Spring 2019 New England Banter and Disco

[Ginx snewx]

16 minutes ago, wxeyeNH said:

Just to get to base camp is a bit of a feat itself.  Fly to Katmandu.  Take a puddle jumper to one of the most dangerous airports in the world,  Lukla.  One way dead end runway at 9300 feet.  About a week overland trek to basecamp at 17,600 feet.  Have to acclimate to the elevation.  Cost $40K to $60K to climb Everest with sherpas lugging all your gear.  Almost no one climbs Everest without fixed ropes going in first which are done by sherpa teams.  One of my wishes is to just see Everest.  12,000 relief mountain puts our New England hills to shame.

There is another option and that is to climb from the China side.  Bit more technical but I think easier access 

Death toll is now 10, sounds like fun.

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

2 hours ago, Ginx snewx said:

Death toll is now 10, sounds like fun.

Read up on the treatment of these sherpas. Paid like dog sh*t, and have no choice to do this work as it’s really the only work available to them. Its a selfish bucket list item to rich adventure seekers.

[Hazey]

Read up on the treatment of these sherpas. Paid like dog sh*t, and have no choice to do this work as it’s really the only work available to them. Its a selfish bucket list item to rich adventure seekers.

Yeah and if it wasn’t for these sherpas a fraction of the people would be summiting.

[Fozz]

4 hours ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Read up on the treatment of these sherpas. Paid like dog sh*t, and have no choice to do this work as it’s really the only work available to them. Its a selfish bucket list item to rich adventure seekers.

I'm not going to moralize against people who climb Everest. Instead of boycotting the idea, maybe the sherpas should be tipped nicely. Otherwise they may not have any work at all.

[powderfreak]

4 hours ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Read up on the treatment of these sherpas. Paid like dog sh*t, and have no choice to do this work as it’s really the only work available to them. Its a selfish bucket list item to rich adventure seekers.

It's gotten a lot better recently.  Many of them are the most wealthy people in their communities.  Average annual income in Nepal is $700.  The average Sherpa makes $5,000 in two months.  However, it's crap when compared to the companies that charge roughly $65,000 for a trip to Everest.

I've read a lot about them and it's actually the Nepal government that seems to really treat them like shit.  A few years ago when 12 Sherpas died in an avalanche, the government only gave their families something like $400...when it pulled in nearly $4 million in climbing fees.  The government makes so much money off the Everest tourism scene but doesn't want to protect and take care of the Sherpa's.  Without those Sherpa's no one makes any money because they are the ones that fix the routes.

I honestly don't get all the hate on climbing Everest, though it is easy to hate rich people these days, ha.  I mean, there are so many tourism spots around the world where westerners vacation that the locals are treated like shit.  Hell even most of the Caribbean is a good example of that.  On Everest though it isn't as much selfish rich adventure seekers as I think I said elsewhere, a large portion of the people climbing now are doing so as fundraisers or to raise awareness for a cause.  Their fees are paid for by sponsorships or donations.  

 

[rimetree]

Trying to grill and spitting rain now...didn't think we'd see anything until very late. 62F

[BombsAway1288]

On 5/21/2019 at 9:58 AM, tamarack said:

Reminds me of when we moved from NNJ to BGR on 1/23/73, anticipating big snowstorms.  Dec. 1972 remains their snowiest on record for that month so there was a good pack, but our 1st week in Maine was a thaw.  Had a nice 8" dump in late Jan, followed 2 days later by 50° RA that wiped it out completely, and winter was essentially done though we had a 3-day pastefest in late Feb, 9" total while never being more than 4" deep.  Then in 73-74 we failed to even approach a 6" storm until one on the equinox, and BGR was contenting for its least snowy winter on record until early April brought a 9" powder event.  Only in Dec '75 did we get a double digit wintry storm.  Moved to Ft. Kent on 1/1/76, and though we had over 90" in Jan-Feb-Mar there wasn't a storm larger than 8".  Not until 76-77 did we see "real" Maine snow.

Ironically, the best period for big storms I've experienced was in NJ.  From 3/56 thru 2/61 we had 7 storms in the 18-24" range; nothing I've seen/shoveled since then has approached that super-thump period.

Kinda weird and surprising to me. I would think the reason for that is maybe because coastal nor'easters would blow their load too far south of you but just in the right spot for NNJ-NYC-BOS

[Fozz]

6 hours ago, BombsAway1288 said:

Kinda weird and surprising to me. I would think the reason for that is maybe because coastal nor'easters would blow their load too far south of you but just in the right spot for NNJ-NYC-BOS

A lot of Miller As and hybrids do that, which is why the mid-Atlantic competes well with SNE when it comes to the top storms on record. Baltimore's top 10 list looks pretty good.

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

Sort of a weird question... but here it goes.

On my central air unit... air is on and coming out of vents in house... but compressor or fan is not spinning on the Unit outside of the house.

It didn’t appear anything was tripped but I turned AC off... reset the breaker, and turned unit back on. At that point.. fan on outside unit was spinning.

