Slow typing or slow understanding?Quote:
Originally Posted by Danno
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Slow typing or slow understanding?Quote:
Originally Posted by Danno
both . . .Quote:
Originally Posted by BakerBoy
Is it still okay to make fun of Aron Ralston if he reads this thread?
With one arm, you say - why on earth would he do that?Quote:
Originally Posted by Lloyd Braun
btw, Wow! Do you know any other "celebrities"?
Maybe the non-dead guy from Milli Vanilli or Dan Quayle or Ashlee Simpson or the Runaway Bride or that couple that faked having sextuplets, or someone of that calibre?
This is a serious question.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cliff Huckable
I don't know the guy, but he seems like a nice guy. I read his book and he sounds like any number of my friends. Sounds like he did some things a little riskier than necessary, but so have a lot of people. Read some of the stuff about Exum or Petzoldt - those guys admit that they learned a lot by going out and doing stuff, making mistakes and luckily not dying. For some people, going alone is appealing, and unless you have thousands of dollars for some mountaineering course to learn before you go, you will be taking some unnecessary chances. At least he took those chances before having a wife or kid depending on him. And to me, what he has done is more impressive than jumping off a 250 foot cliff (though I think that's pretty cool in a way).
Now, he has soloed all of the 14ers in Co. in winter. Can anyone on here say they've done that? I would bet he has learned to be a pretty competent mountaineer by now.
And as for cashing in on losing his arm, fuck it. He lost an arm and it has given him an opportunity to fund the stuff he likes to do. There's a lot of crap in the media, and even if the articles on him are overhyped, they're better than some Maxim magazine article on how to get a chick to sleep with you on the first date.
I agree that Outside is pretty crappy and is not far from Maxim or GQ itself. But hey, no one makes you buy it. I don't buy it, though I did once hook up with the half naked girl on the black and white cover that was in Trackhead's post, so Outside has given me the satisfaction of be able to say that I once hooked up with a cover girl.
Dude, your priorities are all wrong.:nonono2:Quote:
Originally Posted by skiski
I saw Aron about an hour ago.......I told him to check this out.
can we touch you?Quote:
Originally Posted by Lloyd Braun
This board has gotten too core for everybody.
Unless you're a utarded tele skier with a 92 Subaru Legacy wagon who hates snowmobiles, helicopters, and Jamie Pierre then you're not core. Unless you spend more time skiing uphill than downhill, you're not core.
Fixed.Quote:
Originally Posted by danimal's dead
I don't know Aron, but you got to admit with one arm he is a better climber than most of us. Well, at least better than I am.
Also, the initial post in this thread said there were 59 14ers, but if I'm not mistaken there are around 52 correct? Not trying to be a smart ass, just trying to get the right info so I don't sound like an idiot sometime in the future.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Squirrel
I would love tho hear that story. They worship him there, blindly I must say
You are all going to hell for making fun of Gays, Mormons, Republicans and brett anyways, so yeah, I think your safe targeting the gimp.
There isn't a set number. I have never heard 52, but I have heard (I think) 54. But it depends on how you define a 14er, sometimes a short ridge is all that separates 2 points, are they both 14ers?Quote:
Originally Posted by leroy jenkins
There are 54 14ers if you follow the rule you mentioned above.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danno
(example: the Maroon Bells would only be counted as one 14er)
There are 59 "points" above 14,000 ft.
Make sense?
and who knows, I could be wrong as well.
California has either 12 or 14. Washington has 1. I don't recall any other state having a 14er.Quote:
Originally Posted by leroy jenkins
If I counted right, Alaska has 19.
The list.
