Observation Rock avalanche

I took it as an elaborate, well-intentioned joke, though not in the best of taste

<br><br>What I found most distastful about Pb's initial post was that Lowell actually died. Death is not a subject I find humorous.

In the interest of putting a more positive spin on these developments, I was inspired to write a haiku. <br><br>Dangerous windslab,<br>Little snow becomes a lot.<br>Watch terrain features!<br><br>Marharf,<br>I think your sentiments have great merit. I would also encourage you to consider yourself, in addition to the aptly-coined 'internet-literate', a 'sprayer-errant'. <br><br><br><br><br><br>

Ok, Paul, you've had your fun, now where is the latest snow porn. You must attone for your cyber-sins by providing powder appeasement.

Marharf, I would also encourage you to consider yourself a 'sprayer-errant'.  

<br><br>And that would be errant in the sense of: <br><br>"1: traveling or given to traveling &lt;an errant knight&gt;...?" <br><br>Or perhaps:<br><br> "2 a : straying outside the proper path or bounds &lt;an errant calf&gt; b : moving about aimlessly or irregularly &lt;an errant breeze&gt; c : deviating from a standard (as of truth or propriety) &lt;an errant child&gt; d : FALLIBLE...?" <br><br>Yes, I recognize myself in this description: a fallible, deviant, aimless outsider somewhat prone to traveling. Thanks for providing the mirror, Sky. <br>

Wow. I missed pbelitz's original reply in the Mt Blum thread. It must have been a doozy.<br><br>It's entirely fair to compare my concerns about the decisions on Mt Blum with my own decision to throw a helicopter on the Ptarmigan traverse many years ago. As I said in my posting on CascadeClimbers.com, I have been "guilty myself" of throwing ski tricks in the backcountry. I posted the picture as an example.<br><br>I offered my comments in the Mt Blum thread out of concern for the safety of, and the example set by, the skiers on that trip, all of whom I've skied with. I have not seen the video of their jumps, and could only go by the descriptions I read, which said it was a thirty foot drop. If you look over at that CC.com post, you'll see me four whole feet off the ground:<br><br> www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/showflat...in/426587#Post426587

It's also a beautiful spring day, I'm in no hurry, and I've got an overnight pack full of useful gear. It's a little different situation than what I was commenting on. But maybe not that different. I'd be willing to entertain the argument that I was being reckless. I was only 25 at the time. About the age of the Mt Blum crew. I'm 48 now. I still like to throw helicopters.

...Now I used to throw 360's . It was the one thing I nearly broke my neck doing. On large cliffs, I feel comfortable and have never hurt myself. My point is, everything is dangerous. On a rainy, wet drive at night I'm about as scared as I ever get. If anyone has driven with me, they've felt the same . I don't drive fast but my attention could use some attention. Anyhow, risk is associated with everything we do. It is hard to measure but we do it anyhow. Everyones ruler is a bit different. In hindsight decisions are always 20/20. I still like to jump cliffs and it really wasn't because of time, but because I felt it was the safer route...tounge in cheek... A little judgement hurts no one. Now if the resorts would open or some sun would shine, I could go ski a mountain rather than a world more characteristic of a blank Virtual Reality before loading.