ft] we had no aclimation plan at all. It wasn't my trip[ I was an invite] s Ididn't have much say. These guys just wanted to pretty much shoot to the sumit after landing at 9'000 a few days earlier. The trip turnedout to be mor about drinking bad beer and pizza than any real climbing. I got wicked slammed with early cerebral edema at around 15-16'000. Went down and ate/rested for a day ,then tried again. I did make it to 19'800. I'm sure that with PROPER aclimatizing I could get there,weather permitting. The other is Mt. Olympus[west peak] we had a great trip last summer. Had the whole place to ourselves. The glacier went beutifully, then I don't know if we got sand bagged by the trail of foot prints or wat. But we got to a sharp ridge on the false summit looking down into the saddle to reach the west peak. e were stopped by the dwn climbing of loose exposed rock to reach the saddle. It was kind of a judgment call, we probably would have been fine butr the idea of one of us getting hurt there turned us around. We were 3. If one got hurt wouldwe leave him alone up here, or send one guy out across theglacier alone? Basically we sallied at the challenge. Fear got the better end of it. I think the decision to turn around kind of stuck in the throats of all of us.Like to try it again.

In a slightly manlier vein I've had the ferocious storms of Mt. Washington kick my ass twice. 80 mph winds, zero visibility and bitter cold will end your day fast. Hey fellow eastie, I summited Madison once in the single didgets with a wind up to 110mph. Bruttle, had to cup my hands over my nose to get a breath of air.Face the wind and I couldn't exhale, turn around and I couldn't inhale. Not to mention being sent sprawling on the rocks many times. 8 hours to cover just a few miles[ we camped below tree line], came down, grabbed the tent[ wadded it in the packs] and went down to North Conway to get a room and eat and drink like fiends. Also got turned back from Pinnicle Gulley twice this fall. Once it was a constant flow of spindrift pouring down[ when the wind wasn't blowing it back up]just like trying to climb through an hour glass. tooknhalf an hour to climb 50 feet of thin ice, no idea if the rest o the route was even in or not. Went back a few days later[thanksgiving day] and the wind chill was somewhere around -90. Run away,run away!!!The next day is when those dudes got killed in the avelanche in Tucks.

Hey , you ought to have an eic sometime. I've had a few mild ones.Want to borrow one of mine? I'm also well expeirienced with failures to.