Ireneo_Funes

That's too bad. Lyme disease has a lot of different symptoms, not all of them really obvious. Some folks just feel fatigued, others have joint pain. I was lucky because my main symptom was obvious - Bell's Palsy, where half of my face was paralyzed. Plus I knew that I had been bitten by a deer tick not long before. Hope your friend gets some good medical care and advice.

OK, I don't know a thing about the Bitterroots. That said, I think it's kind of cool that there's some areas out there that aren't all mapped out with topos and beta on every pitch. Keeps some of the spirit of adventure, you know? The mountains in your photo look incredible.

In the 4 years I've been living in the NW, I have yet to come across a deer tick, which I believe is the most common carrier of lyme disease. There may be other ticks out here that carry the disease - if anyone has information, I'd like to know too. If you think that you may have been exposed to lyme disease, talk to a doctor as soon as you can. I saw a doctor within a month of contracting it, and the antibiotic course they put me on seemed to take care of it fully. But I have a friend (in the midwest) who waited too long (his symptoms weren't as dramatic as mine), and years later he's suffering from debilitating pain in his back and knees.

The local pronounciation of "Madras, OR" is also probably quite different from that of a native speaker of German, Italian, Russian or Tagalog. But more to the point, it's not pronounced the way someone from India might pronounce it (mah-DRAS).

Chris, great job helping out the injured climbers. And thanks for posting your account here. I think that for a lot of us, trying to understand how an accident happened is one of the best ways that we can learn how to climb more safely. I'm not surprised that this thread has moved into a debate on whether or not helmets are necessary, because it really sounds like both the climber and the belayer might have been saved some injury if they'd been wearing hard hats. Though it's hard to tell without more information - maybe it wouldn't have made a difference. My two cents - I always wear one, no exceptions. It doesn't get in my way and gives me some peace of mind when rockfall, dropped gear, beer bottles flung off the top of Rocky Butte, whatever... is a possibility - basically anytime I'm climbing. Plus I whack my noggin on roofs more than I care to admit.

I'm pretty sure it's "nitpick."

Bill puts me to shame every time I climb with him - glad to hear I'm not the only one!

Hey, did anyone catch the Bush twins' speech last night at the RNC? Contrary to what you might expect, they did NOT come across as spoiled and vapid rich kids, and I definitely did NOT feel embarrassed for them... can't wait to vote for one or both of them in 20 or 30 years! Wait, I guess I mean the opposite of everything I just said. My loathing for GWB is starting to extend to his whole family...

"Top-roped ascents are only valid if your belayer is a Cornish game hen." - Jim Bridwell.

Stoke fight!

Was it "OM" or was it... Seriously, the idea of someone ditching their plastic shells rather than carry them out is hilarious.... sad and hilarious.

Shoulder-stands are so cirque-du-soleil.

What if I don't have a stick-clip but sometimes wish that I did? Does that make me a loser, or can I still hang with the cool kids?

Federal inmate? No, that wouldn't be appropriate... send the whole gang (Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz...hell, Powell too) to Abu Ghraib for a dose of their own medicine. Where's the naked-prisoner-on-a-leash icon?

The same thing used to happen to me, in exactly the same spot. I've tried a couple of stretches, but what really worked was getting a pair of trekking poles and using them on the downhill to take the weight off my knees a little. I've heard it's a pretty common running injury, though I can't remember what it's called - maybe some of the runners on the board know some exercises that work for them.

Are you moving to... the Sahara? My condolences!

Swift Korean Olympians for Hamm Boat Truth?

Yeah, but I couldn't resist dropping some PE on y'all. Seriously, though, if we all just go along with it and pay our fines (justified or not) quietly and without complaint, it'll just keep getting worse. I'm not saying just blow it off - I'm saying write, complain, make it a pain for them. Photocopying the pass (if you've got one), etc. sounds like a reasonable thing to do in this case.

First time I've ever heard of someone actually getting a summons. The NW Forest Pass is bullshit -- don't encourage them by paying it. Take a stand, fight the power.

The most important skill of all.

Aw, rbw junior! Fer cute.

Grave and oedipal, you mean?

Was it 007's acclimatudinaltimization table? I also heard he left his depravation chamber up there somewhere.

When we tried this route in June, we got turned around by soft snow in the chimneys. Routefinding through the chimneys was a challenge, like other folks have said. It didn't seem like a beginner route to me.

Dude, if you're going to knock the class 1 hiking class, there's no way that they're going to let you into the summit register hauling module.