Danger.

astyle said:
Maturin :

You do make good points. And in all honesty, I sometimes do need the "Dude, pull yourself together!", and sometimes, I do need to be able to own up to something and say, "Yeah, I had it coming".
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Yeah I do too sometimes, both of those things, in fact that hospital visit I talked about earlier gave me a much-needed kick up the arse, it certainly opened my eyes to what can happen and made me realise how important it is to look after my health. Especially when you're in a demanding job, you tend to neglect your health for the sake of the job.

But when you're physically addicted to something like alcohol or some other strong drug, I'm sure its not so easy. Addiction to prescription painkillers is another very tough situation you can get into. I guess I've been lucky in my life not to have fallen foul of any of those kinds of things, so far anyway. Better not go and fall off any mountains. I do think you have to count your blessings, but I'm sure that is not easy when you're fighting a drug addiction; it's easy to say, hard to do. I don't think there are any easy answers, not until the medics come up with something that can free you from the dependency. Perhaps the GLP-1 agonists, or something similar will prove to be a way forward, although this is not my area of expertise at all. I really only joined this discussion thread because I hate cigarette smoking so much, having seen up close what it leads to; I know very little about alcohol addiction.

www.psychologytoday.com

Can GLP-1 Agonists Treat Alcoholism?

GLP-1 drugs are quickly becoming some of the most ubiquitous in the U.S., and they have drawn interest for their potential use in treating alcohol use disorder.
www.psychologytoday.com www.psychologytoday.com

Anyway this is all getting a bit too serious, better get back to talking about boots! 😁
 
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blackbird9 said:
Just for interest, if I wanted to go there, where would the nearest airport be, if I was flying say from London? And how far to get to Triglav from the airport in Solvenia?
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That would be Ljubljana, from there it is about 30km. Please don't rent a car if you only know left-side-driving. While the DrivingInLondon Badge might give you a bonus, there are other hazards. Like rubber necking the scenery.
 
Maybe I can make it out there some time, like he said it's not so far from England. It does look a nice place to go for a few days. I'm still thinking about those Alaska boots, they do look pretty good. Maybe they will have the sale price in uk some time. Next time I'm in the Cotswold store I'll have a look at them.

Do have a look at Lugano too if you're going to Italy, that's another beautiful area, alpine lake district.
 
Besides the fact there just was a FreeBSD con in Belgium, why not look for hiking trails in Belgium? There are nice landscapes, too, plus the cities are nice, e.g. Antwerpen (and the belgium beer is good, plus the best french fries in the world [they invented them {not the french}]), and Belgium is pretty central in Europe. And "organize" a spontaneous small causal off-topic FreeBSD "hiking summer camp":
Just a handful of people hiking, and blathering about FreeBSD, computers ... and hiking boots? 😉
 
I went to Brussels a few times back in the '80s. There used to be a great little music venue off the grande place (at least I think it was there, it's so hard to remember) called "Blues Corner" with live bands most nights, it was good for an evening out. I remember seeing a really good blues band from texas play there, can't remember their name. That must have been around '88 or '89. It's lost in the mists of time... 😁
 
Wow, looks like they are still in business, amazing. I thought it had closed years ago but it seems to still be there. I recognize that sign.
https://www.facebook.com/events/660524823271607/

Hmm, from that page, perhaps it's called "Rock Classic Bar" now. I remember it was a pretty small room, it used to be packed with people. I wonder if it's the same place? Intriguing!
 
Crivens said:
The onboard meals? The fact that most taxis have more leg room? Also, I still need to go to Paris, Rome and Oslo. Priorities have shifted, but I want to see Banff again.
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If you don't like Qantas, there's Virgin Australia, Delta, United, and Hawaiian. Hawaiian's onboard meals are actually surprisingly decent. Delta and United still include meals on international flights.
 
blackbird9 said:
Interesting, I've never tried those. Lightweight is good of course, and vibram soles are good. In my neck of the woods I'd be principally worried about water coming in, it's pretty wet and muddy most of the year here in England (our rain is world-famous! 😁 ).
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Did I mention I live in the Pacific Northwest? 😉 The Other Emerald Isle. Included in our nearby biomes is the Hoh Rainforest with 140" annual inches of rain. We understand wet. You'd also feel right at home on the West Coast Trail, just across the border into Canada.

With the GoreTex versions of the SG5, the main problem I have with wet feet is the hole in the tops of them where my feet go in. If I'm not wearing long pants (because it's muggy and wet, and I run metabolically warm) or gaiters, then eventually the water runs down my legs and starts soaking my socks from the top down. I'd rather my feet were wet than the rest of me soaked in sweat so I suck it up and carry extra socks. The SpeedGoat mids lace very snugly to the foot. Unless you didn't lace them up, they aren't coming off. The low tops are much more like a standard trail runner, you could find yourself fishing for one of those in deep muck.

blackbird9 said:
And also the risk of them coming off your foot in the mud. We have a big problem with ticks, there are deer everywhere that carry the ticks.
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We have ticks here too, we just keep an eye out for them and pick 'em off and crush the little suckers between my thumbnails before they get a chance to burrow in. My cushioned wool hiking socks are an adequate deterrence. We also treat some of our gear with permethrin.

