johndh1

That's actually Dan Watson. Notice the contrast in that pic with the Maroon Creek Valley in the background and the one with Capitol and Snowmass in back, which is just over the Maroon Peaks ridgeline. I like crampons - they always mean you're doing something fun, and some small part of me likes to pretend I'm badass Gene Simmons when I have them on. And great video, Andy! Roll Tide Roll

My Xterra did great...but so did the little rental RV and 30 or so other cars there - the road is paved (though quite rough) all the way up, I think it's the highest paved road in North America. You do feel the power and pick-up difference, even at speeds under 30mph. The road is very warped and crumbly too. I've lived in Breckenridge (from Birmingham, AL) for the last 3.5 years, so I've already grown accustomed to life at 10,000ft. Still Maroon kicked my ass! Roll Tide Roll

And the most painful of it all, as Andy mentioned for himself, was going down Maroon Peak in the snow. Absolutely exhausting, retracing our crampon steps in reverse until we could turn around and step down-forward or glacade (though when I attempted to turn and test-step at one point after it wasn't quite so steep, I got a ride on the snow that collapsed under me for almost 200 yards). Roll Tide Roll

We did Maroon Peak (Aspen, 14,156) July 3rd, and it was a snow climb all the way up the southeast couloir to within I think 700 feet of the summit, made for a very long day (11.5 hours roundtrip with only about 20 minutes on the summit for fear of the regular afternoon storms here - also the reason we skipped the trek over to North Maroon). Two weeks ago we went the 6 or so miles out to Capitol Peak, but an 11PM arrival at base and a morning earache caused us to leave it - though we didn't expect to need crampons or axe, we would have been in bad shape without them it turns out, so it's probably for the better. The hike up along Capitol Creek Valley is worth the trip itself. Also did both Grays and Torreys (14,278/14,275) yesterday. Kelso Ridge route up has quite a fun knife edge, that area's rock faces were all scraped up from previous climbers' crampons, but it's finally Summer here so we didn't need those or an axe. I did, however, need to remember to put sunscreen on the back of my legs since this was the first "shorts" climb this season, and did not. I took Jan Meyer up Mt. Evans (14,265) when she stayed for a few days visit after the BOD meeting in Denver a few weeks ago also, if that counts as a "summit," considering you can drive up to within a few hundred feet of it. She thought it was, considering where she came up from anyway. Roll Tide Roll

I agree with Wayne - her dad is apparently a well-known businessman there, as well as a race-car driver. They'll be wanting blood. I knew this creep would mess up one day, just found it so ironic it was to the day Natalee disappeared. Roll Tide Roll

That doesn't so much happen anymore like it used to, the loopholes have mostly been closed. If it did in fact boast something about having "more money than God," then either it isn't as smart as it thinks it is, or it must have some other much larger source too, because by today's standards, that's quite an assertion based on the numbers I've seen. I'd bet on the former, because crooked and conniving thievery do not demonstrate smart, regardless of profit boasted. Roll Tide Roll

I noticed. Her uncommon valor and unbreakable fortitude in the face of unfair criticism through public lashings from the presumptive ignorant, and attempts at Machiavellian machinations by would-be bullies and connivers are something that not everyone would have the strength and courage to endure. She is a brave and admirable woman, and I am privileged to call her my friend. Roll Tide Roll

Not the way some of those wagons were circled... Roll Tide Roll

HA! Billy, I forgot about that picture! The Farm Christmas Party right after SkinnyShrek's death. And who's that fine specimen standing next to you?! If anyone wants one of those shirts, Alan Croasdale has some left I'm sure (A lot more people expressed interest before he printed them) - contact him at [email protected] or [email protected] - I forgot which one he's using now. Roll Tide Roll

And I wouldn't have seen a thing, only would have hoped you wouldn't ruin that nice shirt you were wearing. Roll Tide Roll

If you saw it from a distance and angle, could you have mistaken an Antonov AN-32? One is based at Hurlburt Field in the Panhandle, it used to come into Pell City quite frequently, and I know it flies all around the surrounding states. When it was coming into PLR they were flying blacked out with some night vision equipment. I went all through it, totally awesome airplane, and yes, tailgate. It's Russian built, I believe, and has amazing short- and rough-field takeoff capability. Roll Tide Roll