Is this supposed to be spinning whenever air is blowing inside? And if it is, what could be causing the fan to not spin, but air still being distributed through the house

[Baroclinic Zone]

Just now, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Sort of a weird question... but here it goes.

On my central air unit... air is on and coming out of vents in house... but compressor or fan is not spinning on the Unit outside of the house.

It didn’t appear anything was tripped but I turned AC off... reset the breaker, and turned unit back on. At that point.. fan on outside unit was spinning.

Is this supposed to be spinning whenever air is blowing inside? And if it is, what could be causing the fan to not spin, but air still being distributed through the house

You may have tripped the thermostats.  Happened at my office from messing with the override too much

[Hoth]

Hello, is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anyone at home?

[CT Valley Snowman]

Thanks to all who paid the ultimate price for freedom. We can never repay or be grateful enough so we honor, remember. and respect.  Hope everyone enjoys the COC weather on Memorial Day.!!

[Hoth]

23 minutes ago, CTValleySnowMan said:

Thanks to all who paid the ultimate price for freedom. We can never repay or be grateful enough so we honor, remember. and respect.  Hope everyone enjoys the COC weather on Memorial Day.!!

Well said. 

[HoarfrostHubb]

We will be visiting the graves of my wife’s father (WWII vet) and uncle at the veteran’s cemetery in Winchendon, MA.  Neither died while serving. Actually, I don’t personally have a connection to anyone who died in service, but I certainly want to pay my respect to those who did.

The cemetery is a truly remarkable place.  Serene and chilling, and a somber reminder of those who have paid the ultimate price.

[tamarack]

16 hours ago, Fozz said:

A lot of Miller As and hybrids do that, which is why the mid-Atlantic competes well with SNE when it comes to the top storms on record. Baltimore's top 10 list looks pretty good.

BWI's top 10 looks anomalously good.  However, #1 storms are amazingly similar along I-95 from DCA to HUL, with only PHI and PWM not in the 27-29" range.  (And IMO the 31.9" of Feb '13 in PWM was a product of measurement, as their depth rose a lot less than 32".)

[HoarfrostHubb]

Got the pool cover off and cleaned out the majority of leaves and debris. Hooked up the filter system and pump, etc. shocked it, added water.

First time not hiring the dude to open the pool and it went pretty well.  Still need to adjust the levels a bit and let the filter do its thing, plus order a couple of compression fittings that disappeared.   Saved a couple of hundred bucks.

[Damage In Tolland]

Such s good tune . How can you not like this?

 

[OceanStWx]

Dayton suburbs got rocked

 

[klw]

I went to a conference in Dayton about 11 years ago.  Tornado warnings on 3 of the 5 days.

[Cold Miser]

On 5/24/2019 at 4:46 PM, wxeyeNH said:

In other snow/mountain/weather news.... 

I follow the climbing season on Mt Everest.  They have a short window each May that is good for summiting.   Not as cold as winter and before  Monsoon season that brings big snows.  Because the mountain is 29,029 feet in elevation the jet stream winds are a big factor.  This year it sat over the mountain for much of the month so the window of good days was pretty minimal.  This week Wednesday and Thursday were in one of those windows.  I guess about 800 permits were issued and many people all at once tried for the summit creating a traffic jam.  Several people died because it took so long to get up and down the last leg.  Incredible picture of the traffic jam.  

WTF?
That is awful.  Not even a special, one of a kind feat anymore.  Everyone with modern tech outfitting, and a few cans of Oxygen can make it up (as long as they have help a good part of the way).  I can't imagine what the trash situation is like there now.  

Sorry about the deaths...or am I?

[tamarack]

On ‎5‎/‎26‎/‎2019 at 3:53 PM, BombsAway1288 said:

Kinda weird and surprising to me. I would think the reason for that is maybe because coastal nor'easters would blow their load too far south of you but just in the right spot for NNJ-NYC-BOS

Happens that way sometimes, especially with Miller A's, as already noted.  However, that 5-year period was very anomalous.  My first 5 winters at that home (50-51 thru 54-55) never saw a double-digit storm, and the 16 winters after 60-61 had only a single 18", on Feb. 9-10, 1969, though Jan. 12-13, 1964 was close.

[dryslot]

On 5/26/2019 at 3:53 PM, BombsAway1288 said:

Kinda weird and surprising to me. I would think the reason for that is maybe because coastal nor'easters would blow their load too far south of you but just in the right spot for NNJ-NYC-BOS

That's the exact reason in many instances, We are left up here with an occluded system or they are moving off to the ENE when they gain enough lat to affect us up here, That's why we prefer Miller B's.

[dryslot]

Just what we need more rain........., Looks like a heavy batch of rain showers over Central NH moving ESE about to hit us here.

[tamarack]

21 hours ago, dryslot said:

Just what we need more rain........., Looks like a heavy batch of rain showers over Central NH moving ESE about to hit us here.

Only measured 0.25" yesterday, while those bright echoes suggested that much coming in 20 minutes.  Might've been highly reflective wet feathers at 5,000', or whatever level the radar hits that far from the dome.  Another 0.07" overnight at temps 40-42, and still in the mank here in Augusta.

