Alpine_Tom

A friend needs to get a cargo box for his FourRunner. The catch is, he needs it by Monday (7/5) Anyone have one gathering dust in the garage, or know of any hot deals? Thanks.

Um, I recall something about how the Soviet Union's soldiers fought against Germany, too. Does it follow that they were protecting those freedoms too? Soldiers don't protect freedoms, they fight wars (or keep wars from having to be fought.) Defending a country isn't the same thing as protecting freedoms. And, to carry the point to a tedious conclusion, if the US had lost (or never entered) WW2 against Germany, it would likely have had no effect at all on our constitutional rights. The freedoms mentioned in the initial screed are granted in the Constitution. While the framers of the Constitution might have been technically legislators, and some (or most?) might have been lawyers, they were creatures of the Enlightenment. Y'know, humanists. Some were probably even secular humanists *gasp!* Sadly, it does appear to take a lot of lawyers in groups like the ACLU from stopping legislators (or the executive) from abridging the freedoms granted to us in the Constitution.

Seems like the obvious approach would be to say something like "The first documented winter ascent was the Springgate party on Jan 1, 1965. Jim Hawkins later reported doing the ascent solo on Jan 5, 1958." After all, this isn't exactly a Nobel Prize we're talking about here; it seems like there's enough honor to share. But, as Lowell says, it's their book. Thanks to Lowell for bringing up this bit of history.

It was July 2002. I thought the rock quality was fine, and I'm pretty timid on rock. The descent was a bit dicey for me in a couple of spots, though. We passed one stuck nut on the nearly-horizontal section above what Nelson calls the "exposed slab." Regarding the name (everyone's got an opinon...) it seems to be that, according to Beckey's text, Thomson was the name of the guy, but Thompson is the name of the peak. There are other geographical features that are named incorrectly for people too. A couple are on the tip of my tongue, but I won't remember them until after I post this. Besides, as Stephen Jay Gould points out in his essay "Bully for Brontosaurus" which I was reading last night, it's just a name, it doesn't really matter all that much. In the essay, he argues pursuasively that we should be using the name Brontosaurus, and not Apatosaurus, which is the current PC name. (When you have a six-year-old boy at home, these things matter.)

If ELF specifically tries to AVOID hurting people, it's hard to imagine why they'd booby-trap a gate, when the only point of doing that would be to kill or hurt someone. Sounds more like a meth cooker to me. Or, as was mentioned above, someone who has a problem with the forest service. Guess that eliminates everyone on this board!

I agree 100% Winter It's hard to imagine a procedure for "closing" routes which wouldn't cause more danger than it would avoid. If the route is "not closed" does that imply some assurance of safety? People will certainly assume it to some degree. Conditions can change daily -- hell, hourly -- and I can just see the blame and accusations (and litigation) that would result. (Would your AAC insurance not cover you if they declared a route closed after you were up there?) It'd end up with a situation where they'd have to "close" all routes all the time except during small windows when they are positive things are perfect. I told my wife this morning that I was glad I'd climbed LR last year, since she probably wouldn't let me do it now, and she said "you got that right!"

Bought mine April 9, just got it in the mail a couple of days ago. Just hang on to the temporary pass; they'll accept it with no problems.

Is that when he returns to private life?

There's a lot of junk up there. But there's a hundred times more crap (literally) on the trail in. The south col might be "the highest junkyard in the world" but no one sees it but a very few climbers who can afford the time and expense to get up there. Clean up the trail in. Or better yet, clear out of Tibet altogether.

As long as you don't spend the night in the Muir hut. Technically, you're supposed to "self-register" if no one's there. Not that I care, but it'd cast a pall on the climb to get hit with a ticket by a climbing ranger at Muir or somewhere. What is the fine, $200 or something?

My guess is that you're more likely to get acceptable weather for your Dragontail/Prussik trip than LR. It'd be pretty lame to go to Rainier, pay the $30 a head climbing fee and the entry fee, and sit there on the Carbon glacier for two days wondering if the weather is going to clear. Even if it's kind of overcast or socked in, there's plenty of stuff to scramble and climb around Colchuck Lake and the Enchantments. Plus it's further east, so it's less likely to be actually precipitating. On the other hand, the Naches Tavern does have awfully good milkshakes.

