sobo

Change your tune After hovering my cursor over that link, I am afraid to click on it while at work... very afraid... ETA: ee-yup, got the proxy server warning for blocked sites.

Folks, we have a winner!

So she voluntarily let this guy pimp up her face? WTF did she expect?

What, doesn't everyone? ooops...

It's the Petzl-Edelrid Helmet Show-Down! Looks like your boy is taking a beating, and you don't appear even the slightest bit fazed by the force of the impact. In fact, you appear to be enjoying it.

Thanks Keith!

And thanks to you also, Mel. Yes indeed, I downloaded and showed that very same vid to my wife just last year when Nick started cooking as a reminder of what not to do in the event of a grease/oil fire. I'm glad she remembered it.

And thanks to you, too, Steve. Yeah, both Nick and Elaina like meat, the wife is a vegetarian, and so my kids and I bemoan our fate at her cooking hands and commiserate on how we can sneak out of the house and chow down on pig, hen, and cow...

Thanks, Brad, but puh-LEEEEEEZE don't make me take that bet... The flooring's safe, though. Real ceramic tile. Can't burn that. I hope...

tin foil hats take care of those types of conspiracy theories...

I've actually already taught him how to use a fire extinguisher, because he's become the de facto cook at the house on weekends, and I felt it was important for him to know the procedure for using it (shit, a 2-pack of those things are cheap at Costco and well worth the practice). Why he didn't go for the extinguisher when it was really necessary is beyond me. We'll have to include that point in tonight's incident debrief and analysis/discussion. The little guy knows how to make pancakes, French toast, muffins, brownies, and chocolate cake, and he'll be 7 in August. He says he wants to be a chef when he grows up.

Ken is cool, I can vouch for that, if'n you don't trust the word of that ivan character. We took a trip to Clearwater last summer (ill-advised) and it was so goddamned hot that we just sat around camp and baked for most of the trip. Well, Ken got baked. I just got drunk.

Daniel Harro and Elisif? Or did she come to the site after they met up? My wife and I met up through the local climbing/hiking club here in the Tri-Cities over 10 years ago. I was giving an ice climbing presentation at the local WSU branch campus, and afterwards a bunch of piled over to Baron's for Black & Tans. I was smitten... the rest is history.

The house is only 7 years old, and we've been in it for the last four, so it's pretty "new" already. But if the restoration folks can't save the cabinetry over the range, then I'm gonna have to get new cabinets all around if they can't match the rest of the kitchen cabinets that weren't damaged. The MW is toast... literally.

Holy Jeebus H. Fuq'n Christ! What a shitty day. So I'm on my way to work, and halfway there I get a call from the wife. I open the phone, and all I hear is wild screaming/blabbering, smoke alarms going crazy in the background, and dogs barking. I yelled over top of her to call 911 and get the Fire Dept. on the way and GTF out of the house, not knowing how big/small the fire was. Then I spin a brodie in the middle of the road and high-tail it back home and beat the FD to the scene. Seems my son (6 yoa) decided to "cook" some oatmeal for breakfast, and his mother decided it was high time to take a shower while he did so. Nick runs into the bathroom and informs Mom that there's a "little fire" on the stove and wants to know how to put it out. Wife exits shower, and finds the stovetop, range hood, built-in MW oven, and cabinet engulfed in flames, the house filling with smoke. Instead of using the fire extinguisher that I had intelligently located in the kitchen when we moved in several years ago in anticipation of just such an emergency, she douses the blaze with whole wheat flour. That flour's some stinky shit when it burns up. The FD shows up and checks things over, says it's all out, and offers their fan to clear the smoke. I politely decline, bid them adieu, open some windows, and survey the damage... It seems Little Nickie changed his mind from boiling water for oatmeal to boiling olive oil to "see what would happen." Thank Dog the wife put it out with flour instead of throwing water on it Bottom line: no one hurt, a destroyed range hood, a MW oven that looks like a blob, burnt cabinet doors, singed ceiling. My $500 homeowners deductable is well-met, and the restoration folks have already surveyed the scene and estimate the damage at over $2,500. So I'm starting early tonight... Redhook ESB. Nick and I will have a little talk this evening about doing what you say you're going to do...

