David_Parker

Well I can go out on Sunday only. At this point it looks like the only way to get to half way decent snow is on Rainier. But if anyone thinks this would be a huge waste of time, give me your reasons. Remember I'm gay, butt can ski anything if it's snow.

Well as an added dimension, its kinda fun to play on top of the dryer with your woman while all this is going on! I do play tennis by the way. I especially like mixed doubles in the nude. I also play womens doubles sometimes.

Golf is for fuckin' pussies! I like to hit golf balls AT people wearing plaid clothes. My friends got busted by a ranger smacking golf balls off the summit of Rainier! I have golf balls for one reason....drying my down bag and jacket!

Call Feathered Friends and see what they recommend. I have washed mine. I usually go to the laundry matt and use the front loader and gentle cycle. The front loader spins out way more water. Then I bring it home and put it in my dryer with about 5 golf balls. It makes a hell of a racket, but the golf balls beat the bag and fluff it up again. A couple old tennis shoes work fine too, but don't use a stinky one!

I have used and like eidelweiss ropes. I think any rope that is "super" dry will be stiff.

Dennis, Black dome won't return my emails! I contacted Petzl directly and they wanted $48.00 plus shipping. Thats highway robbery. Wouldn't give me a pro deal either. So I'm still searching!!! What shops carry Charlet Moser and would be likely to have a kit hanging around?

This may help eventually. I climbed with Al in Canada last year. Al runs http://www.neclimbs.com Ice Glove Roundup:I've been accumulating samples of all of the latest glove offeringsfrom the gear manufacturers. Sometime before the first of DecemberNEClimbs will have a roundup of all the gloves including prices,features and first impressions. Definitely check it out. So far I personally fail almost every major manufacturer of "ice climbing" gloves. I could write a whole disertation on this topic. You don't have to spend the big bucks. Look at snow boarding gloves for way cheaper. Gloves don't have to be gortex...really, how much do your hands sweat? Wool and leather are still great materials in my opinion! I don't really like the removeable liner because if you have to pull your hand out in the middle of a pitch, the liner always gets all screwed up and the glove is hard to put back on. Bottom line: you need a box full of various gloves to choose from depending on conditions/temperature! [ 11-15-2001: Message edited by: David Parker ]

You finish it!

What did the Cobra say to the Quark?

Seems to me we had the start of a film script going that involved some skin. Whatever happened to "THE STORY" anyway!!!

Do not despair my fellow ice climbers! All this moisture is good! The ground will be saturated and weeping and it will get cold eventually. We need this moisture to form nice fat icicles to climb. Drink a beer or smoke a bowl (we need an icon for this!)and relax!!!

Haireball, I missed Fri. pm of Ropefest for 2 reasons. First I was scared shitless that Caveman was going to beat me up. Second, I went into L-worth to check out the local talent. I almost got kidknapped by an overweight, but sweet lady. Eventually made it out there sometime after midnight. Sorry I missed you Sat night. Must have smoked too much! We'll hook up!

I heard they're going to turn the hut at Muir into a rehab center for climbers. Rehab is for quitters!

Does anyone know the snow elevation on Rainier. What has it been doing at Paradise...snowing or raining?

http//www.leaveittodopetobethemostpopularsubjectonaclimbingforum.com

Yeah Hairhippy, I was hoping you showed at the rope fest with your banjo. I wanted to meet you because you mentioned this before and I wanted to take you up on it. Next summer for sure. We'll come to L-worth and get our kids together. Anyone else welcome too. Cavey, a kid has just as much right to scream at the crag as an older climber does swearing in front of my kid! Get out of the dark ages, man. I know you and I were brought up where "kids were to be seen, not heard" but those days are long gone. What was cruel was the kid having his father creating that situation. Who gives a shit what the public thinks. Good for you for lending a hand.

Johnny, I'm not sure if it was me that mentioned that, but that is how I climb with my son too. Won't be long before he says he doesn't need you there. I did a 2 pitch climb at Smith Rock with him and then rapped with him hanging between my legs on about 3 feet of runner girth hithched to my harness. He was scared at the very start (like he should be!) but once we got going, he was ok. Great job and keep up the fun! Dave

Erik, I'll take the Verticals and you keep the bindings. Or I'll trade you a pair of 203's...same ski, you still keep the bindings.

Ok, I have to get out this weekend or I'll wither away. I was thinking skiing would be good. So I'm game to hook up with any one who wants to go up to Muir or to WA Pass. I have cabin to use in Mazama too. I don't care what you ski on as long as you can go up and down fairly proficiently!!! Post here or send me a PM. PS. I smoke dope in or out of huts and cabins!

And I'll promise not to fart in there too!

