BreezyD

Doesn't trying to borrow a kid make you one of those women trying to get their attention as well, Marie? Brianna

Tangerine Talking Rain - Water, Carbonation, Essences from Natural Fruit Oils and Extracts. How refreshing!

Troubles Minx? B

I love my Superfeet. It hurt breaking them in for the first 2 climbs and then, from then on (2+ years of climbs, hikes and scrambles) have been a dream. Although they won't work for everyone - they are worth a shot! B

I'd love to make it to girlsclimb next Tuesday! I am going to see if I can shift things around and free up my schedule so I can come. I'll keep you posted! Brianna

I was disappointed to read that they might not be able to hold the Alki Music Festival this year due to lack of funding ... BUT YOU CAN HELP. Donate Now! Without funding ... we won't get to see .... They Might Be Giants United States of Electronica Karma Ms. Led Post Stardom Depression And tons more ... Full Artist List If you love music ... help me get the word out to support this cool local festival! Brianna

Yeah, yeah ... I thought I was posting it in Spray but I wasn't paying attention. Sorry. For the record, I actually drive a Honda Civic which is pretty darn fuel efficient, but am looking for ways to give back environmentally with respect to my auto. Brianna

So back to the consumer angle. Aside from trying to affect legislation to set better standards for companies - do you guys think Terra Pass is a environmentally responsible way to mitigate the impact of the fact that I drive a car? B

Ugh, sorry Dru. I didn't do my homework. B

Alright cc.com ... I need your help. I read about this new project, and at first glance, it seems like a great idea. I would love to get feedback from those that are more critically minded than I am on the potential downsides. Is this something you would consider participating in? If not ... why? Thanks! Brianna Taken from wired.com ... "SUV Redemption Sticker" In Washington, DC, eco-vandals smear SUV door handles with dog crap. In Santa Cruz, California, protestors tag more than 60 gas-guzzlers with anti-oil graffiti. In Los Angeles, a Caltech grad student is sentenced to eight years in prison for trashing more than 120 SUVs around the city. It's almost enough to make you feel bad for SUV drivers. After all, some of them are green, too - just not as hardcore about it. Now they have TerraPass, a clever eco-capitalism experiment. Launched by a group of Wharton Business School classmates, the startup sells a decal that drivers can slap on their windshields. The sticker price - $79.95 for SUVs, less for greener cars - gets invested in renewable energy projects and credits. The credits are traded through local brokers on the new Chicago Climate Exchange. TerraPass lets consumers participate in an emissions trading system the US established in 1990. (Give credit to economist Ronald Coase, who won a Nobel Prize for the idea in 1991.) Under the system, industrial operations that spew less than their share of emissions can sell a credit to companies that fail to keep gunk out of the air. In effect, the dirtier factories can pay greener operations to do the work of cutting emissions. The approach has taken off worldwide, spawning a billion-dollar market. And it's not just for big-time polluters. Today, farmers cash in on credits by collecting and processing cow dung, which produces globe-cooking methane. Land-owners earn credits by installing wind farms on their blustery fields, which top off the power grid with carbon-free electricity. But until now, the Chicago Climate Exchange was off-limits to all but registered traders, and the transaction cost of buying credits piecemeal from small outfits was too high. TerraPass aggregates the money plunked down by guilty - ahem, environmentally concerned - SUV drivers, allowing them to participate in the market. Burning a gallon of gasoline produces about 20 pounds of CO². So the average SUV - which travels 12,000 miles a year - pumps out about 20,000 pounds of greenhouse gases annually. On today's market, TerraPass can scrub that pollution from the environment for less than 80 bucks. Only a few months old, with a staff just out of grad school and a membership of fewer than 1,000, TerraPass is no match for the world's half a billion cars - the second-biggest source of greenhouse gases. But Ned Ford, a member of the Sierra Club's Global Warming and Energy Committee, believes TerraPass could change the way people think about energy and the environment. "Politicians and business leaders have been telling us for the last 20 years that there's this huge painful cost associated with reducing carbon," he says. "If you think about your own personal impact on CO², and you find out you can offset it for a reasonable amount of money, it makes you think differently about the problem. TerraPass is mind opening," he says, "and that's pretty cool." - Douglas McGray Link to Article Link to Terra Pass Website

