klenke Posted January 18, 2002 Posted January 18, 2002 Hey, I was curious, is it just me? Am I the only one who comes across popped baloon remnants (including the attached stringers) in the Cascades all the time? The first time I saw one near Malachite Peak in 1994 I thought it was a fluke. But I've seen at least one such popped balloon every year since. I find them all the time. With their unnatural colors, they stick out like sore thumbs. Does this happen to anyone else and if so does it happen with regularity? I feel like an undertaker for the great balloon burial ground in the sky. Quote
freeclimb9 Posted January 18, 2002 Posted January 18, 2002 The mylar ballons seem to have the most longevity --at least they're the easiest ones to spot on the hillside. I've found them while approaching climbs throughout the southwest and into northern Baja. Quote
DPS Posted January 18, 2002 Posted January 18, 2002 It would be cool if those who released the balloons wrote the geographical point of release on them. Quote
philfort Posted January 18, 2002 Posted January 18, 2002 A weather balloon we found on Adams last summer had a pre-addressed envelope to return it to. Quote
gregm Posted January 18, 2002 Posted January 18, 2002 i found an advertising blimp. it is about 8 feet in diameter and 20 feet long. it weighed about thirty pounds but i strapped it to my pack and have it at home now. i like the "dr evil" feeling of having my own blimp. Quote
Sean_Halling Posted January 18, 2002 Posted January 18, 2002 I've run into at least four. Every time it has been in some out of the way spot that you would never expect to see anything from humans. Quote
klenke Posted January 18, 2002 Author Posted January 18, 2002 "Every time it has been in some out of the way place..." Yep, that's right. I'm usually in the middle of nowhere miles from any trail or anything else made by human hands and I'm thinking, "Ah, finally, at one with nature." Then I look down and there's this blasted popped balloon shattering the natural peace of the place. Quote
philfort Posted January 19, 2002 Posted January 19, 2002 quote: Originally posted by gregm: i like the "dr evil" feeling of having my own blimp. Quote
Mike_Collins Posted January 19, 2002 Posted January 19, 2002 I find balloons all over the place. One was a 5 foot tall purple one of Barney the dinosaur. I walked over to it thinking it was some long dead hiker in Gortex. Found the carcasses of twelve ballons tied together last summer near Gunn Peak. Almost always they are on the west side of the crest. Quote
genepires Posted January 19, 2002 Posted January 19, 2002 There must be favorable wind patterns up north because I have found many balloons on the north side of mt baker, especially late in the year when the snow is gone. One summer I found about 15 over a 2 month period. With the prevailing winds, the balloons would blow from mt vernon and everett up the side of the mtn and pop the balloons due to increased relative pressure. This leaves them on the south side. How do they get on the north side then? Quote
MysticNacho Posted January 20, 2002 Posted January 20, 2002 I always thought that those damn balloons floated out over the ocean and killed dolphins or something. But now that I think about it, duh, winds blow IN from the ocean, not out. Doh! Quote
Zenolith Posted January 20, 2002 Posted January 20, 2002 Who sang that song from the 80's about the balloons and it was partly in French or something? [ 01-19-2002: Message edited by: Zenolith ] Quote
icegirl Posted January 20, 2002 Posted January 20, 2002 A long winded answer to "wasn't there an 80s song about balloons" One of the best known of the nuclear war protest songs, Nena's 99 Luftballons is about releasing a balloon that triggers a false reading of nuclear war, triggering 99 years of warfare. It was inspired by a real life occurence, the US falsely identified a flock of geese as a pre-emptive nuclear strike in the early eighties. The original song in German was changed a lot when the song was translated into English to make it more appealing to America. Eventhough the translation managed to capture some of the original spirit, many of the subtle digs at German government structure have been lost. Also, when it was translated, it was modified to portray America's position in the 80s in a better light. Unfortuately, this means that the widespread 99 Red Balloons is not as accurate as it could've been. Isn't it funny what war, or the threat of it, will do to people? Quote
kevin_page Posted January 20, 2002 Posted January 20, 2002 I pick up balloons frequently while kayaking around the San Juans. They are always the small, party type. Quote
Retrosaurus Posted January 20, 2002 Posted January 20, 2002 quote: Originally posted by kevin page: I pick up balloons frequently while kayaking around the San Juans. They are always the small, party type. Those are spent condoms. Quote
kevin_page Posted January 20, 2002 Posted January 20, 2002 Yeah, whatever Retroborus, I still think it's cool the way they stick to a wall after you rub them on your hair. Quote
crazyjizzy Posted January 20, 2002 Posted January 20, 2002 Icegirl, Sorry to hurt your left leaning feelings, but it was the Russkies who thought the geese were bombers. In 1983, the year Soviet-American tensions became particulary strained (this was the year of the downing of KAL 007, Grenada, and on the heels of the "Evil Empire speech"), NATO had an Exercise. This buildup of troops had the Warsaw Pact convinced we (NATO) were about to launch a pre-emptive strike against them. About this time, their shitty Soviet radars didn't work, and people freaked out. We knew about this occurance, and calmer heads on both sides ratcheted down the retoric and tensions. Quote
icegirl Posted January 20, 2002 Posted January 20, 2002 heh heh.. hey, no problem to tell the truth, I had done a search to make sure I was spelling Nena's name correctly, and when I ran into that (along with a direct translation of the german version) though that blurb was entertaining, so did a little cut and paste... Quote
Zenolith Posted January 21, 2002 Posted January 21, 2002 Klenke, Suggesting that a "ruskie" could be capable of "quick thinking" or upright ambulation even, is a bit "left-leaning" and not allowed a)in a time of war or b)any other time deemed unfit for such commie-loving blather. Balloons are fun and pretty; Its OK to talk about them anytime, but commies are backwards and spread AIDS so we need to pretend we won the cold war and they don't exist anymore. Quote
max Posted January 21, 2002 Posted January 21, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Zenolith: Klenke,... we need to pretend ...they ["commies"] don't exist anymore. Zenolith: Lucky, this seems to be a reasonable thing to assume. There have never been any communists, at best progressive soscialists. The incorrect tags communist, commie, etc. could best be justified as descriptions of their ultimate objective. Quote
crazyjizzy Posted January 21, 2002 Posted January 21, 2002 Max,There still are a bunch of frigging socialist assholes out there! Most of them live either 40 minutes west of Denver, or 30 minutes east of San Francisco. None of then live out here in gods country of Snohomish County WA. Long live me and Bronco!!! [ 01-21-2002: Message edited by: crazyjz ] Quote
AlpineK Posted January 21, 2002 Posted January 21, 2002 Yes Snohomish county... gods country... land of the slack jawed motherfucker. Quote
max Posted January 21, 2002 Posted January 21, 2002 quote: Originally posted by crazyjz: Max,Most of them live either 40 minutes west of Denver... Yes, an intersting topic I'd love to pursue, but my weekly allotment of library computer time has expired! Quote
mmcmurra Posted January 21, 2002 Posted January 21, 2002 I found a balloon on the trail to Private Idaho at Index that had a little pre-addressed card attached, asking whoever found it to put it in the mail along with some info about where it was found. Which I did. I think the address was a Girl Scout-type organization in some nearby town. I remember looking up the town and calculating that the balloon made it all of 15 miles ... I was kind of disappointed at both the distance traveled and elevation gained. Michael [ 01-20-2002: Message edited by: mmcmurra ] Quote
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