tvashtarkatena

Trip: Final Peak Whoring Junket of 2009. Really. - Windy, Remmel, Apex (Pasayten Wildnerness) Date: 9/30/2009 Trip Report: TR: Windy, Remmel, Apex (Pasayten Wilderness) 9/25-29/2009 Reduced gravity descent, Apex Mountain It starts when you first look at The List and think to yourself, Hey, I’ve already done a bunch of those…wonder how many I have left…just for fun, of course. Then, you start tagging an extra peak here and there, you know, since you’re in the neighborhood and all. You break out the highlighter and a constellation of pink dots appear on your maps that seem to be conveniently grouped geographically… And down you slide until finally you’re leaving inexperienced friends and family, the very people you promised only days prior to protect from nature’s harsher impulses, alone in the wilderness to fend for themselves with nothing but their lousy choice of books and some sticks to play with while you prostitute yourself yet another time on some obscure bump with horseshoe prints on the summit for Christ’s sake and for what? You’re running up a 13 mile stretch of burned out trail even mule deer won’t take anymore as fast as you can, knees creaking like the charred lodge pole pines around you because it’s been about a century since you’ve run anything longer than a lawnmower, so as not to piss of your girlfriend too much because, let’s face it, the moment you proposed this little side trip she was already pissed, and the only person to bear the brunt of her dissatisfaction is your poor nephew who only just met her. But you climb Windy Peak anyway. Larches from Windy Peak So it went our first day in the Pasayten. By the way, there’s at least one moose running up and down the Chewuck these days. Either that or some elk has gotten into the steroids. Spotted tussock caterpillar Lophocampa maculata, Chewuch River Spotted tussock caterpillar Lophocampa maculata, ant’s eye view, Chewuch River The day after my little side trip to Windy, my nephew Theo, Beth, and I headed up to Four Point Lake, dropped our gear, and continued on to tag Remmel. Previous supplicants never seem to mention what a beautiful trip this is. Larches, white granite, expansive views, and a gently graded trail to what used to be a summit lookout. Superb jaunt. I finished out the day by dispatching a couple of trout for dinner, both of which went to Beth, who seemingly had forgotten one of her freeze dried dinners. Lichen cladonia sulphurina, Four Point Creek Lichen sp. unknown, Four Point Creek Lichen sp. unknown, Four Point Creek The trail to Remmel’s summit Windy Peak, from the Remmel trail Beth and Theo nearing Remmel’s summit Theo on Remmel’s summit Stone temple pilot, Remmel summit The following morning I convinced Beth that the bushwhack shortcut straight north from Four Point Lake really, no, I mean really, was a good idea. Theo needed no convincing. He was up for anything, even the navigation. We were all up for some kind of exercise after freezing our asses off in the previous night’s high winds. Hydnellum auriantiacum, Remmel Creek The Shortcut The meadows beneath Amphitheatre, Remmel in the background Approaching Amphitheatre Theo looking north to Canada Beth relaxes while Theo goes all direttissima on Amphitheatre Jesus Cathedral Basin was cold. There were white caps on the lake. I caught another trout but after a minor tangle in my reel I stowed it and my frozen fingers and headed for the fire. By morning it was 35 degrees out. Doing the frost trot, Cathedral Lake Cathedral Lake and Peak Yeah, it was a little chilly last night Despite it’s beauty, we were not too sad to trade Cathedral Basin’s exposed meadows for the wood stove comfort of the Tungsten Mine Cabin. With a layover on Apex’s summit, of course. Cathedral Peak portrait Amphitheatre and Cathedral, on the way to Apex Pass On Apex, Cathedral in the background Reverie high above Tungsten Lake Apex summit cheeze Theo feels the need to stand on every false summit. Apex, looking north Another Theo Sighting on Apex, Windy in the background When you first see the Tungsten Mine; it’s buildings, engines, boilers, and many tons of fractured heavy machinery, you invariably wonder: how did all this crap get up here? Well, here’s how, when, and why: http://dooger.org/posts/hiking/visiting-the-tungsten-mine-at-wolframite-mountain-pasayten-wilderness/ The Tungsten Mine and its temporary foremen Life at the Tungsten Mine. Next time, I'll use someone else's camera. Final morning from the Tungsten Cabin Watched from above with unsympathetic eyes; Douglas squirrel Tamiasciurus douglasii We hiked the 15 miles out from the cabin to beat the oncoming rain, consume some Rastafarian pizza in Winthrop, before the long, wet deep space voyage home. Along the way, Beth finally found her freeze dried dinner hiding in the hydration pocket of her new pack. Gear Notes: Castmasters

