Steven_Kalinowski

Does anyone know if the new SUV commerical featuring Sir Edmund Hillary really has Mt Everest in the background? The foreground looks pretty barren, so if the commerical was filmed in the Everest region, I assume it was in Tibet. Just curious.

Oct 26 My wife and I attempted Sloan Peak on Saturday. Started around 6:30 am. The Sauk River was low - followed flagged trail over logs and kept feet dry. The glacier is getting quite broken up, and we were stopped by steep ice. All we had were skimpy 6 point crampons on lightweight leather boots. Other parties had recently negotiated the glacier, but we decided not to push our luck. After reading the previous Sloan post, we were determined not to get lost while re-crossing the Sauk. But we did. We tried to block off the "wrong" fork of the trail - and this may help future parties - but I suspect that winter floods will change the route by next summer.

I read a report a few years ago in Accidents in North American Mountaineering that sounded similar to Goran's. In this case, someone took a moderate length fall thatpulled the first piece. Apparently, the rope stretched while pulling the first piece and did not have time to recover when hitting the next piece. At this point, it was similar to a static rope and broke a caribiner. Perhaps this is what happened to Goran - how else can you explain the damage to the gear? -Steven

May 12 Road conditions: Clear until lower trailhead.

The chemical hand warmers that REI sells are worth a try. They might sound kind of wimpy, but they are inexpensive, lighweight, and really work. I took some to Alaska this past winter in order to warm my hands while dealing with a medium format camera on a ski trip. I ended up using them at night in my sleeping bag. When it got really cold (< -40F) and I couldn't sleep, I would place one at the foot of my bag and one on my chest. They made all the difference between shivering and a night of semi-sleep. My guess is that they would more than make up for their weight on a forced bivy. -Steven