tvashtarkatena

My nips were perked and pointy when I took them.

Some protesters committed acts of civil disobedience (remember the Boston Tea Party?), which, by definition, entails breaking the law to bring attention to an issue. It's a time honored and effective method of doing so. They expected to be arrested. They were. Message delivered. Awareness raised (if this forum is any indication). Last time I checked, civil society remains intact. No one is making a run on toilette paper and bottled water as far as I can tell. Cormick McCarthy need not be retained to write the screeplay. Give the laughable histrionics a rest, will ya, Jay?

Another, cheaper option: The ViceGripper Even cheaper: Ivanko Super Gripper Changing positions of the two springs that come with the original product offers 40 different force settings from 45 to 345 lbs. That would seem to be enough for any gorilla on this board. I think I'll get me one of these things and try it out.

I'd say by this statement that you probably don't know very many Vietnam vets. I grew up with a bunch of them, including my father. Their own country's complete bungling of that war from A to Z, as well as the poor treatment they received by the Veteran's Administration, is what made the vets I knew feel alienated (not all of them felt that way, of course). In general, they were treated very well by their fellow citizens when they returned home. The famous 'baby killer' incident is a myth: it never happened.

Does this mean no more summit 'Hozah!'s?

The weight of an average European swallow is 20 grams. The weight of an average Thanksgiving turkey is 5 kilograms. If you want to take the time to roast up 250 swallows, you go girl.

I'm looking for a gripper thingy that can be set to a high resistance so I can do the 8 to 12 reps til failure thing. What's the best one?

A bunch of studies have shown that the quickest way increase muscle strength to weight ratio (keep the bulk down) is to perform muscle specific exercises (like the aforementioned gripper devices) as follows: 1 set, 8 to 12 reps UNTIL MUSCLE FAILURE no more often than every other day. A second set can increase strength another 15% faster for some people, but it usually does nothing other than burn calories, and there are more efficient ways to do that. More than 2 sets just burns calories. Using muscle specific devices like grippers means that you'll be working those specific muscles to failure. With less specific types of exercise, another muscle might fail before your grippers do; inefficient workout. Above is a formula for increasing strength/weight as quickly as possible. Increasing muscle endurance and training for sport specific motions using multiple muscle groups (boards, pullups, etc) is another matter but also well advised. Carrying heavy weights around seems like a formula for joint and back injury to me. It also doesn't seem to be a sport specific motion used in climbing, although it may be useful if you're planning on doing a lot farm work. I'd be interested in seeing some research supporting why this is a particularly efficient work out regimen for climbing.

I use the macro feature on the Canon Powershot SD800 IS; a 28-105 point and shoot. I then postprocess (crop, zoom, contrast, brightness, sharpness, whatever) what I think is the most interesting part of the raw image using Digital Image Pro; a discontinued Microsoft product (it's apparently not compatible with Vista - I run Windows). The hoar frost photo is just one small part of the original raw image. I'll switch to Photoshop -a much better product - at some point. Right now I'm stitching panoramas by hand; Photoshop has some automation in that area.

Or buy $70 titanium rings on the web and just keep replacing them as you loose them....

Oh, and let's fast forward Porter's panorama to the current season while we're at it

You won't have that problem here

Strategic shoveling

Any of the newer beacons will be able to pinpoint a buried victim to within a couple of feet, making the extra probing step unnecessary. The exception is when the victim is buried really deep (6+ ft). This situation is usually a body recovery, unfortunately. I just posted a good article on how to shovel out a buried victim quickly on the Freshiezone forum. Check it out.

When I fly home for the holidays, I usually do it on Thanksgiving. There's never a crowd. The day before Thanksgiving is suicide. This year, it's at my place. Travel time: 10 seconds.

Thanksgiving in Seattle wouldn't be complete without a "Holidays are Murder on Turkey's" banner hanging from one of the Woodland Park pedestrian overpasses. This spectacular weather alone is enough to give thanks, but there's so much more. Happy Thanksgiving. Time to get my ass into the kitchen.

I use a Canon Powershot SD800 IS in a LowePro case. The latter is the most important part of the kit; it's predecessor, which I used to carry in it's stock case, underwent a little field dissassembly when I hauled my pack up a rock face and forget to remove the camera from the waste belt.

