Pete_H

If you're set on going in May, I can't say enough about Spain: beautiful country, excellent rock (both long and short routes), great food and wine, and much more affordable than lots of other parts of Europe.

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Ha. You long ago lost your standing to call anyone out for chestbeating. What's nauseating is your phony self-righteousness, especially when accusing Plotz, one of the most modest bad-asses around, of self-promotion. You should just shut up.

John Millar or Guy Edwards I think it was Guy. Oops. Thanks for the correction.

Nice job soloing Gendarme. I'd definitely be stoked to have done that!

Everytime I've been on one of the summits of Rainier, all I've wanted to do was get the fuck off of it. Have fun if you're into that sort of shit though.

Easy, popular climbs at popular climbing crags will be gangbanged on weekends with good weather. That's reality, so instead of whining I'd figure out how to avoid the conflict in the first place.

Guy Millar or John Edwards reportedly did full N Ridge Stuart in some ridiculous fast time, like under 5 hours. When you did it, did you do the full ridge with Gendarme? If so, nice job. That's an impressive solo. John Plotz has done Backbone -> W Ridge Prussik -> Outer Space. Don't know what his time was, but at any rate its a pretty awesome accomplishment.

I don't know too many of us that harbor any illusions that climbing or backcountry skiing is totally safe, even though some may not pay enough respect to the dangers at times. Also, I wouldn't lump BASE jumping in with climbing. Its a completely different sport and has completely different levels of danger and risk. I wouldn't even necessarily consider climbing or skiing an "adrenaline sport."

I would also consider the Methow Valley in Washington. It has one of the best trails systems in summer and winter and is probably one of the most beautiful places on earth. Also has good access to Washington Pass for rock climbing. The negatives (or could be positives, depending on how you see it) is that the valley is a bit spread out and you have to drive a lot, and there's no ski resort so skiing is all b/c sno-mo access - though its exceptionally good.

Yeah cutting up a deer on the side of Hwy 2 wouldn't have been conspicuous or anything.

And probably a lot of money to be made in the alien sex tourism industry

http://www.climb-europe.com/italy.htm

Better than getting your trap torn or your blinkers poked.

I'm not familiar with caselaw in this area but its surprising to me labeling requirements are a free speech issue. Doesn't seem like a restriction or limit, rather a mandatory addition or addendum. I suppose this issues been litigated to death already.

I felt a storm a comin' this morning after my second cup of coffee. Luckily, I hadn't left the house yet.

Nice. I've eyed that peak from the valley a few times and thought it would be fun to ski!

Apparently, its not consensus whether GMO foods are harmful to your health or not: http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/there-no-scientific-consensus-gmo-safety GMO foods most likely were produced using lots of pesticides (obviously); and there are potential allergen concerns, such as a shellfish gene put into corn (for example). Therefore, whether food is GMO or not is not arbitrary information. Of course, there are other arguments articulated in this thread that cut against this initiative.

Not true. I've been stock piling fruit cocktail and ammo in my basement. When the zombie apocalypse comes, zombies won't care that much about bolting etiquette and Jello Tower might be a good place to hide from them. Ever think about that, Kirk?

Like Tvash at the start of this thread, I am still up in the air on this issue. Seems that this issue very much does involve the question of whether GMO is good / bad, healthy / unhealthy. If GMO food is harmful then it is relevant for food to be labeled as such. If not, then (as Rob points out) it is as arbitrary as a label stating the color of the food. I'm admittedly uneducated about this, so it makes me wonder why other nations ban or require labeling of GMO products?

As usual, you've failed to miss the point as you're too busy trying to impress us with your vast grasp of liberal talking points. As El Comandante pointed out, comparing Smith Rock's bureaucratic user regulations to the shortcomings of our criminal justice system is extremely attenuated at best.

Clearly? Maybe we just have more criminals. I'm with you on the drug war is a failure, Pat, but I don't think its as simple as "less rules will solve our criminal justice problems." I mean, I doubt too many inmates in federal prison are locked up for smoking at Smith Rock State Park. Actually, your statement is not true at all. Half of inmates at all levels are in prison for non-violent drug offenses, and half of those are for marijuans. We DO lock people up for smoking - 800,000 of them, - more than the population of Seattle, is behind bars right now for inhaling a weed. America does have more criminals because it has criminalized far more behavior than any other nation. This may well be the only form of on-shore manufacturing that has flourished in recent years. Eric Holder just issued an incredible pair of memos outlining how we've gone wrong regarding the Drug War, and what prosecutors should focus on going forward to repair that. His assertions are right on the money and portend a stunning sea change away from our current period of massive government dysfunction. I'll see if I can find a link (mine's a hardcopy). We do, indeed, live in amazing times. Nothing in this world is simple, but many things are simpler than we are often led to believe. It wasn't so much a statement as questioning your logic that the reason we have the most people incarcerated is clearly because we have too many rules. This isn't clear on its face at all. Like I said, I tend to agree with you that our drug policy needs reform, especially regarding incarcerating anyone for marijuana possession. However, that's a far different argument than your original statement.

Clearly? Maybe we just have more criminals. I'm with you on the drug war is a failure, Pat, but I don't think its as simple as "less rules will solve our criminal justice problems." I mean, I doubt too many inmates in federal prison are locked up for smoking at Smith Rock State Park.

I would think this year was unusually bony due to an early summer, but I can't comment from personal experience because I didn't climb Rainier this year. When I've climbed the route in the past I stayed as close to the cleaver as possible on the ascent and on the descent (on skis) weaved my way through the crevasses on the upper Nisqually, which is the way the standard route goes.

What kind of snacks do you think they'd have?