My camera has an 'autofunk' setting.

THAT was f'in funny.

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All I can say here is the guy behind her must be very, very well endowed. The euro indictment of the GOP's history of asset stripping and planetary raping as somehow being unnatural (my words) is completely off base. There is nothing more natural than a species consuming all it can while it can.

and we all know that if polanski is not extradited, then all hell breaks loose and every perv sees it as a green light. and we all know that in the days of the wild west when you'd take perps behind the barn and string 'em up by the balls, rape and incest and such was wayyyyyy less common. gimme a break. This whole discussion seems to hinge around the use of the phrase 'little mistake' instead of simply 'mistake'. Call me crazy, but I don't believe there is a crime out there that cannot be atoned for. Plus, The Tenant was an awesome movie...starring the Director himself, no less. And check out Repulsion if you want a really weird, 60's style experience.

Obedience is my watchword.

I'm trying to work the required 'under the table' joke in here, but I got nothin.

Hey, uh, sorry guys...that census worker was a real tool. Before I knew it, my buddies were stringin him up...

Because it takes a village...of idiots.

You can buy a 12 gauge for $109.99 at Outdoor Emporium.

Speaking of shit, I didn't see any, so it's not (German) porn.

99% of the peeps here climb better than me, so that's not exactly a badge of honor. What I bring to the table here is 1) total indiscrimination when it comes to choosing climbing partners and 2) the ability to publish a Liberty Bell Sandwich: 2 TRs of the most over-climbed route on the mountain with a juicy Thin Red Line flail in between, and pull it off. Plus, it seems that I've now been designated as the resident entomologist/naturalist

my advice for your next vacation is to drive

Nice, Mark. Its not often Tvash runs away with his tail between his legs. Yeah, not quite what happened there. More like not wanting to enter into the same non-discussion, this time with a 12 year old, for the 17th time.

We're done here.

Ideas like 'first there was nothing then it exploded'? or 'first there was a little piggy, then its baby grew huge fucking ears and became really big and there were elephants? It's not the idea itself...it's the specious campaign to pass the idea off as science, first as creationism, then, when that got shot down, as ID, and ram it down the public's throats via the school system in direct violation of the 1st amendment.

...the right to petition for redress of grievances...

Bright blue suede, only the edges were too worn to do the only thing they were good at other than standing in etriers, which I wasn't doing any of at the time. My first rock climb (Mt. Conness, tolumne) was in those Nike running shoes with the super wedge shaped soles. It's funny to see those things come back like a bad TV show. Definitely not an edging shoe.

Creationism should be mocked, as should any thoroughly stupid idea foisted upon the public by idiots. It's 'practitioners' should be ridiculed and hounded off the public stage as the buffoons they are. Oh wait, they already have been. Check out the mockumentary 'Evolution on Trial' (PBS), and you'll see exactly what I mean. The morons fell on their own righteous swords...or lack thereof, in this court case.

