JosephH

They forgot to bring their ice axes...

Nine is a little early for me, but I'll be out...

Not for the winter time, I'm a lightweight when it comes to weather. Aid is a summer/fall activity for me. It's already a bit of gruelfest so I don't really like making it any harder than it already is. Kind of hoping the russians figured out how to make it a little less of a hassle.

Wish you could too. Will be able to swing through Denver all this year on trips to ABQ, though.

The fastest aid moves like molasses compared to vertically motile shivering.

I won't likely be into anything that moves as slow as aid though - I'll want to be cruising...

Maybe...

Monkeys will pay for sex, create prostitution, and learn to use cash in the process. An old story in more ways than one. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/magazine/05FREAK.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

Cough, cough, good to know. Keep up the good work!

Oregon coast isn't like that and there are a couple of coves which are great places for learning.

Wouldn't both cold, pouring rain and expanding cracks by definition be 'classic' aid in the Valley sense of the word? Going to Vantage and nailing loose columns while it's dumping slush sounds like a perfect way to practice for an El Cap winter ascent.

The history of Latin and South America was written long before Columbus sailed. That history began and remains one largely based on resource extraction. Period. Various interests over 500 years have seeked ot control the export of those resources, but get real, that's the name of the game. That local interests attempt to take control of the machinery after 500 years should be no surprise. That they then have to focus primarily on assuming and consolidating power to stave off long-entrenched interests as opposed to focusing on the well-being and productive potential of their countries should also be no surprise at all. Swapping the captain and officers out for locals, while possibly comforting or discomforting, depending on your economic interests, in reality changes little about a country's prospects for meaningful change. It's a big leap for a Peru or a Venezuela to become a Brasil - hell, Brazil barely managed to became Brazil and still has to fight relentlessly to keep the momentum going towards a growing industrial base and self-sufficiency. The idea that the glowing after-effects and legacy of hundreds of years of colonial rule is simply a matter of victimal self-persecution is about on par with claiming racial discrimmination no longer exists in the US. It's a joke. The fact that countries like Australia struggle (poorly) to escape an economic future largely dependent on continuing resource extraction well-illustrates the challenges facing Latin and South American (or African) nations. A little tale. I used to know the head of DECs office in Perth. When I was working in Asia one winter and thinking about heading down that way for a spell near Margaret River I gave him a call and said, "Andrew, how goes it down there? What do you guys have going on?" Andrew responded, "well mate, we buy shovels and trucks from the Japanese, dig up Western Australia, and put it on boats for Japan where they make shovels and trucks out of it. I keep suggesting we drive it to the coast and make something out of it ourselves, but they all think I'm crazy." Again, Swapping the captain and officers out for locals is fun, but changing a Titanic's course is a different deal altogether - power would have to shift from those in supporting resource extraction on a more or less permanent basis so that the role of acquired power is no longer solely preoccupied with merely sustaining itself and can focus on more productive proclivities. Seldom does an alternative regime sustain power in post colonial states long enough to even consolidate power let alone leverage it in any meaningful way. Destabilization isn't just a hobby, it's an indelible strategic planning line item and has been all along - resource extraction demands it. You would think stable societies and economies would be more efficiently exploited, but given the choice of creating more Saudi Royal families versus dealing with endless chaos in Nigeria - the choice has increasingly been one of making a science of resource extraction from chaotic environments. The French and the Chinese who model the French are particularly good at this sort of thing.

Pretty odd developmental circumstances in my case, so I'd say you can only extrapolate so far from me. Basically I owe it all to being a white man, a 5" gunmount, 25 hits of acid, and climbing in more or less that order despite the fact the 'man' part - physically, emotionally, and socially - really didn't kick in until quite late in the game. Before that I was basically functioning as a large 10 year old. So, if you think I'm bad now, you should have seen me early on. Digging and roofing were probably good for me, as was sweeping and mopping all of which I pretty much loved. As I said, it's all a bit strange - sort of like a long, slow-motion version of coming out of a coma to a slight autism . Happy to be here now and my wife, along with being a babe, is a saint for helping me get to where I am today - however flawed that remains. Skip a single step - white, gunmount, acid, or climbing and I'd basically still be quietly mopping floors somewhere in a haze, living alone in a basement, reading comics, and staring at a dozen aquariums for a life. Tolerable, but glad a vast amount of randomness interceded and tumbled me down a different chute. Would love to take far more credit for it all, but let's not get carried away just yet...

