I don’t know how many times they mentioned LA. But if the Frenchs decides to show 18 minutes of Lance’s time trial, it will be hard to focus on something/someone else. Besides, I don’t remember that many comments about Lance after he was done.

And the timing was completely unintentional in following your comment. I just find it rather interesting to read so many complaints about the attention on Lance and the gross lavishment placed on him and yet we counter it by doing so much of the opposite. Don’t take my comment personally, when it is personal I’m usually pretty clear.

use the “reply” button at the bottom of that post. These threads get long and hard to follow sometimes, so it helps clarity to indicate what you’re reacting to.

Could be a great place for someone to try and get clear. But I doubt it will be Tony, too far out, and Riis will probably have all the guys under orders to not waste energy. Maybe someone like Chava though.

… look in my PdC profile, click on the website link, go to the contact page and send me a note with your email address. I have something I wish to send to you in the next few days.

I called the climb at the upper saddle, just before the traverse to the belly crawl on Owen-Spalding – 700’ (vertical) from the summit. Reasons being: 20-25mph winds with windchill so brutal that both my and my guide’s camelbaks froze, onset of hypothermia for me (uncontrollable shivering), extreme unease with the new act of walking on crampons on rock rather than just snow and ice, and the estimation of my energy reserves considering that there was 2.5hrs more climbing if we’d summited and that we would have had to still down climb 2,800’ from that same point on the upper saddle even after executing the raps from the summit.

Essentially, on June 27th, we had a storm so bad at camp that it destroyed the brand new Mountain Hardware 4 season tent they put up for me with blasting hail and a blizzard. Then on summit day, the 28th, we had high winds, summer skies but dead nuts of winter climbing conditions on the mountain, for which I didn’t have the requisite experience. I am positive my guide could have dragged me to the summit if I’d asked/let him, but I would have had to be lowered over several pitches on the descent and that, in my book, would have constituted a failure. I climbed as high as I could, and then I fucking, damn well down climbed what I had ascended to that point and that, in my book, constitutes meeting the mountain on it’s terms.

Climbing up the “Idaho Express” couloir, 70-80 degree pitch of ice over groppel over snow, was some of the handsdown badassest stuff I’ve ever done. We also descended the “Sack of Potatoes” couloir, which had a 15’ section of honest to god, swinging two ice tools, ice climbing over granite that scared the everliving piss out of me… but I did it anyway :)

Had two self-arrests while solo hike/climbing Paintbrush Divide the Monday before The Grand on the first day I ever tried using an ice axe. Talk about pucker factor. And then the hike out the day after summit day, there was a pretty gnarly 120’ pitch of snow we had to plunge-step down, but I was so tired at that point that I think I fell at least 5 times… textbook arrest the first two, shitty job the third, then just let the short rope do the work on the fourth and fifth until we were on the scree of the moraine, the guide laughing all the time.

Funniest part of the whole thing – we are heading back to Corbett High Camp on summit day after, obviously, a hard day of mountaineering. We get to the bottom of the lower saddle and have to scramble 200’ up a moraine, typical two/three foot rocks. My guide, Darren, is ahead of me 10’ to 15’ most of the way. He stops at one point and turns to me as he stands over this granite slab; it’s slick granite, well polished by erosion with a pretty long, high step up onto it and a sort of tilted 5’ face. I’m standing below it, looking at it while leaning on my ice axe, taking a few deep breaths. Darren then says “Ok, big crux of the day for you to free solo; no more rope for you cowboy.” Chuckling, I take the first step onto it and then lunge up with the rest of my body and hit THAT balance point… could go forward, could go back… Darren just starts yelling “COME ON DANNY! SEND IT! SEND IT! SEND IT!” like I’m putting up a new route on El Cap or something. By the time I’ve got my boots moving on that rock, I’m laughing so hard, it’s all I can do not to slip back off the damn thing.

I’m thrilled just to get a half-decent crit within a few blocks of my place. So I can only imagine this.

Get out and represent, yo.

But Wegmann could try something, and Voeckler. And maybe they should tell Kirchen that he should be there if something happens. On the other hand, I don’t think Columbia would have to do all the work. Don’t forget Haussler and Hushovd, Cervelo might want to do some work too.