Couloir

Yeah...I love reading his TR and watching his videos. Talk about a guy that goes out and gets it on a regular basis.

Don't forget, crazy in the head--crazy in the bed.

You can help someone rap safely by having someone on the bottom end holding the rope they are rapping on. If they freak or let go of the rope, you have control of how fast they come down the rope. That's how we used to do it. In terms of an actual belay, though that seems like a bit much and would keep them from descending very efficiently, it could certainly be done from the top just like you were bringing someone up. Or is this something completely different??

I've always made mine using neon orange ripstop Nylon, bamboo gardening stakes and some permanent fabric glue. You can buy the material by the yard and the glue at most large fabric stores. - Cut a 3" x 6" strip of the fabric - Run a line of fabric glue along one of the 3" sides - Place a 36" long bamboo gardening stick along the glue line and roll it about 1-1/2 turns so that it wraps around the stick. There you go. Once you get the hang of it, you can make a lot over 6 or 8 good beers. I really only carry mine on glaciers where I may be doing my own routefinding and I need to mark hidden crevasses, bridges, etc. Even then I sometimes opt not to carry them. You're right, GPS makes it VERY handy these days. Wands are kind of old school, but still have there place. I know the NPS on Rainier uses neon duct tape. Seems like it would work somewhat, but to make it big enough to see from a distance, in a whiteout, you would need to use a lot of duct tape. Before you know it, you're carrying alot of weight. Nylon is much lighter, surprisingly durable (I have some wands that are 20 years old...fraid, but still in good shape) and flaps in the wind to help you see it. I have seen some use thin metal wire as opposed to bamboo to make wands. More compact I guess. But they too tend to be heavy and more importantly, when the sun hits them, it heats the metal and they melt the snow and fall over...no good. Also, put your initials on them and make sure you carry them off the mountain.

Leash?

Nice pics! You're right, it looks like VERY good climbing up there right now. Nice work!

This is impressive. You would definitely need to have everything fall into place and have perfect conditions (both driving and on the mountain). I bought that DVD about the two guys that were trying to run the Wonderland Trail (~95 miles, ~22,000') in 24 hours. That's pretty crazy stuff.

So does rope.

As a running belay or an actual belay? This over a picket? Was it pretty soft? I haven't used a fluke in years, but I guess that's only becasue a picket always seems to suffice. There are a couple of sections that are almost better to do in the dark so you don't see what the runout is like.

I prefer the 24" SMC over the MSR for the reasons Iain pointed out. It's not much of a point, but it does help in placing them in some cases. Yeah, I have some 36" ones too, but they've been on my pack only once. They suck.

...but stick around long enough Kbiehler and you're bound to see copious amounts of heavy spray!

Here is a TR from summitpost.com about a juicy run up ID last weekend.

I miss the days when longer was better. I used to ski some awesome Atomics...203cm...LOVED THEM. Nice GS turns and sweet figure 11's all the way.

I have been eyeing that for a long time now. How high up on Sunshine can you start skiing (earlier in the season of course)? I realize you eventually have to deal with the shrund, but can you start as high as Horsecock Rock? That thing looks beautiful!

I echo most of the same points made, especially the one about sizing to your weight. That's really how you want to narrow down your size. I'm 5'11" 185 and 181cm-185cm is perfect for me. I really enjoy K2 Shuksans. They have been sort of the Randonee main-stay for awhile, and I really like they way they ski. I'm also considering some BD Crossbow. Though I have never skied them, I've heard great things about them. Good luck!

REI sells Nalgene bottles?!?! WTF? I have been trying to find one of those FOREVER!

When were were up at Muir last weekend, I was impressed by how roomy the bathroom was, much nicer than I'd remembered. Then I remembered the spray on here about the "handicapped accessible" bathroom at Muir, and sure enough, that's what it was! So, if you can get your wheelchair up the trail and rock stairsteps, and across the muir snowfield, and you can get up over the bottom half of the dutch door and down the steps into the bathroom, there's plenty of room to turn your wheelchair around, as well has handrails to make it easier for you. Funny yes, but in the latest edition of Gator's book, he tells a story about Pete Rieke who spent 13 day trying to get to the summit. He finally made it up the Kautz Glacier in a modified wheelchair. He had some help, but the guy tackled it under his own power. Unbelievable! BTW Mike, the second edition is better than I imagined. Nice work!

