wfinley

The guy was an English major. If anything Homer made him do it. Or maybe it was Shakespeare. Then again Ovid is pretty obscene too.

Here are some stats for the gun nuts: Bureau of Justice Statistics; Murders, robberies, and aggravated assaults in which firearms were used, numbers of offenses and rates per 100,000 population, 1973 to 2005: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/tables/guncrimetab.htm Here's a breakdown of the actual guns used in crimes. This is important because the main talking point of the NRA is that most guns used in violent crimes were obtained illegally. However -- according to this study from the DOJ only 40% of guns were obtained illegally - 28% were legally purchased and 39% were purchased from a friend / family. Thus the main talking point is wrong -- most guns were obtained legally. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/fuo.pdf And finally - in regards to the VT incident... the guns were legally bought. The first one on March 13th and the second one exactly 30 days later. http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/04/first_gun_bough.html

BTW -- Here's a good blog on the events: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/shooting-at-virginia-tech/

And in 2003 Idaho ranked #6 for suicide.

Idaho is also many miles away from a major population center - yet it still ranks 42 (out of 52 which includes DC and Pueto Rico). Doesn't sound that great to me. It also doens't sound like such a great place to be a woman... #29 for rape. Are women not allowed to carry guns or are guns being used to enforce rape?

God given? Wow - can I have some of what you're smoking? FWIW - the Va. legislature actually tried to pass a law allowing people to carry guns on university premises. It failed shortly after a legislator mistakenly discharged his handgun inside his office! As for the canned NRA argument -- do you guys really believe this or are you just reading the back of the card they gave you?

That sucks; I lived in the dorms for two years at Va. Tech... I can't imagine what some of those kids are dealing with right now.

FWIW - Hauling a SLR to 17 camp is well worth the weight - if the weather cooperates the photos you can get from high camp can be some of the best from your trip.

Alas I can't hang with the old guys; didn't discover climbing till 1990. This is as close as I got to climbing in the 80s. Almost like a tauntaun, but different.

Zig is further to climbers right - around the corner from Angel's Arete My first lead fall ever was on Zig; I popped right off while trying to jam pass the crux! BTW - some guys freed that crack that cuts across the roof last year! I never heard the story about Frank Gibson; that's sad. The guys who climbed at the NRG in the late 80s / early 90s were (and still are) really tight friends - I imagine it shook up a lot of people.

I'm pretty sure it's "Zag" - a 5.8... albeit a Seneca 5.8. It's the route just right of the giant roof you first walk up to right? There used to be a classic sign here that said "Please do not change in front of locals".

If you ask me it all sounds horrible. I commute from my bed to the living room; all of about 15 steps. Sometimes I stop by the kitchen and make coffee; this takes about 2 minutes.

You work in the porn industry? Are you like a cam-guy or something?

Don't worry Alpinfox... one look at those pix and people will realize that you still have alot of schooling to attend before any of the above people photographed can qualify as gangsta's or rednecks. For example you're drinking Corona and clipping bolts. Rednecks drink PBR and climb slab because you can climb slab with a beer belly.

A nice fun flamefest at Mountainbuzz... Drugs, guns, pro-boaters and booze; about the only thing missing is sex. Dissapointing Experience At Escalante: http://www.mountainbuzz.com/forums/f11/dissapointing-experience-at-escalante-12792.html

Just 5 minutes south of Anchorage are the roadside crags - once rated "Worst Crag in North America" by R&I magazine.

Nice to see other VA boys on CC.com! Got any old photos of the gendarme?

This illustration is from a 1984 story in the Mountaineering Club of Alaska newsletter by Dave Johnston. This was the setup he did for a solo winter ascent of Sanford.

Be aware that you'll be driving on ice for 9 months out of the year. The Golf will rock for milage but suck driving day after day on ice. It's sad to say but everyone up here has an SUV, Subaru or truck. Driving a tiny car means it's only a matter of time before some redneck in a Dodge Ram towing 3 snowmachines t-bones and crushes you on the highway. Nasty winter accidents up here are the norm, so a bigger car is nice to have. We have a 4-runner - but we walk to work so commuter miles / gas costs are not an issue.

I've bummed around 2 summers in the Rockies / NW. On one trip we went Rainier > Squamish > Canadian Rockies > Little Switzerland; on another we went Alaska Range > Canadian Rockies > Bugs > Tetons. Both were amazing trips! Definitely hit the Bugs and Canadian Rockies! If you want to climb in Alaska start your trip up here in June; don't bother coming all the way up if it's after June - it's too rainy!

I always carry both a point and shoot and my SLR. I carry 2 lenses for my SLR (a fixed 20 and a 28-200); but usually only carry the mid-zoom on summit day. My fully manual SLR worked fine on Denali until the summit ridge where it froze solid. My P&S I always keep in my jacket pocket so it stay toasty and the battery lasts a very long time. It's up to you; a P&S won't give you the pix your SLR will; however it's only a quarter the weight. That said your SLR will most likely stay in your pack except for breaks and camps whereas an accessible P&S will give you better spur of the moment shots. So if I were you I'd bring the D50 but also buy a small point and shoot!

I have a mild case of it. My brother has a pretty severe case and i climb with a woman who also has a severe case. I've been above 20,000 three times and never had a problem (I climb above 5000 all the time). My brother recently visited for a ski trip and had a hard time - although he is not used to the cold and did not layer properly. My friend has been to high altitude a number of times and I've shared a couple cold bivy spots with her and her hands have never been a problem. Carry hand warmers and a pair of gloves one size too large to aid in warming up your fingers and you'll be fine.

Thanks for all the responses; especially to genepires and mtnfreak. In general I should know better than post a question that essentially depends on one's own perception of risk and comfort level (I might as well have asked 'would you solo this'). Here is my $.02: I rarely am part of a 3 person team (personally I find it cumbersome for skiing) but try to get out with 2 teams of 2. Likewise I have done numerous trips as just a 2 member team. Conventional wisdom states that you should be part of a (minimum) 3 person team; then again conventional wisdom states that you should be home watching football on your HDTV. Here's another question along these same lines: if you were a team of 4 would you travel as 2 teams of 2 - or 1 team of 4 (on a moderate glacial route)?

Lambone, I take it you've never climbed on a glacier as part of a two man team; how do you access alpine routes or do you always climb as a team of 3? Likewise I'm not too interested in what Roberts had to say; if I took lessons from Roberts I would too scared to use rap anchors. The question had to do with comfort level; and it's not a stupid question as many people venture into the mountains as teams of two all the time.

I am totally familiar with how glacier travel / crevasse rescue works; this wasn't meant to be a n00b question; thus I'll rephrase: It is obvious that a 3 person glacier travel is much safer; however if you and your partner were confident in self rescue technique would you go on a remote expedition where you'd be on glaciers the entire time? In other words; do you think 2 person glacier teams are safe?