rob

He wasn't carrying an MLU???!!!1

sweet My wife and son love hiking/camping, but have zero interest in climbing (I've tried). My daughter, however, is totally into it. She's only 4, and little, and makes me carry her, but I'm hoping she will be my new climbing buddy one day. She watches climbing vids with me -- Steph Davis is her favorite. When did you get your son to start climbing? My daughter loves bouldering but gets scared with a harness/rope.

Taylor Killian Maybe we can create a legal defense fund for him.

Sounds like he was just being friendly.

Good times I bet he's a climber. Seriously, have we reached the point where you can't even run naked, screaming and oiled into a cafeteria without being tasered? I say the terrorists have already won!

I gotta go with minx here, Chuck. <10 times a year is lame. At the very least, I would try for a couple times a month. With 4 weekends in a month, that seems perfectly fair to me -- 50%. When the going gets tough, send flowers.

It's not like you can just leave your wife alone with the kids every weekend. That wouldn't be very cool.

There's a big difference between married, and married with kids.

OK, I want to learn me some ice climbering. I got no tools, but I'm a genius with a belay device and I'll perform evil tasks for you and shit. Plus, I do tricks. Anybody want to take pity on me and give me some ice mentorship? I'll buy some tools, etc. once I know what the hell I'm doing. Think about it and let me know. At the very least, you'll have somebody to carry your gear for you.

Actually, my wife has never told me that I couldn't go out -- but there have been times when I could tell it would be better to stay home. Women can make this obvious Family always comes first, so if I need to stay home to make the wife and kids happy, then so be it. Of course, I can bitch about it to my climbing friends to help blow off steam, but really, if I had wanted to, I could have just gone anyway. But peace in the home is valuable, and if she ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. A happy wife makes for a happy climber. That said, my wife is pretty cool. She puts up with my shit. I get out generally once or twice a month, plus random sickday weekdays. She doesn't complain too loudly about me spending huge amounts of money, as long as I take her on nice vacations once or twice a year. Plus, she buys me climbing gear for x-mas. Mostly, she understands that I will be miserable if I can't be in the mountains. Or, at least, I think she understands as well as a non-climber can understand such a thing.

All I know is, when the "personality quizes" come out is when I leave. My buddy at google had to provide his college transcripts and his official SAT and ACT score results. I'm surprised they didn't ask for a recommendation from his 8th grade homeroom teacher or something. I've left in the middle of an interview before because the guy interviewing me would have been my boss, and he was a total ass. But I don't recommend it. I'm not sure there are any shotcuts. I think you gotta suck it up and blow sunshine up their ass so you can get the paycheck. Also, don't tell employers that you're a climber.

Let me know if you end up getting rid of any power tools. ha!

What kinda job you looking for, Arch?

Why are you selling?

Sweet! I've been wanting to cut my aid teeth out at Index for a while now. Soon! Perfect weekend for it this weekend. I'm jealous. I hate you.

Yeah, yeah, laugh it up wiseguy. I'm reading all the trip reports, my wife keeps asking why I'm sighing all the time. Oh well, at least I can still punish myself at the gym. Cleansing through pain

I wonder if maybe I'm coming down with something. cough cough

Sweet weekend, right? Amazing weather, avy conditions are great, etc. So stoked. And then my wife and I get into an argument on Friday night, resulting in me losing my hall pass. Happens -- nuff said. Anyway, we make up and I manage to get the OK to leave on Sunday -- which turns out to look like the better day anyway. The wife and I make up, etc. So everything works out, right? Phew. Saturday night, my wife's sister calls and says she's in labor. So now, I can't go out cause I'll have to watch the kids. Which sucks, but I can't really be pissed off about that, right? Oh well, I guess I gotta suck it up, she's having a baby. Except now it's Sunday morning, too late to really do/go anywhere, and now it looks like maybe the wife's sister is not in labor after all. Oops. Weak.

Has anybody used a lightweight carbon monoxide detector in their tents while cooking? I'm referring mainly to chemical spot detectors, like the "sticker" type detectors used by pilots. These seem lightweight and cheap enough to justify throwing one in my tent, but I'm wondering if there are any performance problems at cold temperatures. Anybody used one?

Freedom of the Hills has some good info on snow shelters.

Montrail CTC on sale at mountaingear for $65 Tempting. Looks like a good shoe.

You sound like a fucking snake, you suck. You don't belong here.

At least when this is all over, you will be able to write a really fucked up country song.

This was the headline on MSNBC.com this morning.