Rainier is such a marvelous mountain. Congratulations on your accomplishment! Brianna

Taken from seattletimes.com .... The climbers - a guide and three clients -were on an RMI trip following the popular Disappointment Cleaver route to the 14,411-foot summit. They were crossing a snow bridge spanning a glacial crevasse at about 12,600 feet when the bridge collapsed at around 7:20 a.m., sending the four plunging into the crevasse, said Park Service spokeswoman Lee Taylor. The guide lost consciousness for a time, but then began helping with the rescue. One climber suffered no serious injuries and was able to get out of the crevasse. That climber was able to walk to a location nearby and was lifted off the mountain by a helicopter. One of the other climbers suffered head injuries and a broken leg, and needed to be hoisted from the glacier by a helicopter, Taylor said. The last of the four suffered a broken leg and a dislocated shoulder, and also needs to be airlifted. No names, ages or other details of the people involved were yet available. Seattle Times Article

I know there's more of you out there ... show me what you've got! B

Hows' about we have a little show and tell of cool or interesting photos from the last week or so to keep us entertained this morning. Here are a couple I snapped last week. Misty morning while camping at Third Beach, WA ... Fiery Sky at high camp on Hood's South Side ... Monkey Face from inside of a lava tube rock thingy ... Come on and share y'all. Brianna

I have to chime in on the grocery sacks. They are light as all get out and work like a charm. As an added benefit - you don't care when you massacre them with your shovel digging them out. B

Awesome! The pump sack can be a little tedious at first - but you master it after a few times inflating it. B

Yeah, it's official. My new Exped Downmat rocked. Insulated amazingly well on snow at 9000' this last week ... far better than my Thermarest ever has ... and weathered all sorts of jolts from various terrain, rocks, bad pack jobs, etc. If you are still in the market ... check this one out. It's worth every penny.

It feels pretty burly. It is some sort of laminated polyester and then has a slip-proof and more comfortable top layer for next to your bag. One of the reasons I bought it was this quote I saw on the Exped site: “We always slept right on the rocky ground, and for weight reasons we took only the Venus outer tent. But with the Down Air Mattress, we slept in fantastic comfort and warmth! And, we never experienced any puncture as we had with other mats!” August 2002 - Mountain Guides Sebastien and Claude-Allain after 50 days and 250 summits on a 400 km trip along the border of the Swiss state, Wallis I'll let you know how it turns out as I am heading out tomorrow for 10 days of varying terrain. B

I just upgraded from a Prolite 4 to the only slightly heavier Exped Downmat 7 because I was getting cold with the Prolite 4 and felt like I may as well have been sleeping straight on the snow. The downmat is an air baffle mat insulated with down in the baffles. Highlights include: -7 cm of pillowy downy thickness -Twice the R-value of my Polite 4 -Stuff sack is air tight so it can be used as a pillow Sound alpine sleep, here I come. Brianna

Not a fan of OR?

Either of you used the Charlet "Snowtube"? B

Which ones do you like best for snow anchors in the alpine? Brand, material, length? Hit me with your favorites. Thanks! Brianna

Anyone been up there yesterday or today and could tell me whether or not it would be worth it to run up there tonight if the rain stays away? Things were looking pretty wet crossing the Iron Horse Trail Wednesday on our way to Lake Annette so I wanted to run it by y'all. Thanks! Brianna

Klenke - Which side did you approach from? We tried to approach Mt. Wow from the trailhead right inside the park entrance and encountered a unrelentingly steep trail with a record number of blowdowns. Didnt get too high up the ridgeline before we got caught up in some cliffs and had to turn around anyway because of time. I sat there eating my beef jerky thinking ... "there has got to be a better way ... " Got a better way? Brianna

Can't you all just let her (and everyone else for that matter) enjoy climbing in whatever way she chooses and be encouraging instead of bitter and jaded? 20 years old ... sheesh ... and a Washington girl even! Congratulations Danielle!