joel20

Thanks for all the advice so far. I am will be there in March for sure. I was hoping earlier, but these Iraqi elections are really messing with my vacation plans. For the most part I will be alone exept for the first week I will be having a buddy tag along to do some boarding and whenever one of my family members is able to get there. I have been considering Argentiere, is there a rail station there?

I'm going to be there for just a few days over 3 weeks. Are the locals usually up for hire as far as guiding goes? I could probably benefit from having one for a day or two and I am not willing to pay the outrageous price for a sanctioned guide. Well, I understand their prices being that many times they have to babysit their clients.

Well in that case how small are you and does your size ever affect your ability to carry a a pack over long distances? Or while wearing snowshoes? I'm curious as to how light I can go as far as body weight goes without sacrificing too much strength in other important areas.

Does anyone here know about where to stay in that town. My requirements are simple: Place to lock up my gear, shower, and that's about it. I've stayed in youth hostels in europe before, but not all of them have showers, or lockers, and you usually end up staying in the same room with strangers. Would anyone know anything about the one in Chamonix?

Benching 465 and curling 125! You sound like a big guy. In fact how big are you and does your size ever bother you while climbing?

1. when i soloed the blaueis traverse on the hockalter(not too technically difficult just had the frightening feeling of being alone on a steep and bare glacier) 2. what a dick, sounds like an army guy who liked to screw with new privates and lt.s has crossed over to climbing 3.before this site i never knew who fred beckey was only heard the name a few times. 4.i'm not proud of what i do when it get's too cold but i've done more often than i care to say. no favorite partners but the worst are those who move a lot and have bad gas. 5.had no idea that you could fail those 6.i don't like watching very many movies at all 7.i'm a negative half empty person but i'll still laugh at a shitty situation, misery is hilarious 8.i'm Joel 9.is that at all pertinent? 10.educate me on what z-clipping is and why i should know about it(if it involves using a long rod to clip into your first piece i don't wanna know). never had a gym membership but maybey when i get back to the states i should get one

Why in the hell would you want to do something that wasn't at least easy on the first time climbing with a complete stranger. Just to see where both of you are as far as skills go, to feel each other out, build up communication on a relatively low stress climb. Not only that, why in the hell would you want to do anything committing with a potential douche bag?

"is i spelled that correctly" yes i am in fact an idiot

I know that there will be a good chance that I will be getting laughed at for struggling on the easy shit in Chamonix. The fucking Duetsche( is i spelled that correctly) will probably be laughing at me on my first few couple of trips back to Pottenstein in the Frankenjura. Will it be safe to go back WA and do some climbing? I don't know. I don't think that any of you know who I am and I'm kinda glad at the moment for it. Well just a 3 of you. Dear god quit the bitching. I've been stuck in a shithole for a year and I've been reprimanded for buildering the palace walls on many ocassions. Well I would have stopped but what could they possibly do to me? Send me to war?

I carry a 16 and a 12 gauge and I like them alot. I can't say anything about the shotgun's performance but I can say that the 16 puts people down much faster than the m4 ever does. If I had one I would definitely let you have it and if the army would allow me to give you all the rest of the stuff that they give me I would. I hate the army. One "peace keeping" tour down, one more to go.

I lose yet another season of ice and my youth to the army. Still I have picked up a lot of cool new gear since I've been in so that I no longer have to borrow. Of course it probably doesn't matter now that I probably suck really bad at it.

Anyone going to be around Chamonix between the end of Feb to the middle of March? I'll be there for about 3 weeks once the Army lets me take leave upon returning from Iraq.

If you're getting fat because of drinking it's because you aren't drinking enough when you do drink and are able to hold all of that food down. But yeah when it starts to get cold we eat more because it warms us up and so we tend to over do it. Also you can't stay in the best shape of your life all the time, in fact I think that you should set aside a month out of the year and dedicate it to nothing but getting fat.

I'm a young guy but I've been taking it ever since I worked at the GNC over 2 years ago. Cartilidge doesn't last forever right? There aren't any side affects and I used to sell it almost soley to the elderly and athletes in their mid thirties and older. I am unwilling to wait until it starts hurting to act on the apparent problem. There are no side affects that I have ever heard of being attributed to glucosamine chondrotin. For the most pure product buy the GNC brand, it's worth the extra money.

It's less expensive, just as nice as Switzerland, and did I mention the runs are longer. I have no idea where to stay because I'm always too wasted to even know where the hell I'm at but that's soldier life in Germany for ya.

it lies, i see fat all over but then again it could just be my own fucked up self image Your Recommended Blocks Your weight is: 185 pounds Your sex is: Male Your Body Fat percentage is: 5 Your Lean Body Mass is: 176 pounds Your 'Ideal' weight is: 202 pounds Your activity factor is: 0.91 Your recommend blocks per day are: 21 (157 grams of protein)

185, and I usually feel pretty confident about my ability to climb and my pros ability to stop me from falling to my death. 175 would be alright but almost climbers wish that they were a bit lighter at some point in time.

I guess my taste diverges from everyone elses or maybey my outlook on life has just become more bleak. My Everest Odyssey- Goran Kropp High Exposure- David Breashears, I think Touching the Void- Joe Simpson. And I have the movie All of the Twight Books

Yeah, thanks it's true that the climbs will still be there. Inspectorgadget, i went to samarra for a huge operation, we cordoned off the entire city and left it still smoking, it sucked so bad. Dru, there isn't any ice in this town in fact there isn't much of anything except for good chicken that may make you crap your pants. I've been caught buildering on the many palace walls over here more than once (while wielding my spear, magic vest, and helmet). So i'm on a short leash as far as that goes. Icegirl, if you'd like my address is SPC Joel Stidham HHC TF 1-18, 2 BCT, 1 ID(FWD) FOB DANGER APO AE 09392 Thanks for the support and hopefully I'll be able to hit the WA in Feb, Mar after I get back to Europe. You know, after life stops sucking. Hopefully month 11 will be better than month 10 was. I joined the army when I was 18, went to Iraq while i was still 20 and 10 days ago I turned 21. I got to come home in September for a couple of weeks and had to escape to Canada to get a drink. All in all life is amusing, I laugh because it all just sounds funny. In reality none of it is funny, well it's a little funny.

I was in Tikrit, Iraq with far too many people around for Thanksgiving. No beer, no liquor, I'm starting to get fat, it's fucking cold, and the ham came out of a can. My misery factor is definitely going up, did I mention that I got shot at. I may do myself in before the enemy does, I suck. I never seem to have anything nice to say. I eat because I'm unhappy and I'm unhappy because I can't climb. What do I have left in this world? Pain to savor, flesh to abuse, and my meat to beat. Did I mention that I'm freezing my balls off over here? Yeah, that's right freezing my balls off in Iraq.

definitely game for anything that involves climbing next week. will also be staying in tacoma in iraq till tommorrow

Yeah, I'm coming home for a couple of weeks and have been having an itch that I haven't been able to scratch. Anyways I should be home on the 10th so the 12th will give me a day or so to get on the practice rock in my town. Mainly for my own confidence and to practice some knots and frigging pro. Still got the strenghth to do 16 wide arm pull ups despite this long deployment, just need a warm up.