knelson

What about Trip Reports? That's what it supposedly is... isn't it? -kurt

In post #415326 - 11/19/04 02:33 AM ... Chirp said: "I could care less, got a stock check coming in the mail tomorrow...a new digi camera in my future...life is good. Our percieved world is 'bout as big as our overall concern and current focus. Life goes on and it really has little bearing on my current one, until it crosses my path. Such is the situation and axis of the common realm. Random internet squabbling is about as pointless as piss in an ocean. Get a grip peeps." ************************* And I'm sure when you started... http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/429053/an/0/page/12#429053 ...your intention wasn't to make fun of the folks at that website now, was it? What was that about credibility? -kurt

Y'know... I was thinking the same thing. But there's no way in hell I'm gonna grab that photo and zoom in to check it out. Made me gag just lookin' at it for the brief moment it took to load on my screen. Can't imagine what'd happen if I start examining folds in depth to look for shadows that shouldn't be there! -kurt

As an owner of an altimeter, I have to agree with Bill somewhat. But then, it all depends on how you use it. I could care less how many feet it is until the col, or camp, or when my timer says I should eat Gu, or when my thermometer says I should put on my windshirt, or how many feet/minute I'm climbing, or... But I DO like to know where I'm at, +/- 100 ft or so. I've been in more than one situation where there's the "where the heck are we" debate going on, and the altitude has been the deciding factor. You're right Bill... it wasn't life or death... but knowing our altitude cleared up the normal "... we're here. NO... we're HERE. No you dumbshit, we're HERE... " debate that goes on longer than it takes to look at your altimeter watch. And THAT gets you going again in minimal time. My peeve though is those darned GPSs and the time THEY waste. But that's another thread, me thinks. And I couldn't agree more - leave it on or in your pack and just enjoy the day. -kurt

Phew... there for a while I was thinkin' I needed to go back and reread "English As Your First And Only Language." -kurt

I'm sure they'd be willing to give you royalties from their upcoming scratch 'n sniff climbing action figures. I don't want to speak for them or anything... but I think they're pretty generous guys. Marko... you're a creative guy and I'm sure you're all over this one already, but have you figured out how to properly package said action figures so that their trademarked smell doesn't lose any potency? If I'm gonna shell out my hard earned moola, I want the real deal - not stale "sweaty climber" smell. -kurt

Better yet - wait until July (or whenever it is) and request a check for your dividend from your 1% kick back. (You don't have to use the money at REI y'know...) Then you can go take the money and buy more stuff from the local small guys and MEC. Personally... I like the little smirk the MEC cashiers give you when you hand them your REI VISA card! -kurt

Zoweeee! That was one of the nastier caps I've seen on Rainier. Saw it noonish on Sunday from Avalanche Peak by Snow Lake and was glad I was where I was. -kurt

Actually... forget about the sales, too. If you shop around, you'll find other smaller folk (with just as good customer service) that have the same stuff REI has on sale - for even less. -kurt

Good job guys! Marko... I was just thinkin' about you this weekend when I was romping around, amazed at the lack of snow. Actual thought that was going through my mind 24 hours ago... "If those guys aren't out there ticking a few things off this winter, they're gonna be kicking themselves!" Glad to hear you could sneak away for that long and still have a job to return to! Lucky bastard. -kurt

Let us know what you find out. Looking at the website, I don't see any difference between the old Avocet and the "new" one. I'm guessing still no backlight. Another thing I just remembered about the Suunto... if you DO happen to wear it on your wrist, the position/design of the buttons make them easy to push with normal movements of your wrist. More times than just a few, I've started a "log" and kept the thing in altimeter mode. Half way up to wherever I'm going, I look down and see that the flashing "log" icon is not flashing anymore. Grrrrr. At some point, I did something to turn it off. To keep this from happening, you can just switch it into some other mode, as you can only turn the log on/off from the altimeter mode. But that's kind of a pain if you want the altimeter mode to kinda be your "default". It's not just me that has this problem. I've been out with others that have bitched about the same thing. Thought I'd pass that along... -kurt

sniff, sniff... wimper, wimper I miss my old Avocet. Died on me several years ago and I've just never gotten over it. Seems like at the time, you couldn't get the old, and their "new" version wasn't available either. Does anyone know where you could find a new Avocet... or have they given up making them? I ended up with a piece of shnit Suunto. They should stick to dive watches. Their algorithm for determining ascent/descent rate uses too short of a sampling rate or something - it's constantly changing on me, even as I'm plodding uphill at my one-speed, slower than molasses rate. The old Avocet was really good at this feature. Granted, the Suunto I've got has a compass... which is handy - assuming IT'S ON MY WRIST. But 99% of the time, it's not, for the same reasons mentioned above. The only drawback with the Avocet was that it didn't have a backlight. Dumb... really dumb. But after buying the Suunto, I'd switch back in a heartbeat. -kurt

