sobo

coulda been a nickname... I thought his first name was Pete.

Alisdair has the righteous beta. MAST has been coming out of Salem for the past few years while the Ft. Lewis MAST has been sent off to Iraq and Afghanistan. They are not to return. Also the Air National Guard has been flying helo ops out of Eugene(?). Those of us in Washington no longer have an in-state arial capability unless provided by private contract. I also understand that Chelan County Mountain Rescue has lost their bird with the retirement of their pilot. His name escapes me at the moment, but he's well known and highly respected in these parts.

Dave, There is really only one answer to your question... "It depends." Re hardcore: It depends upon what route he/she selects. Re stupid: It depends on how much experience he/she has. Also, it depends upon the weather forecast and the current *and pre-climb* conditions (up to several weeks/months previous, depending upon the selected route). Getting my drift? Personally, I've soloed several routes several times on Rainier. So have LOTS of other people, even in winter, and even as recently as this past winter. So this is definitely not an unheard of thing to attempt. IMHO, it's not worthy of getting all worked up over, and route selection + climb conditions will determine the endeavor's "hardcore factor", not the mere fact of attempting/completing a solo. Lastly, it's only stupid if your acquaintance has no business soloing Rainier.

Deft edit... how adroit. Just so's ya know, RogerJ, it's considered poor form on this board to edit your gaffes after someone has "captured" your faux pas by quoting it.

Hey Blake! Job opportunity!

"possum recipes" ? ...and I used "google"... although "goodle" apparently works just as well...

too slow...

This ought t'hep ya...

It's Pat!

So all this legal fuss was over 30-45 minutes of torching or a couple of extra ounces of ash? Hey, it's all about the cost of the extra fuel... gas is expensive these dayz...

I was always pretty amused by KAOS... Get Smart!

I love it whenever I get a chance to do that. I gave away a full set of the original diamond-C hexentrics to one of our more cerebral friends on this board (I kept another "almost full" set). It was my understanding he was going to give them to one of his more appreciative climbing students/protoges, a la Grasshopper of Kung Fu fame. I hope when that kid is finally able to "snatch the pebble from his hand", that he appreciates the gift and its inherent significance.

...reviving dead threads almost two years old. Seriously, welcome to the board! (I'm not really an asshole, just ask almost nobody on this site.

...when did the "ads by Goooooogle" and hurricane relief start showing up on this board? Page down to the bottom on any thread, if you haven't noticed this yet.

There! Happy now?

He's made like, what, three posts in the last three weeks? What gives? Out grabbing FA's in some wasteland up north? And what's with G-spotter kyping the sacred Hello Kitty avatar? It's just plain confusing to me...

Actually, it's not an American bastardization at all, but the pronunciation is correct as DoxManDude stated earlier. My source, the unabridged version of the Random House Dictionary of the English Language, gives the language derivation of "forte" as originating from the Middle French. Now, we all know that those Froggs don't pronounce their trailing "e"s (but we also know that the Italians do). So, to be correct, we should not be pronouncing "forte" as two syllables in the context of this post, but if we refer to the word in a musical sense, then we would say the "ay" syllable, because in music, "forte" derives from the Italian "forte" or strong, from the Latin "fortis". Class dismissed. Oh, and in regards to my armchair climbing, I'm at my best in my StratoLounger...

idiot... ...once again, we invoke Darwin's Evolutionary Theory.

armchair...

Those Goddamn Irish Fuckers!!! ...carries special relevance today...

Language is a virus... Laurie Anderson

seems to be working fine fer me...

Thanks for sharing that pic, DeC. It's now my new wallpaper!

E-rock would just scoff. Jarratt is a poseur when it comes to the artform known as defecation. Although i have to admit, the "saving of the beast" for 4 hours just so that others might enjoy it was a nice touch.

Cool, be waiting for it. And congrats, again!