Panorama looking uproute Baker and Glacier from the summit

Trip: Chiwaukum Range - 'Little' Chiwaukum: A Successful Failure Date: 11/21/2007 Trip Report: I snaked my arm through the peephole in my bivvy sack and brushed the frost of the lens of the altimeter perched on my cook pot. 9 ° F. My arm shot back in through its hole like a startled tubeworm. Jesus, no wonder I was freezing my ass off. By now the moon was low on the horizon and I had about six more hours of long night to go in my 20 degree bag. No more breathing into the bag; the moisture was building up. The trouble was, as it always is on nights like this; I had to take a piss. I gave myself a count down. Then another. The third one took; I bolted upright. The shock was almost electric, then, strangely, it quickly subsided. Perhaps I was already hypothermic. I stood on the edge of my bivvy, strained for range, grabbed the extra socks out of my pack, threw them on, and dove back into my tiny cocoon of habitable environment. Six more hours of turning the cryogenic rotisserie. Six hours passed, daylight came, and the temperature was still 9 degrees. Then, suddenly, it began to climb. 12. 16. Once in the twenties, I figured it was safe venture halfway out of the bag and start heating water for the day’s excursions. Icicle at sunset Icicle closeup The day before I’d hiked into my present camp from the Pine/Wildcat Creek Trails. The snow on the 3 mile road to the trailhead was driveable by Outback. Once I spotted Big Chiwaukum’s broad west face through the trees (I recognized it from previous trips in the area), I left the trail and snow shoed up through the brush which still persisted through the 2 foot snow pack. Anywhere from several inches to a foot of powder covered a firm, compactable, and slightly crunchy base. After finding an open camp with an amazing view near a running stream, I killed the rest of the afternoon punching another thousand feet of steps towards my objective; a little money in the bank for the following day. The snow up higher was waste deep powder, but the terrain alternated between boulder fields and stubby avalanche trees; not great for skiing. I was glad I brought snow shoes instead. The Objective? After breakfast I forced my feet into my frozen Makalus and began to cash in the previous day’s steps. I waded through another 300 feet or so of knee to waist deep snow before gaining the base of a couloir that had slid several days before. Ah, finally something firm to kick steps into. It varied from perfect Styrofoam to powder over rolly polly rocks, but it was a huge improvement over the wallowing below. Sunrise Rainier Looking down the couloir. Rainier in the distance Looking uproute I gained the summit ridge with 400 feet more to go. A hundred feet later I topped out on what I thought was a false summit and, to my surprise, the terrain fell away in all directions. I’d calibrated my altimeter the day before, and it wasn’t usually that far off. I looked south to line up a photo of Rainier, and noticed that there was a conspicuously higher mountain in the corner of my viewfinder. Hmmm. If Big Chiwaukum is the highest thing around, then what’s that? And, for that matter, why can I see Larch Lake from here? A smile crept over my face. Summit cheese. Glacier in the backround I’d been lost, of course, and I’d nailed plenty of false summits, but I’d never actually climbed the wrong mountain before. Oh well, there’s always a first time. And there’s also a last time I’ll just trust just my memory, particularly in winter. In any case, ‘Little’ Chiwaukum made for an excellent jaunt and a spectacular viewpoint in a fine area. I’ll be back. Given my navigation this trip, I suppose I’ll have to . Hoar frost I will post 2 more panoramic views (larger format) soon. Gear Notes: Snowshoes, ski poles.

A pulse is also nice, but not always required.

Just one? Oh, I've got all of 'em, sweetheart. I'm off. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, Fairweather.

Yes. We did Aspiring from the hut with crampons and one axe - never roped up. Some 4th, some 3rd, some neve climbing. Nothing too tech. Aspiring is not to be missed, if you can swing the weather. Choppering in can save a two day hike and help you nail some sunny conditions, although the hike in is cool, too. The DOC (Dept of Conservation) office in Wanaka can set you up with where to get maps, partners, choppers, etc. There are other peaks you can climb from the hut as well: The Rolling Pin and French were two good ones. Hike to the west edge of the glacier: it's a 6,000 foot drop and severely overhung at the top. Utterly spectacular.

This info is too late for your trip (I didn't catch your question until now) but in case anyone else has the same question: Homer Hut Mt. Barrier to Marion traverse McPherson nearby has a manky via ferrata route on it (unless they've repaired it)

Male bocks miss.

You're also wrong. There's something not a little comically ironic about a guy going off the deep end in defense of an erroneous, and fairly meaningless fact while accusing the guy who harmlessly mentioned the fact merely in passing of having a personality disorder. Wiki Linky Quote: "LNG must be maintained cold (at least below −117 °F or −83 °C) to remain a liquid, independent of pressure". NG stored in tanks for vehicular use is under pressure (3000 psi or so) but still remains in a gaseous, not liquid, form. Needless to say, special crygenic tanks are required for storing LNG. For the time it took you to type out your diatribe, you could have done the same Google job I just did and made sure you knew what you were talking about, amigo. I'm off to the mountains to take advantage of this forecast. Happy Thanksgiving everybody.