faster_than_you

Not knowing your skill, and assuming your proficient on 65 degree ice with a large pack at 13,500... Bring 4 screws and 4 pickets. More than likely, you wont need the screws (but if you do, you'll want them,) but the pickets could be useful for a variety of other reasons. Maybe what you're missing here is that very, very few people climb that route in April. You're a month and a 1/2 ahead of most. That's why there's a little poking going on. If you get pics, we'd all love to see them! And if you make it (or at least claim to have a good time,) we'll toast you too!

Again, I agree about the "rumor" part of this... Maybe we're just putting the word out. AK is a small place when it comes to climbing. General opinion can have a way of working itself into the system... Before you're looking at three alternatives in a NPS managed meeting. BUT now that I think about it, the NPS just raised the fee to $200 w/o public comment last time.

Your reading too much into my post. The outrage is over the amount! I did not make an issue of what the NPS is doing on the mountain. In fact, I reference the value of a climbing/resource protection program. I would also agree that $200 isn't "too" bad... but... $500, or more? I know to "climb elsewhere"... Thank you, how could I forget? But it sort of stinks to think Denali would be 2K (or 1K) for my climbing partner and me. As for the rumor, you're right. It may not happen that soon, or go that high, but I heard it from a reliable person... And with a gentle nudge agreed it might be good to nip this early. Seems easier to just wait... Anyone can do the research to figure out the names/emails of the people above.

Hey Neoday... You seem to be obsessing/stressing about a photo and the ice?? Are you sure you're ready for some moderately steep ice at altitude with a heavy pack? You should consider yourself fortunate if you make it up the bergschrund this time of year... Layton and OlegV are on the mark, just go find out. More than likely, it will be a lot of slogging.

Hey cat lovers... How do you attach a 1 Meg video to this BB? I've got a funny cat video... but feel technologically impaired when it comes to getting it posted...

Who also feeds her pet from the table, has a HUGE dog food bill, and has dog hair all over her couch and clothing. I wonder if her house smells like dog farts.

I was beginning to wonder if anyone cared about this?? I thought there would be a little more outrage over this proposal. Maybe this thread should be moved to the Alaska Forum? The fees are here to stay, but that sort of increase (particularly after they just raised the fee last year) is ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS! As for fees, it’s important to make sure is that they are reasonable and that they are also dedicated to Climbing/Resource protection programs. Any sort of letter/email campaign would be best drafted to a few key higher ups including the NPS Director, Deputy Director, Regional Director, Park Super and Chief Ranger. It should also include the AAC and maybe the Access Fund (and perhaps the media.)

Sure, we can cut your assumption out...

It's obvious, Dru is diligently searching for The Nodder.

Cat falls 80 feet and survives... With Video

There is a reliable rumor that the NPS upper management at Denali National Park are considering a CLIMBING FEE INCREASE to 1,000 dollars!!! Actually, the rumor is more that the NPS is "proposing" an increase to $750-$1000, but is actually hoping to see it increase to $500. The fee is at $200 now; and that seems terribly high already!!! IMO, this is fucked pure and simple. Consider that what goes down on Denali, will probably trickle to Baker, Rainier, Adams, Hood, Shasta, etc. I recognize that some climbers consider these sorts of peaks "slogs," but for many, they remain the peaks where climbers garner rudimentary skills. It’s difficult to see this sport (and some of the peaks) become the playground for the rich. In the meantime, this "cat" is out of the bag, lets see what climbers are thinking. Perhaps we can wage a preemptive letter campaign? Who's on board?

Sheriff Joe sounds like a real joy to spend time with...

