tvashtarkatena

I'm a bit confused. Did you actually witness a major collapse of the top snow finger this weekend, or was this a second hand report from before this weekend? The upper snow finger was solid when we downclimbed it. As for the snowfields at the base, they are very low angle and can be easily avoided, but even if they did collapse underneath you, you'd fall like, 3 feet. The right side of the Inter Glacier is really hazardous due to party induced and melt out rockfall. There was shit coming down there constantly. Having done both routes this weekend, the choice was pretty easy. Of course, conditions change all the time.

Does anyone here know what this moron talking about?

Like I said... It's a cast glass table, BTW. It'd be pretty hard to make a blown glass table, but you knew that.

Banksy meets Andy Goldsworthy

He's been that way ever since his true IQ was revealed to him. And all this time he thought....

PM Peter Puget; he's got 'em on his nightstand, but they might be stuck together.

A very good article on the most expensive health care in the country and what it can teach us about health care costs: Article Most of the ongoing debates, govt v private, single payer v insurance, seem to be complete bullshit.

Stepping back a bit, why does a good portion of This Great Nation seem to think that it matters who pays the docs? Single payer, private insurance, Marvin the Martian, the amount paid will be about the same. Who cuts the check matters little. Arguments about 'overhead' are basically a bullshit smokescreen...there won't be a significant difference cost-wise. Larger groups do, theoretically, have more purchase bargaining power, but, past that... Docs, and docs alone, wield the majority of the power to increase or decrease costs. They, and only they, order the procedures and prescriptions. The real issue is whether or not docs treat patients as a) Revenue streams to be maximized (maximize procedures + prescriptions, regardless of outcome) or b) patients whose outcomes come first (order the minimum for a given desired outcome). The New Yorker had a good article on this recently, written by a doc, Article about the most expensive (Medicare cost-wise) county in the U.S. The reason? Nearly all docs in that region had bought into the 'enterpreneurial' view of a patient: maximize the revenue stream. This actually produces worse patient outcomes (no procedure or drug is risk free). In contrast, regions with similar demographics that put patient outcomes first (docs on salary, GPs who know patients well at the helm, collaborative structures where practitioners in various disciplines discussed with each other how best to achieve patient outcome), had much lower per capita Medicare costs. Unfortunately, the article concluded, the U.S. is headed the direction of 'enterpreneurism' in health care rather than an 'outcomes come first' philosophy.

What I hate most at the crag is some drooling geezer snapping pics of my hot girlfriend doing her base-of-crag yoga and posting them on some douche climbing site.

I'm guessing that embalming was unnecessary

Yeah, I laid 4 tons of flagstone on our 102 degree day, so fuck off, ya pussies. So Fucking Jealous

"I'll meet you up there and then we can talk about it. If you can make it there." -- Raindawg We're gonna need a redux when Dan gets some boots that fit, so you're officially invited on my 12th trip up, Raindawg.

I was there, so that would be a NO.