[dryslot]

46 minutes ago, tamarack said:

Only measured 0.25" yesterday, while those bright echoes suggested that much coming in 20 minutes.  Might've been highly reflective wet feathers at 5,000', or whatever level the radar hits that far from the dome.  Another 0.07" overnight at temps 40-42, and still in the mank here in Augusta.

We finished with .74" here as it was a steady rain with some heavier burst for most of the day.

[powderfreak]

20 minutes ago, WinterWolf said:

Freak, this discussion goes back to my comment a few days back about quite a few folks being inexperienced, and the local government giving out to many permits imo.  You disagreed with that statement, and said you thought that the vast majority are very qualified and experienced.   

Now that info is starting to trickle out, it looks to be exactly the problem that I originally thought. And that’s what’s putting the rest of the folks, that are experienced and qualified to be there, at risk this year.  And now you add in the guiding services being sub par too...it’s no surprise it’s a death trap this year.  

That was my point from the start, not whether it’s your passion or not; many should not be there(guides and guiding services as well), and add in the overcrowding this year, and well you have a death trap!  I think that’s where you and I are disagreeing. 

I see some of your points too..but they need to start screening better and limiting the number of permits going forward.  As I said a few days back...it’s starting to be a joke/irresponsible up there, and that’s why folks are dying now unnecessarily. That place is no place for people who don’t know how to even put on, or use the basic  mountaineering equipment!  

**************************************************

I agree they need to limit the number of permits but I guess the reason I get seem almost defensive is likewise when some news comes out portraying Storm Chasers or Hurricane Chasers dumb Darwin Award candidates, many on here are like whoa whoa whoa slow down now.  There are definitely going to be those less experienced but the VAST majority are very experienced and know what they are getting into.  

If you've read Jon Krauker's Into Thin Air or Dick Bass' Seven Summits, the issues the climbers run into parallel storm chasing very closely.  They get blinded by the desire to Summit and it makes even experienced climbers make poor decisions.  Likewise when a career storm chaser wants to get the footage so bad they make a terrible if not fatal decision.  They aren't thinking rationally anymore.  In the "Into Thin Air" disaster, they were all very experienced climbers and no one really knows why some made the fatal decision to keep going with the approaching storm.  

Reading about the current Everest disaster it pisses me off when experienced climbers try to blame inexperienced climbers but then make the same dumb decision to join the crowd to get to the summit.  

Like this from The NY Times: 

Fatima Deryan, an experienced Lebanese mountaineer, was making her way to the summit recently when less experienced climbers started collapsing in front of her. Temperatures were dropping to -30 Celsius. Oxygen tanks were running low. And roughly 150 people were packed together, clipped to the same safety line.

“A lot of people were panicking, worrying about themselves — and nobody thinks about those who are collapsing,” Ms. Deryan said.

“It is a question of ethics,” she said. “We are all on oxygen. You figure out that if you help, you are going to die.”

She offered to help some of the sick people, she said, but then calculated she was beginning to endanger herself and kept going to the summit, which is currently measured at 29,029 feet. On the way back down, she had to fight her way again through the crowds.

“It was terrible,” she said.

**** This experienced climber sees people struggling, knows she will endanger herself, notes heavy crowds and yet STILL continued to the summit.  Then complains about it.  

As @tamarack noted, and I brought up earlier, most that have died (if not all) have been experienced climbers...why if they saw what was happening did they not turn around?  All this blame wants to be put on inexperienced climbers but like storm chasers that get into trouble, the vast majority knew what they were doing, they saw what was happening, and decided to continue to push forward like lemmings.  Blinded by glory.

Regardless of experience, that traffic jam was going to happen.  All those experienced hikers that keep getting interviewed saw it happening and decided to get in line and continue to the summit, while blaming everyone else for the line.  Same thing happened in the Into Thin Air disaster.  Seasoned pros died because of Summit fever.  They had a pre-determined turn around time, they missed it and kept going to the summit for hours and died because of it.

[Torch Tiger]

to suggest it's a bunch of amateurs mucking it up for a few experienced mountaineers is pretty silly

[dendrite]

Looks like Mandy Moore made it to base camp.

 

[powderfreak]

God f*cking dammit there goes that argument .

No way in hell she's going anywhere on the mountain though.  I've heard the even bigger tourist draw is those looking to visit base camp, which it appears celebrities are now doing.  

I guess in 20 years Richard Branson will be taking people like her into space for tourism, and then we can have that discussion... only a matter of time. 

[klw]

4 hours ago, powderfreak said:

God f*cking dammit there goes that argument .

No way in hell she's going anywhere on the mountain though.  I've heard the even bigger tourist draw is those looking to visit base camp, which it appears celebrities are now doing.  

I guess in 20 years Richard Branson will be taking people like her into space for tourism, and then we can have that discussion... only a matter of time. 

Per Daily Mail, she already took a helicopter out to Kathmandu.