If you're using a Figure 8 for your belay device... don't. That'll twist 'em in no time. And a second on that "no mountaineering coil" comment - plus the butterfly is just plain quicker and easier. -kurt

*deleted* oops... sorry - thought I was in spray for a minute. -kurt

What? You tryin' to sneak up on folks or something? But seriously, they are noisy. But don't you think that pretty much comes from the fact that you're wearing them in places you would normally take other types off? Seems like they're pretty quiet fluffing through powder, but you get that trademarked "CLACK CLACK CLACK KRRRRR CLACK CLACK" at 70 dBA when crunching through spots of hard icy stuff in between the soft stuff. Those are the areas that always freaked me out on the old style. Now I don't even think twice. I suppose they're also noisy when klutzes like me graze the edge of one snow shoe with the traction bars of the other when making a step... or clipping the toe with the traction bars... THAT makes a pretty tattletale noise too! -kurt

But have you been properly trained to sell them? I mean... unless you've been trained to know the right questions to ask me to make sure you're absolutely positively gonna give me information that I can use... even though I shouldn't really trust the information you're gonna give me cause, shit, you're just some anonymous guy on the internet... I'm not sure I want to even ask the question to start with. I was going to ask you something about proper oiling of the skins during the off-season to keep them supple, but unless you have the proper training and have taken courses in your pre-pubescent years on how to teach people how NOT to kill themselves while using said skins and furs, I'm not sure I wanna ask. -kurt

Well sure... if you add the weight of the tails - but you don't need them up here in WA unless you're a gorilla with a full pack. I don't know the weight of the tails offhand, but I'm sure leaving those behinds shaves off at least 1 lb. I agree that less weight = good thing, but trading weight for less traction (therefore less time on feet - either the snowshoes or yourself!) doesn't seem like a good trade in my book. I think MSRs have a great following here because they do great with our local snow conditions - you can just about wear them anywhere, doing nearly anything (within reason.) Your mileage may vary. -kurt

Not a lawyer, but from my understanding owning a trademark for a name or phrase does not mean no one else can ever use that name or phrase. The trademark only protects a person from blatant rip-offs or someone trying to sponge off the success of a trademarked phrase. Your products are not similar, and you are not causing confusion (intentional or otherwise) between your product and theirs with the use of the term "dirtbag." These are the two main points courts would consider. Wait for their lawyer to send you a registered letter, THEN send him your sales reports for the shirt! -kurt PS... You DO know that Doug ****** is probably now aware of this thread, don't you. I imagine most folks clicked on the hyperlinked web address to see the guy's site, and this thread's URL will show up in the guy's web log as the referring URL. If he's sharp, he'll be watching those and will check out where his new traffic is coming from. Just thought I'd point that out in case you try the "but I never got your email" route with him if he persists.

You got it right on, BigWave. That's the plan. The last MRNP long range planning document I looked over called for adding that chunk of land, gating the road at the existing ranger station, and putting in a NEW campground at the NEW road end (where the ranger station is now.) It was a pretty much foregone conclusion that the Carbon would take the road out again since the road IS the new flood channel. It's been doing it every winter since it jumped channels. Wild rivers have a funny way of doing that - especially when the road is lower than the river in that area. I believed the NPS "investigated" the costs of fixing the road to make it coexist with the new river channels. Could be done, but it was expensive. However the scales were probably tipped against the idea when they realized how much forest they'd have to take out to do it. Don't think they wanted to try and justify taking out that many trees for a somewhat short chunk of road. Personally, I think it's a damn shame... but hard to justify the expense. With the existing trailhead at Ipsut, you can take your kids/parents/grandparents on an easy flat hike to get up close and personal with the snout of the Carbon Glacier. Not that exciting for folks like you and me, but my parents thought it was pretty amazing stuff. With a "new" trailhead back at the ranger station, that makes for one looooooong flaaaaaaaat hike, just to get to the snout of the glacier. Also makes for a nasty approach for spring climbs on the north side. The entire north side won't be left to the woods though. That same master plan, I believe, called for closing the Mowich Rd about 1/2 to 1/4 mile back from Mowich Lake itself. If I remember right, this equates to about the last hairpin turn before you turn onto the straight stretch along the lakeside. Seems like a good compromise. That's like a 10 minute walk or so. Regarding people getting to Ipsut via Mowich, that's a long haul during the winter. The Mowich Road is gated at the Paul Peak trailhead and usually doesn't open until July. Better to slog the washed out road on the Carbon. -kurt

