™TRADITIONAL MOUNTAINEERING
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www.TraditionalMountaineering.org
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This Update continues to call your attention our Internal Site Search Capability through Google, an important feature of our site. We have linked this page near the top of our HomePage, and provided search phrases that will bring you all the references say, to "North Sister", or "GPS" that are in our web. Try it! You will find it very useful. Note that we are listed first in the world for a Google search on Light and Fast Climbing and Map, Compass and GPS!
A recent web report gives us the following facts: We have 3,850 files of which 560 are new or revised in the last 60 days; 3,851 pictures; 21,878 hyperlinks of which 19,107 are internal navigation links. And we are still getting outside and having fun!
Watch for photos of Mt. Batchelor, the Atta Boy 300 and the Three Sisters all taken last weekend in beautiful weather. Coming soon!
Watch our Calendar for interesting events! Free Navigation Noodle this weekend. Snow camping, ice axe arrest and snowclimbing free next month.
Too many emails? Just let us know- If you get
more than one Update, delete the second and please let us know. You may be both
a friend and a subscriber.
On Belay! –Webmeister
Speik
11.20.03
Subscribers and Friends-
We want to call your attention to two important issues related to the management of our public lands:
1. The BLM's Upper Deschutes Resource Management Plan effecting The Badlands and nearby high desert lands
2. The Deschutes National Forest re-evaluation of Fee Demo Parking Fees at up to 35% of our trail heads
1. BLM's Public Meeting, 7 to 9PM, tonight at Hyland (Kenwood) Elementary School on Newport Avenue in
Bend!
Folks from the BLM will explain this ten year management plan that in part restricts OHV access to sensitive high desert areas including The Badlands. While this protection falls short of Wilderness protection it is a step in the right direction and the BLM is to be congratulated for recognizing that ATV, 4X4 and motorcycle use in the high desert is not compatible with hikers, horses and mountain bikes, not to mention wildflowers and little critters. Note that only about 22% of the planning area is designated non-motorized.
This is a complex plan. The Executive Summary comes with 38 beautiful maps detailing the Alternatives, Number 7 being the Preferred. The full Plan has taken months to develop and contains almost 1,000 printed pages. The Plan will guide the BLM management of the high desert at the urban interface from Madras to La Pine.
If you can not attend the meeting tonight, go to http://www.or.blm.gov/Prineville/Deschutes_RMP/Home.htm . Verbal comments are not as important as written or emailed statements that you endorse the non-motorized provisions of the Plan. Forms and email instructions are on the BLM site above. For more background, check our web under News, Badlands and Maps, Badlands at
www.TraditionalMountaineering.org .
2. Deschutes National Forest is dropping Fee Demo Trail Park Fees at up to 35% of the current sites!
This is developing news and has just been covered by Rachel Odell and by Editorial comment in The Bulletin and other news sources. The official DNF news release states ". . people are more likely to support fees at highly-developed recreation sites . . . " We all must now demand that Congress re-allocate priorities and re-instate the recent deep destructive funding cuts to Forest Recreation Management (our Wilderness Rangers and Trail Crews).
This Update continues to call your attention our Internal Site Search Capability through Google, an important feature of our non-profit site.
Try it! You will find it very useful.
Too many emails? Just let us know - If you get more than one Update, delete the second and please let us know. You may be both a friend and a subscriber.
On Belay! –Webmeister Speik
10.17.03
Subscribers and Friends-
We ordered the Marinac Soft Shell Jacket from Lands End for $49.50!
Here are the specs - "Meet the Marinac: our Jacket of the Year 2003! Exclusive WindCheck laminate gives it full "soft shell" function; Soft, insulating microfleece inside and out; Lycra® spandex bound cuffs and hem; Neat inside pockets both left and right; DriOff finish on the outer fleece forces drizzle and mist to bead up, shake off; Front zip pockets concealed in slimming princess seams".
Mine weighs 19 ounces in size large - men's and women's cuts and in lots of good
colors!
We read about this Marinac Jacket in the latest issues of
both Backpacker and Outside Magazine and looked it up in the
winter Lands End Catalog. Shipping was $9.95 for two. They were here in two days, standard UPS. We chose yellow and we think they are great!
I ordered the Saloman Raid 300L Adventure Racing Pack for $42.00, down from $90.00, from Northern Mountain Supply!
