tvashtarkatena

Trip: Lookout Mt: Third time's a charm - Date: 2/12/2012 Trip Report: Josh and I thought a nice range of conditions would make for a good maiden voyage for my new AT gear (his skis...mine are still somewhere in the shipping ether). It was also a farewell party for my tely gear, which I've developed a hate/hate relationship with over the past few years. Cascade crud at its finest, but we did manage to catch this sunrise through the fog. Thinking about an extended traverse in the area come spring.

It's also mildy amusing that the industry has taken $40, 1977 era Sears sleeping bags and resewn them into $250 'synthetic insulation'. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for recycling cheap plastic as many times as you can squeeze value out of it. The COG on those things is about a dollar, however, and their loft holds up about like you'd expect a dollar jacket would.

But that for the most part involves subjective danger, such as running into a tree or accidently skiing off a cliff out of bounds, or falling into a tree well. Objective danger, one encounters in the backcountry or mountains, such as serac collapse or avalanche is different. Seems to me a cliff is an objective hazard. Just like a crevasse is. Yes and no. Most accidents involving both are due to human error. That could mean not tying yourself in or moving to safe ground when pulling a rap rope, for example. Or not properly testing your holds. Or placing a cam instead of a nut at Smith Rock and blowing a block down on your partner (it 'looked' really solid). Or not being familiar with covered crevasses in various snow conditions. Or not probing when you should. Or...

I see a Hooters/Stone Gardens/Rainbow Child Care merger in the making.

A belated congratulations on the birth of yer wee one, Kevin!

'into thin air' Probably under one of the beds, I'd wager.

OMG. It's like waking up in the future. Goodbye telies and GOOD RIDDANCE.

Mother nature does need a little nudge sometimes.

Uhh...since its now becoming part of the popular lexicon here, I just posted that meta study for fun. 1 seconds of Googlez...I have absolutely no idea where it came from. It could be, and probably is, complete unnernut chaffe. It is true, however, that most of us in this discussion will die, rather slowly, painfully, and expensively, of either heart disease or cancer. Something to weigh for those mothers and fathers who choose to 'unselfishly' stay home and safely watch the tube with the kids instead of taking the little ones out where the real goodness is. Just under half the folks I've known who were lost in the mountains died in avalanches, the rest in falls (some of those caused by rock/ice fall). Of my personal close calls, nearly every one involved rockfall of some sort. I would also recommend avoiding muskoxen whenever possible.

Love my OR Ferrosi softshell hoody. Just light Schoeller (which should need no introduction I hope), no hype. Really great in wide variety of conditions when in motion. Very light weight. I was out BC skiing in a MH powerstretch hoody and a Ferrosi all day yesterday from 5000' down to 1300' - sun, fog, light grappel, drizzle...comfy, comfy. Its true that most softshells are too heavy for most conditions, and thus don't breath well enough to do the job for which they were intended, which is to keep you moving in variable conditions without having to change layers. The layer I leave at home most of the time? A hardshell. Can't really imagine trying to move around for very long in any kind of puffy unless its dipping into the teens or really blowing. And you gotta love an outer layer that can't survive any abrasion. Yeah...I never crash through brush or anything in the Cascades....

PM sent for 3 small cams

Here's another fun fact: The chance of surviving a fall of 12 feet or more is 50%. The chance of surviving an avalanche that completely buries the victim is 50% if a beacon is worn, and less than 10% if you don't. Extreme trauma, hypothermia, and asphyxiation, and some level of exhaustion are a tough combination. I'd say the hazards of climbing roughly equal those of skiing. Rockfall/icefall versus avalanche/treewells

Just climb the 1st 3 pitches of TRL. The last three kinda suck. Of course, that practically guarantees a stuck rope epic rapping from the top of P3, so budget a full day anyway.

Also available with the Volcano option.

This metastudy may or may not have any bearing on reality: Risk of dying by sport Bottom line (according to the above): You're gonna die of a heart attack...unless you're a base jumper. Plus Stop swimming and running...that shit'll kill ya.

Dynafit Manaslus for just under 500. Stokes for just over. Decent selection all around.

Manaslus for 489. Stokes for a few bucks more.

Google Earth.

OK, that's 2.

How many buggers should I be expecting? Headed to TJ's right now...

I firmly believe you're boring today, but I'm willing to entertain the idea that yours is a permanent condition.

5 out of 5 groups voted Yay at Centralia College on Wed. They're biggest hangup? The DUI provision. One chick was like "WHO'S GONNA PAY FOR THE BLOOD TESTS!!!!????? My answer: the $215 million annually off our state deficit might just cover that...and they do the blood tests now, anyway, so there really won't be much change there. Jesus...don't give 'em probable cause and you won't get pulled over. Not hard.

The DUI provision hangs up a lot of people. A large percentage of the population focuses more on why something can't be done rather than just doing it and tweaking it later. Basic AHM nature. What I tell audience members who attempt to go down that rat hole? Explain your concerns to the 600,000 folks who are currently rotting in jail just for weed. I'm sure they'll understand. People expect from others the kind of Day One Perfection they've never, ever delivered themselves. Leave the DUI provision out and they'd just complain about that.

A knot belay (garda, munter, whatev) will turn your rope into Rastaman Snarl right quick. Plus, they're less reliable than a gri. Not a great idea for any situation other than after you've accidentally dropped your belay/rap device. One point to consider is the use of a figure 8 on a bite instead of a clove hitch for the gri rap. Clove hitches can get really tight and difficult to untie when heavily weighted.

Who loves ya, baby! Enough with this Hall Monitor shit...I've got brand spankin' new AT boots to thermofit, bitch. FUCK YEAH.