knelson

Same person? Did the "date" involve another person? What if you suffer from a split personality?

Same person?

I have multiple dates every time I summit. Is that with aid, or without?

What if you're climbing with the opposite sex, say... Rainier, and staying at a camp at say... 10,000 ft. Now if you summit multiple times, from that 10k camp, without going below it... did you have a date AND summit? If it WAS a date, did you just have multiple dates? Would that be considered your 2nd and 3rd date, each coinciding with your 2nd and 3rd summit, if indeed you did consider it a summit?

Let me guess... clumsy step with crampon into toe of opposite boot? I went a season with ShoeGoo to fix a self-inflicted crampon wound. That seemed to last the longest out of all the homemade fixes, but still didn't do the job. I just found it to finally be a reason to breakdown and buy new boots. That worked! -kurt

#1 - It's too late for last minute advice. At this point, you're legs are ready or they're not. #2 - Echo advice about drafting. If you're the drafter, don't do it with people you don't know and haven't figured out their style. If you're the draftee, wave them by - slow down if you have to. #3 - Try and eat the same stuff at the stops that you've eaten while training. Don't eat more than a few bananas. Eating a few bananas at each stop tasted good at the time. However, I failed to think through the issues of large quantities of bananas all meeting in my lower GI after about 8 hours on the bike. I feel sorry for the folks that used the honeybuckets on the Oregon side after me. And I feel even more sorry for the people that happened across the aftermath of the explosive event that occurred in the Vancouver McDonald's bathroom as my wife drove me back home that night. (Hmmm... guess it's time to dredge up that "how did they do that to the toilet seat" thread, now that I think of it.) #4 - Did I mention don't eat too many bananas? #5 - Have fun and smile. Especially on that loooooonnnnng neverending everso slightly uphill drag on the Oregon side from the river to Portland. Ugh. But seriously... have fun! -kurt

Depends on what the toy is.

While many are doing this, please be aware that merchants are under NO obligation to accept cards with the "please check ID" lingo on the back. In fact, in accepting cards like this, the merchant has broken the Terms of Service of their contract with their credit card processor. The reason is pretty simple - without a signature on the card, the thief can use a fake ID with any old signature on it. At least if your signature is on it, you make the thief work a bit to match it. Not much additional effort, but at least it's better than nothing. If you present a "please check ID" card to a merchant, they are technically under instructions to: 1. Inform you that you have to sign the card. 2. Have you sign the card in their presence and provide a valid government picture ID with a signature 3. Compare signatures. Yeah... I know - no one does this. But they might start in the near future. Be warned and don't put up too much fuss when they ask you to sign it. -kurt

Be aware that when they're talking about date related things, that this article was published over 10 years ago... in Nov/Dec 1994. In "Psychology Today." Doing a little research on Fido?

Hmm. Guess you've never worn shorts over polypro, or had a rope on your pack considered too long/too fat for the route you're heading in to. Those seem to be the smart-ass comment magnets for me in the woods. While those comments definitely do NOT represent the majority of people out there, they're still out there - trust me.

Peter, As one of the many poo-slingers, I felt compelled to respond. First, hats off to getting out there and doing what you've been wanting to do. Nothing wrong with speed-whatevering (as a personal challenge) in my book, if that's what floats your boat. Personal challenges are great ways of expanding that comfort zone that all of us tend to fall back on. I'm glad to hear you did this for your own enjoyment, and that you aren't encumbered with our local speedclimbing issues focusing on Rainier. I'm glad that you finally posted your side of the story. However, by giving UTS the rights to do whatever they want with their documentation of your personal challenge, seems like you're allowing them to drag your name into whatever muck they see fit. And whether you like it or not, the fact that How.itt is using YOUR name like he's affiliated with you will cloud people's feelings about the climb. You have to admit that the press release that started all this hullabalu comes off a bit commercial and self-promoting for a personal challenge. But you're right - UTS is in it to make money... at your expense. For that reason, I don't quite see why the surprise of "the negativity of the NW climbing scene"... if that's what you want to call this forum. Sure - there are always two sides to a story, but when you've pretty much given someone else free reign to tell "your side" then it's pretty one sided and open to criticism. But again, thanks for telling "your side." -kurt

Ha, ha. Nope. Vendors simply raise prices to cover the cost of business. And who pays these higher prices? Me! I'm footing the bill for my air miles to Mexico. Ha Ha. Yup - for now. Sure... vendors that ARE in a position to raise their prices at the drop of a hat will do so to cover their increased expenses. But for most, it'll take a while to see what the increased percentage means.

dsfskndferi4%^$%^%$^$ A

Nodder like this...?