Deputy fire chief faces indecency charge The Arizona Republic Mar. 7, 2006 10:17 AM Leroy Donald Johnson was caught this weekend in a barn with his pants down, literally, according to a sheriff's office report. "You caught me ... I tried to (expletive) your sheep," Johnson told his neighbor, according to the report. But the Mesa Fire Department deputy fire chief changed his story when a sheriff's deputy arrived on his doorstep minutes later, denying anything happened. Johnson, 52, was jailed on suspicion of disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing after the neighbor told investigators he found Johnson, unzipped and holding a sheep down on its side. That's the sanitized version. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office report released Monday night is a little more graphic. Johnson's neighbor told sheriff's deputies he was called home Saturday afternoon when his 13-year-old daughter saw Johnson drag one of their sheep into a barn. The teenager said Johnson had first knocked on the front and back door of the home in the 1200 block of East Catclaw Street, in a county island in Gilbert, before grabbing the small gray lamb, records showed. One of the deputies noted that Johnson had bloodshot eyes and smelled of alcohol, and neighbors who confronted him said he admitted everything. According to the deputy's report, "(The owner) took me into the back yard and showed me where he and (neighbor) pulled up. He took me through the corral gate and I saw the victim for the first time. She was a small gray lamb about three feet tall and four feet long." The men then told the deputy they walked over to the small barn, opened the door and "saw Leroy holding the lamb down on its side in the hay with his pants down trying to have sex with it. That's when he made the statement about (expletive) the lamb." The men said Johnson stood up and zipped up his pants. "The sheep ran out of the barn at that point," the report says. Johnson apologized, according to the report, and said he'd had "too much to drink." The Mesa Fire Department placed Johnson, on paid leave Monday pending an internal investigation. Johnson, deputy chief of technical services, has been with the Mesa Fire Department for nearly 26 years. Assistant Fire Chief Mary Cameli said Johnson has been an "exemplary" employee with a spotless personnel record. "We were all very surprised by this," Cameli added. Johnson did not return a call for comment Monday. When confronted by a deputy at his home, Johnson initially denied the incident, saying he had been at his neighbor's house to talk about annexation. Johnson said he went into the barn after hearing noises. The deputy said to him, "I believe something more than that happened," and offered help. Johnson responded, "I probably do need some help, but I don't know if this is the time or place for it," according to the report. When asked how the animal got into the barn, Johnson said, "I'm not going there," then asked if he was going to be arrested and demanded to know his legal options. He continued to deny that anything happened in the barn and was arrested. "I think it's disgusting," Sheriff Joe Arpaio said. "I think of Ghandi who said you judge the morality of a country by the way they treat their animals. . . . I do look at (bestiality) as some type of animal cruelty."

Who is Dan? I thought you were into fido...

So you can type girlfriend of Fido, but you can't drive?

Thanks for taking this thread into the "sick-zone."

I know, but you guys also the hate The Nodder. And anyway, I felt like ranting on the D's... they've become so frigging disappointing...

I seriously wonder if outlawing abortion may be a good thing for a struggling, lame ass, democratic party which has carried this court decision around for way too god damn long! America would do well to forget "litigating" the abortion issue and instead, let the VOTERS speak on it!!! It's seems well KNOWN that if the issue were put to a vote, most of America favors the ability to choose. So let the states speak, and pass their own legislation. If SD chooses this (and some other states will too,) others will certainly go the other way and pass legislation legalizing/protecting it. Moreover, I don't believe that abortion will ever really be "ILLEGAL" in ALL of America. That's an "alarmist" attitude pressed by NOW, Planned Parenthood, etc... the power of women in today's politics is too strong, and well, after 30 years of abortion, women aren't going to give that one easily. The democratic party has become the party of abortion, gay and environmental rights?!. Do most American "REALLY" vote based on those three issues? I think most people keep their eyes on: jobs, money, comfort of living, and now, war. America isn't the land of "legalized abortion" and gay marriage, it's "the land of the minimum wage.," or "the land of the colonial marketplace that went awry." So go for it SD, see what illegalizing abortion does for you. Wow, I sound like a federalist... Let me say that I hope women can always make this choice for themselves, but I'm not convinced it's a topic worth debating again, and again, and again, and again, and again... America has much larger fish to fry. Ok, back to finding The Nodder.

Wanna race...??? Maybe we can find The Nodder along the way?

Seagal makes me think "Seagals." Is Steven Seagal a Seagal by default?

Fuck Yeah, Nodder! Looking for bad guys and kicking Nodder-ass on page 42.

So, did you evolve Jr and grow some feet so that you can walk on land Mr. Fish and Chips? Anyway, Bond has a Walther PPK, drives the best cars, and gets all the hot ladies, who needs gills?

Sure do Nodder. All these action heros searching for The Nodder, and saving the world from evil... How about we get a real bad ass, where is James Bond?

Wow, that's an incredible amount. The Utah Avalanche Center, for instance, had a budget of $212k for 04-05. One could argue they provide a better service through their website too. Some truth here. The NWAC folks do mountain "weather" forecasting too, which is nice, but expensive. As for funding, I'd like to see the state step in; they benefit the most.

It sure is smoky in here...