Alpine_Tom

Yeah, but you can't climb ice at work.

Simpson thought so. In fact, he said that he wrote the book in part to defend Simon from the criticism he was getting about it.

The review says "At this point, the rational thing for Yates to do is abandon Simpson... Instead, Yates does the irrational thing and tries to help his injured partner." The subsequent references to "rational" refer to that previous statement.

Seems like the simplest solution would be for them to open the Pacific Crest Trail parking lot. It's a bit of a walk along the road, but it's a lot that's there, and good sized, and would just need plowing.

from http://www.bask.info/shops/ Distributor USA/Canada: VG International Ltd. 6412 180 Street, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T5T 2J6 Phones: +1 (780) 487-1672; +1 (780) 483-3151; Fax: +1 (780) 483-0841 E-mail: thebask@interbaun.com

Didn't Jim Fixx die of a heart attack while out running? So it's possible that strenuous effort could bring on a heart attack, though probably not very likely. I'd be more worried about my climbing partner trying to push nitroglycerine tablets on me because I'm feeling less than 100%.

One thing I've noticed is that digital pix seem to look better on the web than scanned film photos. I assume it's because scanning from a print causes problems with reflection off the shiny photo paper. Whereas with digital photos, you get that projected slide look, the rich colors and deep shadows. I don't take slides, so I don't know about scanning slides, and my scanner does a crappy job scanning negatives.

Boy that Rice Boy page got my thinkin' of ways to trick out the old Escort station wagon. I wonder if I can get a SHO windshield banner for it, and a contrasting color spoiler?

Josh is right; you'd probably have to hike in 2-3 miles to the trailhead on Sulphide this time of year, maybe all the way from the Baker Lake road. Plus, Sulphide isn't much of a climb; it's more like a ski tour outing. I'd vote for the White Salmon route. Check Nelson vol 2.

I got my wife a Canon A70 for Chrismas and she just loves it. The little messing around with it I've done, I find the latency pretty frustrating, but I guess that's a tradeoff of digital. She reports the "pushing the button halfway down to pre-focus" feature doesn't work particularly well. It does take video clips; that seems to me like one way to get past the latency problem. It seemed to me the 3x optical zoom was adequite for most applications (ignore the digital zoom number) and unless you're going to be making huge prints, 3mp is probably fine. And Costco has 256mb memory cards for ridiculously cheap, less than any of the mailorder photo houses.

"If you're competent, you're in the top 20% of your field..." The printer, not Dallas.

The third edition says the same thing. Don't any Whittakers lurk here?

I stopped by up there on the way over the pass (on 12/28) and was appalled at the number of big red signs posted all over the Alpental road that said "no sledding or snowshoing" "no dogs" and "no parking." It's not clear to me where on the north side of the freeeway you might be able to park legally for anything besides patronizing Alpental.

The problem with having a discreet little copyright logo in the corner is that it's really easy to crop off. Not that I'd know about something like that, but that's what I heard.

A big issue is: who calls, and who pays? If I'm out on Johannesburg, and end up overnighting unexpectedly, and my partner's girlfriend panics and calls SAR, and a helicopter meets me at the Cascade River road (for example) should I pay because she called? Or should she pay? If she is on the hook, she'd have to think long and hard about calling, especially since the call would essentially be signing a blank check. Which gets us back to the objections mentioned above. Or, if I'm, say, on the summit of Glacier Peak, and get socked in, and call home to say I'm okay, but the cell phone transmission is garbled and SAR comes out, who pays? Me? The cell phone company? (hah!) Or, what if it's a couple of kids who wander off from a boy scout hike? Does the scout troop pay? The parents? Or do we only make macho smelly climbers pay for SAR? I was in a bicycle accident years ago, about half a mile from Harborview, which resulted in my losing consciousness. It transpired that Medic One showed up to make sure I was okay, then called a private ambulence co. to take me to Harborview. The charge from the ambulence co. was something like $350 for that four minute drive.

How would they tell? I suppose if you left a 4x4 parked overnight with an Access Fund" sticker on the window, it'd be a giveaway, but unless they have someone posted to watch the parking lot, and you're a bit discreet, it shouldn't be much of a problem. If someone sees you walking away from the parking lot heading up the Snow Lake trail and challenges you, just point to the nearest Land Cruiser and say "that's my car, give me a ticket if you want. No, I don't have any ID, it's locked in the glove compartment."

A couple Mondays back, the club released 500 pen-raised pheasants for a morning hunt. Cheney and companions shot about 400 of them. The vice president blew away 70 of the birds himself. What an outdoorsman! I take back all the small-minded sniping I've done at his expense. I'm in awe of this hard-man exploit.

It depends what you mean by "bomb proof" and "consumer." There are any number of places where you can store data online, but if the company goes out of business, you're out of luck with no recourse. You can make archive cd-roms and store them someplace like Iron Mountain that will warehouse them in a fireproof building, but that costs. And if the cd-roms become unreadable, you'd be out of luck. I assume a consumer wouldn't have thousands of irreplacable images, so it wouldn't be that great an inconvenience to make multiple copies of your important pics (graduation, baby, first ascent, whatever) and re-copy them from time to time. Then you can store them in multiple locations -- online someplace, in your basement, and at a friend's place back east.

I've wondered, on occasion, how many members of the "two mile high" club there are.

Nah, not Trask! Another thanx to you guys, Jon and Timm@y and all the moderators, for all your work and effort!

Congratulations! It's the beginning of a great adventure. I've got two, one 21 (my God, how did THAT happen?) and one who's almost six. The first month or so is the hardest.

I have assumed for years that dirt, or anyhow, the bacteria associated with sweat, will cause the fabric to break down, so that frequent washing will help the garment to last longer. I'm sure I must have heard that someplace. Maybe junior high gym class?

from hooversonline.com: Jagged Edge Mountain Gear makes apparel for outdoor activities, including hiking, climbing, and biking, which is sold through its handful of retail stores in Colorado and Utah and on e-tailing site Overstock.com. Jagged Edge filed for bankruptcy in mid 2002 and in January 2003 Russell Corporation acquired the Jagged Edge trademark from the company. I bought a JE down jacket from REI three years ago, and have really liked it. It was make in China, though, so they've been doing it at least that long.

I used to take my inlaws' dog (a golden retriever mix, part coyote, I think) out in all kinds of snow. He did just fine except for deep powder; seems like he got tired wallowing more quickly than I did, and he was never very interested in following my snowshoe tracks. I'd give it a try on a shorter outing, like up on the snow lake trail, so you don't risk blowing a big weekend if it turns out he hates it. A lot has to do with the sort of fur they have; our west highland terrier loves the snow, she never seems to get tired, but if it's damp sticky snow, like good snowball snow, it balls up on her and she bottoms out. She made it up Mt. Pilchuck in the middle of a blizzard a couple years back.

This was taken from partway up Whitehorse Peak last year: I don't guess it "proves" that Shuksan and Baker aren't the same mountain, maybe this is really Rainier and Hood?