Jan Meyer, most definitely the profile in courage, but that's only in addition to how much more she's done for the sport throughout her life. Roll Tide Roll

Oh, I know their history, I just hadn't heard any news on them for a long time. I really wish the media would give them zero coverage, but my list on that is a long one that apparently isn't going away. You're right about their expanding their base, and I guess it all boils to America's support of homosexuality - as we all know, this country as a whole has quite a history of being SO supportive all this time. Roll Tide Roll

Ugh, I thought those people had gone away. Back before I moved here from Alabama, about three years ago I guess, they were demonstrating in Huntsville as to how God killed a busload of schoolchildren who plummeted off an overpass. They almost got shot. Too bad they didn't. I'd like to show up with a shit cannon on them. Roll Tide Roll

We all know it does, and it makes it even worse when it was preventable and due to someone else's carelessness. I could be wrong for pre-judging the events (and may owe someone an apology in the future once it's all hashed out), but I doubt it. I say this going partly on the presumption of trust in Calvin's perspective, and partly based on the fact that as soon as I heard the first report of it I immediately was reminded of so many similar situations I've personally known in the past, and innocent lives were lost due to someone else's arrogance and superiority complex in the air. Roll Tide Roll

Terrible, terrible thing. My heart goes out to you and yours. Roll Tide Roll

A lot of people really like Denver, but if I couldn't live here in Breckenridge or similar, I probably wouldn't live in Denver either. Chicago is good, and really inexpensive to fly to Denver for your ski trips. Phoenix too. I like Tampa, and it's proximity to Z-hills. Having grown up on the Gulf Coast, I really miss the convenience of being near the beach. Roll Tide Roll

As asinine as that sounds, if Bangs were the city's Mayor it would probably happen. It's no more ridiculous than the USPA settlement because of him. Roll Tide Roll

Love it, I just had two BLTs earlier. What I REALLY like is asparagus wrapped in bacon and baked. Roll Tide Roll

If the city's not doing it, it will be easy enough for them to find out who is printing the new ones, and fine them too. That would be one of those situations where "our" side looks bad right along with "them." Roll Tide Roll

I'll bet, and I second that; however, I won't need to make Pell City one of them to prove the point. The fact is, skydiving was never banned at the airport. There have been plenty of jumps made there the past few years. Skydiving has been a part of that airport for a long time, and will continue to be, I'm sure of it. Roll Tide Roll

I'm pulling my hair out here. Again: are you saying that somehow in all this I should read that if someone wants to skydive at a Federally funded airport, the airport must give them a building to use to pack and manifest, etc.? I've not disputed the field/ramp/runway access issue. I think I've covered that more than once. Roll Tide Roll

Are you Glyn Johnson? Am I missing something? What part of all that guarantees that an airport authority has to provide an operation with desirable facilities access on the airport property? Had they pushed it at PLR they may possibly have been able to takeoff and/or land there sometime after their eviction by injunction, but they would have been packing and manifesting and whatever else outside on the ground, year 'round. I am guessing the same goes for Polk County. Not knowing who paid for the building there (or how long the land lease is for, if in fact it was paid for by ASC originally), I can't say for sure. I do, however, like to trust that the Polk County Commission is not going against this blindly. Roll Tide Roll

It was 2007 I believe. I read through all of it quickly, and I didn't see the part where the airport is required to lease hangar space to an operation like this. As far as a land lease, having been in a business that had/has one on the same airport, the land itself was leased for a certain amount a year, building was paid for by the business up-front, and after a certain period of time the building would become property of the airport authority. That's generally the way it's done, no? If what you're implying is correct, no airport can refuse a dz, and yet they do all the time, and this particular one (SCCA) had one removed. Your sig line says nothing about giving them a building to use. Roll Tide Roll

I'm not completely certain as to whether or not the airport authority can actually disallow them from loading and taking off in the plane (good news for the Farm, obviously) or landing on the airport property; however, the Federally funded St. Clair County Airport (Pell City) found before their eviction that the airport was not legally obligated to provide them with shelter space on the property. The SCCAA actually told them they were welcome to keep loading and leaving from there (and buying fuel), but no hangar lease, and they had to land parachutes somewhere else. It's obviously hard to run an operation on the yard. Roll Tide Roll