Alex

I would agree about the russian roulette. When i was on the route I had one baseball size rock miss my head by an inch or two, and another baseball size rock go right between my legs. It was the only rockfall I saw all day, but too close for comfort is an understatement

The Cache is fine. The Middle Cascade gets broken up only very close to Spider Formidible col. The LeConte glacier can get a bit broken up, but nothing you can't handle with a bit of route finding if you need to. The S Cascade glacier is benign as you cross to White Rock Lakes at its head. And the Dana is fine. Early Sept is a fine time to do this trip, though there will be a lot of scree and it is a bit hard on the ankles.

weekend weather looks marginal for alpine right now...was raining at my house this am, and isnt supposed to change til Sat afternoon. you can always go solo something easy, sahale via the arm comes to mind

A great 6 pitch route is Fault/Catapult/Bone/SFace Jello Tower/Midway Direct on Castle rock. Better route than Outerpsace IMO. Alex

A secret ropegun I know and I were all set up to try it last year, but were thwarted by a woman.

In some ways you did not do your due dilligence. Jarred_Jackman is not REI and isnt obligated under "Yard Sale Rules" or any unwritten rules of the Internet to make you happy. In other ways I find it odd that Jarred would not refund you the cash if you pay shipping. While Jarred cited in his PM that ebay does not require this, he is in fact wrong: you can stop payment on Paypal, and in fact oftentimes ebay'ers will request a refund from the seller in exchange for return shipping if a product has not met their expectation. I have done this myself...the first person I sold my BD Prophets to was looking for Carbon Fiber BPs, even though the pic I had posted was clear. I refunded the money, while he paid return shipping. This is standard practice. Hope you guys work it out

If anyone here is a SUOC (Syracuse University Outing Club) alumnus, and is not currently subscribed to the alumni listserve, please PM me. Thanks! Alex

I think May might be a bit early for this route to be in the classic "ice nordwand" shape. But its a great route, and easily approached so you can just head up there and if it looks sucky climb Silverhorn or the North Glacier.

they wont hold their charge in cold weather.

Also consider that you dont have to store all your data on your hard drive. In fact, if you are getting a laptop I highly highly recommend you absolutely do not get in the habit of storing all your data on it. Use an external USB drive to do regular backups, or burn DVDs of your data and music regularly, etc. If your hard drive goes down in flames (common in laptops), you will cry a river if you didnt take some appropriate precautions.

check it out... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...bayphotohosting

Good to hear you are ok! Speaking of death flakes on Castle Rock, can someone pls trundle that certain doom flake about 2/3 way up p1 Sabre next time there are not idle groupies at the base of the route? That thing is a little scary for so well-travelled a route.

http://www.overstock.com/ is good for starters.

If you take a moment to realize that DSL costs only 10$ more per month than dialup, problem is solved!

I have a pair of Riva2s you can have cheap, PM me.

laptops with these kind of components would be modern and will not be cheap. best bet is to buy new, or get a refurbished one off the internet. My dad and I bought my mom a very decent used laptop off the internet for 700$ and it was great!

spray on...

Perhaps the most pleasant way is to approach it from Cascade Pass over the Ptarmigan traverse to White Rock Lakes, then either continue up and over Itswoot, camp, tag summit, and go out Downy Creek *or* tag summit and return to camp at White Rock Lakes, then backtrack to Cascade Pass. If your only goal is Dome, you could do it up and out Downey/Bachelor creek, but going up that trail is no where near as nice as going down it. However that would be a 2-3 day trip instead of a 3-4 day trip. Another option might be to approach up Agnes Creek to near the Gunsight peaks, however I think those trails are not frequented often so it might be interesting going especially in upper Agnes Creek.

dont forget a good multivitamin!

You could easily climb the NE arete from Pole Creek. I suggest doing it before June.

I think that one is Helgi Christiensen on Bridal Veil falls?

I can think of alot of stuff that is more extreme: * rock climbing with ice tools (aka mixed climbing) * Aussie 18 foot skiffs * having children * starting your own business * fighting in stupid wars in far-off countries so neighbor can drive SUV and complain about gas prices

You have to ask yourself is it worth it. Maybe you'll get used to the extra wieght? I still drink wine (which has alot of sugar, granted) and spirits, I just realized that in the last few years whenever I drank beer I could feel and see the effects very clearly the next day around my midsection. Interestingly the number one food that affects my own weight is pancakes. I eat just a short stack and I gain like 10 pounds! Beer is not so much a part of my life that I counldnt do without. So much of this is experiementation, you just have to figure out what works for you. But the reality is if you arent hungry every once in a while, you're probably eating too much. Best bet is to realize that real sustainable weight loss takes time - at least several months, and real commitment to change several very core aspects of your life - diet, work habits, etc. Also, it might not be as important for some people as others. I've seen alot of fat slobs hike up 5.11...too bad that doesnt work for me!!

Your inability to loose weight might be because of a couple factors. They chief two I can see is 1) your diet, and 2) your age probably. Its very likely that your metabolism has slowed down a bit, I know mine did radically after my late 20s. The fact that you are exercising again is good, but most likely your body is keeping you eating enough carbs to keep your weight stable. This isnt a bad thing, your body *wants* a stable weight. It also wants not to be stressed too much by trying to digest proteins and fats, which are much more difficult to burn than carbs. When I wanted to get serious about loosing the last 15 pounds I did a pseudo-Atkins diet, that relied more heavily on especially proteins and fats and cut must carbs. However the number one factor in my weight loss has been no refined sugar of any kind. No candy, no soda pop, no treats, brownies, donuts, cakes, no cookies, no nothing. When you crave a snack, eat vegetables, carrots, anything but treats. Chips are also really really bad. So is beer. I cut all these things from my diet. The only time I allow them is after a long weekend in the mountains when I've really burned a bunch of extra calories and a snickers bar wont kill me. It takes about 3 weeks for for my body to adjust to the more heavy protein/less carbs/no treats diet. After 3 weeks I stop craving the treats, my energy stabilizes, and my weight goes down over the period of about 2 months. Almost everything you eat has refined sugar in it, you have to avoid it anyway you can. So avoid breads with added sugar, peanut butter with added sugar, juice of any kind, and so on, you get the picture. At first listen it might sound like a very restricted diet, but I assure you I eat almost everything I used to, I just stick to specific brands, foods I know contain no extra sugar, and stay away from treats. The other component is exercise, of course, but you have that down. The key is before and after exercise, do not carbo-load. Eat protein. Eat a tub of fat-free cottage cheese, or have a protein shake. I guess I should mention that the reason I wanted to loose the weight in the first place was to lean up to climb 11s, and happily this happened. It has not affected my performance in the mountains, either...if anything I feel a bit stronger and not as sloth like when I weigh 190 vs 205.

you know what they say, "recreational sailing is neither.."