johndavidjr

umm... just look at Mt Deception's "class 2" rating and then read NPS description that mentions numerous fatalities due to gravity. Fooey!!

This is certainly NOT "climbing only conversation." Can a moderator please remove this thread to "Spray?" In fact, the premise of this thread is merely silly. Okay. There is no such thing as a "communist" unless you count fools and nutcases........But if you're seriously interested in economics or culture, or actually, just about anything at all, then some understanding of Marx is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, well heck....I do honestly respect the poor schlubs in Pennsylvania, etc., etc., as much as the next person (have you ever actually been to these little places in Pennsylvania? They're worse than _______ !!! Almost as bad as the bad parts of Jersey City!! Except they're all white.. Which I find pretty damned weird...) And am the proud owner of at least two cheap guns last I checked...And I think I read the Bible twice....Despite getting bored to death by the thing...... I kept looking for the parts about abortion and Republicans.........

Twight gives a really good talk about himself, possibly even worth $5 or $10. (Does he still do the tours?) I especially like his humor. Messner's political views are more interesting. Or at least, they seem to partly exist. Messner, however, apparently has zero sense of humor. They're both really lousy philosophers, political or otherwise. I found it very sad when Fidel had to give up cigars.

I've played aroud with these suggestions for a few minutes. They all seem good. Which is easiest? http://mapper.acme.com/ http://libremap.org/ http://www.topofusion.com/ http://store.usgs.gov/locator/?store_url...==?~okcode=SESH

What the hell is wrong with a communist?

Yeah.... The USGS is in the public domain but USGS does lousy job of making stuff available free. The "National Map" I linked above seems to be it.....Horribly complicated. .Designed by IRS tax accountants and computer geniuses...AND SLOW. 90% of the features we'd want are inaccessible, unaccessible or who knows???? It's designed so every freaking obscure bit of science may or may not be available....if you care and know which button to push. Topozone maps though, were sometimes dated from 1940s... Yeah to hell with whoever they were acquired by... HEY that Acme Mapper seems like it might be really good !!! THANKS

Where's the contour lines? ---AHha! that might be good...THANKS !! and what the hell is this? http://nmviewogc.cr.usgs.gov/viewer.htm It seems like it's probably usable but you need several doctorates in idiocy to figure it all out...

As often the case, I may be simply in the dark, but it seems like Topozone.com is sold to some site that wants money to look at maps. Can anybody recommend a similar site that's free? Why doesn't USGS put their stuff on line for free? GoogleEarth is interesting but I need USGS

Hmmmm.... maybe it WAS a spam-folder snafu and I'm being unfair to Petzl. When a retailer told them of my complaint, they were very helpful (via email communication.) Yeah Black Diamond certainly talks a good game, and they do make sure to charge the high-end prices. Perhaps because some of their core products are so strong, they figure customer service isn't a priority. I have a 20-year-old REI lamp that still works good....

I'll probably never buy another pair of boots without also spending a gazillion dollars on over-the-counter insoles. The right pair can work wonders for fitting and they also protect my fallen arches.

Yeah, I'm okay with a two-year warranty. I was offering to pay them for a repair. Their policy is no electrical repairs on headlamps. There are at least two morals to this story: 1) Lamps with integral battery packs avoid a potential failure point (no news there) and 2) the wings on certain Petzl lamps that clamp the housing together are weak points.

I bitched and moaned to the retailer, and THEN Petzl got back to me and was very kind and apologetic etc., and said they'd repair the thing. My mistake was probably relying on email to Petzl (rather than what I'm not sure.) Black Diamond, on the other hand, was very prompt and definite in telling me they don't repair their lamps. A 2-yr warranty expired. Do Black Diamond LED headlamps constitute hazardous waste or can I just toss it in the garbage? -

Black Diamond tells me they won't repair a busted cord on one of their headlamps for love or money. The 2-year warranty expired, but not before the cord. Petzl is much worse. They simply ignored two emails in which I asked about replacing a cracked housing on one of their $40+ lamps which is still under warranty. The Petzl housing is liable to crackage at point where flimsy plastic wings clamp to body of lamp. If my other wing cracks, and it probably will, the whole thing must apparently go in the trash. You bet I'll then be looking at Princeton Tec.

I have MSR Twin Peaks, much like Beta Light. I've used it in snow and cold and moderate wind and I think it's pretty good for that. Two rigid heavy poles are solid support compared with two or three flimsy hoops. I've never used it in buggy conditions. I've used a GoLite Hex in slightly buggy conditions, and it seemed somewhat effective. This is perhaps comparable to the Megamid. I'm not convinced that either are effective protection vs real serious bugs. I'd rather have the Hex than Twin Peaks to really test this question....

