Summit Journal Chat

magoo - I think Dave is gone on business until next week sometime.

Boulder Bob: Checked out those links, still can't find where to purchase it. I'll email him and post what I find out.

One last thing. I remember Dr. Ken talking about the Sierra Club. And I just received my spring copy of the "Intelligence Report" from The Southern Poverty Law Center (Morris Dees). Page 55 has an article entitled "Hostile Takeover" - "A director of the Sierra Club discusses an ongoing attempt to turn the environmental powerehouse into an anti-immigration group".

So, G Zam - where have you been traveling

BTW - I chickened out on the mountains and will return next week - I'm tired of post holing in snowshoes.

magoo - Dave sent a complimentary copy to me (for helping him - he bought some stuff in the US and had it all sent to me - sat phone stuff, etc. - many places wouldn't ship to him - I collected it all and then sent it to him). I like his book so far - he does have some insite - he's also opinionated (in case you hadn't figured that out) and that makes things interesting. It's fun to read a book by someone you know on the net and/or have met. Anyway, I will submit my review after a week or so. For the book try Dave's Site:

http://www.mountain.com.sg/bookindex.htm

Or look up Top of the World Books.

Rose is a problem for some sites I guess. At least she's not a spineless weasel.

Hi Lori,
Good to hear from you. Rose the Rebel. That has a ring to it. (I don't think Rose and Rebel have occupied the same sentence up 'til now, mind you [unlike Carrie the Good). ;-)]. Nice to see my stock rising (er, well not literally, at least not the kind associated with bonds).

BTW, folks, the new BaseCamp MD feature on Everest.net is quite good. There is a clinic set up at basecamp and the MD there seems to be pretty busy - but does seem to have time to post tidbits on what is happening from a medical perspective.

Have a good weekend , everyone.
Best regards,
Rose

Boulder Bob: I was reading about Dave's new book "Against Giants" on his website. Says due out Dec. 2003. Do you have a copy? I am looking around for ways to purchase it, but am unsuccessful. The way I got a copy of Mountain to Climb was by coming to Boulder and having lunch with you guys.

Has anyone read Dave Lim's new book yet? Any one know anything about it? I should finish this week during my trip to Oakland. I will give a book review next week perhaps.

Mountain Madness should be going up to camp three for a night or two now. They will return to base for a rest and then wait for the window of good weather as the signal to head for camp 4 on the col and then the summit.

tweaking

Just checking in after a busy week travelling & such.

Certainly enjoyed the email exchange. Rogues and Weasels. Such fun!

Thanks Bob. That was the laugh of my day!

Rose, you were kicked out? You're soooo cool. My respect for you has been kicked up a few more notches. Rose the Rebel.

(Kind of the antithesis of Carrie the Good)

Congrats on the new technology Terry. Welcome to the 20th century. Yep, the 20th. I still drink drip coffee. No grande extra foamy soy triple shot lattes at 348 degrees. I hear you have to consume those in massive quantities to exist in the 21 century. (perhaps you need the the caffeine to bounce into the next millenium?) I like my cool new computer. But I'll never be fashionable. So I'll exist in the last era. Glad to have you here with me CST old friend.

"It's Everest season again? Already? This can't be right..." (she said, checking the calendar, thinking it was only about November 2003 or so...)

Sheesh...

It's been snowing here in Boulder/Denver all day. I may have problems in the mountains tomorrow.

Hey, this is so cool. A new internet abbreviation. YGSW (You gutless, spinless weasel)! What a great way to deal with insulting anonymous rogue posters. Thanks BBob. :-)

Regards,
Rose

Oops - sorry for my test comment.

Your's truly - the rogue, anonymous, gutless, spineless weasel Boulder Bob

Rose,

Interesting. Well, if you find something and decide to keep it for yourself or give it to the surviving family you might run the risk of being banned from the China side of the mountain (assuming that the news got out and assuming that your stuff is not searched to closely upon departure).

Hi everyone,
There seems to be quite a bit of snow on Everest that would seem to hinder any kind of search. There is apparently a storm brewing (literally) that could blow a lot of the snow off (or add more?).

Here is link to a brief story in the ENews M&I search:
http://outside.away.com/outside/news/20040428_1.html

Nothing new really. I did hear that in addition to the Irvine family,and the Royal Geographic Society, apparently the Chinese Mountaineering Association are claiming ownership of any artifacts or cameras that might be found if SI really is located. On the otherhand it might seem self evident to some that Graham Hoyland and the Summervell family might have the greater claim, since it was Howard Summervell's camera that everyone is looking for. :-) Then again, there is the old adage "finder's keepers".

