jclements

We have a tree and shit.

I was just having a laugh, as they say in the Old Country. I'm in the pictures, with a glazed expression...

Well, my patent agent is billing me crazy on the Mountain Rescue Maximization Unit (MRMU), to be available for the spring REI catalog, but have your people call mine and they can talk licensing.

Oh, ONE word.

Word. Trapped coal miners, trapped kids in wells... This goes back to that Floyd Collins dude in the cave, big media attention, only if it weren't for those people in Nome needing diptheria vaccine, he'd a blown up even bigger on CNN. So here's a little device needing to be invented... rather than having a trusted person at home call rescue services, you get a special cell phone with a timer that calls out at some time when you should be back, leave it somewhere close to a tower near your excursion area. It calls 911 with your prerecorded voice that says, "Help, we're in trouble out here in X, and my cell phone is about to-" bam, clock is ticking on people in trouble in the backcountry, thereby doubling or tripling the rescue efforts. But where's the fun in that, really? Those Crystal snowboarders - maybe they coulda called out, but decided that ain't how they roll. In the movie, dude (played by Mark Wahlberg) opens his cell phone, looks at his best buddy from high school buried alongside him in the debris, insert shot of several bars on cell phone screen, and then his buddy nods, and Marky Mark clicks the cell phone shut.

Any books/sources you recommend?

Damn, you whipped that joke right to the end! It was a joke, right? The humor reminds me of my navy buddies... not that they ever, uh, oh forget it. Let's do it again soon. Without the uh, "after party."

I could have used something like this on a massive scree slog down in the Sierras back in Oct. I munched on Clif Bloks but clearly not enough- cramping that demanded stopping and eating for a while. Sometimes I feel like I'm not hard enough when I'm munching all kinds of gels and snacks and hydrating during a climb and a partner is barely taking anything in and gets kind of sullen towards the end of the day...

I don't recognize anyone in those pictures. Was this another function? I went to the Lucky Lab in PDX last night. Whoever it was I met last night, it was good doing so. And you guys look like an okay bunch too, hope to see ya around. Cheers!

I got a new vinyl Master of Reality bout a year ago (wore the CD out), sounds damn fine...

And dudes... like Ali G- respect.

I appreciate mattp's response, I don't think he was sidetracking anything - conversations work their way around... I might be wrong about Hood, I was just saying there is a threshold beyond which people shouldn't be venturing until they've had enough experience, as well as life experience. Sooner or later someone's going to try and get a 12 yo up Everest: it's not worth it, they need to experience a little more life first before they risk it to climb a mountain that carries a significant chance of death and bodily harm. So where's the threshold? As far as the ski/climbing thing: skiing is considered a relatively safe family activity, as such many more people do it. Climbing is considered dangerous (and not that fun) by a lot of non-climbing folk and thus keeps out many people. Though 25-50 people die skiing in the US every year, this would have to be considered with total number of skiiers. There has been a concerted effort in recent years to mandate the wearing of helmets by children while skiing. So to objectively compare the risks we would need to study an equally distributed population in both camps, in terms of experience, age, etc. I might be wrong, skiing in general might be a more dangerous activity.

If that were the case every parent that takes there kids skiing and snowboarding are in the same boat. Only if it were the case that the risks of mountaineering on Mount Hood and resort skiing were roughly equal, which, I'm sure you'll agree, are not.