In a nutshell... 1. Card holder reports fraudulent charge to CC company. 2. CC company takes money back out of account of merchant. (CC company has two-way access to merchant's account, and can even dictate what level of funds merchant needs to maintain in their own account.) 3. CC company may, or may not, at this point credit the customers account. Technically - except for certain cards under certain conditions - customer is liable for first $50. 4. CC company doesn't investigate, but makes vendor prove the charge was per the CC company terms - which are definitely NOT written to be fair to the vendor. 5. In most cases, vendor will not get money back. In addition, vendor will be charged $25-$30 each time this happens. And no... this doesn't cover the CC company's "time" - their end of it is highly automated. So... CC company gets to sit on the money in dispute for a month or so plus gets the "chargeback" fee from vendor. Vendor just takes it in the shorts, even if there was no reason to believe a bad transaction. Yup... the CC companies are inventing new ways of generating income every day. Y'know those "rewards" credit cards you use to earn air miles, cash rebate, REI dividends (gasp), etc? Vendors now have the pleasure of paying a higher rate on the usage of those cards versus the plain jane cards. What started out as an incentive for businesses to issue "store branded" credit cards (because the CC paid part of the reward) has now become an additional revenue stream for them. As a vendor, I have no choice which cards I take - I have to take them all, rewards and no reward cards. But the vendor is the one that foots the bill for your air miles to Mexico. Sorry... I digress. Hit a sore spot. They're not hurting from cc fraud - that's for sure. The only reason they're worried about it is because people might actually wise up and start limiting their usage of it! [/ramble] -kurt

Oh... sorry. Couldn't spell there for a minute. Nevermind. Pardon me. Carry on.

FUR ENIMA? It always comes back to the ol' animal husbandry thing, doesn't it.

But look at it from the other side - if you were in charge of federally employed personnel that were rumored to have given out an illegal substance to the public - even for medicinal purposes, wouldn't you look into it? There are a hell of a lot more people that read this toilet wall than the one at Muir. And with how easy this electronic information is to link/cut/paste would you, as the manager of said people, just ignore this public relations fiasco in the making and hope no one sees it? True or not, it would be insane to ignore it once brought to your attention. Personally, seems like a simple phone call could've been a better first meeting, but I'm sure they were trying to put the fear o'God into you with all the bells and whistles. Oooooo... now you're messin' with the BIG ranger!

Seems to me it got down in the 80s during the night. I don't really remember. The most vivid thing I do remember though is getting to Monument Creek. We dropped our packs at a camp site, dug out the water purifier, and headed down toward the creek. We got to the creek bed to find... dry rocks. No water. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO", I screamed. I'm sure they heard it on the rim. That's another thing I'd asked the ranger - there IS water running in Monument Creek right now, isn't there? Yup, treat it - was the reply. After my scream stopped echoing off the surrounding walls, my wife and I plopped down on the rocks trying to figure out what to do. Then we heard a little trickle sound coming from under the rocks. Aha... the creek is running underground. So we hike on downstream until we find where it comes to the surface. Phew. I've encountered the same behavior here at Rainier, that we ran into down with the Canyon rangers, on occasion. Depending on the individual that issues the permit, obtaining a cross-country zone or alpine zone permit can involve various levels of hoop jumping and answering questions in EXACTLY the right way before the permit is finally, almost grudgingly, issued.

