barkernews

Yeah. Kerry's slick. But he has just a tiny bit more personality than Bob Dole. It's Kerry race to lose... but who'll he choose as a running mate? A bore like Gephart (bore+bore=more bush) or someone with spunk like Dean (they appeared on stage together in the People's Republic of Portland.)

Dude, I gave up on keeping my wife in line. I think she keeps me in line. But yeah, that's pretty crazy about Mayfield. His family and friends are pretty pissed off. It's hard to believe that the feds could screw something up so bad. There's gotta be more to the story. Or maybe someone's feeding Michael Isikoff (the Newsweek guy who broke the story) a load of garbage. Whatever the case may be, he's still considered a material witness and part of a grand jury investigation...

HHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The sweet irony of it all... Our TV station is on Sandy. Guess that makes us the whores. By the way, I'll do anything for a six pack of Fat Tire.

Kind of... Firefighters will drop retardant in lines near active fires to create fire breaks or direct the fire in a certain direction. I suppose they could do it proactively... but if you multiply the cost of the retardant times the millions of acres you'd have to cover just to create proactive firebreaks... it'd cost more money than a day's worth of bombs in Iraq. and we could have that.

I'm on week three of bike commuting. My pickup gets SHITTY gas mileage and they just opened a new train line in PDX that I can link up with from my bike ride. If I could make one suggestion that no-one else has mentioned... it'd be to buy some BEEFY wheels. I ride a road bike and I've already beat the crap out of my wheels. They're so far from true it's not even funny. I just found out that in Oregon, employers can get a pretty major deduction for building showers in their buildings to encourage bike commuters. It might be worth a mention to your employer if you don't have a shower at work. I do have a shower at the office, leave all my clothes at work, and ferry a stack of clothes to the dry cleaners down the street from work once a week.

It depends on how low and slow they can fly the things. It sounds like the FAA may do a 180 and approve those C-130s and P-3s for airdrops again. Let's hope so. A P-3 saved a big part of Turkey Rock outside of Denver during the Hayman Fire. Many other parts of that area are still closed. Those are our climbing areas that'll go up in flames without some sort of fire management. On the other hand... some of those airplanes are literally 60 years old and still dropping retardant. Thats nuts.

Hey... if there's a story there, let me know. I just moved to Oregon and haven't climbed at the Butte yet. Too busy driving to Smith or Frenchman's Coulee. But if you think trash at the Butte is a good story, tell me more... ----------------------- Brian Barker Reporter KATU-TV Portland, Oregon 503-231-3529 newsroom bbarker@katu.com ------------------------

Yep, F*** OPEC. I've been biking to work since gas hit $2.00/gallon. But all the money I've saved I spent on gas for one weekend trip to Smith. We need a bus to Smith or Frenchman's Coulee from PDX every weekend. Seriously. If we all banded together... think how much that would save... But you can't share my tent.

We're trying! I work at KATU and, as the only climber at the station, I'm trying to drill it into everyone's heads that the stoned/drunk meth-head stumbling down the talus doesn't constitute a "climber". Also, the roped up team of mountaineers on Mt. Hood aren't "hikers". It's like nails on a chalkboard to me... but I think a lot of people who don't climb just don't get it or don't care.

If you've got the cash for a new pack... Osprey just came out with a pretty sweet one. It's got gear loops inside for a rack and a rope bag stashed in the fold-out thingy that you zip off. It's pretty damn expensive, though. I've always just stuffed my rack towards the top of my pack. My reasoning: I don't want all my prrrty cams to get smashed.

gotta vote for wherever i may roam. But there's a loose bolt and hangar at the third belay... round river's ok too... but the descent is a bitch

thoughts and prayers to family and friends. this sucks.

Oh, our last check on Geoff Godfrey came up with the following: Broken ribs Broken pelvis Facial Trauma Hypothermia He's at Legacy Emmanuel. Hope he's back on the crags soon...

one of the rescue guys (Steve Rollins?) was saying the climbers were a bit off route. better to veer a bit left (west) towards crater rock. also, there's a great story that hasn't been told about three dudes from Seattle who were some of the first responders. Matt Maker, Mike Di Sisto, and a third guy (sorry, I only interviewed two of them) are employees at a REI in Seattle. they bailed on their summit bid and helped Marc Reynolds call for help. Then Di Sisto rapped into the crevasse and tried to pry the victim (Geoff Godfrey) out. He says he stayed in that crevasse with Godfrey for about four hours shootin' the shit and trying to keep him concious. Mad props are obviously due to PMR... but also to these guys.

Liz, I'll jump on your bandwagon. I'm looking for the same info. Brian Barker Reporter KATU-TV Portland 503-231-3529 bbarker@katu.com

What about Mt St Helens? Whats up with the bilers riding up to the summit there? Is that legal. Kinda destroys the experience...

Anyone know how often you should replace your climbing harness? Mine's four years old but looks great. It's a little fuzzy, but no fraying along the seams or anything. Any advice? Does the webbing in a harness decay significantly over a few years?