dmuja

I honestly believe its best to teach the hip belay to beginners first so they really understand what a "belay" is and arnt so gadget-focussed. Then belay devices make more sense to them I think. Plus I prefer strong partners myself, and a hip belay is a good litmus test though not pratical or safe for all routes of coarse. By da way, any a yoo limp wristed homos ever drop me, an I'll kEEa ya!

ALPINE - Rainier Solstice CRAGGING - Natty 10yo Sending Minnesota Iron SCENIC - Guye Peak Myst HUMOR - Oops! Wrong Camera Setting

And the list keeps getting longer.... "The Bush administration is ordering federal wildlife officials headed for international meetings on polar bears not to talk about how climate change and melting ice are affecting the imperiled animals." http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/306820_bears09.html -- Considering all the harm Bush and Co. have brought upon our society and the environment, if there really were such a thing as justice, they would all be in jail now instead of in power.

Hows the song go... "...Don't you wish your girlfriend was a freak like me. Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me. Don't you..."

I think brake side out the "top" or "bottom" is much less important than being comfortable, confident, and experienced in what ever technique your used to. Hell, (you'll probly laugh at this but..) half the time I stop falls with my guide hand - at least at first.

mt rainier is a classic example of upper mountain getting less snow than lower down..ill try to find the link later but i got to go back to work now.

Yeah its true we've (the NW) had a good snow year at the "snow band" level tween like 4 and 8 or 9 thousand ft or so elevation, it doesn't seem to correlate to higher elevations though. Thnx for the link!

Yeah it might, but these vids (if they still exist) would be something special especially if you have never seen them. They were often live as I recall, and the climbers were mic'd and describing their moves on the way up. There was also live narration by someone off camera who would occasionally stop talking to let the dude on the wall go thru a crux. "Ok Im going to stop speaking to (so and so) now so he can focus on making this dangerous move 2,000 feet above the valley floor..etc" Dramatic shit and it was the best live TV I can remember except for maybe when apollo went to the moon. A sad note however, occasionally at the end there would be a rolling text (like credits) that would (in reference to someone else they had previously broadcast) say something like, "In memory of Joe Dude who fell to his death while climbing (such and such) last month.." MAN, those were the days that make me go into the mountains today - can't explain what took me so long though!

G-Spotter wrote: And currently snowpacks are at or near record highs. Last year (05-06) was a bit better for snow pack (higher elevations on mt hood reveal noticeably less snow this year via photos) but it has been a fairly decent winter with slightly below normal temps and above average precip in the PNW. Elsewhere in NA though, winter was slow to come in most places (with some exceptions that made the evening news). This warmer/dryer trend -in what is normally snowy and cold places- did fit the predicted "El-Nino" pattern. On a related note (meant to be a bit satirical and not directed towards anyone in particular btw), Seems like this comes up a lot. DA DIFFRENSE TWEEBEAN CLIMATE AN WEDDER.. "Well its cold at my house and there is a lot of snow so global warming is a myth.." Climate change is about "climate" not "weather". Weather is small scale, climate is large scale and long term. Global warming models predict long term large scale averages because they are about "climate" not "weather". Example is that the *average* arctic temperature is expected to rise around 12 degrees in the coming years. This doesn't mean that every single day, at every single point in the arctic, the temp will be exactly "12 degrees warmer than historical averages". It means that on average, over all, with a certain amount of variability, that the temperatures will rise about 12 degrees. Again, "climate" is about averages, large scale, long term, historical, trends etc, "weather" is about what you will feel if you step outside at a single given moment in time, they are not the same thing. The "weather" is effected by climate, but "climate" does not emanate nor dictate the weather. It is impossible to make an accurate or meaningful statement regarding climate based on "weather" alone or on ones immediate experiencing of the weather alone. This is because what we as human animals experience is limited by our senses which operate on small scale bio-experiential levels. To get a clearer, bigger and in a way "truer" picture we have to move beyond our mere sense of experience and actually use our brains and intelligence to see the big picture that is emerging. This is where the science of climatology comes in. Weather varies hour to hour, day to day. Climate takes such variability into account and gains a perspective and understanding on the over all environment that is much broader than a single individuals momentary observations or experience of that environment. Hence, we can have moments, days, even years, where "Man we're having a good winter where I live" and yet still be in the midst of a clear trend towards a "not so good a winter". Because we use our brains and intelligence (well many of us do) and don't rely merely on our base sensual feed back alone, we KNOW beyond a reasonable doubt that, eventually, the variances will necessarily catch up to the trends and we will ALL notice the change in the climate. Of coarse, at that point (the point where we definitively notice the change at experiential levels) any effective opportunity for curbing the change will have long since passed. Have a nice day. ;P D

Wasnt there a guy (snowshoeing or skiing?) buried near Mt Baker last year or 2 for like 24 hours? I think he eventually dug himself out - my have been partially buried. I remember thinking Wow thats gotta be a record.