"This pack is THE Adventure Racing Pack, used by AR Teams and proven all over the world. Also works great for climbing, mountain biking, and canoeing. Features: Eyelets on the bottom to evacuate water from the inside of the pack; Comfortable shoulder straps; Internal Hydration Pocket; Mesh pockets throughout; Dual hydration tube exit ports; Two handy daisy chains and trekking pole attachment system; Weight: 680 g (one pound eight ounces); Size: 33 liters/2013 cu. inches".
This is a great light and fast "day pack" with lots of convenient features!
It arrived in two days with very nominal UPS shipping cost. It is a very nice yellow and will hold all my winter light and fast stuff.
The three big mesh pockets are functional. The frame sheet is light and can
function as an essential insulating butt pad. The belt and shoulder straps are light but fully
padded and can carry a ton of technical gear to the crags. (This is not a "summit" pack
- see our Questions, What is the best summit pack?)
Go to www.TraditionalMountaineering.org for photos of these two bargains and links to Lands End and Northern Mountain Supply.
Look under Updates. Keeping the graphics on the web site will improve our light and fast email Updates!
We have just finished an analysis of the incident on Mount Hood this spring when three climbers died, many were injured and a rescue
helicopter crashed. Our analysis is based on the Clackamas County Sheriff's Criminalist's Final Report.
Look under Experiences.
This Update calls your attention again to our Internal Site Search Capability through Google, an important feature of our site. We have featured this page near the top of our HomePage, and provided search phrases that will bring you all the references say, to "North Sister", or "GPS" that are in our web. Try it! You will find it very useful.
Click this link!
We have been careful always, to cultivate our relationship with the Search Engines such as Google. We are listed on the first page of results in Google, for searches on "traditional mountain climbing"; "traditional alpine mountaineering"; "map, compass and GPS"; "Bend Fall Festival", etc. This is helping us serve a world wide audience.
Too many emails? Just let us know- If you get more than one Update, delete the second and please let us know. You may be both a friend and a subscriber.
On Belay! –Webmeister Speik
08.29.03
Subscribers and Friends-
FLASH: We have until midnight on August 31, 2003 to sign-up
with the National Do Not Call Registry!
Most telemarketers cannot call your telephone number if it is in the National Do Not Call Registry. You can register your home and mobile phone numbers
with the FCC for free. Your registration will be effective for five years. If you register,
most telemarketers must stop calling and you may file a complaint. If you
register by August 31, 2003 it is effective October 1, 2003. (If you register September 1, 2003 or after
it will be effective three months after you register).
Where did the summer go? We spent a lot of time outside bagging new summits, finding geocaches, going to concerts and hiking fast up Pilot Butte.
We took hundreds of FREE photographs (no film costs) with our new digital Nikon 4300 and processed many of them for our web with Adobe Photoshop. We hope you like them. We have uploaded both thumbnails for dialups and the full sized pages for broadband people. (If you have cable, you really should check out broadband - remember, you subtract your current cost of dialup from the cable cost. Broadband does provide a completely new internet experience for only a few extra dollars per month.)
More than 11,300 people have visited TraditionalMountaineering.org in its first sixteen months. We have produced and uploaded 3,039 files with 2,488 graphics, 15,098 hyperlinks including 13,071 internal links (and 3 unidentified component errors !?)! And we are still having fun and getting outside!
Aside from the stellar visual and auditory appeal of the
site, folks tell us we really do provide "Free Basic to Advanced Mountain Climbing Instruction" in the form of
"free seminars and outings and seminar handouts, essays, reports, recommendations and tips and tricks related to mountain travel and bagging peaks in the Northwest. The information is limited to suggestions on selected gear and
techniques and is not an exhaustive analysis of all the technical options. Traditional Mountaineering obligations of Leaders and Followers to each other and to the Land are
an underlying focus of our virtual Club."
"The value of TraditionalMountaineering to our Friends and Subscribers is the selectivity of the information
and its relevance to introducing folks to the many basic to advanced aspects of the Sport. These aspects include hiking on the trail, exploring off the trail, mountain travel and Leave-no-Trace light-weight bivy and backpacking, technical travel over steep snow, rock and ice, technical glacier travel and a little technical rock climbing on the way, and at the summit."
This Update calls your attention our Internal Site Search Capability through Google, an important feature of our site. We have featured this page near the top of our HomePage, and provided search phrases that will bring you all the references say, to "North Sister", or "GPS" that are in our web. Try it! You will find it very useful.