Those are the 2 numbers I have heard, 54 and 59.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lloyd Braun
I'm not sure if my sarcasm radar is broken, but if not you might need to excuse yourself from this debate if you were not aware that CO has any fourteen thousand foot peaks within the state.Quote:
Originally Posted by Viva
As for the larger question, I just read the aarticle by Aron Ralston in the recent outside and I came away from it with a better impression of him than I had before. I have not read his book and don't plan on it, but he lays out in a very clear manner his progression from backcontry and alpine newbie to a guy who pulled off a very impressive and dedicated mountaineering feat -- soloing every CO 14er in winter alone. the last 20 or so w/ one arm. In contrast to the dick waving that goes on around here after skiing a groomer at loveland on a tuesday, or just contemplating skiing a groomer on tuesday, that is pretty impressive. I will agree that the cover proclaiming him the "ultimate survivor" and the general tendency to overhype this or any other story (i.e. laird hamilton) can become a bit tedious, that is reflective of the need to sell magazines, not of Aron Ralston's attitude, abilities, etc.
Prior to reading the article my impression of the guy was a reckless or clueless guy who has had more than his fair share of accidents, but upon further reflection I think that he had a bad outcome on one trip, something that could have happened to me and pretty much anyone on this board any number of times How many times this winter did we have people on this board post "close calls" in regards to avalanches? While any of these are certainly open to monday morning QBing and analysis of the wisdom of finding oneself in that situation, we aren't in the habit of savaging someone for making a mistake, so why should the same be said for Aron Ralston? Same exact thing as getting stuck in a canyon in UT. What the guy deserves credit for is having the wherewithal to figure a way out of it and to continue on afterwards and have the balls to keep climbing and use the experience to further his own passion for the mountains. Also, he deserves credit for honestly telling how he got to his current situation and admitting to his mistakes along the way. How many people here were born with the inherent knowledge of how to ski, climb, etc.? While many would want to project the image that they are bad asses and always have been, Ralston (in a rather funny way) relates his JONG moves (six layers of cotton first time up Quandary, for example) and tells how he actually LEARNED with help from others something about being proficient in the mountains. For a bunch of people who like to talk about "the stoke" and dream of ways to make their dreams of living a recreation centered lifestyle a reality, it seems pretty fucking pathetic to bag on Aron Ralston for doing just that.
Compare this guy and his accomplishments to Jamie Pierre, whom half of the board wants to give a rim job, and tell me which one is more worthy of admiration or respect.
pde pegging the sanctimony meter and swimming against the maggot herd
It takes more than an impressive feat (and there are plenty more impressive feats, whole fucking mountain ranges full of them, not that I'll be adding to them) to make the story interesting. The hook, pardon the pun, doesn't catch me.
The herd tends to swim downstream in a soup of condescension, sarcasm and bluster, so I guess in light of that it is easy to see my rationale as sanctimonius. I tend to think of it as a bit more balanced, but whatever.Quote:
Originally Posted by cj001f
You say that like it's a bad thing.Quote:
Originally Posted by pde20
It's not that he's a bad guy, I just don't see why society should reward him with 5 figure speaking fees and a bestselling book when the only thing differentiating him from thousands of better climbers is selfamputation. Joe's books were more interesting/insightful. At least to me. I'm also a cynic who discounts acheivments when someone has a surplus of time and money on their hands (cough Dick Bass)
I thought of your post as condscending, sarcastic and blusterous.Quote:
Originally Posted by pde20
Another thing seperating him from "thousands of better climbers" is the fact that he is the only person alive in the world to solo every one of Colorado's 14ers in winter. So, combined that with the fact that he is one of very few people in the world to survive x days sutck alone in a slot canyon, cut off their own arm and walk five miles out, recover and have some thoughtful things to say on the subject, the fact that some people want to pay to hear what he has to say doesn't strike me as odd. Paris Hilton makes millions a year flaunting her snatch and saying abolutely nothing so what is the big deal with Ralston making a few hundred thousand off a book and some lectures that have some substance and interesting history behind them?Quote:
Originally Posted by cj001f
I know. There couldn't possibly be any value in hearing about someone's experience as they faced death for 5 days. Surely there couldn't be enough of a demand to hear something like this to command those figures.Quote:
Originally Posted by cj001f