Add me to the list of mountaineers who are adamantly advising you not to do this with your child, or any child. I think even a legal case could be made to charge you with child endangerment even if you were successful. Climbing, difficult climbing at high altitude as opposed to a walk-up, is no place for a child. I have not been up Hood (yet), but from what I can tell about the mountain, it is in a league above other mountains in North America, a glaciated volcano that carries a serious risk of death that no one, to my mind, has a right to calculate for another person as an elective endeavor. Even when professionally guided an adult must sign a waiver - in final the adult must make a decision for themselves. It is my belief that you do not have the right to make this decision for your son. I took my 5 yo son up Black Butte (mostly piggyback), a Class 1 walk up to 6400 feet or so and even that made me a little nervous, not from any objective danger but from the general sense I've gotten from many climbs to high altitude, and I'm sure many others get, that an exposed alpine terrain above treeline is a harsh environment that is hostile to human life. I get a kick out of being there myself, but I calculate my passage through it. Do a few climbs on your own and I'm sure you'll understand what I mean. In time I will take my son up higher (if he wants) but only when he is physically and mentally able to handle it, and only where the risk is minimal, in terms of rockfall, exposure to weather, etc, and I can most likely rescue him if need be. I will probably not allow him to climb high-altitude 4th or 5th class until he was of majority age, and that includes Hood. When he is 18, he can do whatever he wants. High summits of difficulty are the province of physically fit, skilled adults, period. Maybe you should consider a trip to Colorado, there are relatively easy walkups (and driveups) to 14k; done at the right time of year (usually early fall, when thunderstorms have abated) the risk is minimal, the exertion level satisfying, and the views decent.

Something... anybody? Mountains, misery, shoeing, climbing, skinning? Wednesday Dec. 5. Hood area?

Mike, thanks for dealing gracefully with my asshole phase of development here at cc.com. Good luck to you wherever you are. You should try and get yourself into Twight's gym. Of course when we're driving fifty plus miles to ski and climb you will be driving about a half hour to the insane pow. Just stock up on your liquor out here! I know how you feel. Climbed down in Bishop in Oct, with some local old-timers, met some cool folks, and really dug the scene, couldn't get over the surplus of good rock, and made me thinking of making a move myself one day. Cheers, John C.

I will be there.

Mountaineering IS kewl! "It doesn't have to be fun to be fun." Nicely done.

I'm gonna bail on this... a cold and sore throat has me laid up.

I'm thinking about renting some AT skis to try it. I've not done AT skinning before, so if that doesn't work out so I might have to just a-frame them up to a descent point. The weather looks to be shaping up...

My first time on this one, probably going to recon the SS. Day before T-day. Anyone care to join? Perhaps ski down...

Don't mean to Hijack the thread, but anyone have any ideas for stairs in the PDX area? I live in Hillsboro, about as flat as a lake- I go over to a local school that has about a twenty-step stairs and go up and down up and down...

Something in the news a while back about a treadmill desk, walking slowly... Why I gotta get a job outdoors.

Thanks for the info update, always more to learn. In Kiss or Kill Twight cryptically mentions in a paragraph on nutrition that he thinks he could have shaved 12 hours off his Mount Hunter push, but he wouldn't elaborate. Perhaps this is the key...

I may be wrong, but I understand maltose, being two glucoses linked together, is more evenly absorbed for purposes of strenuous exercise than simple® sugars such as fructose and glucose, and doesn't have as high glycemic response. Maltodextrin is basically a string of glucoses linked together in the same bonding pattern as maltose, (hence the malto-). Brown rice syrup is made from malted rice, is high in maltose, and is what makes up Clif shots. I use it to make my own cheaper shots, (mix w/ a little choc. syrup, put it in a squeeze tube) though it doesn't taste so good, but where I use it I'm not visiting for gourmet experiences. Following Twight's advice, I've found staying away from solid foods, proteins, and more than just a bit of fat , sticking to dilute energy drink like Cytomax and maltose/maltodextrin gel shots, works great during the day's exertion at high altitude for sustained energy, is easy on the stomach, though some queasiness is to be expected at altitude. A 16 yo mountain newbie I was with on Adams recently stopped to eat a roast beef sandwich or something, and along with the gatorade (fructose, basically), did a mojo on his stomach that turned him back just a couple hundred feet from the summit. I've seen this wall come up on folk several times, myself included, with those who eat only pop tarts, snacks and whatnot up in the mountains, and get taxed. The gel shots work, though I am wary of using too many that have caffeine (which seems to in a good number of them). On a few occasions I've given them to a fellow climber/skier when they were waning who hadn't used one before, and they reported a little pickup, though of course this is anecdotal. I think the advice about keeping the energy drink diluted is good as well; A bottle of Cytomax that had been mixed a little strong is what finally set my stomach off at the top of a CO 14er - descent wasn't pretty.