I do somewhat appreciate that lots of people worked hard on 2006 volume, but I've gotta say after a year or so of reviewing both my copies... I'm inclined to sell my 2006 edition and hold on to the 1988 edition. There really aren't many substantive differences apart from the misguided larger format, and additions about cragging on Olympics, which probably has value, but isn't something I'm much interested in. There is perhaps room for an "Olympics Select" volume. Let's hope it's edited according an entirely different standard relative to Mountaineers Books "Select" series. I have many specific criticisms regarding this series that I mainly won't mention. Let it suffice to say that including 5.13 climbs in certain of these "select" volumes from Mountaineers, isn't useful for most people, let alone Mountaineers' membership....

I have an MSR cannister stove, the "superfly." The two flanges that grab the lip of the cannister only work if they are screwed down very lightly. By screwing down a little harder, they slip off the lip of the cannister. Is this normal or is the stove messed up?

Hoosier: Possibly I misunderstood your post, or I'm completely mistaken, but I don't think a line from Skyline trail to Queets Basin would take you up the Queets Valley. I've hiked the Queets trail for a number of miles past the ford, and actually, I'd find it an admirable achievement to hike the valley all the way to Queets Basin. So I guess I misspoke a little. But meant to point out that Oly Mt. Guidebook says this route is of "limited value" as a Queets Basin approach. Robert Woods' book describes it in some detail, with similar comment as to its practicality.

An entirely separate question would be "what is hardest route in Olympics." I'm not remotely qualified to answer either the original question posed here, nor my question. It seems, however, the hardest rating in guidebook is somewhat obscure route on Mt Constance.

This is an interesting thread. It seems obvious, however, that Hoosierdaddy's proposed project of "bushwacking up the Queets Vally," while an extremely laudable, but perhaps also an inadvisable idea, is entirely unrelated to Mr. Blackhawk's question.

Book Review "Into Hot Air: Everest Mounted" I hope it's not copyright violation. (link) In his latest faux memoir, the big-screen goofball lugs his shtick up Mount Everest, joined by a team of very thinly veiled real-world celebs. Among Chris Elliot's supposed climbing companions is an overweight, radical documentarian from Flint, Mich., named Michael — last name undisclosed. Though Elliot's gags grow repetitive in Into Hot Air, this proudly idiotic parody is just what the self-important wilderness adventure genre deserves. B- (link)

checking forecast is rocket science?

So, say as a clever training exercise, you've supposedly built up the higher hemoglobin levels via chain smoking for weeks at altitude. Then you smoke little or nothing on heavy climbing days. Carbon monoxide remains in blood for "a while" you say. But oxygen, for example, doesn't seem to hang around very long if you hold your breath. The hemoglobin level is unchanged after 15 minutes, when you asphyxiate. WAH LAA!

Gang: Thank you for response. Of course, my implied suggestion is in general, absurd. But the study isn't commenting at all on smoking as health hazard. The more logical posts raise question concerning carbon monoxide in blood stream. But perhaps this matieral doesn't persist very long in the blood, relative to the persistance of higher levels of hemoglobin, and other apparently useful bloodstream materials reported for smokers vs nonsmokers. Maybe the moral of the story is, myself and most people, are unqualified to evaluate the data, but common sense ought to prevail. Ketch: The study is recent, very narrow, and concerns altitudes that aren't applicable to Tour de France. So your comments, like a few others, are probably ill-informed. As for Frank Smythe's debate, I believe the Everesters of 1920s and 30s were quite competent to evaluate their performance, but perhaps not competent to evaluate health effects of smoking. ...

Can smoking cigarettes be helpful at high altitude? An abstract from the Wilderness Medical Society seems to say yes. LINK There was a serious, non-scientific and inconclusive debate about this topic discussed by Everester Frank Smythe in the 1930s. Smoking is of course detestable, and to anyone trying to quit or who is likely to become addicted, I must appologize for this post.

John McPhee's 3-volumes-in-one book "Annals of the Former World" (F. Straus and Giroux, June 2000; 696 pages) is very accessible to the non-scientist. It's like reading about God, especially if you see "God" as some kind of metaphor. Its history of the science and various human interest stories are perhaps at least as interesting as its exhaustive, general topical overview, which emphasizes North America. It could easily bear re-reading a couple of times. http://www.johnmcphee.com/annals.htm "Geology of the North Cascades" is a lesser work, but quite wonderful, and of course more geographically specific, that many fans of the region will find of very keen interest. I remember when the Tabor/Crowder guides were sold by REI in the early 1970s, and I found them at WWSU library basement some years ago. The link is an absolute GEM.... ''''''''''''''''''