Wow. Very well put Stonehead. Nice job in raising this up a few notches. Thank you.

Yeah, there have been a lot of letters like this directed at Kerry and his "followers" too. And they were just as stupid. Funny how the extremes think each side is a complete idiot, and they just don't get it. It's really quite ridiculous and it certainly doesn't do our country any good. I believe the vast majority of this country believes and values most of same things in life. It's too bad we have the far right and the far left working so hard to make us think otherwise.

I think 27 deaths is more than an accumulation of isolated incidents. From the start, Bush has tried to wriggle free of the constraints of the Geneva Convention- and implicitly condoned torture. This shit is common knowledge, and publicized, but people (like you) consistently claim wide-eyed surprise when it is pointed out. If you feel that adultery is morally more reprehensible than condoning torture & murder, then you & I agree to disagree. Yeah, I think adultry is morally more reprehensible than condoning torture & murder. I was simply making a statement about his Presidency outside of this overall discussion. Second, when I spoke of mistreatment, though I wasn't explicit, I meant death (or as the DOD puts it, Homicide) too. I'm not wide-eyed surprised at all. What's the count up to, 2986 that were killed at the WTC, Pentagon and PA? The detainees weren't innocent civilians picked up at random off the street. There were captured trying to kill us or our allies. Some of them were killed? It's a WAR. 27 killed compared to 2986 killed. What continues to puzzle me is how quick some are to defend the rights of those that are trying to kill us, yet so amazingly slow to defend those that are trying to protect our own country. Why is this? And taking a step back from all of this, and realizing how fortunate we are to live in this country, how could the question even be asked, "Why do you hate America?" Sorry for the rant. I usually just lurk and laugh in Spray, but this thread just struck a nerve. Sorry if I pissed anyone off.

Where is this wholesale torture going on!?! If it were, don't you think the media, who seems to have the same disdain for the President as the left, would be all over it?? There are hundreds of people that if anything on a grand scale were going on, would leak it to the media in a second. Have there been incidents of mistreatment? Absolutely! They have come to light and they're being dealt with. I would argue, you can get more out of the interrogation of a suspect through other means than torture. Frankly, it is because this country DOES believe so much in "the hallmarks of a just and humane democracy" that rampant inhumane treatment doesn't happen. Keep in mind, these people that are in charge of these detainees are members of our volunteer military. They're us. They follow orders, but there are legal mechanisms in place to ensure they don't do anything that violates basic human rights. When individual rights are violated (abu ghraib), they get dealt with. Thanks for the tip. I read the AI report. In sharp contrast to all the real torture and violation of human rights that is going on around the world, I would say the few instances of mistreatment to detainees (people that were captured fighting and trying to kill us on the battlefield...not random innocent civilians) shades in comparison. And as far as Clinton is concerned, I thought he was a decent President as far as his policies and decisions are concerned. I just think his treatment of the Presidency itself was in poor taste. I mean fucking your intern in the Oval Office while your wife is in the other room...yeah we all "common men" do that ALL the time. Hell, it's in vogue these days! But he was the President. I don't think any of us would have done that, again, out of respect for the office.

What would be nicer still is not having terrorists. Now that we do, how do we deal with them? Ignore 9/11? Call in all our troops from around the world and just defend our own borders? Many things were done wrong post-9/11, even pre-9/11. But seriously, what should be done now? The notion of letting them all go seems as silly as opening up our own state prisons and letting them all go free. Afterall, they'd be happy and wouldn't commit anymore crimes, right? Regardless of what religion you espouse or which god you worship, killing people because you hate them is flat wrong. So, how should the US have responded to 9/11? Just chaulked it up to bad policy and say, "shucks, I guess we just don't understand them," and move on? From what I understand there have been ~75,000 detainees since the attack. Many have been released. Most have been treated fairly under the circumstances. There have been reports of abuse, about 300. That's way less than 1/4 percent. Those cases get investigated and where there was wrongdoing, those involved got and are getting punished. There are 3 million people in the armed services. Bad things are going to happen. Is it Bush's fault? Is it a Governor's fault when there is abuse in state prisons?? I have some serious issues with this administration, but instead of hating HIM, and in the case of this thread, hating America, if you have some REAL solutions to dealing with these hugely complex issues, lay them out. If not, Spray away!

I agree!

I wonder what's nicer, Getmo or [insert any prisoner of war camp in Vietnam, Germany, Korea, et.al. that housed Americans for years on end]?