We have been careful always, to cultivate our relationship with the Search Engines such as Google. We are listed on the first page of results in most of the major Engines, for searches on "traditional mountain climbing" and "traditional alpine mountaineering". This has enabled us to serve a world wide audience.
Home town Labor Day sales: Mountain Supply offers 20% off most everything in the store. Pandora's Backpack offers 25% off summer clothing.
The online version of Campmor's
traditional catalog offers:
Duofold High Performance Series Long Sleeve Shirt just $8 down from $20
(Note: Wear this summer and winter or pay more for the Patagonia Capalene
version)
Item Number: 53329 $20/$8
The North Face Cat’s Meow Polarguard® Delta Sleeping Bag just $130 down
from $170
(Note: This is a classic shoulder season sleeping bag for possible fall thunderstorm weather.)
Item Number: 47553 $170/$130
Too many emails? Just let us know- If you get more than one Update, delete the second and please let us know. You may be both a friend and a subscriber.
On Belay! –Webmeister
Speik
04.29.03
Subscribers and Friends-
Help open Pandora's Backpack on Friday, May 2, 2003, at Rod Bien's new store in St. Clair Place on Bond Street in downtown Bend. This is a family venture for Rod, his wife Katie and their young son Fisher. Rod was the manager of The North Face Outlet store until corporate policies changed and all but two of their Outlets were closed. He has continued to train and run ultra-long races while founding this beautiful new retail store.
Pandora's Backpack represents The North
Face, Patagonia (coming in June), Go-Lite, Isis, Wild Roses, Cloudveil, Kelty and more, in Central Oregon. Subscribers and Friends of TraditionalMountaineering will get 10% off everything in the store until May 15, 2003, and on selected items thereafter.
Northern Mountain Supply, e-retailer extrordinaire, offers the requisite Black Diamond
Alpine Bod Harness in all sizes, for $19.99 or 33% off! Look on their list of 500 items currently on sale, under "Black Diamond Harnesses", where else?
We picked two websites this month. Click on CascadeClimbers.com for the latest in sport climbing Forums.
Avoid the chat (warning, strong language) and you will find information on serious access issues, experience reports and beta on many classic alpine climbs in the Cascades. This web has become a very big social resource for rock climbers, extending to Pub Clubs and more.
Keith and Barbro McCree have created a beautiful little web covering the Upper Willamette Trails and
Wildflowers. They will send you a CD covering what's on their web and more, for a nominal $10 donation.
Many folks are NOT aware that Cellular One has a plan that provides an almost free cell phone and service, for a monthly access fee as low as $10.00!
Calls are based on a very low cost per minute. I have the cell phone with me in my car or pack, shut off but always ready to turn on in an emergency. I have considered the consequences of not having a cell phone in a road or backcountry emergency.
TraditionalMountaineering is founded on the premise that “He who knows naught, knows not that he knows naught”, that wandering the hills and summitting peaks have dangers that are hidden to the un-informed and that these inherent risks can in part be mitigated by information, training, interesting gear and knowledge gained through the experiences of others.
The value of TraditionalMountaineering to our Friends and Subscribers is the selectivity of the information
and its relevance to introducing folks to hiking on the trail, exploring off the trail, mountain travel and Leave-no-Trace light-weight bivy and backpacking, technical travel over steep snow, rock and ice, technical glacier travel and a little technical rock climbing on the way to the summit. Whatever your capabilities and interests, there is a place for everyone in traditional mountaineering.
We must mark the one year anniversary of www.TraditionalMountaineering.org with a thank-you to our readers. If it were not for the support and encouragement of you, our companions on this adventure, we would not have had almost 9,000 individual visitors since we started, clicking recently from 1,439 ISPs in over 38 countries, world wide! Our site now has over 11,119 hyperlinks, 1,602 pictures, (and 3 component errors?!?) in 2,025 discrete files. And we are having fun! And getting outside, too! Thanks again!
To many emails? Just let us know.
--On Belay! Webmeister Speik
04.03.03
Subscribers and Friends-
The new Garmin Gekos are on sale at GI Joes for $89.99 (save $10.00) and $119.99 (save $20.00) until April 5, 2003! Sorry for the short notice. The store in Bend may be sold out, but everyone can order from GI Joes on line and get free shipping until the sale ends. Act fast and buy a Garmin Geko, eTrex or Legend. Click here for more information on GPS receivers from TraditionalMountaineering.org
Garmin
Geko 101 and 201
Garmin says the Gekos have the same antenna capability as the standard eTrex and eTrex Legend. They weigh only 3.1 ounces and run for up to 12 hours on two AAA batteries. The Geko 201 has a docking port for your computer. It takes the same cord as the Legend, I’m told. Good wife says I can not buy the 101 because it can’t dock. Does that mean I can shave more ounces with the Geko 201?
