johndavidjr

The hex weighs less than 3 lbs and fits 1 man, 1 woman, and two muddy huskies with very sharp claws. It also fits one man and 60 empty beer cans, plus minimal extra gear. The Megamid is larger and lighter.

I don't prefer shelters designed to be permanently open on the ends like the Squall and many others appear to be. In fact, I own something like that, briefly made by Mountain Hardwear, floorless, with netting. It's nuts. A door adds just a few ounces.

In NW summer alpine swamps & similar places, I've always used full-coverage bug protection. In recent years I acquired a Hex-3 floorless tarp, and have used it a lot including some, but not much among serious bugs. For this generic typle of shelter in mosquito hell, is the protection adequate or not? I really don't want the bug "insert" and might revert to a smaller, traditional "tent" if strongly advised.

A good bio of Beckey would apparently include stuff his friends would find "uncomplimentary" but a bio isn't primarily supposed to be a compliment. Beckey doesn't need anybody to pump up his reputation, though by the same token, a gratuitous hatchet job would be just as unfortunate. Krakauer is certainly not the only writer qualified to do a Beckey biography, but I can think of one or two other marginally well-known journalists with bona fide Northwest backgrounds who might get a book contract, & probably do a downright lousy job (I'm not thinking of you, Mr. Skoog). In a passing comment during Saturday's slide show, Beckey called Krakauer "a fairly good friend of mine." BTW the napkin comments, while quite a laugh, don't really ring true to me. "Range of Glaciers" contains enough research to qualify for at least a couple of Ph.Ds. Beckey's notes and papers might be pretty vast, whether or not they include material about women and food, and a good bio would require access to this stuff. It would also be best written before his mid-career associates are all dead. ----

"The media," at its root and almost by by definition, is entirely a product of "the establishment," and in this sense, is "conservative" by necessity. America, is by definition and its constitution etc., a "liberal" country, even today, though there may be cause for worry. As for the guy in Krakauer's book, to me it's pretty clear he was a very bright guy struggling with a mild version of schizophrenia.

Yeah, probably that was what he was talking about. I even read the thing and used to own it. I said it was a fairly stupid post. But consider, just for example, that Willie Unsoeld has been the topic of two separate biographies. The first, by Laurence Leamer, was slap-dash and slightly mean-spirited, while the second... seemed in part like an uncredited rip-off from Leamer, and not especially worthwhile. It would be a shame if Beckey's is less than first rate.

I was utterly thrilled to meet Fred Beckey at one of his many slide shows Saturday; this one at New Paltz, N.Y. I was invited, by somebody, to his table at a local bar afterward, but, despite my interest, I declined, saying that I'd be "just another celebrity hound" with no legitimate reason to attend... At the show, I asked him whether he would publish an autobiography, and/or if his pal John Krakauer, would be writing his biography. He seemed to say, though I may well have misunderstood him, that he might have something in the works about his "early climbs" which I think would be an astonishing book if it ever appeared. I think Beckey is an extraordinarily good writer, which I assume must reflect a deep intelligence. But despite his intellectual leanings (see "Range of Glaciers) he seems to have little interest in sharing self-insight (if any) and also suffers from a kind of false modesty. To me this seems like it could be a generational thing... People born back in the day were/are perhaps very different from baby boomers and the later generations. Speaking of which, he said JK was "too busy making lots of money" to produce a biography.. Though I certainly have no inside information, I continue to hope and suspect that JK might some day write something up on Beckey... I mentioned that there are bound to be a number of writers that will eventually write his biography... His response was "Who cares?" Maybe the lesson is that passing judgment on Beckey, or whatever celebrity, beyond their actual accomplishments, may be rather lame. But inevitably, people will do it. I do wish he'd write the damned autobiography, but I assume he doesn't want to and/or can't.

I enjoyed this story very much and wish to thank the author and NWMJ folks for making it available. But I disagree with the author's assertion that it takes a "careful reading of Beckey" to get information about high routes. Beckey's guidebooks are subtitled "Climbing and High Routes." ...

From Natl Weather Svc winter season forecast: In the Northwest, there are equal chances for above-, near-, or below-average temperatures. Precipitation should be above average in much of the region due to La Niña.

So all I'm asking is, what do Lutherans really believe about optimal arrest/belay ice axe length? What a gdmd stupid question--- Ehh??

The old question is, APART from potentially significant compromises for climbing performance and transporting convenience, what is optimal length of an ice axe for self arrest and belays? I've used mainly a 70 cm but obviously a 60 cm would be more fashionable and more fun to carry in a pack. The write-up above, rather ancient, suggests that a 50-60 cm axe isn't as safe as 70 cm....However it seems to me an 80-90 cm axe and maybe even the 70 cm, is less that optimal for arrest/self belay, partly due to spike issues..... Is Ivon Chouinard still correct in is "Climbing Ice" book where he suggests 70 cm as the standard ?

From 1970 accident analysis by Alpine Club of Canada: Another important point to be emphasized here is the difficulty in doing an ice-axe arrest with a short or "north wall" axe as compared with a mountaineering axe. Much of the effectiveness of an arrest on hard snow comes from the pressure of one's chest against the shaft of the ice axe. With a short axe there is less shaft and furthermore, it slips out of range easily. Witnesses to this incident report that whenever XX went into the self arrest position his axe went up so that his arms were stretched to full length above his head. This position probably made it easier for him to be flipped over onto his back, and was totally useless for arrest in hard snow. With a longer shafted axe, even if one's hand on the head is pulled out full length, one still has part of the shaft under the chest and one arm bent down near the chest to make rolling over less easy. Furthermore, it is more difficult for a long shafted axe to be drawn out from under the body to where one's arm is stretched up to full length.