Trip: Rainier - Emmons Date: 8/8/2009 Trip Report: TR Rainier, Emmons Route Attempt 8/8-9/09 The Emmons Glacier from Camp Curtis “Hey, this is how we packed when I was in the Shah’s Army.” I looked at Dan’s snowboarding daypack, all 1000 cubic inches worth, and a picnic table full of gear next to it, and shook my head. “How are you gonna get all that into this?” Half an hour later Dan’s Kmart style sleeping bag, full length CampRest, crampons, axe, and harness were all neatly strapped to what just may be the tiniest overnight pack ever to head up Mt. Rainier. It looked as though it might explode if touched. One of the first things you learn about Kurds is that they don’t easily take NO for an answer. Dan survived the Shah’s Army, the Islamic Revolution, an escape from Iran, before making a life for himself as a mcchanical engineer in the United States. His most dangerous test would come last year, when he was diagnosed and operated on, twice, for brain cancer. In January, the day before his second surgery, he mentioned to me that he wanted to climb Rainier. “OK, I’ll take you up, but you’ve got to stay alive first”. Well, he held up his end of the bargain, so it was time to make good on mine. Our closing-time welcome from David Gottlieb and company at the White River ranger station couldn’t have been warmer. Dan was accompanied by his work pal Nate, an intelligent, gentle giant (by celtic standards, anyway) originally from North Dakota with a sound if dusty climbing pedigree. “How do you want your T bone?” The second thing you learn about Kurds is that they like to eat well, and they make sure that you to eat well with them. Dan brought virtually all the food, home-made and pre-cooked, for the trip, including 2 lbs of salmon fettucini alfredo (per person), chicken salad sandwiches…the works. “Damn, I forgot the Bourgelais!” Dan on the approach, Little Tahoma in the background By Glacier Basin, we were already duct taping Dan’s feet to protect them from his cruel, blue Asolo rentals. We’d already passed one young woman wearing a pained expression with the same boots strapped to her back. At the base of the Inter Glacier, we would meet another in Tevas carrying the very same cargo. The Inter Glacier right now, far from being a ‘hike’, is a mud smeared black ice bowling alley. I felt bad about dragging Dan, who, despite climbs of Adams, Hood, and St. Helens, had never worn crampons before, up such terrain. I also kind of wished I’d brought real crampons instead of pre-dulled aluminums. Fortunately for the way down, the mess can be completely avoided by taking the truncated couloir to climber’s right of the Inter. By Camp Curtis, Dan’s boots had made such a mess of his feet that he could no longer continue, even to Camp Schurman. The wind was blowing 20+mph and my whimpy Tarpent, designed for the quiet forests of the PCT, threatened to throttle me all night like a drunken harlot. What a Godforsaken spot. Nate enjoys the breeze at Camp Curtis Little Tahoma from Camp Curtis Lenticulars from Camp Curtis At dusk, the wind suddenly died. Our exposed Martian outpost became an ascetic’s perch above a sea of clouds. The moon rose through a squadron of distant lenticulars, and I was reminded just how spectacular this mountain is. Looking north from Camp Curtis My open bag of Hawaiian BBQ chips sprung to life in the dead of night. I jerked awake and kicked my big toe, hard, into one of the rocks at the foot of my tent. A huge bushy tailed wood rat leapt towards the door…but was trapped by the mosquito netting. It froze, waiting for my surveillance to end (cool little bastard), but once the headlamp flamed on, it ran for it. Dawn broke. The moon floated directly over a clear and windless summit, specked by climbing parties. I felt of twinge of longing to be among them, but only that. Dan called out. “Good morning! Espresso anyone?” He magically produced a Micropaq, the 24 hour heart/blood oxygen monitor we’d designed together back in the day, which had finally gone to market after I’d left the company. “You carried that up here, too?” “Hey, only 2 pounds!” Shorts over polypro AND lycra. End running the Inter Glacier on the descent Monkeyflower, mimulus guttatus, Glacier Basin The scale of this mountain never fails to astound me. I’m always reluctant to go again, but I’m always glad afterwards. Add to that the great company of an old and new friend and…well, I’ll probably wind up coming back whenever the opportunity arises for as long as I’m able. After all, do any of us know how long that will be? Approach Notes: Avoid the Inter Glacier and it's high rock fall hazard by skirting it to the north via the obvious partially melted out snow finger.

at around 7500'. PM if you're missing one.

Let's smarten this thread up a bit. You know, fer them Phds 'n sheeit.

You're finally catching on to the trailer trash thing...

Piled higher and deeper It's 'loser', loosers. Don't they teech you fiziks geeks howda spel?

Dangle = hair*pi*RECTUM fucktorial

Apples are red, and ready for plucking She's sixteen, and ready for algebra.

You could have at least let this thread run a page or two. I figured we needed a break from the Whose Pie is Better debate.

which glacier, taken from what spot?

We make fun of far stumpier mental midgets than Trig...you come to mind, AKA.

Oh, and these were Phds in microbiology. Any moron can get a Phd in archeology. Apparently.

Now you fucking idiots can stop yer searchin'.