Mountaineer laughs off Twitter row with 'spotty schoolkids'

dexcel · 2012-05-25T03:01:56.036000+00:00

Pretty funny actually. I really like Joe. He's the kind of guy that will end up permanently grumpy when he is old, but you could still sit with for hours while he tells you his stories.

twoon · 2012-05-24T17:15:36.451291+00:00

It's a good question. Partially my lack of understanding of the native soap client at the time, partially a learning endeavour on my own.

Hopefully it helps someone here learn something about it... putting this together at the time helped me a great deal.

There is also some stuff I removed that is integral to the system which factored in. That said, you are correct, the native soap client does work just fine.

twoon · 2012-05-24T16:48:10.295793+00:00

I know this isn't helpful... but just don't. Because Soap is a steaming piece of shit.

Learn to work with REST instead, and sleep easy at night.

Seriously... fuck SOAP.

With that out of the way, here is a simple soap class that does might help you learn to work with SOAP. This particular one is used to process a credit card transaction.

http://pastebin.com/v5QGTN40

Enjoy :)

ErkB729 · 1 day

Daily fail. Please don't link to daily mail

big_bad_john · 1 day

Lol! I've been doing PHP dev for 10+ years. I'm CONSTANTLY looking up default values for functions... (like substr()... can never remember what the eff that function is called) You are not alone!

diddletapflamdiddle · 1 day

The best way to fight your fear of death is to stare it in the face. Do some mountaineering or something where you are constantly in danger. It changes your perspective rather quickly. Highly recommend.

diddletapflamdiddle · 1 day

I think that's why I try to do a lot of memorable things. Lots of big climbs, lots of memorable events with my daughter. The day to day can fade and I'm ok with that... but I want to have lots of interesting "firsts" to remember my life by.

dial_m_for_me · 3 days

I love this guy's work. His 500px portfolio is pretty incredible. Truly a unique perspective, and a true master.

C250585 · 6 days

Ahh yes Hector. Half of the Athabasca group had summitted Hector only 2 weeks prior - another great trip, although best done on skis. Probably on my list for next spring (i'm an alpine touring guy first, a mountaineer second :)

I actually didn't realize that Victoria is a 1 day trip, I might have to give that a whirl this year!

Edit AA Col is actually the safest route on the mountain, although I would hesitate to call it the easiest. Essentially you continue on the north side of Athabasca to the Valley between Andromeda / Athabasca. A weakness on the climbers left allows for fairly simple scrambling up to the toe of the AA Glacier while avoiding the significant icefall off the AA Glacier.. From there, you ascend the AA Glacier to the end of the valley where you hit a large ampitheatre. Climbing the west facing slopes (Slog! Some avi danger) leads to the AA col (3200m), from which you ascend the simple ridge to the silverhorn, and ultimately the main summit ridge.

The AA Glacier has limited crevasse danger, and the bergschrund was fully filled in with no problems crossing. Definitely need to be roped up from the toe of the glacier to the top of the silverhorn though, but no pro was needed on our outing. Other times of the year might differ.

We did the trip in 11 hours, although i'm sure we could have managed 8-9 without all the stops. the climb total for the day was 6,550' and the return distance was ~12km

d-nj · 7 days

While the rest of the world would jump at the chance to pay to have escalators installed to make the normal route more accessible, there's always voice of reason in the midst.

My respect for Conrad just went up exponentially.

C250585 · 7 days

We took it easy and did the AA Col route which is accessed by walking around the back of the mountain, ascending the AA Glacier, and ultimately climbing a 400m snow slope to the AA Col at 3200m, and then another 200m to the top of the silverhorn and then the summit ridge itself.

As far as the route itself, no crevasses were showing on our particular path, although that might be a different story in the summer. The AA Glacier definitely has a few. The Bergschrund was buried by at least 3m of snow (we probed it), and crossing it was a simple affair.

The snow slope leading up the the AA Col was absolutely covered with crud and heavy Avi debris, however, we somehow managed to get damn near perfect snow conditions up and down. Going up, the snow was supportive to about 6-12", and descending back down it was soft, but not dangerous (yet, a few more hours would have been a different story).

The AA Col to the Summit itself was mostly a scramble with a few sketch sections due to verglass-like ice and some slightly exposed bits.

There is also a section ascending to the toe of the AA glacier that involves some fairly high angle ice (35-45 degrees) above some significant exposure. I wouldn't want to be there with crummy snow or bomber ice.