Bill sticks it here. If you have the skill set of a Guatemalan day laborer, you're not going to get paid much more than one even if you live in Portland. And going forward, if your work product, regardless of what it is, can be delivered by clicking a mouse, then you're going to be competing with the entire planet. The only way the U.S. will compete is on the basis of skills and we've been doing a lousy job imparting those to the majority of our population for some time compared to the rest of the industrialized nations. Really? Do our skills lag behind the UK, Italy, Greece, Belgium, France, Spain, NZ? Which skills, exactly? Last time I checked, the American worker was still the most productive and creative in the world. It think this statement is unsupported and parroted crap. I also do not believe labor is as liquid as either you or Billcoe presume, especially in an increasingly energy-poor economy that will necessarily return to more local commercial relationships and geographical self-sufficiency. Not all goods and services can be got over the internet. Plus there is a cost, and often a fatal cost, to outsourcing. It's no secret that the right person in the right job can leverage his position to be many, many more times as effective and productive than some foreign cookie cutter replacement. Many companies have failed in their outsourcing efforts because they failed to understand the 'art' part of human capital. Yes, low level information jobs can be outsourced to wherever...often at great expense to quality of service and subsequent loss of market share and company image, and if the outsourcing company knows how to manage foreign resources. Most don't. Particularly smaller businesses, which, after all, comprise and will continue to comprise 80% of jobs in the U.S. Then there are higher level jobs, jobs requiring creativity, design, and a unique force of personality. Outsource these. Not so easy...at all. Finally, there are a host of companies in the U.S. that have said 'fuck this', and have invested in their home-grown human capital, and their doing just fine. Outsourcing is on model that works with replaceable, cookie cutter jobs in organizations that are savvy and big enough to manage the foriegn resource. That does not describe most jobs in the U.S. or anywhere else.

That's not a Tvash, it's a Tvashtar Catena. The venting of sulphur dioxide from this, the hottest volcano in the solar system, results in a graceful arching plume, as much as 150 km high, that glows iridescent blue as it is ionized by Jupiter's Van Allen radiation belt. It's truly one of the most spectacular phenomena on any world.

There are two issues under court review regarding the petition. One is the public disclosure of names on the petition. The other is public disclosure of the sources of funding for the petition. The ACLU's national policy is that disclosure of funding for public advocacy constitutes a violation of free speech. Our national privacy policies would indicate that the organization, at least on a national level, has tended to favor non-disclosure of petition signers' names. This is a WA state issue, however. Both issues are under review by the WA state chapter's legal committee. So far, the courts have recommended that, as long as the state has access to the names for the purposes of verification (and yes, there have been some shinanigans in that department in that case...like unregistered signatures), then the names should not be disclosed. On one hand, signature disclosure could chill participation in petitioning due to fear of retribution; from employers, crazies (death threats or death wishes are not uncommon in this business), family or peer groups. On the other hand disclosure improves s transparency in what is essentially a public process: the crafting of legislation. One could argue that there is no expectation of privacy for signing a referendum petition; it is done in public, after all, and it should (so the argument goes) be a public document in the interests of open government. On might also argue that the interests of having an honest and open referendum petitioning process, which has been subject to a fair bit of corruption of late, outweighs the individual signatory's right to privacy. If, however, signatures must be publicly disclosed, what other parts of the legislative process must be? Certainly, all formal testimony, debates, and hearings already are. Confirmation of voting by individual certainly is (but not how the vote was cast, of course). What of more informal interactions, such as lobbyist/legislator discussions? From a practical standpoint, this probably isn't much of a issue; many of these discussions happen in passing and are not recorded or documented. Personally, I'm in favor of name disclosure, with misgivings, but I'm unsure about disclosing funding. I do need to learn more about the possible ramifications of both.

You are a moron, Tvash. Yeah, I get that alot. The military. Licensing services. Oh, and I'd love to see 911 services privatized. "We're sorry, sir, but there was a problem with your bill this month..."

The same two crackers must have blown through my hood. I was workin' on something and suddenly I heard this cracker voice ask me "Are you a carnivore?" from a pickemup. WTF? Stay out of my progressive hood, Crackers, or I'll fuckin shoot ya.