@neebee Its Smugglers Notch VT. Isa thinks there are Ogers up there.

B quality Audience, still; Slow & soulfull A testiment to the combined talent assmebled. A Warf Rat, as if the Jer-ball his-own-self were in da house

Irma was soon forgotten, and Mickey found himself wondering when Gill and he would next go bouldering.

Thanks...….

It was pretty sporty coming out of the cave. My partner is a solid 13 breaking into 14s sport climber and he was not too impressed with the gear leaveing the belay... I think he still has a bit of PTSD from imagining the gear zippering on to the belay Its NH so any place you could possibly place a screw it looks like swiss cheese...

jfengel! Perhaps another gear historian here has better beta on Longware's history. I really have not found manufacturing dates on internet searches, but considering the prices his big angles & bongs sell for on EBay, folks are collecting examples of his pitons. My best knowing guess would be, early to late-1960's.

@FritzRay Basil must have been energized last night, too, because he went out (he has a cat door) shopping for Solstice presents for me. He didn't even wait for official solstice, but left them for me right away, just inside the back door! Yeah, a rat and a bird.

FWIW, when I was skiing and climbing on Baffin Island in '79 and '81, the locals told us about some guy who had fallen into a polar bear den. Can't remember if the poor guy survived or not, but I think (vague memory here) they said he somehow did live. And here's something my late friend Wayne Merry posted in the Bullock and Boswell bear thread on ST: "I have to include a funny polar bear story. Twenty-odd years ago I used to be the Asst. Regional Director for Renewable Resources of the Baffin Island district, which is now Nunavut. (Read Chief Game Warden.) One of the jobs of the community Officers was to chase polar bears out of the settlements. We hired a new guy, just out of University in Ontario to fill the job in Resolute. Explained to him that he would be using a 12 ga. with a plastic bullet called a Ferret slug to sting the bears and chase 'em out. The magazine behind the Ferret was filled with Brenneke Rottweil 3" magnum slugs, which are devastating at both ends of the gun. We also told him not to deter a bear unless he had a good local hunter with a big bore rifle backing him up. So eventually the time came, he called out a hunter who had agree to back him up, and they approached the bear in town. He checked to be sure the hunter was ready, and stung the bear at about 30 yards. It just pissed him off and it came for him. He had a brief peripheral vision of his backup vanishing, but managed to drop the bear almost at his feet. Looked around and found the backup had split. A great learning experience."

So I went to have a set of snow tires installed on my chevy decent set that I have had in storage. they call me out into the shop which is Never good. one of my aluminum rims is cracked and they won't put a tire on it though they had taken my old tire off. now I am stuck hobbling with the doughnut. Long weekend and I am stranded.. no real climbing within what I am brave enough to try with that tire. I hear they pop really easy... maybe get to boulder tomorrow... How did you make out?

@LynneLeicht -- hey there say, lynne... very soft, yet, powerful shot here... thank you for sharing...

I absolutely feel that late 90s (Ergo) modern leashless tools and Modern fast one handed placing screws completely revolutionized ice climbing. There simply is no que on Le Promenade without that gear. especially the screws. The Chouinard, Lowe snarg and salewa screws I started with bear absolutely zero resemblance to modern screws in the way that they climb. None! Its like trying to compare a rolling block .45-70 to an AR15. The only thing they have in common is a rifled barrel and a metallic cartridge. Simply no way that ice climbing is main stream today without the advances in screw design and tools. You had to have a few screws loose to enjoy ice climbing with knuckle bashers and shitty gear. now its safe , fun and easy just like sport climbing. The consequence being that is way to crowded out there.

@RussWalling Is this a trick question.....:) list item

While I didn't make this instrument, I appreciate it for its playability, sound, but also its artisitc beauty. Those who do such fine woodwork have my respect!

Here's one for all of you who are interested in climbing history. A short film of the first ascent of one of the first desert towers to be climbed. Agathlan, in 1949. Definitely worth watching. And then worth thinking about as you sort your gear for your next climb. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K-IwCjUf3w&feature=youtu.be

Maybe more than you were looking for, but I was watching the UCSD tv channel and oddly enough found myself following right along stochastic variation in circadian rhythm https://www.google.com/search?q=stochastic+variation+in+circadian+rhythm&client=safari&channel=ipad_bm&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj_ha-C_7PlAhWDsp4KHTBNBeAQ_AUIESgB&biw=1100&bih=1328

Gilchrist makes awesome mandolin-family rigs. And Chris Thiele is the guy to make them express their potential. I jam with a guy who's got a really sweet Gilchrist mando ($25,000), and he does it justice, too.

These are from a prior season of abundance. We dehydrated a bunch and canned in olive oil. Pretty special. Toby recommended.

@jgill You can probably find it on Amazon as a two-for-one with Undiscovered Scotland. Some of his other writing is now hard to find, but that one is still readily available. Brief bio is that he was born a Brit, but lost his parents and was raised in Glasgow and, as a young man, discovered the hills, then the rocks, then the mountains of Scotland. Okay, Nothing in Scotland rises above 4,500 ft, but I've climbed there in the winter, and can testify that yes, winter mountaineering is as real there as anywhere else. Enlisted after the start of the war, captured in North Africa, endured the hardships of the prison camps, and eventually returned home and took up where he left off. Climbed in Europe and the Himalaya, and made a living as a writer.

Climbing and dog related https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8PsIh-38s5s