Overall, we were VERY lucky with perfect weather, and perfect snow conditions. Not always the case with Athabasca.

We wore crampons for 95% of the route, and they were definitely necessary for at least 60% or more. We were roped up in teams of 3 from the toe of the glacier to the top of the AA Col, and were unroped from the AA Col to the silverhorn, and remained unroped for the summit ridge.

Overall, pretty much the perfect day! And as far as your friend not expecting snow in November in the Icefields, I'd like to try whatever he was smoking ;)

C250585 · 7 days

Yes you do :)

Athabasca is highly recommended - relatively low objective hazard (assuming you start climbing no later than 3:00am), and probably one of the simplest approaches for an 11er. Still an Alpine II though, and is often severely underestimated. Lots of avalanche danger all year long if you are on the peak at the wrong time of day or after storm/wind loading.

Still a 12km round trip and 6,500' elevation gain day though :)

Other great trips include Mt Forbes, Mt Wooley/Diadem Peak, Mt Joffre, Wapta Icefields, Mt Columbia, Mt Bryce, North/South Twin, Sir Douglas, Sir Donald, and many more...

Note that all the above are multi-day trips though - Athabasca and Temple are the only true single day 11,000' peaks that I know of out of 52

C250585 · 7 days

Thanks! Taken by a friend of mine, it's my current wallpaper on all my computers :)

I've thought about the 14's in CO, would definitely love to visit one of these days. Climbing the rockies is a lot different in that there is a lot of glacier crossing and steep snow, but i'm sure the 14ers are even more of a workout :)

C250585 · 7 days

Taken by a friend of mine last weekend on our little Athabasca excursion (i'm the dork in the front with the red jacket). Quite easily one of the best days i've ever had in my life, not to mention the best weather i've experienced in the Columbia icefields. More photos from the trip taken by another friend here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/52195140@N04/sets/72157629718714368/with/7193688740/

C250585 · 7 days

I'm the guy in front with the red jacket - this pic is literally minutes after my first step above 11,000'.

I've lived here 10 years and done many many scrambles, ski tours, and backpacking trips in the Rockies, however this was my first (finally!) 11,000er. I'll be climbing a few more 11's this year, and hopefully lots of 10's too :)

A different friend's flickr gallery from the trip here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/52195140@N04/sets/72157629718714368/with/7193688740/

mepper · 7 days

But think of all the young lives saved. If it weren't for the drug war, there would be literally millions of children overdosing on Marijuana daily instead of the zero that happen today. 50,000 people died so that your kids could say no to drugs.

BlandBoy · 8 days

If an e-book is $3.99, and in a genre I enjoy, has even a moderately intriguing cover/plot summary, i will definitely purchase it rather than try to find a free version. I would probably purchase 5 or more at once for $2.99, but would definitely not spend $14.99 or more on an ebook. To me, the value isn't there.

Case in point, I am a big Iain Banks fan, however i've only ever purchased 2 of his books in paperback (around $25.00 each) and acquired another 2-3 books in the series through "alternative" methods. Honestly, I can crank through a good book in about 2-3 days, and for me, $25 is a fair bit of money to spend on something that i'll likely only read once and "discard" in one form or another.

It's the same reason I refuse to go see movies in the theatre. Sure it's fun to see a good movie on the big screen, but bringing my wife and kid costs us a minimum of $50+, especially if you get some snacks. I absolutely can't justify it. Thats a third of my grocery budget for the week, and i'm generally in a good place financially. It's just plain overpriced.

Same goes for books. I'd happily spend $10-$15 / month on a handful of good books, but I would never spend $15 per month on 1 book. That much money is "disposable" income, and i'd rather dispose of it on something that gives me a better return.

Karthan · 8 days

Very nice image.... although it is a few years old. Would be nice to have the same photo taken recently to show the Bow and 8th Ave Place.

C250585 · 12 days

The road to Moraine Lake, yes on the maps below. Quite a scenic road! Actually the scene that was on the back of the Old Canadian $20 bills at one time. Easily one of my favorite places to visit, and to climb.

C250585 · 12 days

Thank you!

C250585 · 12 days

Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

C250585 · 12 days

Thanks for the feedback! It could be a bit lighter for sure, however it might be a bit too HDR if I did that.. As it is, it isn't a true HDR, just a lot of curves.

C250585 · 12 days

totally! It's actually part of a full page spread ad for a motorcycle (national campaign). Maybe i'll post it when it comes out :)

C250585

TROPHY CASE

you'll need to login or register to do that

create a new account

login