ClimbingPanther

Farrgo, you're right about the salt. You have to be real careful with the rate you consume it if you're talking peak performance, but of course you must have it. If you can tell you're ingesting salt, you are at least on the verge of ingesting too much at one time. Sorry I can't contribute to any discussion of hikes over 20 miles in one day, but my drink, supplemented with the occasional PayDay, has proven invaluable for that range. I agree with the sentiment on snacking, and PayDay's are my snack of choice. Again, the day I noticed the most amazing stamina boost was after ~10 miles with 40-45 pounds on my back, then a PayDay and my drink & 20m rest. The next 1 1/2 - 2 miles uphill were CAKE.

+ = Your Solution!!! Also try e-Bay and maybe check out options for making your own from a kit. You may have more color control that way? I wonder if leaving a note that your car is rigged with a bomb instead of an alarm would stop people from breaking in? "Yeah, it's probably a fake, but what if?"

You want energy to keep going forever? Read this. [sorry, this is a post-in-progress, but I think I'm done now] I wanted to create a home-made (read: cheap) energy drink that would keep me going and ideally provide an easy way to get calories if/when your stomach is upset at altitude. I have done quite a bit of research on endurance & related physiology. Drinks like Endurox are unquestionably the best physiologically. The guy who did 50 marathons in 50 days in each of the 50 states downed a liter of the Endurox recovery drink every night, but I'm not sure what he had during the day. The expensive formulations include not only carbs (very specific, not just sugar), but a little protein, tons of vitamins/antioxidants, and electrolytes (and not just plain sodium). However, there's a number of problems for the average Joe. 1 - they are, well, very expensive and impractical to use on a regular basis. 2 - they usually taste anywhere from bad to :vomit: 3 - the best ones, which use maltodextrin, take a long time to completely dissolve the powder. I have solved two of these problems while maintaining a useful formula; unfortunately, the best ones will always be hard to dissolve Solution: just make up the drink in the evening and it will be ready by morning. It takes about 30m-1h to dissolve. Are you ready? 3/4 - 1 cup maltodextrin (kinda hard to find - buy online) 1/4 cup fructose (easily found at health stores) 1/8 tsp sea salt (more than plain sodium) 1 packet of your favorite Kool-Aid (raspberry is personal fav.) Liquid and Carb intake is optimal for 24-32 oz. per hour. [approx. 250-300 cal. per hour] (i.e. this is ALL you need to consume) Your body can't handle much more energy and liquid without sacrificing your physical output. The inclusion of Fructose as opposed to, say, glucose (which may be better, performance wise) is the only way to get enough sweetness for a good tasting drink at 1/8 cup per quart, excluding artificial sweeteners, which I haven't delved in to. I experimented with adding a packet of Emergen-C (tons of vitamins/antioxidants), but it just fouled the taste considerably. I found it better to keep vitamin-taking seperate from the energy drink. I haven't worked on incorporating a small amount of protein yet. I'd like to do this because the theory is that an all-liquid diet is best b/c you don't get your stomach going to take away blood from your muscles. However, I've not found this to be a real problem at the level of exertion I usually find myself. In fact, my most astonishing increase in endurance and capability was (starting) about 20 minutes after downing a Payday and hiking fast uphill for an hour at the end of the day. Not scientific, but anecdotal evidence for importance of protein? regardless of solid form. My drink formula is not an exclusive solution for multi-hour continuous high-level exertion. You definitely need more protein and probably more electrolytes and vitamins. It's good enough for the vast majority of what we all do though. It's not going to make you Superman, but you should notice that you don't completely poop out. You will still feel tired, but won't NEED to rest. You will be in control of your muscles, telling them when to start and stop, as opposed to them telling you when

Thanks for that link, fenderfour. Plenty of good info there. Mike Layton, check this out because it's way better than the slipshod work and assumptions in some of the previous links. It's interesting to note that the lowest drop-test failures are around 10 kN, way more than you ought to be able to produce rappelling. Maybe this goes down with an older sling? Regardless, the most telling result is the pictures of post-failure slings. They're ratty and frayed, not a perfect slice with a tiny fray on one side.

I have been getting a hankering for some winter backpacking, but I really hate snowshoes. Having done the Wonderland Trail this summer, I couldn't help but wonder about skiing it during the winter, or at least go somewhere to do some ski-backpacking. There's a lot of issues that winter brings up, but I'm sure somebody has done this before. Anybody have suggestions for this type of thing? HWY 20 in the N. Cascades? etc?

I probably don't need to tell you this, but remember to consider the cost of ammo as part of the equation. If I packed heat, I'd want to be very good with said gun, and would go through tons of ammo (=$$$).