Campmore has the Duofold Coolmax Alta lightweight long sleeve shirt (for men and women) on sale for $8.99 vs. $22.00 while they last! Click here for this great buy of essential wicking technology.
Campmore has the Outdoor Research WindStopper™ Fleece Neve Hat for $12.96 vs. $26.00. “WindStopper™ Fleece from W.L. Gore, prevents almost all evaporative and convective heat loss because it is absolutely windproof, very water resistant and yet extremely breathable.” This is a “best winter hat”.
The Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA) is leading the way to the creation of The Badlands Wilderness in 2003. Read about the history of The Badlands and what you can do to help. One hundred people showed up last Saturday in response to an article in The Bulletin. A second tour is planned for Saturday, April 13, 2003. For reservations email Laurel Hickok or call 330-2638.
ONDA is sponsoring a FREE Navigation Noodle in The Badlands with TraditionalMountaineering on Saturday, April 26, 2003. See the photos of recent Noodles. For more information, read the Prospectus
, or to Register, email ondanoodle@traditionalmountaineering.org or call Tommie at 385-0445.Responding to popular pressure, Bob Speik has agreed to schedule a Backcountry Navigation Seminar from 6PM to 9PM at Central Oregon Environmental Center on Tuesday evening, April 15, 2003. Click here for the Prospectus. Cost is a $30.00 donation to www.TraditionalMountaineering.org. To Register, email Bob Speik or call him at 385-0445 anytime he is not playing outside.
Too many emails? Just let us know- If you get more than one Update, delete the second and please let us know. You may be both a friend and a subscriber.
On Belay! –Webmeister
Speik
02.02.03
Subscribers and Friends-
On this coming Thursday, February 6, 2003 at 8:30PM, OPB's popular television show 'Oregon Field Guide' is airing a program you won't want to miss. The program is titled "Pay to Play: User Fees on Public Land" and will be immediately followed by a LIVE On-Line Forum.
Guests for the On-Line Forum include Scott Silver, a Founder of WildWilderness, Tom Mottl of the BLM and Mark Christiansen, of the
Deschutes National Forest. (You will have to dig a bit to find their Fee Demo information??)
We are thrilled that Fee-Demo has been recognized as an issue of national importance to all who enjoy the great outdoors and that people throughout the Pacific Northwest will have an opportunity to view this program and participate in the On-Line discussion. Click
here for the complete OPB news release.
Avalanche experts warn of high risk if we should get a big winter storm. Today's snow base is wet and consolidated and turns icy smooth at night. Read about
Avalanche Avoidance and more.
On a lighter note, The Ascent of Rumdoodle by W. E. Bowerman has been re-released by Random House, London. First published in 1956, this account of the first ascent of this 40,000-and-a-half-foot peak in the Himalayas, quickly became a traditional mountaineer's insider classic. You can buy Rumdoodle in paperback, with a forward by
Bill Bryson, the author of the outrageously funny A Walk in the Woods, from
Michael Chessler.
You can still buy a case of 24 ClifBars at Costco for the equivalent of about 89 cents a bar!
Check out the question about GORP and also, our new pdf Seminar Handout on
Food and Hydration for Traditional Mountaineering.
The essential summer and winter Patagonia Capalene Silkweight Tee Shirt is available for $19, down from $32
. Sorry, women only, but guys, a great gift for girl friend. Essential Patagonia R-1 stretch gloves are $19 down from
$30. At Northern Mountain
Supply. While they last!
The Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA) is leading the way to the creation of The Badlands Wilderness in 2003. Read about the history of
The Badlands and what you can do to help.
ONDA is sponsoring a FREE Navigation Noodle in The Badlands with TraditionalMountaineering on Saturday, February 15, 2003. See the
photos of the January Noodle. For more information, read the
Prospectus, or to Register, email Laurel Hickok or call 330-2638.
Donate $5 to TraditionalMountaineering and receive by return mail, an Original and Genuine English made Acme Thunderer whistle for your compass lanyard!
Use our PayPal Donate button.
Too many emails? Just let us know- If you get more than one Update, delete the second and please let us know. You may be both a friend and a subscriber.