Cool site! Question, I got into climbing only in the last ten years or so but really enjoy researching times back in the day etc.. When I was like 10-15 years old ABC's Wide World of Sports (remember that?) would occasionally broadcast a Yos big wall climb. In my youth I was riveted. Im pretty sure there were some FFA's taped (and some live as well) then broad casted if I can recall. This was back in the early and mid seventies I think but am not certain. Does anyone else remember these? Would or could someone get access to these (hopefully) archived tapes? I'd fucking cry if I get my hands on a disk of these probably very rare vids. D

I guess Im sheltered Kinda cool though

A week + ago I was still below and left of it so I cant say for sure the height of the manky looking shit pile in the chute but the "vertical" part looked taller than 10 feet but not nearly like 50 feet. maybe 15+ aprox? Personally Im not quite sure what people mean by "old chute" vs "old crater route" anyway..What I can say is this.. The main issue with the chute(s) where the Pearly gates are found right now is not with its steepness, but rather all the crap (ice and rocks) coming down it. The upper mountain seems to have a bad case of the shits this year and the pearly gates are its toilet. The "shit fall" is happening to either side of the "Y" (left or right) once you start to enter the lower part and before you make your choice of left chute or right. Maybe the left would be better though imo if you managed to get up that far without getting nailed. You might have a half decent chance of getting up that route if you got there well before the sun hits it and on a cold windless morning. I wouldn't want to be in there when the sun starts beating all that stuff loose - specially without a tough and well shielded belayer. Most climbers are seemingly going wide left and up what Smoot calls the "Old Crater Variation" past the farthest "gargoyle" rock out cropping after you leave the Hogs Back. This means a leftward traverse across the crater wall and if solo you aught to have favorable avy conditions before you do that (else wear a beacon and have several friends ready to dig you out). Also see Iains beta and recomdendations above about moving fast to avoid getting hit there. Have fun and check it out and don't push it into a rescue PLEASE. Maybe update the beta when you get back too. D

Jus remember that climbing is about...well...*climbing*. That other stuff is for when you are no longer climbing, but rather....well... falling. Start there first, then everything else will make sense.

When da Pope speak, it awmost like climbin meant somethin! Pope Fan

Hopefully we can do this better than Europe has thus far.

I don't mind singing (many Muslim parents don't like their kids listening to music though) however Im not into that whole "Jesus thang" myself..

Of coarse Oly, I didn't say Muslims weren't "civilized" , just that their version of civilization is dramatically different from what most others are accustomed to. The differences run pretty deep and having the traditional "liberal-left-nicey-nicey-tolerant of all-Seattle" mind set won't allow one to gain an accurate veiw of what is actually happening.

Quote by tvashtarkatena: a) Why is Islam, itself, any more of a problem than any other religion? It's far closer in doctrine to Christianity than any other. b) How is our situation a clash of civilizations? Seems like a classic local turf war to me. c) How and why would a world war result if we pulled out of Iraq. Please to explain. --- Islam My own observations; {I work with kids and parents in the school system} Muslims are really not very interested in assimilating into or adopting our "liberal" secular system. At least at this point. They seem to see the world as divided between themselves and the nonbelievers/ infidels etc.. This sounds like Ive listened to Limbaugh too much but its coming from someone (me) who is generally on the far left politically. I see this stuff first hand. In Seattle for example (my observations) girls who are Muslim but for whatever reason didn't wear the veil (hajab) get harassed by other Muslim girls until they wear it. I could give other examples but its all just my own experience and observations and to be frank, Seattle school Dist is in denial about the whole subject imho. Ill just say that I think the whole non-assimilation/separatist thing is so bad that a "new racism" is emerging and will look something like this.. Muslims over here, all other cultural groups over there. In the years to come as they gain more numbers and political clout you will hear about more and more "demands" by Muslims to be allowed some types of special privileges I think - times set aside for prayer, special holidays just for them etc. Of coarse this is my own opinion and speculation. Islam is a fundamentalist literalist religion. There is utterly NO room for personal interpretation of the Koran. Various interpretations generally are grounds for sectarian warfare. If youre Muslim, you are either a fundamentalist, or you are on track to being labeled , treated, and maybe attacked as a "bad" Muslim or nonbeliever. Clash of Civilizations Its becoming a "clash of civilizations" because there are aproximately 1.5 billion Muslims who -for various reasons- were largely ignored by most of modern Western civilization until 9/11. Now it (Islam) is like a giant flower that has begun opening and spreading its spores throughout the non-Muslim world. Westerners/Christian liberals etc.., are just beginning to feel their presence and there will be much resistance when the effects of this "blossoming" become more completely felt. World War 3 or 4.. Iran has eyes for Iraq via Iraqs Sheite majority. If we pull out all at once the Sheites would begin to initiate a "final solution" of their own upon the Suni population. Saudi Arabia for example would not stand for this and Israel could not tolerate Iraq becoming a twin to Iran. The whole region would destabilize to such a point that its very likely Israel would be at war with most Arab countries in the area and the US would have to jump in to save Israel and become an enemy of every Arab and likely 1.5 billion Muslims world wide. Again JMO.

Thnx oly, just don't post any "bad" rap ok? Cuz I got my groove on now to dat shizzle yo fo sho.

Who the fuck really knows whats going on. Personally, I think 9/11 was the result of some sexual fetish between OBL and Bush and their Daddies. Having said that, Islam IS a problem, and sooner or later there was bound to be a clash of ideologies. "Iraq" however, was a plan - maybe not the best plan but a plan - that lacked world leadership, a conclusion, and or any contingency. I don't blame Bush (and co.) alone because a lot of people voted him and now they (we) are all going to suffer for his (our) lack of standing in the world. In the end, negotiation, diplomacy and compromise will be what carries the day and invading Iraq will likely be seen to have been a big mistake. But if we pulled everyone out all at once in an instant withdrawl I think the whole region would go up and we might have a world war on our hands. Cant do that imo. Our grand kids will be dealing with this shit unfortunately, that and our lack of action on global warming.

I dont hate rap I jus hate bad rap

Believe it man!

"he could be sending V9 in two weeks" Who needs partners for bouldering anyway? Life's too short to try and fulfill anyone elses expectaions about your potential. But, climbing with better climbers will improve your climbability.

I heard they feed off the dead carcasses of slaughtered animals and climb mostly at night..scary shit! Its only a rumor though.