"Because it's there."

hey at least those guys in the National Guard will be able to log some much needed hours on their aircraft that cost anywhere from 3 to 10 grand an hour to fly.

:)

They do need the training hours. Did you see where I posted the commander of the unit near Mt Hood saying the same thing?
 
hey at least those guys in the National Guard will be able to log some much needed hours on their aircraft that cost anywhere from 3 to 10 grand an hour to fly.

:)

no aircover needed, here

just lines of probers..........when conditions are safe

sometimes, it's safest just to wait for spring......
 
They do need the training hours. Did you see where I posted the commander of the unit near Mt Hood saying the same thing?

Of course they want to fly around. That's what they signed in for. If they had to pay for the fuel they wouldn't be as geeked.
 
Of course they want to fly around. That's what they signed in for. If they had to pay for the fuel they wouldn't be as geeked.

They're required to fly a certain number of hours no matter what. They prefer to fly real missions than to fly around for no reason other than to log the hours.

Here you go. See if it's possible for the commander of the helicopter unit to put a dent in your blinkered ignorance:


http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index...in_rescue.html

The cost of last week's five-day search on Mount Hood won't be totaled for a while. But much of the expense in time and effort won't be passed on to taxpayers, thanks to volunteers from mountain rescue groups.

In a typical Mount Hood rescue, volunteers from Portland Mountain Rescue and the Hood River Crag Rats perform the bulk of the ground search at no cost to taxpayers.

Last week, a dozen members of Portland Mountain Rescue had planned to be at Mount Hood on Saturday to train. Instead of a leisurely 10 a.m. arrival, they got calls at 1:15 a.m. and were asked to be on the mountain at 6 a.m. Members helped recover the body of Luke Gullberg, 26, of Des Moines, Wash., on Saturday and searched for Katie Nolan, 29, of Southeast Portland and Anthony Vietti, 25, of Longview, Wash., until the effort was called off Wednesday afternoon because of severe weather.

Likewise, using taxpayer-funded military personnel and aircraft, such as the Oregon Army National Guard's Black Hawk helicopter used in the search, doesn't cost extra because search time is used in lieu of required training time.

"It's a win-win situation for us," said Capt. Stephen Bomar of the Oregon Army National Guard. "We get to train our pilots and, at the same time, help our community."

Pilots are required to fly 10 hours a month to maintain certification. By Wednesday, the helicopter had logged eight hours of flight time, including the journey from its Salem base.
 
It's not like a vacation where you'll be sipping beer on the beach. Three weeks is a good volunteer stint.

Yeah, I figure I'll be done with it by then. I get sick of sleeping in a tent pretty quickly these days. I'll probably spend a night in the DR at some decent hotel on the way home, so I can relax a bit.
 
Yeah, I figure I'll be done with it by then. I get sick of sleeping in a tent pretty quickly these days. I'll probably spend a night in the DR at some decent hotel on the way home, so I can relax a bit.

A friend bought a house in PR for a family get away. He's given the place great reviews. And local brews are only a buck.

One of my grad school classmates was from the DR. A baseball fanatic.
 
OK, you post me your tits and I'll post you my tatt, which is now fully finished and rather beautiful!
Like you've never seen my chest before?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v649/Peregrinator/IMG_1431.jpg
A friend bought a house in PR for a family get away. He's given the place great reviews. And local brews are only a buck.

One of my grad school classmates was from the DR. A baseball fanatic.

I really enjoyed the old section of San Juan when I was there. I'm looking forward to seeing the DR, too. I've heard it's beautiful.
 
hey CLOWN

we miss you in the GLOW BALL WARMING (tee hee) thread

come back, tell us how we HATE SCIENCE and the SCIENCE is SETTLED:D
 
From the ADN.com:

"Challenged by scarce daylight, blowing snow and zero visibility, the first woman attempting to scale Mount McKinley in winter is hunkered down at 10,000 feet, where she and her partner have been living in a snow cave since last Sunday.

At least Christine Feret has good company. A French woman who has become an American citizen and makes her home in the Valley, Feret is climbing with Artur Testov, a Russian-turned-Alaskan who may have as much winter-time experience as anyone on North America's tallest mountain.

This is Testov's fourth attempt to scale the 20,320-foot mountain in the winter -- a feat that has been accomplished by only 16 people, Testov included. Two of those who have stood atop Denali in the cold, dark winter died on the descent. Another four have died on the way up.

Feret and Testov started their adventure on Feb. 23 with 260 pounds of gear, or enough to get them through a month on the mountain, according to climb coordinator Josef Princiotta of Anchorage.