So I guess this isn't a "solo hiker" thread, but a "stupid hikers in the Grand Canyon" thread, since it keeps getting steered back to the GC. I would propose that maybe some of the rescues in the canyon (but obviously not the one just mentioned) are due to misinformation from NPS rangers or staffers. My wife and I were receipients of just plain misinformation down there back in the late '90s that still pisses me off to this day. We had a permit, obtained by mail, to do the Hermit Trail in late May. Our plan was to go down that trail, connect up with the Tonto and stay the night at Monument Creek. We were going to head down Monument Creek the next day and bask around the Colorado and come back up to camp that night. We'd head back out the next day. When we checked in at the Backcountry Office, I specifically asked if there was any other way to get to the trailhead, other than the tourist shuttle bus. (We'd driven down there in our own car.) The trailhead is located at the end of Hermit Road behind a "locked" gate that keeps the public out. To gain access to that part of the Canyon, you have to take the NPS shuttle bus. I explained that we wanted to get an early start... like sunrise, which was like 5:30am or something like that. Nope, says Mr. Ranger. Only way is the tour bus. Are you suuuuuuure, I ask. I explained that I'd really like to be in camp before the heat of the day hits. Nope - take lots of water, I was told. Fine. So we get on the tourist bus, lugging our way-too-heavy, canyon-newbie packs, and hit every freaking bus stop along the way, letting out the tourons. Our trailhead is at the end of this road. We finally get on trail at something like 8:30-9:00am. Even though this was late May, they were having extreme temps... even for the Canyon. Great. We hit an area just before dropping down onto the Tonto Plateau - the oven - and run into a guy that we'd been leapfrogging all morning. He was taking a long rest in some rocks and we stopped and chatted. Turns out he worked off and on for the NPS as some type of laborer, and he'd hiked the canyons tons, and knew the ins and outs. I asked him how he got on trail so quick since we didn't see him on the bus. He chuckled and said something like "Oh... they didn't tell you did they." He went on to explain that with our backcountry permit came the ability to drive our personal car to the trailhead - the gate that keeps the general public off the Hermit Road wasn't locked, we just needed to drive up, open the gate, drive through, and close the gate behind us. The 4-6 cars at the trailhead now made sense, as we couldn't figure out how they got there when we showed up on the tour bus. I told the guy about my conversation with the Ranger and he just chuckled and said "Yeah... they don't really like to give out that information." Like the newbies we were, we left him and continued our hike into camp. When we hit the Tonto we realized we were screwed - it was something like 100+ degrees. There was no shade. We ran out of water - even though we brought more than what was recommended. We stopped sweating. The whole heat exhaustion/stroke thing, per the book. To cut a long story short (somewhat), we stumbled into Monument Camp, pumped a crap load of water, and drank and drank. Next morning we were still so dehydrated, we decided that a trip down to the Colorado was out of the question. Instead, we just followed the shadows around camp, and rehydrated the entire day. We were up at 3am the next morning to start the hike out, and made it out with no problems. If we wouldn't have been using our heads, we could've died down there. And I'm sure we would've been classified as "inexperienced hikers" not carrying enough water. Yeah... we should've stayed off the Tonto Plateau until later in the day and showed up in camp in the dark - that was our beginners mistake. But the fact that we WANTED to start at o-dark-thirty and didn't because of misinformation from the NPS wouldn't have ever been documented. In my mind, THAT would've been the root cause of the deaths. -kurt

I thought that was called "checking on conditions" or "gathering beta." I like your version better.

If you're dead set against the flap-happy hat, then at least take a bandana and stick it under a baseball cap - you'll get the same effect. Plus, you can wet down the bandana and it'll do a fine job of cooling you off in your glacial oven. Also, don't assume that polypro will give you all-day protection on the legs. I've got some thin polypro that I've gotten a sunburn through. -kurt

I was traversing a talus slope one time, on a quasi-trail, when one rock wasn't quite as stable as it appeared. We've all been there... you start surfing that one rock, hopping to the next rock which begins to slide, etc etc etc. By the time I got to stable ground and emptied my shorts (after removing my polypro) I realized that while the injury I almost sustained (broken leg or ankle) wouldn't have killed me, the exposure while trying to get to civilization or waiting for someone to report me overdue, might have. It's not like that was a revelation to me or anything - but it was definitely brought in focus. So... another vote for chucK's thoughts. It's the "what happens after the accident" that is the major contributor I think.