tvashtarkatena

primaloft is good for moving in really crappy weather but its falls short for the cold and dry or after hours - especially if you've soaked it. It's clammy - like wearing a bunch of cut up ziplocks, which it kind of is, and not nearly as warm as down. I don't know how anyone sleeps in a primaloft bag - it's like bedding down in a double knit leisure suit with cheap whore - you're bound to hate yourself by morning. Given that it's for moving in crap weather - you might think about getting a really thin one and supplementing it with a down sweater (Montbell, etc). That's what I've been doing in mixed weather. If it's just cold and dry - a synthopuff makes zero sense to me. I leave it at home. I'm experimenting with replacing the synthopuff with merino layers and a windshirt. Merino is so much more comfy, and the syntho is almost always too warm in motion except in freezing rain. You can pick up merino sweaters at Goodwill for 10 to 20 bucks - they're a common item there, and they are awesome in the BC. No hood though. For that, you'll need to shit a sheepload of money for Ibex, Icebreaker, or Smartwool's mid or outer layers. I just snagged a cashmere hoody for around town for (relatively) cheap. Once i trash it, which typically doesn't take me very long, it's going into the BC too. BTW, Merry Christmas! I'm off to church...

I got the big part covered, anyway. The ride? Not so big.

Unless you're doing the Hoh in the rainstorm, The hardest thing you should need for your bottom round here is a pair of wind pants - Montane makes a 4 oz pair. I carry them if weather/high winds are possible, but almost never use them. I haven't taken hardshell pants on a trip in years.

Yeah, that one's pretty fun.

"Listening to Silence". Have you read it?

When the climbing gets hard, I bolt.

Lincoln Peak actually turned out to be quite enjoyable in good conditions (June 15 of this past year). The approach road...well...drive someone else's car and bring a saw.

Worry not, my son. Nordstrom still has their own version with the even hipper kangaroo pocket.

Cashmere; it's not just a vacation destination in central Washington.

There are no squadrons of drones monitoring the US - the FAA doesn't allow flights over most of the country (hobby drones being the exception). The few drones that have been used domestically have been for things like monitoring fence lines along water supplies and such. Any drone seen near Rainier was over or near to a military reservation. 24 states have applied to the FAA to establish drone test sites. Congress has required the FAA to come up with regulations that allow commercial drone use in 2015. Several cities have passed drone regulations - Texas prohibits drone surveillance. Washington's proposed drone regulation, which addresses government use only, was kilt by Boeing lobbyists this time around. Proponents will attempt to convince Boeing that privacy protections will actually make the public less leery of drones, and so help their sales. The next bill will likely contain some language addressing commercial use. One thing is for sure - drones are cheap and useful. They will be everywhere (primarily commercial varieties) in huge numbers really soon.

You're probably not going to like the Neiman Marcus cashmere hoodie I just ordered for the back country, then.

You're Hernia Free on Lincoln Peak You're hernia free! Lower gully. by PatGallagherArt, on Flickr Ivan raps off the summit of the Lost Arrow after our Venusian style ascent. Ivan raps off the summit by PatGallagherArt, on Flicker The logistics and commitment it took to get there: Camp 4, 5 AM by PatGallagherArt, on Flickr and the heavy toll afterwards: Post send gear sort by PatGallagherArt, on Flickr Ass and Wolf's Head Still Life: Creep! Liz (CO) and partner on the Wolf's Head by PatGallagherArt, on Flickr Josh Kaplan, Alpine Morale Officer - Central Corner of the Haystack, Wind River Range Central Corner P 3 by PatGallagherArt, on Flickr

I suppose a Midnight Meat Train reference would be out of the question. I thought the only demographic unaware of Army of Darkness included recent immigrants from non-electrified societies and the comatose (and the latter may simply be due to certain difficulties in communication), but you learn something new, if not always useful, here every day. Not everyone shops Smart.

I never know which forum I'm in. 3 pairs of gloves for ice climbing. Mitts for the approach and/or belay if you need em.

Decent mitts are especially nice if you're a skier.

I use OR alti mitts on all cold trips and love them. After painfully rethawing my fingers after a chilly April approach six or so years back, I decided it was time to solve that problem for good - and, with the Altis, I did. When it gets chilly, there's really no substitute for a solid pair of mitts. The down liners are great for skiing in the cold. You hardly know they're there.

LOL. I seldom follow my own advice, of course, but I'll drop a strap on occasion when plying some particularly holy land. I have half a kayak paddle with a canoe handle that looks like it might hail from similar ingearbreeding.