In your provided link, the thirteenth photo has been my PC background for a week or more. Can you identify the peaks???

I suggested that my high-temperature cousin use garbage bags and duct tape one night at about five degrees inside a half-decent tent. He had a heavy down jacket, but I forget whether he had a mattress. To this day, he can blame me for very dumb idea, (but I didn't forget my damned sleeping bag) ....

How much did Fred Beckey's first guidebook cover of Olympic Mts. and separately, has it had any influence on "new" guidebook to Olympics? I've probably mentioned that apart from cragging sections, I don't see much new editorial stuff in new edition. See recent thread on Deception. Also, what rating system, if any, did Beckey's first book employ?

Tell that to the guidebook committee....

The route I took on Deception, which you describe in full and is partly same as HM, is rated class 2. Dare I call it a sandbag? The guidebook leaves out the 50-degree snow and nasty cornice you saw. I'm surprised they didn't re-rate climbs in new Olympic Mt Guidebook. I think I can dimly remember HM is rated class 3. Looked like at least 4 in your photos?

You're right. Never Mind....I've been living in a box since I got the bill for the Towers. I thought Vettas were much lighter than Trangos, but in fact they are actually heavier. The redesign confused me. Weren't Vettas lighter in previous design?

The Garmont Vetta Plus is either a breakthrough design or soon to become an historical curiosity. EDIT: I've now been corrected and realize this is a completely stupid statement. How do the new Vettas compare with Garmont Tower?

I heard 15 years ago, that some deluxe Visa/Mastercards covered this automatically. I never investigated & things may change. Do any airlines issue Visa cards like REI?

Brief quote from current biography reviews.... Why Fanck cast Riefenstahl as the star is not entirely clear. She herself never doubted the magic of her personal appeal. Fanck, too, allegedly threatened suicide when Riefenstahl shifted her amorous attentions to the leading man, Luis Trenker (Sokal had already been left pining in the cold, despite his largesse). "All of them were in love with me," she recalled. "Oh, it was a drama always!" But the fact that Harry Sokal offered to finance the movie must have helped her get the part. More than that, Sokal bought out Fanck's company. After The Holy Mountain, Riefenstahl starred in The Great Leap (1927), The White Hell of Piz Palü (1929), and Storm over Mont Blanc (1930). Although none of these films rose above crude melodrama, Fanck had a real talent for visual effects. He was a great experimenter with different lenses, camera angles, and filters. Working with such superb camera-men as Hans Schneeberger (another Riefenstahl conquest), he was a master of dramatic cloud effects and backlighting that gave human figures as well as Alpine landscapes a mystical aura. The hyped-up drama of expressionism was fused in his work with a quasi-religious mood of German Romanticism. Susan Sontag used the phrase "pop-Wagnerian," which seems about right....

Interesting link to site of Australian government's Antarctic program in which a newly designed (2003) expedition pyramid tent is featured. http://www.aad.gov.au/default.asp?casid=13208

I'm too cheap to buy the resulting book "Invisible On Everest," published in 2005. Here's a write-up on some of the research. A two-year project to create replicas of George Mallory's climbing gear - worn on his ill-fated 1924 Everest expedition - has seen expert teams from four UK universities and other knitwear specialists collaborate to discover what we can learn from early clothing produced for extreme conditions. Their key discoveries were that: - contrary to popular belief, Mallory and Irvine were well equipped for their ascent of Everest. - Mallory's clothes were windproof, waterproof and warm - layering of clothes was very effective for warmth. Silk and wool mixes, replicated by John Angus at the University of Derby, were intelligently knitted and effective - this was the lightest kit ever used on Everest: 20 per cent lighter than equivalent high-altitude mountaineering clothes today - Mallory's boots were 50 per cent lighter than modern equivalents, made using wool felt and leather, with nails for gripping - Vanessa Anderson, the Performance Sportswear Masters student from Derby who replicated his woven outerwear, discovered that the way the jacket was tailored made it more manoeuvrable than today's equivalent. Etc............. ---------

An aimless question: Frequently, going without crampons is the simplest answer, based on my own fairly limited experience, common sense and advise of elders..... The next simplest answer is obviously limited by plates made for whatever crampons you've got... which may be actual crux of your question..... Jury or gerry rigged substitutes--- I have no idea personally...Beeswax and aluminum foil ???? Poppy residue ??? ----------

I purchased this lamp nine months ago, on the strong recommendation of a sales clerk. (I was replacing a BD Moonlight, because its external wiring failed after about 2-3 years of use.) Recently a battery inside the Petzl popped. The very minor explosion broke a plastic wing that is part of lamp casing. Perhaps REI would give me an exchange or refund, but I didn't buy it there. In terms of warrantee, I suppose it was the battery that failed and not the headlamp, which cost nearly $50!!!. I've only had a battery explode once previously, about 15 years ago, and it didn't harm the very cheap REI lamp it was powering. --------