But blowing snow and whiteout conditions have pinned them down at 10,000 feet -- about 2,800 feet above the 7,200-foot Kahiltna Glacier, where Talkeetna Air Taxi dropped them Feb. 23. In recent days, they've had to dip into their fuel supply to stay warm.

"They're still in the same snow cave, and the problem is, you don't move around in a snow cave, so they're having to burn a little gas," said Princiotta, who has been able to speak to Feret every day via satellite phone.

"I don't want to say they'll be short on fuel -- but they'll have less to carry. It'll make them lighter as soon as the day comes along with good weather, and then they'll try to climb rather quickly."

Saturday's report from Feret brought a bit of good news, Princiotta said. The howling wind changed directions so blowing snow is no longer blocking the entrance to the couple's snow cave, meaning there's a flow of air now that hasn't always been there.

"Now they don't have to dig out an air hole," Princiotta said.

The need to ventilate the snow cave consumed much of the couple's time in recent days. According to a Monday phone call from Feret, as reported by Princiotta on a Facebook page chronicling the climb: "Last night the blowing snow sealed us in our snow cave. We had to dig out during the night just to get some air."

Even with the wind blowing in a more favorable direction, it is still blowing hard. Neither Feret nor Testov are venturing far from the trench leading to their shelter, because when they do, they are disoriented by wind, snow and flat light, Princiotta said.

If one thing is working in their favor, it's that they have not seen the worst of the brutal cold McKinley can serve up in the winter. Feret has reported temperatures ranging from minus-20 to minus-25, and one day it was a practically mild minus-5 -- not bad for winter on Denali, where temperatures can plunge to moon-like figures. The classic mountaineering book detailing the first winter ascent of McKinley gets its title from the brutal cold experienced by author Art Davidson and fellow climbers Dave Johnston and Ray Genet in 1967: "Minus 148 Degrees."

Testov is part of an elite group of climbers who have stood atop McKinley in the inhospitable days of winter. In January 1998, he and Vladimir Ananich became the first -- and so far, only -- climbers to scale McKinley in the dead of winter, meaning late December through January.

In 1997, Testov's attempt to climb McKinley in January with Andrey Isupov ended at about 12,000 feet when Testov fell into a crevasse and had to cut loose a sled loaded with food and fuel to save himself. In January 1999, his attempt to be the first to climb the mountain via the Wickersham Wall in winter ended before he and partner Trigger Twigg even reached their base camp.

In preparation for their climb, Feret and Testov twice scaled Denali via the West Buttress during the 2009 climbing season, Princiotta said. When they aren't climbing mountains, they build and sell furniture from their home near Knik Glacier.

Though they are being sponsored by Phillip Paul Weidner and the Fairview Inn of Talkeetna, Feret and Testov can expect little to no support during their climb. There's no base camp operations and no rangers during the winter on McKinley and little to no chance of a rescue should one be needed.

"All winter climbers are strongly advised not to anticipate a rescue," said Denali National Park spokeswoman Maureen McLaughlin. "Just as during the peak climbing season, a rescue is never a given.

"We have extremely limited personnel on staff during the winter and no high-altitude helicopter."

Computerized climbing data has been collected by the park service since 1995, McLaughlin said. Since then, there have been 34 attempts at winter ascents, including two this year. In January, a solo attempt by an Italian climber ended at about 7,800 feet on the West Buttress route, McLaughlin said."
 
The words of great climber George Leigh Mallory, asked by a reporter why he wanted to climb Mt Everest. perhaps the most famous quote ever on climbing, and certainly the one that gets the most play among non-climbers.

In this thread, I will attempt to answer your questions about the craft of moving on technically challenging terrain in the mountains. Rock, Ice, Snow, Altitude...what do you want to know?

I started rock climbing a little over ten years ago, actually the week of the Oklahoma City bombing, by taking four days of lessons with other litsters and great friends atmas and HungryJoe. I started ice climbing maybe a year or two later, and I've been hiking all my life; I've climbed some technical snow and some high stuff. I certainly don't know it all, but I like it, and I like to talk about it.

Ask away.

Do you have children?

If you do, then putting your life on the line for kicks means you're an asshole.

Sorry, perg. I like you, but it's true.
 
Do you have children?

If you do, then putting your life on the line for kicks means you're an asshole.

Sorry, perg. I like you, but it's true.

1) I have no children.

2) Climbing isn't "putting your life on the line." That's why we use ropes. Climbing with proper gear and technique is less dangerous than riding a bicycle in the city.
 
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