Assumption is the most pervasive form of learning disability.

You can self arrest with skis on. When skiing on a glacier, stow the ax and use a whippet and a poles, both with hands out of the straps (you'll be tossing one if it all goes wrong). You then have the choice of a quick self belay with the whippet or a standard ski pole arrest without. Up your chances by avoiding slick outer clothing like hardshells. Not as good as a standard ax arrest but then, skis provide other advantages, on and off the glacier. Anyone who uses poles might consider learning how to arrest with one. Very useful. A note about falls without skis: If you lose everything on the way down, arrest with your elbows (more effective than you might think) and toes (crampon free) or knees (w/crampons).

Pre-rig it. Much better than screwing around with having to do it once yer in the hole. The same for prusiks or tribloc. NEVER pre-rig a tibloc. A prusik may just snap if it catches the fall (which it will the way most folks rig it)- leaving you in the hole without a means to ascend, but a tibloc will tear your rope a new asshole, leaving you in the hole period. Rigging tiblocs quickly while dangling should be straightforward with a little practice.

Freedom requires equal treatment under the law and equality of opportunity, it doesn't 'accommodate' it. FW's misunderstanding of the value of equality, and the strawman it necessarily generates, is the number one excuse for opposing the value of equality in this country. Our system has been gamed by the haves to increase for increase income disparity for decades, primarily in the form of a regressive tax structure, so that's the unhealthy condition our nation currently enjoys. Rising income disparity and the erosion of the middle class's basic financial security is a huge problem in this country - perhaps our biggest. We're going to have to take it on at some point, and sooner is usually better than later when fixing systemic problems that are worsening.

Drones are coming - in force. The companies that produce them are commercializing their products for the domestic market. They're cheap now - they'll practically be free in the future, as will microrecording devices. FFA rules will need to change - but that is certain the happen in the face of the staggering automated utility drones offer. The ACLU had a drone bill last session that was shot down by Boeing - we'll try again next year but the effort will only succeed if we can convince Boeing that it is their best interests to address the public's substantial concerns about drones rather than quashing them. Amazon through everyone for a loop - no one is even discussing commercial use of drones and the privacy issues there. Micro surveillance/recording devices, commercial, public, or personal, will be everywhere. That's just what's going to happen. Restrictions on the use of that data is something we can control, to a degree. The inevitable ubiquity of the technology is not. Embrace it, fight that part of the fight you can win, or move underground. BTW, 3 more weeks to make your donation before the FY ends.

That is a huge and ubiquitous problem. No entity has much control over a unionized police force in a major city. Any attempt to alter their training - decrease racist behavior or unnecessary violence, often opens up their contract for renegotiation - a back-off poison pill that gives departments lots of autonomy. The SPD is a case in point. It is currently operating under a memo of understanding negotiated, in part, by the ACLU following a federal investigation and subsequent court order that documented over 50 cases of excessive use of force, often with an explicitly racial motive. It's been two years, and no real plan of action for the SPD has emerged, although all parties remain hopeful. If Seattle's experience doesn't serve as an example for self reform in other cities, and it may not, then our effort will have to be duplicated in every major city in the US, because they all have a violence/racism/training problem to varying degrees. Where those resources would come from - even the feds don't have that many people, is beyond me.

Fortunately, the bar for removing basic constitutional rights in this country is a bit higher than labeling someone 'irresponsible' because they happen to enjoy weed. And no, not every one of the 600,000 people in prison for weed in this country are drug kingpins. Prisons (my bro's a public defender - in Humbolt County) are full of people with learning disabilities, addiction disorders, psychological disease, and African Americans, the majority of them poor. After more than a decade running the public defenders office down there (he just retired), my brother still found how our system treats these people heartbreaking. The general public simply doesn't realize what's actually happening in our criminal justice system.

To clear up some misconceptions, not that I'm not flattered by the attention - Well over 50% of felons committed non-violent, primarily drug related crimes. 25% are were convicted for pot. I believe these folks should have their gun ownership rights restored. They are often forced to live in low income/high crime environments that are inherently more dangerous, and so often have a gun for protection. The police find the gun and its often an excuse to tip them over the top of our 3 strikes laws - life in prison, for having an illegal gun in the house. I also believe convicts who've served their time should have their voting rights restored. Many don't because of outstanding court debts - which they can never repay because they can no longer find employment. That's about it on that front. Pretty simple.