Bob Chill

Before it can snow in your back yard it has to snow digitally. @bobchill is interested I cancelled wxbell 2 weeks ago and have been barely following. If whatever fantasy threat there's talk about gets inside of 5 days I'll get back in the seat. Until then hiking, biking, and spring yard cleanup are on tap.

Yea, that would freak me the F out if it was my house. Back in 02 when I lived in Germantown our townhouse had an ice dam on the eaves from PD2 snow melt and it ran behind and down the siding. Created a frozen waterfall on front of the house. Thankfully it was a rental. lol. Owner said don't worry about it he'll fix it in the Spring. LOL

Damn, I could have had a blizzard AND a foot of ice if I lived on Lake Erie... https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/01/us/lake-erie-ice-houses-frozen-trnd/index.html

I'm sure they do. High snow load is baked into the codes of any area that gets large amounts regularly. Colorado rockies are 2x6" walls minimum. Many houses are 2x8s. I can't remember trusses but they are beefed up for sure. I can't remember a single collapse in the 7 years I lived there. However, at least 2 people died from roof avalanches.

After many years of imbibing I needed to get myself into shape so I haven't had a drink in almost 3 years. Last time I went to Copper Fox I bought a bottle of their Rye and drank half shortly after. lol. Good stuff!

one more thing... The fact that you are knocking down fourteeners at this point in your life is very impressive and inspiring. I did Old Rag a few weeks back and was quickly reminded that I need more exercise. LOL

Just mark the event as 3/-2/2020. Always a solution available.

Hiking high elevations can be shocking. Getting up to 12k feet is pretty easy. Even lowlanders can do it with little issue. The climb from 12k-13k' takes on a totally new personality. You start having to pace your steps depending on heart rate and steepness. It took me 2 full seasons of "earning turns" to get really fast between 12-13k. Then comes 13k-14k... Completely different experience than the previous 1k'. Especially >35 degree slope angle. I climbed Torres with a group of 6 just once in the spring of 96 (mid may) to ski Dead Dog Couloir and we took a very direct route. My heart was literally a bass drum in my ears running between 180-200bpm for over an hour straight. 10 steps pause - 10 steps pause. I'd be scared to do it now that I'm much older. Kids can have that S now. There are 2 ways up Dead Dog. The red line can be easier with steepness but very difficult depending on snow conditions. We went straight up where you can see the boot pack and group climbing in the pic below. You can do the much easier ridge hike in the summer. During the spring there can be big cornice crossings that I want no part of. Not trying to fall down a giant face with a small building sized cornice chasing me. LOL I only have old school crappy film pictures so these pics are just for reference. These are not mine. If you can do Qaundary you can do Torres no problem at all. IIRC it's just about 8 miles out and back from the I70 trailhead with 3400' elev gain. Been a long time though... When we skied it we got snowmobile rides up a gulch for much faster/easier access. During the summer the gulch requires a pretty strong 4x4 with good clearance to take the shortcut. Again, all this is off old memories.

I think everyone deals with some sort of effect. I def did when I moved there. The problem with tourists is they are running on fumes from travel and excitement and do ill advised things like start drinking immediately. One of the things that was really cool when travelling back east after spending a year up high was your alcohol tolerance is beast mode and so is your cardio system. Blood is loaded up to deal with low oxygen living and when you hit sea level it feels a little superhuman.

I can't count the # of people I saw faint shortly after arriving at the resort from DIA. Base elevation was 9600'. Unfortunately a lot of people puked also. Nearly daily in the rental shop I managed when it was busy. We bought airplane puke bags and kept them at the door with a sign saying "feeling even just a little nauseous? Please take one. They're free and much better than the alternative". Women were really good about it but men nasomuch... They would fight it to the end and barf in a crowd. Lol

Yea, there's no comparison to the championship year. Blake and Dixon were often deadly and Baxter owned nearly every matchup. Bench was solid. In some ways the team that year reminded me of an NBA team. It often just didn't matter who was on the floor. It just worked. This year we HAVE to have Smith and Cowan on the floor for the majority of the game or else... That's quite a contrast to how the terps won it all. Looking at some of the teams out there I just don't see how the Terps can beat the likes of Duke and KU etc. Playing to perfection is the only recipe while teams like Duke and KU have much more leeway. I'm not expecting a championship honestly. It's possible but unlikely. A trip to the final 4 would be f'n amazing and even that will require taking down one or more better team(s) first. We'll see.

When I flew to vegas last fall I had to stand every chance I got as my stupid sciatic nerve decided to drink coffee. Felt like a big dummy standing in my aisle seat but hey, the alternative is worse. Every single steward and stewardess asked me if I was ok when they walked by me and I just said standing is awesome, sitting is the problem. lol I feel for ya man. Hope things go smooth.

Agree. Lack of depth is a problem for sure. While the Mitchell twins didn't scorch the earth or do much in general during their short stint, losing 2 big strong players like that really thinned them out. Terps have shooters to make up for it but what do you do when you end up in a low scoring very physical game? More than one of those games will be no doubt in their way during the tourney. If the shooters don't light it up it becomes very hard to win. The big ? with Mariol is can he actually stay healthy? The shin problems are genetic and likely continue to cause issues throughout his career. I'm not a doctor and I may be totally wrong there but I've seen it before. Even with all the concerns you have to admit this is a VERY tenacious, fast, and talented team that plays really well together. Some of their offensive sets are brilliant. Great dunking team too. Not really a skill category but damn I love me some college jams. haha

One thing I'm certain of going forward (especially in the big 10 and NCCA tourneys)... Any and all opposing teams will try to get Smith into foul trouble as quickly as possible. lol. It was a great comeback and amazing to watch but lets be honest here... MN never ever should have been up 17 like they were to begin with. Let any tourney level team get a lead like that and good luck coming back. At the end of the day a win is a win. Every game is played in isolation. I would really like to see MD win the big 10 tourney but man there's a lot of talent in the conf this year. If they lose it will likely be at the hands of a very good team.

Holy crap... Morsell! I thought the MSU game would be the best comeback of the year... omg these guys