AlpineK

I admire a magazine that tries to make it on content. Unfortunately the reality is the vast majority of magazines out there are so packed full of adds it becomes difficult to search out the articles when you have to wade through bullshit.

I like the wood splitting contest idea.

Others have noted, but the first major presidential appointment McCain made was to pick Sara Palin. The decision he made really makes you question his judgment since once elected he'd have to make a ton of other appointments. I don't care much for Republicans, but there clearly are a bunch of other Republicans (female and male) already in office with a lot more experience and a lot of better records kept on them. Like it or not McCain's age puts him at a much greater chance of dying in office. If that happened then we'd have President Palin. Even Colin Powell (a long time republican) is for Obama. A lot of people both democratic and republican respect him. Here are two links where he explains his decision making process.

Trip: Mt Rainier - Muir Snowfield Date: 10/18/2008 Trip Report: Muir on Saturday deux Looking to crank some October turns Hugh and I decided to check out the Muir Snowfield. I hadn't read any detailed TRs, but it seemed like a good shot. Anyhow this is what the snowfield looks like right now We got up to Muir at about 2 PM. I haven't seen the place since they renovated the hut a bit. It looks nice, and I like the new skylights. My only complaint is it just isn't smoky enough inside. The ski down was good. Not perfect snow, but there was a lot of corn snow from some recent storms. We stayed on skis till just above Pebble Creek. All and all a fun day. More snow will make it better, but with November and December coming the chances of new snow go up. We did stop by the new visitor center at the parking lot. The place looks a lot more Northwestern than the old Hawaiian building. The displays inside are pretty cool too. Gear Notes: I did the ascent in hiking shoes. Approach Notes: As always check the weather before you go. We hit it pretty well, but we did run into some cloudy conditions.

Top Ramen does something nasty to my guts. If I fork over a couple extra pennies and spring for the instant noodles with real oriental labeling I don't have that problem.

I was with a mounties Intermediate group up there in the late 70s. I believe our numbers beat your combined numbers. Maybe not, but our group had a rope on every serac.

I got a good laugh out of the whole incident and McCain's use of it when it came out the guy owned a bunch of back taxes. Both Joe and McCain get some humor points for that incident.

Elect Ralf Nader Nadet '08

That qd angle shift is caused by a babe magnet effect. She'd do well at the space station. You'd always know where to look for loose items.

Fairweather may not be up on the difference between parliamentary government and the US style.

They're both bible thumpers. I bet they got in the way of an oncoming stork. Prior to that all they did was go to church and hold hands on the way home.

This is exactly the point. The kid and Palin's daughter ended up in a situation where finishing high school ain't going to happen. Buddy is going to have to settle for a GED later in life after he starts making money to help his new family pay the bills.

First off I don't like Palin or the politics she stands for. Chances are 99.9 percent the family is a bunch of slack jawed mother fuckers. On the other hand they occasionally run into a good idea. I've read a number of pieces regarding education for work skills. There is a huge lack of people capable of doing skilled manual labor. In the old days high schools would at least offer shop classes. Today it's all about passing tests to get to college. As a consequence there are lots of available jobs that pay good but require you to leave the office to get your work done. I know in my field you need to get text education but you're useless unless you get out and practice by actually working under supervision at the ground level. I know tons of people in their 30s and 40s with years of experience, but there are no or very few 20 year olds learning the trade. Probably this is due to the fact that in the modern age people are afraid to get dirty and tired at work. Some PhD types are useful, but so are people who are willing to work away from the desk and the water cooler.

I think something is going on in Scott's head that only he is privy to.

Nice The descent does look a little sucky.

She better win or else what?

My first ski boots were leather. Looking at my dads old skis there was no difference between AT and downhill bindings. Cable bindings that only took two clicks to go into climbing mode. Missing a toe piece, but you get the idea. I have access to some real seal skins too.

Alfred E Newman deserves respect not comparisons to Das Bush. [img:center]http://blog.kir.com/archives/images/alfred_e_neuman.jpg[/img]

[video:youtube]eJr1VD8GvuE Kevbone will like this. Others won't.

Obviously she's a talented tennis player, but I think Kevbone is in a small group that continually like to look at pictures of her.

Or something like that.

Impressive.... I (and I'm guessing many others) sure couldn't pull it off. Out of curiosity, were there dedicated AT boots in the 80s or was it a choice between regular downhill ski boots and mountaineering boots? My experience is that sometime in the 80s there was a switch. Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention to products available, but back then it was either mountaineering boots or downhill ski boots. If you go way back to my dads era AT ski boots were all leather since all ski boots were that way. Skiing in mountaineering boots is exciting, doable, and does make you focus on technique, but like others have said injury chances go up.

Wow. Fucking rad dude. I guess this means I won't be bugging you about going on any multiday ski trips this winter. I will have to meet the kid soon though.

In the old days republicans used to have the designation of being fiscally conservative. Penny pinching is a useful characteristic in somebody in charge of tax revenues. The problem is that it has nothing to do with cutting taxes and starting a war. Right or wrong on the war it does cost money. Today we seem to be a little short on money. Back in the 70s Washington State had Republicans like Dan Evans. From what I remember he did a good job as governor and backed important environmental issues in the state.

I started backcountry skiing with an old downhill setup. It was all I had, but it led to a lot of side stepping Once I did get bindings that locked and released the only boots I could find were climbing boots. I assumed that was part of the game. This setup does work, but it forces you to really focus on skiing form and positioning your body correctly over your skis. It works, but if you do a lot of backcountry skiing it really sucks. I'd spend the money on good ski boots for backcountry skiing and put off spending a lot on either skis or bindings. On the other hand if skis are just a tool to approach winter climbs then live with shitty skiing since boots that work best with technical climbing are more important.