AlpineK

I'll be interested to hear Palin answer questions regarding the polar bear and shooting wolves.

If you want good quartzite in the Rockies I've found it on Edith Cavell and in the Tonquin Valley (Oubiette). I remember a couple of really scary events while climbing Oubiette.

Nice to meet you. I hope you had a good day.

I didn't have a USGS, but I believe it is. It's right at the base of the snowfield.

Every time a convention concludes the winning candidate of that party gets a boost in the polls. The repubs have just wrapped up their convention and guess what McCain is doing better in national polls. It's still tight and will remain so till it's time for everybody to fill in their favorite box on the election form. One thing of note is those polls cover, "likely voters." The selection of likely voter may not represent who actually shows up on election day.

I'm willing to stick with climbing on this one. The truth of the matter is that Index, while natural in feel, has been heavily maintained by climbers for years. As such placing bolts for rap and belay shouldn't be a big deal. The whole ethic should be to maintain the area for climbers while keeping and preserving features such as trees. In order to show some respect trees need to be pruned properly when possible to remove interference with routes or removed entirely when pruning can not achieve the above goal. Leaving a wad of slings around a tree for years is ugly and a form of tree torture. Now if I saw bolts next to cracks for intermediate anchors I'd want to get out the crowbar.

I've never climbed there even though I've been there a bunch in the winter. The skiing is usually too good to be bothered with climbing. There's a nice run down from the base of the west face of Sir Donald.

Trip: Observation Rock - North slope Date: 9/7/2008 Trip Report: Skiing in September. I've never bothered, but I always thought it would be fun to do. I didn't have much going on this weekend, and I'd been at a party talking with a bunch of other folks possessed with ski obsession. I figured I could make a good solo day trip out of this. Anyway, the hike in went fast. I was soon at the good ski slope. There isn't much more to say. The snow was suncup packed, but they weren't the monster suncups. Snow was hard and a little icy, but of good consistency for skiing. Here are photos Observation Rock The view north Tracks on Observation Rock The hike out was amusing with lots of questions from hikers about where I was skiing. One woman thought my skis were a snowboard, but I corrected her. One advantage to all this work for late/early season skiing is I now qualify for my turns all year designation for year round skiing. I never really look at that site, but now I want my trophy (or a can of beer). Gear Notes: I wore light weight hiking shoes up to the start of the ski run. It was warm too, so I didn't even need gloves. After that you need skis boots and poles. I was very happy I wore socks. Approach Notes: Hike to Spray Park. Identify Observation Rock. Go there.

Just so you know. Sir Donald isn't in the Canadian Rockies. The Canadian Rockies are east of the Rocky Mountain Trench (Golden). Sir Donald is west of the trench. There is quartzite in the Canadian Rockies. It is less scary than other rock there. The key word is less.

Just a little point of order here regarding trees. Quoting from American National Standards Institute (ANSI) A300 rules for pruning.* 5.2.1 Equipment and work practices that damage living tissue and bark beyond the original scope of work should be avoided. In the past ropes were placed around crotches of trees of enough size to support body weight. Since the rope slides during work and removal this would damage tissue clearly beyond the job intention. Currently one hangs in a tree from a device called a friction saver. On completion of your task the device is removed from the tree. Sometimes there's no other choice given what you have with you, but a rap bolt station next to a tree is head and shoulders above a bunch of nasty old slings of questionable strength. * From TCIA

That has some potential to be really ugly.

I'd totally agree that Eisenhower was the only president with real military experience that combine the military with managing an incredibly large project that had to be done ASAP. Teddy Roosevelt had military experience too, but not quite as large. When Eisenhower left office he warned everybody about the military industrial complex. Bush has done nothing but add to this complex and increase our debt. McCain wants to continue in that same tradition.

From most reports I hear the election has already been decided in all but about 10 states. Scotty, KKK, and Fairweather might have a better chance at throwing bibles if they all moved to Ohio. I hear the climbing is really good in Ohio too. As for the whole use of the word gay as a negative I'm not sure I follow. I've heard Dan Savage say that it's perfectly acceptable to use the word as a put down. I figure he knows a thing or two about the subject. Of course to be really clear the best written word might be gehy.

Let's look at the big picture shall we. It really doesn't matter who wins the election this time. This will be the last US president of all time. Thing about it. It's 2008 add 4 years and you get 2012. Why is this significant? Watch this informative video It wouldn't be surprising if we pick a stupid president 4 years ahead of schedule. It's a sign.

No she's not going to be the president unless McDumbshit wins the election then kicks the bucket in office. She is an example of McDumbshit's decision making ability. It makes him look dumber than the idiot he already was.

Dude I'm totally down with this Chrome stuff. OMFG did you see those colors.

Yeah. Good thing there aren't any other pregneant teens in the world. ... You freakin moron. and those other pregneant teens are illustrations of what? A good illustration of how telling kids just say no to sex just doesn't work. Long term consequences of actions mean nothing to a young kid who wants to fuck. Palin is a big backer of abstinence is the only method of birth control that anybody is allowed to talk about policy.

Smoke Bluffs on American Labor Day Weekend. Sounds like a bad idea from the start. It's like going skiing at Crystal or Snoqualmie on the weekend after a lot of new snow.

Wondering what their houses are made of is a good question, but perhaps they live in adobes. The only problem I see with adobe is one needs to be careful harvesting the clay so you don't dig a huge pit and damage the earth. The question I have is what do they wipe their asses with after they shit. Toilet paper is obviously bad bad bad. A sponge might substitute, but where did the sponge come from? In the video they're wearing pile jackets. That's made from oil, and ya gotta drill for that.

It seems like a situation that I can't imagine Palin wanting to get into. Her daughter and kid are going to be part of the media event should Palin become VP. Even right now chunks of the press will be pestering the poor girl and taking photos.

This seems like a common end result of the just say no mentality. Maybe it won't be a big deal for Palin and McCain, but it will be interesting to watch.

I was doing a solo backpacking trip, but the rain yesterday caused me to eventually decide that I'd rather hike back to the car then spend a night in rain. Judging by the clouds now it would be wet and there wouldn't be much in the way of views to see. Now I'm going to do stuff at home including looking at this site. I need to buy more coffee.

That was a good piece on the radio. Suicide... hmm. Some climbs are really casual, but other times you need remind yourself how close you're coming to an edge, and factors other than knot tying like weather come into play.

Nobody should refer to her as a MILF, but in this case a GILF.

Sounds like fun times in the Twin Cities.