Best regards,
Rose

how about this? -- a rhetorical question. When I make changes to the blog (like reversing the order of the links to the right as per GBS), I have to post in order to see the changes. This also happens when I delete a post, another post has to come through before the post is deleted. Simply clicking on "refresh"doesn't do it for me.

GBS: -- obviously, yours are the late night ramblings of the sleep deprived.

What I was trying to do a few weeks ago was add a link so that people who were NOT members could post. Your suggestion had nothing to do with this. As you can see the link to the right is for members only. If you can figure out a way for people to post here without joining - the tyrant (LOL) is all ears. The "comment" function is the best I can come up with right now.

The "want to post" should be under "want to join" IMHO - (that's how I had it before the tyrant took it off). Hey - It's not a new feature - it is a reenactment.

Hey - I had that link on a few weeks ago and you took it off! Is this a democracy or what?

Okay, sorry to do it, but I cleaned up some of the posts regarding the "click here" link that I added to the right. Looks like its going to work, hope it makes things easier on ya.

Magoo, nice new feature.

Rose, I think you have to hit the 'refresh' button to see your newly added post.

hi Magoo and Rose, let's see if it works for me

I will check out the camera site. Thank you.

No plans yet, kinda waiting to see what work throws at me. I do have to get in a long distance training ride this weekend at some point, Banff might be a good a good place to base it from.

As for snow, it's all gone in the valleys, but both Sunshine and Lake Louise are still open for skiing. You can check out the web cam at www.banffgondola.com - there are even links for trail conditions and weather at that site.

Any teams on their way down big E yet?
I wish they would find SI and get on with other things. Let those poor men rest in peace.
Any of them using the GPS in their cell phones for directions?
Would the new GPS/Camera phones have helped in 96? That is 1996.

Can you tell me what the temperature is up there? Snow still on the ground?

Bruce - are you going to Banff this week?

LOL - Yea that Jenn had a way with words, funny that her style and syntax mirrored GM's so closely.
The down parka lead seems a bit sketchy - unless the body is the only one that high without a down parka.

Excellent story on Messner's Nanga Parbat climb in this month's Nat Geo Adventure. David Roberts pulls the story together and far more clearly than Messner did in "Naked Mountain".

Hi Everyone,
Bruce, I don't know what I did to get banned from ENews. I could just never post. But when I used to post on an earlier version, whatever I said generally made Jenn apoplectic. I sometimes posted under a different name- maybe they sorted that out and decided I was untrustworthy - a stealth poster from MZ???
Anyway, my blood pressure is better now that I don't go to their forum anymore.

Today they did post that their "team" and "Tom" are at ABC. (? Tom Pollard? Holzel?? Some other Tom?). They are being very coy as they have never disclosed their team members. There was an interview with George Martin in a newspaper over the weekend in which he said that a Sherpa from a team in a recent year saw a body that was not wearing a down parka. Since they know who died on the north side over the years, they figure that the only person not wearing down garments would be SI????? So they are not acting on the information of the Chinese climber.

Best regards,
Rose

Rose - You were banned?! What did you do to deserve that? Considering some of the stuff that flew around on that forum. I can't imagine what you did...but I'm impressed.

That old mountainzone group had some pretty good thinkers on the M&I debate and I wouldn't be surprised if some of their thoughts were mined by others for this new expedition. Are Babs and Zenon still part of that group? Ronan? Pickler? Tiger?

LOL Terry!

Got a brand new 'puter this weekend. It has a much larger monitor which is very good given CST's ageing eyes. Size matters, of course, but it's the greater clarity of the screen that's really neat. With this greater clarity of vision, I can actually understand some of what Bruce is talking about.
Anyway, it's got the latest versions of XP Professional and Windows Office, so I'm feeling rather 'au courant', as opposed to usually being on the cutting edge of technological obsolesence.
The 20 y/o whiz kid who built and set up the computer kept going on about how my scanner (purchased new in 1999) was really, really old."Man, this is a dinosaur!" So old that he wasn't sure that the software would recognise it. Now, clearly, one's perception and labeling of something as old is a matter of perspective. I glanced over at Ginnu who was preparing dinner over the firepit in the middle of our mud hut, having spent the afternoon churning butter instead of tech stocks and, occasionally, chatting over our crank telephone.
Then, it came time for the Kid to set the resolution for our monitor. He reeled of some numbers and set the resolution saying, "Is this okay? Can you read it? I know some people have issues about the size of the print". I had issues but at this point they weren't about the size of print. In fact, I was developing my own resolution. And my own questions. "Would they find his body while it was still recognisable?"Would the coyotes think a 20 y/o too old to eat?"
In the event, the Kid redeemed himself by raving about Ginnu's barbequed Mastodon and Auck, so he got to live.