Frisbeetarianism
Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck.
George Carlin
Archive for April, 2009
Last Trek To Jomsom
I was really sad to learn this morning that a road is being built to Jomsom. Jomson is in the Nepal Himalaya and is part of the famous “Annapurna Circuit,” which I was lucky enough to visit in 1991. I suppose that it is entirely logical that Nepal shouldn’t stay in medieval times – and believe me, Nepal is very medieval in many ways – but I’m not sure how much help the road will offer the people.
On the surface, the road seems like a good idea. Easy transport of people, goods and supplies, it moves products to market. On the other hand, I wonder how much tourism may be lost because of the road. From the article linked above, it’s likely not much and in fact it may increase. I wouldn’t be surprised if record numbers of Indian tourists and pilgrims are attracted to a more accessible region.
In any event, roads are inevitable. The trek from Besisahar to Manang will also be compromised at some point, and that will be an even sadder occasion. One can only hope that as time progresses in Nepal, that eco-friendly roads and construction will be applied in an effort to have the best of both worlds.
Click on the map below to see the area around the Annapurna Circuit:
Here is a photo of mine that was taken around the Jomsom area:
To follow a portal/walkthrough of my trek in Nepal, click here and hover your mouse over the photos to click to the next one in the series.
New Sleeping Bag?
This is a tough one. I’m in the market for a new sleeping bag and not too sure what to get. I currently have two bags. The first one I bought around 1990 and it was originally something like a 0 or -5C synthetic bag. I took it with me when I traveled the world in 1991 and it spent most of its time in a stuff sack. 18 years later and it’s safe to say that it is “punched out.” My son Grady used it last year but I don’t think it is warm enough for shoulder season camping. It’s still good for warm weather stuff though. My other bag I bought maybe 8 years (time flies!). It’s a down barrel bag from Taiga. It’s okay and rated to -7C. I don’t find it all that warm but what the heck. It think it’s a good bag for Grady now because he wouldn’t like a mummy bag. My daughter Emma May has her own +5C bag and it works well for her, and my wife also has a Taiga down mummy bag.
Ideally I want a bag that compacts really well. I plan on taking the family backpacking once or twice this year and there’s no doubt that I’ll be carrying most of the gear. Therefore the space savings of a small bag would be fantastic. Weight isn’t a huge issue, but obviously the smaller the better.
Where the decision gets tricky is when I consider coastal camping. This would include boat trips that I hope to do (canoe, kayak) as well as coastal hiking. I think it’s not that unlikely that camping may include some wet/damp sleeping bags at some point. If that is the case, then it is clear that a synthetic bag would be a much better piece of gear. On the other hand, even if I found a small, warm synthetic bag, it wouldn’t do much good if everyone else in the family were in wet down bags.
Currently I’m thinking along these lines:
1. rule #1 – the bag never should get wet. I already bought some waterproof stuffsacks that help mitigate risk
2. get a MEC Merlin -3C which is very small and not too expensive (4L and $230)
3. get a Mountain Hardwear Lamina synthetic bag which is inexpensive and not too bulky (10L and $140)
Decisions, Decisions…
To scupper or not to scupper, that is the question…
I think a scupper might look good, but I’m not fond of the idea of buying a core bit so I can route out scuppers. A solid inwale would be soooo much easier to put together. I bought some cherry for the inwales and seats, and I already have some ash for the outwales. I think ash will look good on my darker wrc, and the cherry will be nice for inside. I much prefer the look of cherry to that of ash. But man, was the cherry expensive.
1/2 Finished the Scraping
I’m half finished the scraping inside the hull. I would guess I have about 3 hours left on the other side of the hull. I’m not sure how it will all turn out, using the rounded scrapers puts slight “channels” or rounded grooves along the wood where you scrape. Since the plan is just to glass the interior without filling the weave, I don’t think it will make any difference.
My biggest worry is that the very bottom of the hull did not hold its shape when removed from the moulds. It sort of flattens out and actually popped up a bit. I need to press down on the bottom to get it to take the intended shape.
Manchester United debt soars towards £700m mark
Manchester United is so screwed. Pre-tax loss of around $100M in 2008.
