rbw1966

Hmmmm. . group of 5 or 6 with no signs of upward progress? Must have been the Mazamas.

None of it was. Hence my incredulousness. Gee, ya think?

Car to car in 5 hours, 35 minutes?

umm, bill?.....wtf? Whatsamatter Eric? Worried that he passed it on to you after a night of 'drytooling'?

Insurance companies stack the deck in their favor. There is no 'silver bullet' to getting covered in case of death while climbing to help you avoid outrageous rates. There are basically two things you can do: 1. Pay for the rider which covers climbing, which as someone else pointed out will set you back. A lot. (Unless you can find a company that will cover you even with your climbing-related activities. There are a couple out there but good luck finding them). 2. Lie. And just to be clear, NOT telling them about climbing is what they call in the biz a "material omission" that will likely void the policy UNLESS two years pass without them catching it. Thats the crux right there: any omissions or misrepresentations you make have to be caught by the insurance company within two years of the policy effective date or they are screwed, but you are golden. Be warned though that when you apply for life insurance, you sign a medical release allowing them access to your medical records. If you have been treated for a climbing-related injury and its reflected in the medical records they will find out. If they bust you in a lie, they will cancel the policy/refuse you insurance and enter you into a NATIONAL database. Then you are effectively screwed. I am not advocating any dishonesty whatsoever. Sometimes we forget things when filling out the application/questionnaire which is why those inaccuracies are only material for the first two years.

'cause you're a cowboy, right?

Wanna bet?

Another vote for the E2C. If you get them, be aware of the fact that if you don't get a good fit the bass response will blow. Once fitted correctly though, the sound is quite nice and you don't have to crank it as loud as you would with the OEM headphones. They are fussy to get in but once in place tend to stay that way. I like the noise cancelling function when I'm riding the motorcycle and listening to tunes at the same time.

I bet it was one of these peeps, yo

Would you like fries with that?

Good to know. Is there a place in Bend where you can rent sleds?

I may be wrong, but I do not believe you get the option of entering a "no contest" plea on infractions. You can appear in court and try and beat it or get it pled down to a lower offense. This used to be a no-brainer as just showing up guaranteed a lesser fine but rumor has it that the Multnomah County traffic court judges are getting tired of people doing this and are pushing for stiffer penalties. I'm glad I am not paying your insurance rates. Let someone else drive.

When we skinned in there a few years back I remember thinking to myself, what I wouldn't give for a snowmobile. I heard they were illegal that far in though but I saw tracks in the crater. Sounds like a fun day.

Holy shit--JRatt leashes? Old school!!!

I think everyone got tired because all you do is lay there.

Nice work Pete. Hows this going to affect your trip in April?

Sounds like Griz is being tired of being the 'bottom' on that Brokeback Mountain.

There is no way of predicting the weather with any level of confidence 7 days out. Hell, you cant even predict it 24 hours most of the time. Carrying skis up the north face would suck--assuming you carry them over. Leaving them anywhere you would get back to on the way back down would be an indirect PITA. This route would be a LONNNNNGGGG day if you started from the parking lot. While not nearly as technical, I suggest the Sandy Headwall. Starts from the Timberline parking lot, making it easy to hitch a ride to, nice trudge to the saddle on skis and the route itself is pretty scenic. Likely to have it entirely to yourself as well. Leuthold Couloir would be a decent route as well. Good luck

"pop relativism"? Jay, don't you think you are guilty of that yourself when you start imposing your value structure on the palestinians? I do not agree with their views, but I believe the suicide bombers do not view any of their victims as 'innocent civilians'. The fact is, the US tends to engage in a lot of 'pop relativism' when it comes to foreign policy.

My wife had an Quaker who met an untimely demise at an all too young age. I was initially apprehensive about birds as pets but have seen how affectionate and intriguing they are to watch. My red heeler keeps a healthy distance when the bird is on the prowl. We now have an Afircan Gray Timneh who, strangely, seems to pick up strange things to say from both my wife and I. He goes from saying "I love you" to "roll over" to "Fucker!" I got him to say "Rob is God" once. Fun stuff

Hey Oleg--I have some NF denali fleece pants that you can use. The tag says large but they are way snug on me and a bit short. I'll even throw in the dog hair for free. PM me if you are interested.

Both of the Illinzas have routes on them that are relatively easy and non-technical. On Illiniza Sur, the Ramp route (I think this is what its called) is a bit more fun. Second the recommendation for Otovalo. Incredible place. I would recommend Papallacta (sp?) for hot springs rather than Banos. Sure, Banos is closer to the jungle but the hot springs itself is pretty ghetto. People were washing their clothes in them when we arrived. Also, I recommend hitting some of the spots along the coast. After our summit on Cayambe we took a bus to the beach where we laid out eating Ceviche and washing it down with many cervezas. A nice respite before heading back to the mountains. I would love to go back to Ecuador someday. Have fun!

hero?

Sorry I can't make it. Leaving for Whistler in the early a.m. but of course I will be thinking about you. Merry Christmas everyone! p.s. That picture makes Bono look suspiciously like Pat and his omnipresent cell phone.

Another vote for Mountain Shop. When I bought my new T2s the guy spent well over an hour fitting me to them, and I still got them at a better price than anywhere else I had seen them, including online.