FW, maybe you need a new job. Many (most?) respectable companies pay their employees for weather-related absences. Maybe this is a little different in that respect, but it's different it a lot of other ways too. Especially since those MRNP workers are only there because we want them to be there in that volatile environment and make a nice park for us to play in, the least we can do is not abandon them when they're forced away from their jobs by the environment we want them to work in. I appreciate that these guys are willing to take jobs in an uncertain place. If the government/people screwed them when the going got tough, what quality of people do you think would work there?

Buildings are also good at keeping the rain off. Of course you have to get used to seeing the same scenery every hundred yards or so. You might feel like this --> Oh, and another solution is to live in eastern WA Come to the dar.... uh, actually, the LIGHT side

Though I'm not one to make broad medical generalizations in a subject I am no expert in, my two cents: My great-grandpa had something probably similar or identical to what you describe. He kept pushing it back in for the rest of his life. He didn't believe in doctors. That had nothing to do with his death, so I think you'll be OK for the weekend, personally. If constriction is supposedly a problem like the above post mentions, then stay loose man! No pull-ups and ab crunches until after surgery

So you believe electronic data is metaphysical?

http://www.mountaingear.com/pages/produc...7n.ihhf.50.648i Has anyone tried this before? Sure looks nice and light and the price is right. Maybe I won't have to use my dad's ancient nylon minimalist packs from the 1970's era anymore! Those were great, coming in at single-digit ounce weights, but aren't very comfortable for more than 10-15 pounds.

That's definitely my favorite post of the week

As long as they're posted where a person must pass by, then the guy did deserve it.

So is it posted up there not to camp on the heather? I've seen signs at lots of places regarding the other infractions, but never about certain plants which must not be camped on. As they say, you learn something new every day.

Smith is right in that little dry area, right? You're golden! Or is climate prediction really not that accura.... hey, LOOK!!! I JUST DISPROVED GLOBAL WARMING!!!

Whoa, enlighten me, a SE WA dweller, on this insidious heather-abuse crime. I'm all for and personally practice leave no trace, but since when did something like that result in a citation? What else can people be cited for?

I wouldn't be too hard on us... When rep. districts such as Benton county repeat their recounts to within a couple votes at the most, and dem. district King totally throws the election, it at the very least seems suspicious. A conspiracy theorist would have gone ape.

Silly chucK, hasn't Bush taught you anything by now? You don't have to have support to have control!

I was thinking that same thing, KK. Maybe it's because only Republicans perpetrate fraud and Democrats are only looking for a fair shake.

Sorry, I am not comprehending this... if your vote went for the first choice and that person lost, how can your vote change? Are you talking primaries or Nov.?

Now this is all just pure conjecture and wild guessing, but I suspect people will want to be prepared to wade anywhere there used to be bridges, probably even decently built ones! Except maybe the two behemoth steel bridges in MRNP.

This is very sad. I hope nothing historic is lost. But hey, if they do plow Sunrise, you can get dropped off and then picked up at White River! Can you say Car-Lift? Oh yeah, and about Global Warming, does anyone find it funny that so many people believe in someone they can't prove exists yet don't believe something right in front of their nose? I get a kick out of that.

Also, you should add another line to the part about "Why can't I log in?" I don't know what that new line would be, but ideally it would be whatever is wrong at my home computer so I can log in. I get something like Login Name/Password not found. However, if I deliberately type the wrong password, it says Incorrect password with that username.

I am thrilled because I got to tick off two of my life goals in two weeks. Can a year get better than that? July 29-August 6 Wonderland trail (around Rainier) August 12-13 Summit Rainier via DC-Emmons If anyone has ever wanted to... no wait, if anyone has ever thought about it... well, actually, if you're alive, you should do the Wonderland. SO amazing! PM if you ever want to talk about tips for doing it yourself sometime. Of course, the summit was incredible as well. The weather had us worried a little when the breeze started up at 5 mph, but that soon subsided to a dead calm. Good thing we didn't have a single cloud in the sky to go with the 5 mph breeze!

I tend to disagree with this philosophy. There's no discussion (except among the KKK maybe) that intrinsic properties of a human being which make them different (race, disability, gender, etc.) cannot be discriminated against constitutionally. However, actions are certainly upheld or prohibited in the constitution and laws alike. It's the very nature of laws to regulate actions. All men (and women) are created equal, not all actions. However, many choices are left up to the citizen, such as whether or not to own a gun and whether or not to speak. Those liberties are expressly preserved as a choice for each citizen to make. Does the constitution grant liberty (expressly or implied) to marry someone of the same sex? I don't know. Input on this issue would be interesting. However, if liberty is not granted, I think it's status as an intrinsic property or an action is fundamental to the constitutional stance on homosexuality.