No, we weren't poor by any means at all - my Dad started out in bi-planes and retired a 747 Captain for United. But, immediately after Vietnam I discovered climbing which basically did in college. Following that it was ditch digger, roofer, tree crews, and carpentry mixed with photography and animation, neither of which I could much tolerate after Vietnam. Went from those to horticulture and only later, due to having been wanting to automate animation stands and greenhouses, did I end up starting comp sci fairly late in my early thirties in Chicago. Four years with DEC and being independent since '87 pretty well rounds out the story. I'm doomed unless I figure out some clever code you can't live without - but then that would require I quit climbing and so far I'm not ready to do that.

Wouldn't that be 'at any point during your flight?'

I'm self-employed, squandered way more than just my youth climbing and now will be working til I die to pay for my sins...

For two years I lived in c.1798 cape in a small town of 400 in NH settled in 1758 that the railroads passed by and we were next door to the original c.1770's church and cemetary. Examining those headstones showed most all women either died in childbirth or lived to be fairly old - (50's - 70's). It would appear the death rate from childbirth as seen in the stones was very high, I just guessing bordering on 40-50%. Being pregnant must have been a frightening affair.

It's just not a good time to live a long time or to get ill while doing it, unless of course you are one of the folks whom are benefiting from the very real income inequalities. Expanded lifespans and complexities of living in today's world roll up a myriad of costs which are glossed over in the tripe above. The vast majority of Americans are living one healthcare crisis from disaster. And, as of last week when the Bushies rolled over for big business and labor by yanking post-65 healthcare benefits, living a long life is about the most dangerous thing you can look forward to. The American 'middle-class' has been systematically mugged, raped, and pillaged for the past seven years in governmental and regulatory ways that will take a decade or more to reverse. Little abberations like the subprime fiasco - hell, give with one hand, take back with the other. Never since, well, Vanderbilt, have the wealthiest so preyed on the least capable in society. Only now that the house of cards has fallen - who gets the relief? Oh my, you guessed it - the wealthy who knew they were robbing the poor all the while they were doing it. And those payday lending storefronts which have popped up around the country like a disease? Now there's a sure sign of prosperity and income equality, and good service to boot! All backed in one legal firewall by all the largest banks in the country. But hey, it all works out. Those folks who are getting squeezed on their mortgages are all going to the payday lending shops in a vain attempt to cover themselves with the very same banks that [briefly] held and profited off their mortgages in the first place. Can't beat that, take'em on the way up and the way down. Fortunately, Krugman isn't easily fooled, reguardless of the endless and pathetic attempts by the administration and republicans in general to do just that. Actually, I suspect he would like a bit more challenge out of them as so far they've mostly been a long serious of bad jokes - on the American public, that is. Fuck, these are just the sort of fairy tales republicans and neocons tell themselves to feel good about themselves until they're crying like bitches when their disasterout wars and 'economic' policies [inevitably] go way south.

Was that for whatever that big game house is up that way?

Crackers, I could be wrong, but my understanding of it as explained to me was that it's more about just the individual fibers breaking as dyneema fiber is so stiff. So, just from handling and the rolling over biners over time the fibers break. I sent the test results from both years to Mammut and their response was basically that in the ultimate push to shave weight (and more specifically for alpine) sometimes a line gets deliberately crossed where gear needs to be treated as a consumable good versus the normal hard and software we're accustomed to. In other words, use for what it is and then toss it - these slings were never designed to function like their nylon brethren which keep their strength year after year. The skinny dyneema slings have a pretty linear curve relative to their average loss of strength which goes roughly 22k > 14k > 8k > ?. Do you really want to find out what's next? So John, keep using them, but I have to say this is probably one of those deals I've seen more in the NW than anywhere else where alpine, as opposed to rock, climbers tend to be a quite bit more cavalier about both gear and pro. I'd certainly think twice about using them full length after a couple of solid years. But hey, it's your deal...

Beautiful work, would love to see more pics of these buildings...

Well, if you want 7k slings that are headed even further south you're welcome to mine. Hell, I lead on old used ropes from ebay and even I don't trust these babies past year two...

http://www.google.com/products?q=dyneema+sling+8mm&hl=en&show=dd http://www.google.com/products?q=dyneema+sling+6mm&hl=en&show=dd And though I still have to test my 12mm's, I suspect it isn't a matter of width, but rather just of the material so I'm not really expecting them or even bigger dyneema slings to perform much better over time, but I'll post those results up later in the spring when they get tested.

Just a new year's reminder if you've had them more than two years of hard use or three years of moderate use you should serious consider tossing them. The testing I had done on them over three years showed them down in the 7-10k range by that time.

My wife is from Spokane and Post Falls, those folks pale compared to the commutes in Boston and I prefer angry and ruthless to incompetent and unaware any day. Both 99 and 30 are packed with out-of-control drivers in the absence of bikes. Hell, I'm on high alert when I'm in a car on either one.