olyclimber

Are you serious?

Rather than painting it as a black and white, all or nothing argument that seems to be going on here, it seems to me that the "bolt or no bolt" is really a land use issue. For instance, I love mountain biking...and I love some of our national parks, but I can't ride my mountain bike on the trails in our parks. There is, however, plenty of great riding in land that is outside of the parks. I'm fine with this. Same with bolting: If the goal is to keep an beautiful area pristine and wild, I sure as heck don't want to see a bolt ladder going up the side of some rock face... I have no problem with a trad climber climbing it with removalable/not destructive aid. On the other hand, I don't see any problem with bolts in areas that are not designated to remain pristine and are for recreational use. Of course, if you love a non-protected climbing area that is in risk of getting bolted up, you better work on getting it officially designated to save it rather than starting a war with people who want to bolt it.

Yes. Check out this thread.

I have a few. They're pretty heavy. I won't buy any more for this reason.

Some dry cleaners have a special treatment available. A few phone calls should yield some good info. PS...I'll take your cat. I LOVE cats.......in gravy. I wouldn't recommend dining on this particular cat. I think it has a bloodline relation to a pole cat or some other scented feline. There is the strange story of how its mother went missing for a few months up in Bellingham, and then showed up in my closet one day having kittens...and this one picked me out. Anyway, my son seems to like it, so unfortunately for all of you...this cat giveaway business is all in jest.

No, of course not. That cat is not available that this time. I swear it isn't the same cat.

When someone discovers the majick method for removing the scent of cat pee from a pack, please PM me or post. Also, if someone needs a cat, let me know.

Uggg.....if one googles 'dwayner', you find the origins of his cc.com name selection. or was this term named for him?

My speed climbing technique is unstoppable! Is everyone working tomorrow or what? Or is the rain forcast (snow in the mtns) making eveyone think that going out tomorrow is a stupid idea? Echo...Echo... Am I the only one with a day off?

Anyone interested in going on a little hike into the hills tomorrow? I need some one to time my speed ascent of some little hill like this here Mailbox peak that's been getting all the press lately. Or PM me if you have any better ideas...I just have the day off and need to get outside.

Wow. Getting pumped about this Mailbox Peak climb. Any Official Timers out there? I'm going to need you for my speed climb of Mailbox peak, alpine style of course. I will be wearing my shorts over my performance prolyproplene and of course I couldn't go anywhere without my gaitors. I'll of course document the trip so there can be no doubt as to the validity of my claim: look for a picture of me in the dark, and then one of me with the rotting couch, shot-gunned TV, mailboxes, and that other crap. I have the day off tomorrow, so I'm headed up! Any of you Extremo Mountain Dudes out there up for it?

You mean people actually climb outdoors? Isn't that dangerous?

If you decide to go up Mount Stone via the Putvin Trail, a fun way out is to drop over to Scout lake and then out via Lena lakes trail. Then you just need a ride back up to the Putvin trailhead. Look for the yellow nalgene bottle I lost on the east side of Mt. Stone where my brother and I slid down to the little lake visible from the summit just south of Scout Lake. Finders keepers.

If someone doesn't buy this bag quick, he's going to raise the price to $500! But wait...if demand was high, wouldn't that mean that someone already bought it? There must be some new theory of economics at work here.

I have always viewed those who flame or show a lack of sympathy (especially on cc.com, because we're all climbers, wannabees or experts) for those injured or killed climbing as people who are insecure in their climbing ablility. They might actually be great climbers, but they are insecure. (Myself, I am not a great climber, and I'm secure with that for now. I'm working on it) The fact is we could be killed anywhere, and stupid decisions or chance that kills people occurs everywhere, not just in the mountains. While almost every accident can be attributed to human error on some level, that error was not that they were or are climbers. It can be a set of conditions that could happen to the most skilled people, like a non-lethal fall that leads to lethal decisions afterwards. I wish that people would show more respect, but then you just have to feel sorry that they go through their lives feeling so insecure.

Well, they don't rip your car apart and search it everytime either. But I have seen them doing that to people and have known it to happen to people...and in those cases they found nothing and let the people go on their way. They spot check, and if they sense anything funny they'll dig deeper. It wouldn't surprise me also if they just pick every 10th car to examine more closely or run checks on people's IDs. Bad luck to be one of those people, but if they checked everyone thoroughly it would take a whole day or more just to cross the border. You've just been lucky like me so far if they haven't run a computer check on you and detained you longer than ten seconds.

It must be difficult for them to read American. It is one of the toughest languages to learn.

Thanks for the translation stinkyclimber...I would have never gotten that. And after years of living up in Bellingham I could speak Canadian, eh...

Is this article online or is it only on dead trees? If online, link please.

My name is Porter, and I object to my name being associated with work. And I'm not carrying your load up to Muir. Do it yourself.

Border crossing with our North American neighbors is just different after 9-11. When in college at WWU in Bham we used to go across all the time (50 times a year or so) and never had a single problem either way. Now coming into the US they're checking more, and so Canada is checking more. Also, Canada's recent political changes (for weed, gay marriage, etc) have caused our government to look at the border policies differently, started a sort of Border war. We could see the border between Canada and the US looking more like our border with Mexico. It's too bad, but plan for the worst as far as needing ID when you're going either direction. Also, don't do anything to piss off the guards and look them in the eye when you talk to them. I bring a passport and drivers license, and have exactly what I'm going to tell them I'm going to be doing thought out so it doesn't seem like I'm making it up. Last time up was to do the Bowron Lakes...awesome trip, 2nd time around the lakes for me.

"Llamaneering is a great family activity..." Llamas are aid.

Thanks for the advice lummox. I actually went ahead and bought a REI 0 degree downbag that is mentioned above. I did check out both MEC.CA and sierratradingpost.com (which is a great place to find killer deals on closeouts). The specs on the REI bag, being able to see the bag before I bought, and the price, and the quality leaned me towards the REI bag. That I got %15 off of my total purchase because of a sale sealed the deal. BTW, there is a pretty good deal on a MARMOT SISKIYOU 5° DOWN SLEEPING BAG at sierra trading post...$187...fairly close to the same as I paid for the REI bag after the discount if you add in the shipping. Thanks...

Thanks...I got a REI Kilo Plus. Very nice bag....will give a report on how it is in colder weather when I get chance to use it for that.

Anyone know the best deal going for a -5 to 0 degree F sleeping bag. I want to go light and small, so down would probably be the best. The REI -5 F down bag looks good at $279. Are there better deals than that out there? I've looked around at some online sales, but that is the best I've found so far.