Interesting topic...I smoke dope and not cigarettes and certainly would have asked anyone already in the hut if they minded before lighting up...cigarettes or dope. If someone objected, I'd have gone outside. Personally, I like the sweet smell of pot vs the acrid smell of tobacco, but to each his own, smoke is smoke. But is smoke any worse than the fumes and co2 (odorless) put off by cooking in the hut? So was it just the nuisance of the smoke or actually the environmental damage to your virgin lungs that bothered you? If it was the former, then wait ten minutes. If the latter, then I'd suggest not going in there at all, at least if someone is cooking. I'm not sure that "everyones" experience was ruined that day, maybe just yours. You have a right to bitch, but yeah, I think it's borderline selfish of you to expect skiiers/climbers not to smoke. I'm not sure if there's a "no smoking" sign on the hut, but who cares. I'm sure these guys weren't the first to smoke in there. GET REAL!! The hut is a convenience and different folks get different things from it. Any other place in Washington I guess you'd have frozen your ass off!!

I watched Saving Private Ryan again last night. WAR IS HELL! I also saw two other interesting shows on the Discovery channel. One was about all our new high tech stuff that in my mind goes a long way to do two things, 1. Save American lives and 2. Save enemy (or in this case non enemy but living in the wrong place at the wrong time) civilian lives. And these are only the devices they are willing to tell us about. This shit is so high tech and amazing it's scary. I was thinking it is good they are showing this stuff on TV because you have to believe that the enemy is watching our TV and if they are they should be shaking in their boots. The other show was an excellent documentary on the whole gulf war in 1990. In a nut shell, Iraq got what they deserved and they were given plenty of warning and chances to withdraw from Kuwait. The things they did were horrific and cowardly. The reason that war was as long as it was is because the Iraqi soldiers couldn't surrender fast enough. In the end, Saddam did things that caused such environmental damage that it made Exxon Valdez look like a puddle. If the Taliban is in communication with Saddam Hussein, then Saddam should be telling them they fucked with the wrong country. Hitler, Saddam, Bin Laden, they are all evil! I find it hard to believe that people follow these type of leaders. I'll leave that up to the psychology professors to figure out. But it doesn't take but a first grade education to know that if you hit someone, be prepared to get hit back, justified or not. That being said, I can clearly see the things they see in America that disgusts the fundamentalists. I can see why they think the way they do. We are fat pigs, consuming the at an accelerated and disproportionate rate the worlds resources without an end in sight. Our presence through out the world and especially in the mid east is offensive to them. Unfortunately, because they are extremists, they are blind to the good we do or at least try to do. I feel sorry for he people of Afganistan. But if it helps, they should feel lucky that it is the U.S. waging war on their turf. We will ferret out their enemies and destroy them. We will provide more aide to them than if we weren't in their country. And they are going to loose far fewer civilians than if any other country was doing the same! In the end, Afganistan will be a better place with the freedom to practice Islam they way they want. The U.S. missed a golden opportunity to be a true world leader by striking back. What if we had set the unprecedented example of turning the other cheek. Isn't that what the Christian Religion promotes? What would the rest of the world thought of us if we did that. That we are chicken? SO WHAT!!!! WE KNOW WHO WE ARE! WE ARE USED TO THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD THINKING ALL SORTS OF BAD THINGS ABOUT US!! Unfortunately the opportunity of turning the other cheek has come and gone and you can blame democracy for that. Like it or not, the general U.S. population, if polled, would support this war effort. How else do we justify our military spending. Those boys with toys have been waiting for this for ten years and nothing is going to hold them back. That makes us no better or smarter than they are. Just more powerful! And that is exactly what they hate.....catch 22!!! Thanks for the opportunity to write this. I often have a much better time expressing myself in writing so although I have felt these things for some time, I've never really shared them with too many people. I hope it is stimulating and generates some more thought.

Anyone have to sell or know where to buy a mono point kit for the Charlet Moser Grade 8 crampons?

Jingleville, New York (1980) St. Lawrence County is 3 hours north of Albany and is also known as the North Country. It boasts the highest per capita cases of incest and related births. Just prior to X-mas vacation we were "cruising" around and came to this small little town in the middle of no-where. We decided to stop in for a beer. As soon as we opened the door, it was like we were on stage. They were having a Christmas party. Everything stopped and everyone looked at us. It was one of those moments when each side wasn't really sure who was looking at the stranger people. We didn't exactly get the feeling we we invited to stay. But being that we were under the influence of psyllocibin, we couldn't help but stare back. It was if we had stepped onto the movie set of Deliverence. These people were more related to each other than I could fathom as displayed by their alien head forms! We actually stayed and had one beer and played a game of pool, but the cross glances never stopped. Perhaps we were having too much "fun" to realize we were in danger, but after a while we just felt like we had had enough "cultural experience" and left. I still have that memory of those mongeloid head forms probably as vivid as you see that guy sitting on the bridge in Deliverence playing the banjo. Hmmm...banjo, that couldn't have been you Haireball???

I went 97 last time and prefered it. No traffic problems in Portland area. ALSO.... there's a good chance you'll be driving on dry roads once over the pass vs. wet roads on the west side. I'll take not having to use my windscreen wipers any day. Easier and safer passing too. DPP