On Belay! –Webmeister
Speik
12.12.02
Friends and Subscribers-
I really dropped the ball a couple of weeks ago, in not reporting a brief advertised sale by GI Joes, of the
Garmin eTrex Legend at
$199, down from the msrp of $268. The cost was $149 when you subtracted
the Garmin factory rebate of $50 (good until December 31, 2002). This was just $30 more than the base
$119 eTrex! The Legend has the same configuration as the work horse eTrex and is no more accurate. However, the Legend is
WAAS compatible and comes with a basic
large scale map of North America.
The Legend can be loaded with up to 8 MB of topo maps for say, the climbing areas of Oregon, Washington and Northern California. The
Garmin MapSource Topo companion software in a three CD set, lists at nearly $120, so be aware that you may want to have this
topo detail in the backcountry. But if you completely disregard the rather
large scale topo map functions of the Legend, there are several advantages for the serious
GPS user such as faster data input and more information and flexibility in data display. $30 dollars worth of advantages, for sure!
I was concerned about sending too many updates, and the GI Joe's opportunity was lost. But now, check the price of the Legend at
Sargent's
Stereo. I am not permitted to quote the price due to Randy's agreement with Garmin, so you will have to call 541-389-2251. Randy Sargent works with the Deschutes County SAR volunteers and others and sells a lot of Garmin products from his stereo business off Highway 97 south of the railroad overpass in Bend. (Approach and leave in the northbound
lane :-)
The original Vitrinox Swiss army knife model number 53003 in black or red at Walmart's hunter's counter is priced at $8.96. Don't pay $16 for this Essential! Give these traditional classics to your friends for Christmas along with a printout of our
Basic Responsibilities and Ten Essentials pages. ("The Card"™ is now available at the front office desks of the Deschutes National Forest Supervisor and the Bend-Ft. Rock District.)
BiMart is offering ClifBars at $.99. Buy an assorted box or two! A discontinued chocolate flavor is avaiable at $.69. Read
What's wrong with GORP? on our world wide web. (BiMart charges a one time - "life time membership fee" of $5.00.)
A friend tells me that Costco regularly has ClifBars at $.89!
Mountain Supply offers the Black Diamond "Ion" for only $22.50! The Ion is the latest ultra-light LED headlamp/flashlight. You gotta get one! The Ion weighs 25 grams, that's .9 oz! It lights up 45 feet ahead for up to 15 hours on one 6v camera battery.
(Always check the instructions!). They have lots of miscellaneous hats, clothing, boots and shoes on sale now. Don't forget to ask for your
TraditionalMountaineering
Subscriber's Discounts. Support Mountain Supply, your original outdoor store in Bend!
The North Face Outlet store in Bend will close on January 5, 2003! Make sure you don't miss the reducing prices.
Donate $5 to TraditionalMountaineering and receive by return mail, an Original and Genuine English made Acme Thunderer whistle for your compass lanyard!
Try our PayPal Donate button.
Our traditional mountaineering information is about 5% written and uploaded to the world wide web!
We have been busy answering some Questions: best harness?, best belay-rappel-autoblock device?, best harness tech gear?, light and fast? (fit and experienced), what's in your day pack?
World-wide interest in TraditionalMountaineering continues to exceed all expectations. Watch for the number of pages of information to continue to increase rapidly in the next few weeks.
Too many emails? Just let us know- If you get more than one Update, delete the second and please let us know. You may be both a friend and a subscriber.
On Belay! –Webmeister Speik
THIS WAS OUR FIRST UPDATE
Click here
for Updates in 2002
04.07.02
Friends-
This message announces the uploading of www.TraditionalMountaineering.org to the new World Wide Web for "Traditional Mountaineering", a virtual club
devoted to providing Free Basic to Advanced Mountain Climbing Instruction and Adventures. Click on the link to check it out now, and be sure to bookmark
the site for future reference.
Some free Clinics and Seminars are planned to carry on a mountaineering tradition of helping folks learn more about Wilderness Travel and Alpine
Mountaineering. Free subscriptions are available now to the planned Subscribers Only Section that will make available on the web, a Basic to Advanced
Mountaineering Training Course. Watch our progress!
Plan now to attend the Banff Mountain Film Festival on Monday or Tuesday, April 22 or 23, 2002, at 6 or 9PM.
This rich and entertaining collection of
award winning films by international film makers has had sell out audiences at the Pilot Butte Cinemas for the benefit of MBSEF in past years.
On Belay! --Bob Speik
™
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Thanks again! Good Climbing! --Bob Speik