Wimpy climber-type here... Lack of body weight hasn't bothered me any. Like anyone else, you learn what your body can do, then gauge how to treat it. Long haul... go light. Short haul and willing to suffer a bit... pile on the weight. I've always thought pack weight, up to a point, is just a mental issue. I'm pushing 145lbs soaking wet and have had guys at 200lbs heft my pack after a long haul and their eyes bug out. To them, it was heavy. For me, it was fine. Go figure. (No chestbeating... just trying to point out that like most things in climbing, a LOT of it is just in your head.) As far as snowshoes go, the lighter the better! Same footprint/area as everyone else, but less weight equals less floundering for me! And if you're with a sympathetic bunch, us lightweights can always use the "but I'm already carrying 30% of my body weight" excuse to offload group gear to the other brutes in the party. Personally... I've never done this - or should I say - been sucessful at doing this. -kurt

Point taken! Thanks, I'll look into this. Thanks Mike! The update and removal of old stuff didn't go unnoticed. -kurt

Just echoing what has been said earlier... Your feet will tell you which boots are right - some folks will tell you that your feet just need to get used to the boot. Don't buy it... if it doesn't feel right, don't keep doing it. Try on boots in the store, take their "ramp test", walk up and down the stairs, and most importantly... kick your toes straight down into the floor HARD. HARDER. After you get over the frightened stares from other customers, do it again. Did your toes hit the front or did you experience any pains? Wrong size or wrong boot. Try on tons of boots, it will all depend on your foot type. (I've found Montrails seem to work well for narrow feet, if you have them. But then, that's just my opinionated opinion.) When you decide on the right boot, wear it around the house a bunch. Take them to work (if you work in an office) and clomp around inside all day. Just don't mark up the sole so if you want to take them back you can. Just my nickels worth, but I've NEVER used plastic boots and have never had issues. I've had two pair of leather Montrails and never had an issue with wet boots. Multi-day jaunts up Rainier have never caused problems with moisture buildup. If I did more multi-day trips during the Winter, I might have problems, but I don't with the limited Cascade climbing I do. Just like other climbing gear, even if you try to buy "intelligently" now, looking toward the future, you'll STILL end up with a closet full of specialized gear. -kurt

Since we seem to have Mike's ear on this thread, I'll wander a bit off the original question/gripe. (I don't feel toooo bad about it since nothing in this thread has to do with "trip reports", but there still is some anal retentive guilt associated with the thread hijack.) How about better editing of the "Current Climbing Conditions" page on the MORA website? I don't mean updating it more often... just removing the stuff that doesn't apply anymore. For example, in early July of this year, there was a blurb put up about conditions on Little Tahoma. If you look at the website today, that same EXACT blurb is still there. It's never changed. Granted... you probably haven't had a patrol up there since July, but I'm *pretty* sure the conditions have changed a bit since then. In fact, all the east side climbing routes seem to be the same verbage used since late July. I've learned over the last couple years that to *really* get a feel for conditions up there, you have to read the "current" conditions page on a weekly basis... then filter out the stuff that you remember from previous reports, when it's obvious it probably doesn't apply anymore. For visitors outside of the local area that don't have a clue what our weather has been like, they might look at the "current" conditions page one whole time before heading out here, and be under a VERY buggered-up concept of what conditions are truly like. Like I said, that's just my nickel's worth. And by the way, I'm quite happy the road is plowed at all during the winter. Yes... I grumble when I have to wait at the gate. But there have been plenty of days when I've showed up early (7:30ish?) and it's been open. So it's not like it's ALWAYS a late opening. It's just late on nasty, blustery, whiteout days... -kurt

Minx, Couldn't agree with you more. While it might not have come across in my early morning typing, like you, I'm more than just a little frightened about this administration, for the reasons you mention. But... he won the popular vote so best of luck to him... and us. One thing for sure - I'll definitely be involved in a political campaign four years from now, even though the Shrub won't be running. Perhaps others just as pissed will remember to channel their angst properly and get involved more than they were this time around. -kurt

Yes, Sr. Shrub did have more foreign policy sense than Jr - at least on how to spin it properly. Like you, can't say I agreed with it, but he was more diplomatic. On the other hand, I trusted Sr. less than I trust Jr. Sr is smart like a fox AND connected. He was too smart to let people really know what his staff's intentions were. I can not believe anything went on in that admin without Sr knowing it. Jr on the other hand... well... I've always thought as a person he was OK - he's just got some bad "friends". At least that's how I'm spinning it in my head to keep my sanity. -kurt