Having worked for a couple different retail establishments(years ago) it's my understanding that most inventory shrinkage comes from internal theft rather than shoplifting. I expect that you'd have a very difficult time finding reliable figures to prove (or disprove) that, though, since for the most part you have to extrapolate from those what get caught. Sorry for your loss, Greg, that sort of thing really pisses me off. I bet they get less for your stuff than the deductable. 2nd Bounce won't sell used harness or pro, so if it shows up anywhere I expect it'd be eBay.

So, baseball, football, etc, aren't sports? Hmm. Better e-mail "Sports Illustrated."

Edmond Burke is still around? I haven't read anything of his since Reflections on the Revolution in France. He must be getting awfully old.

Is it actually out? Leejams and I were up there in late Feb, and the lady at the Erie Grocery said it wasn't out yet, and that once it came out, Dallas K. was going to put up a display of antique climbing gear in the store. So, stop by the Grocery there and if the new one is out, she'll have it there.

I've always assumed you didn't need to rope up down there because there weren't any crevasses... Wrong again. Were they over to the left (west side) of Crater Rock, rather than on right on the std route?

My experience is, the easier the route, the more the time is padded. For example I did Mt. Pugh in about three hours less than he says, but the west ridge of Thompson peak (car to car) in just about his estimate.

Uh Oh, Sounds like I should have know about this "Monkey" Buisness B4 I agree to climb with someone! This has NOTHING to do with the viagra discussion we had on the couloir, Aaron, I promise!

The point is power. As a friend of mine used to say in another context "if some is good, more is better, and too much ought to be just about enough." Why have a sled that sounds like a Toyota sedan, when you could have one that sounds like a Nascar racer? You just can't put a price on that extra bit of acceleration.

Climb: Colchuck Peak-NBC Date of Climb: 5/13/2004 Trip Report: Met Aaron B. at the trailhead in the very early hours. He'd met up with a climber from Bozeman named Josh, yesterday, and Josh came along. Left the trailhead around 3:15 (yeesh!) The trail is snowfree about halfway up to the lake, and what snow there is is pretty hard and consolidated. The lake is melting, still a skin of ice but not for long. The route was in great shape; plenty of hard, icy snow. Got to the summit around 10:45. On the descent, we did the glissades, and scoped out the NE Couloir; it looks in good shape as well. Aaron thought triple couloirs was in, but if it is, it’s pretty sketchy. The weather report was for good weather, and so the top of Stuart was obscured by heavy black clouds, and we had some periods of small hail during the hike out. Got to the cars around 2:15, followed by beers and burgers at Uncle Ulie’s. Gear Notes: crampons, ice axe. no rope or pro. Aaron had a 2nd tool, and used it. Approach Notes: 8 mile road is open. Trail is snowfree halfway up to the lake.

Is this what Bush meant by "bring it on?" Just curious.

Well, when I tried following Beckey's directions, it was from an old edition of CAG. But I got totally lost in brush and trees and a swamp, for several hours. It was just miserable. The trail up to the snowcaves is a mile, say half an hour, then another half hour to contour around the mountain. No logs to cross, no bogs to circumnavigate, no gullys to identify. Sounds like your sense of direction is superior to mine.

I'd have to agree with this. I got myself a golite pack last year, figuring I'd go, y'know, light. The lack of a frame is a major pain, particularly with digging into it trying to find something. It just collapses all over itself. Plus, if it's less than completely full, it droops and the ice axe doesn't carry properly.

This is looking down at the top of the cleaver, at an RMI group. If you want RMI climbers, why not contact RMI? http://www.rmiguides.com/

Of course not. It's not an FA unless you're a white guy and write it up someplace for other white guys to read. It's hard to imagine a population in an area for upwards of 12,000 years bothering to wander around on some high ridge in the middle of nowhere, far from 7-Elevens or anything useful.