nolanr

It's purely a matter of taste. I prefer approach from Aasgard. It's definitely doable in a day, I've done it multiple times. In fact you can get up there and tag a non-technical peak in a day and get back out. I like the upper end of the plateau better and Aasgard gets you there much quicker. I would recommend waiting til October. The snow will be mostly melted, the larches will be turned, there's that wonderful crispiness to the air, etc. etc. Perfect time to be in the Enchantments. You will want to be in pretty decent shape when you attempt it, it is a grind getting up there. More than worth it though!

About the coldest I've ever felt was up there right before Thanksgiving several years ago. There was an air temp of around 10 degrees. The wind was blowing across the lake and funneling up towards Aasgard Pass. Probably blowing around 30 mph. That's nothing compared to polar conditions or Alaskan winter mountaineering or anything, but it felt cold to me. That's the only time I've ever had ice start to form on my eyelashes and eyebrows. I had on every stitch of clothing I brought w/ me and it wasn't quite enough to be comfortable.

Went to the Gonzaga vs. Missouri game yesterday at the Key. Man that place was rockin'. Helluva game.

Oh yeah, and if you haven't read the book you have no idea about Shelob and Gollum's evil little plan. They should have left her completely out of the previews, even the one second long shot of her you get. Why ruin the surprise?

Didn't leaving the Shire take up nearly half of the first book? They managed to streamline that quite a bit for the movie out of necessity. I loved the first one, didn't like the second one so much, still have high hopes for the third and will see it shortly.

There was an avie death up by Mt. Baker as well yesterday, details in the Times article. Somewhere around Artist Point/Table Mountain.

It's speculation of course, but some say Muir's heart was broken after he lost the battle for Hetch Hetchy and he died shortly thereafter.

Who's going to a bowl game and who's staying home this year? The Huskies were better at Cougin' it this year than Wazzou, how else do you explain losing to Nevada, Arizona (by far and away the worst team in the Pac 10 in years), and getting blown out by Cal by like 55-7 and giving up over 700 yards of total offense? The Huskies suck, all the Apple Cup proved is they can play good every once-in-a-while. If they had any heart or balls they never would have gone 6-6 this year and they easily would've gotten into a bowl game. Better luck next year Dawgs, but I think Neuheisel really brought that program down and it's going to take a while to turn it around.

I know this doesn't help Minx any but... Jackson Hole may be a lame ass tourist trap, but I will say that everytime I've gone in the Albertson's there (a total of about 10 times), I've been treated to many good views of nice looking women. At least it's always had that going for it for me. True enough, I haven't scored with any of these women, but that's beside the point. Isn't it? Isn't it? This definitely held true this last August. The pretty people were on parade.

It looks kinda dark to me. Whatever floats yer boat.

From Royal Basin.

Thanks for sharing these posts w/ us Allyoucaneat. I'm really sorry for your loss. I consider myself fortunate I ran into Ben and you and your brother earlier this year.

Did Fricaba by moonlight in early November several years ago. Pretty mellow climb but that was a beautiful experience.

I met Ben and the Hummels by Colchuck Col this spring. I was impressed by the guy during the short time I knew him. Very sad. My condolences to his family and friends.

Ya know, I can't see Hugo Weaving as anything other than Agent Smith now. Yeah he plays an elf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but he's still Smith just waiting to bust out from behind those pointy ears.

how can you lower a bar that is already on the ground? Get out your shovel and start digging?

If you've seen the first 2 I don't see how you can skip the third, you have to see how it ends. I thought it was worth watching, no great but I've seen plenty worse than that. In retrospect I think the first one was the best. I'm anxiously awaiting "The Return of the King." Agree w/ Dru (or whoever that was) "Torque" looks horrible, lowering the bar from "The Fast and the Furious" type of movies quite a bit.

What? When did France get so conservative as to be offended by this? They brought us the bikini and the topless beach, didn't they? Viva la Francais.

folks, that aint velcro Look Mom, no hands!

I think if I was living in Israel, I wouldn't have any faith that any kind of cease fire, dismantling of settlements, pulling back, or any other kind of concession would make a damn bit of difference in the long run. Hasn't all of that been done before? Did it stop Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israel? I don't think so. If the right of Israel to exist as a nation is called into question, you have to look at Palestine the same way. As far as I know, there has never been a Palestinian nation. I'm sure I know far less about the situation over there than some of the other posters, but I've got general impressions that I've grown up with, there's been violence over there as long as I can remember. I'm not naive enough to think Israel is without blame and always takes the high road, but I just think it's laughable when people talk about peace in the Middle East and actually believe that a group of nations that are dominated by Islam religiously, culturally, and politically are going to legitimately strive to have peaceful relations with a nation such as Israel that is so radically different religiously, culturally, and politically. Over here in the good 'ol US of A we like to bash on conservative Christian right wingers as being ignorant, intolerant and hateful, but I don't think they have anything on Islam in terms of being completely intolerant of anything different.

I have to call BS on that. There will be peace in the Middle East when Israel is wiped off the face of the map and no longer exists. The Palestinian leadership has not been interested in peace at any point in recent history and has walked away from the negotiating table more than once. It's sorta of a chicken and the egg thing, but the Israeli's have a whole bunch of Arabic/Islamic neighbors who don't care for them much, they pretty much have to kick ass and ask questions later or they wouldn't survive.

Half dozen or so actors playing themselves in a card game in Ocean's Eleven.

Read it recently, thought it was okay. Mostly mildly amusing rather than the hilarity I was expecting. Agree w/ several other posters, Conquistadors of the Useless and No Picnic on Mt. Kenya were both good reads. David Roberts' stuff is consistently good.