Christ, I didn't realize I had that much shite blowing around teh interwebs! Better watch my postings here from now on...

Make sure you're wearing plaid... I'm jus' sayin'...

Work it, people... keep working it!

Pushing it over the edge to 6. Still lotsa life, now that the discussion has morphed to marriage and climbing. Although, we beat that horse to death in another thread some time ago...

And they also have been known to use the term "safe" for the same thing. I first heard "take" at Smith back in the late 80s/early 90s, and it was from Eurodogs, not us Anglomutts.

Nekid pics? See the current tatoo thread. First post.

I can't help but muse upon what rob said in another thread several weeks ago... "My awesomeness springs from a deep well of humility."

That's the fact, Jack!!!1

I do not rope up on a glacier every time. It depends upon many many things. That said, there are some glaciers where I would never step foot upon them without first roping up. Nisqually, Kautz, and the Carbon come to mind. I've seen so many dadburned holes in them fuckerz that I would never chance it with them. I've been up and down the Emmons both roped and unroped. Same with the Wilson. It all just depends. And that's just Rainier for an example. So what I'm saying is your question can't be answered simply. It's like what you said about seatbelts... Do I always wear one? No, not always. When I'm barrelling down the highway at 70 mph, yeah, I'm wearing one. When I'm pulling the rig off the street and parking it in my garage? Nope. It's a matter of common sense. Go figure... Suffice it to say that I do not climb, nor do I live my life, according to a pre-ordained set of rules. Rather, a set of guiding principles provides a much better framework for moving through this existence, IMHO. Principles are never-bending, and you will never go wrong by following what you have set up those principles to represent for you (honor, truth, loyalty, safety, common sense, etc.). Rules, on the other hand, are made to be bent and, if need be, broken. I follow no hard and fast rules, since to me, there is no such thing as a hard and fast rule. So with all that said, let's attempt to address your concerns, applying my outlook of principle-based behaviors... In early season on glaciers known to be crevassed, the slots are covered under a layer of snow. How deep/strong is that snow? Unknown, hence rope up. In late season, when the snow has melted away and crevasses are in evidence all around you, you will (obviously) know where the crevasses are, and as long as you're not doing something that could cause you to end up in one (e.g., glissading with a run-out into a crevasse field), what would be wrong with ascending/descending unroped? Nothing, hence don't rope up. Time of season, known existence of crevasses, snowpack depth/strength, topography, evidence of hidden slots (think changes/indentations in snow cover), etc. Yes, it is overly conservative, because they are preaching a hard and fast rule. See above for that discussion. But they are taking responsibility for teaching you (a n00b) something, so they are going to (obvisouly) err on the side of caution because of your admitted inexperience. It is an exception (and again, the use of that word "rule"). I don't know of anyone who has ever trudged up to Crater Rock with a rope on, or anyone who would. You would never go ripping down something with a rope on, because what would be the point of that exercise? Would that be fun? Would it be safe, lashed up to someone else moving at the speed necessary to have any fun? Clearly, it would not. Also, why schlep a pair of skis/splitboard/snowboard up something that you know in advance you will NOT be able to schuss down because of crevasses? Clearly, they CHOSE the route they are on WITH THE INTENT to ski down it. Obviously, these people know something about any particular route that you do not, and they gained that knowledge through years of practice, study, and just getting out there. They have seen, studied, and played on numerous mountains, hills, glaciers, couloirs and the like to the point of having enough experience to be able to judge the safety of travelling unroped. By your own admission, you are not there yet. But stay with it, get out a lot, and as much as possible with people that already know these things, and you will enjoy the same adventure and experience that the rest of us do.