blackbird9 said:
I'm wondering how stiff those soles are on rocky trails? Traditional vibram used to be super-stiff but I'm wondering if those trainer-style soles are similar. They certianly look pretty thick and spongey!
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They aren't stiff, that's kinda the point. Traditionally, if you were hoofing it around with a pack, you wanted a stiff Vibram sole for good traction and to keep the sharp pointy rocks from poking through your burdened soles and hurting your feet. This is a different game, instead of a hard unforgiving sole 100% of the time, just cushion the sharp pointy rocks and have a soft cushy sole all the time. These are far more forgiving and much much nicer on the knees. When trotting down a mountain trail, their ability to conform to the trail surface usually provides better traction than a stiff sole.

I only wear my stiff soled boots for extended alpine or glacier travel on foot, where I might also need crampons and extra warmth. My "heavy" boots don't get a lot of love any more, I'd much rather tackle such climbs on Alpine Touring skis, where the return trip is dramatically faster and more fun. Even my lighter leather boots tend to only see action when I'm doing volunteer trail maintenance as a sawyer and they're mandatory PPE.

Yes, the SG5s are expensive. But so are knee replacements, and quality hiking boots that require little or no break-in period.
 
A lot of interesting points. I didn't know you were in Washington! Sounds something like the west coast of Ireland. Interesting what you say about the cushioned soles. I need to find a uk shop that sells them and try some on, I was quite intrigued by the pictures, but put off by the price. Actually the boots I already have do have quite a lot of cusioning built into the soles, they're not like the old hard rubber vibram you used to get years ago, but its clear from the photo that yours have a lot more additional padding. Good point about knees too. For some reason I got the impression you were hiking over dry rocky mountain landscapes which is why I wondered how they cope with the rocks, but it sounds like you're in a similar area to me, or perhaps even wetter. We get a lot of big atlantic storms here in the autumn thru spring (it's a large part of the year) that come straight off the ocean, I live near the coast, often they bring floods, so it does get pretty wet and muddy, which is when my haix goretex boots come into their own. This year has been the driest on record, its very unusual, we have droughts everywhere right now, dried up rivers and reservoirs, it's getting a bit worrying. Yes the mids would be the ones for me rather than the low trainer-style shoes. Well, I will have a look out for them here, I really want to find some in a shop and try them on to get an idea. Interesting to learn about them, I hadn't heard of those before you mentioned them.
 
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Just to give you an idea, these are some winter floods in my home town a couple of years ago. Of course it's not as bad as that most of the time, although once the floods come they can last for weeks. That's not where I live now but we do get a lot of rain. :)
 
blackbird9 said:
A lot of interesting points. I didn't know you were in Washington! Sounds something like the west coast of ireland.
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Yep, our little planet spins the same direction here as there, so the winds are predominantly easterly, which is why both are maritime climates, driven mostly by the weather is coming off the oceans.

blackbird9 said:
For some reason I got the impression you were hiking over dry rocky mountain landscapes which is why I wondered how they cope with the rocks, but it sounds like you're in a similar area to me, or perhaps even wetter.
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Yes, and yes! To our East is the volcanic Cascade range. The Cascades are high enough that they create a "wall" that the rain clouds get pinned against. On the Western side of the crest the landscape is lush, verdant, and green. Because only the high clouds cross the Cascade range, the Eastern side of the crest is much like you imagined: dry, sandy, rocky, and punctuated with alpine forests that haven't burned recently. The Cascades are what most hikers think of in Washington, because that's where most people hike, including the scores of Pacific Crest Trail thru hikers.

The (obduction formed) Olympic mountain range is to our West, between us and the ocean. They aren't as high as the Cascades but they still buffer us from a lot of that oceanic weather. To go adventuring there is a short ferry ride and a couple hours driving. We were there last month and soon we'll be visiting Seven Lakes Basin. As you can imagine, when in the Olympics we don't have to carry much water. We also choose times to visit when it's less wet.

blackbird9 said:
We get a lot of big atlantic storms here in the autumn thru spring (it's a large part of the year) that come straight off the ocean, I live near the coast, often they bring floods, so it does get pretty wet and muddy, which is when my haix goretex boots come into their own. This year has been the driest on record, its very unusual, we have droughts everywhere right now, dried up rivers and reservoirs, it's getting a bit worrying.
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Same pattern here. We lament that California weather is marching steadily North.

blackbird9 said:
Yes the mids would be the ones for me rather than the low trainer-style boots. Well, I will have a look out for them here, I really want to find some in a shop and try them on to get an idea. Interesting to learn about them, I hadn't heard of those before you mentioned them.
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I started noticing them on the feet of the thru-hikers. And trail runners. And townie runners. And since the soles of my beloved Asolo 520s had delaminated, I needed a replacement. A fellow adventurer recommended the SG5s highly so I tried a pair and happily wore all the tread right off them and bought another pair. Keep an eye on eBay, they often pop up at a significant discount. I suspect some people buy them like gym memberships: full of inspiration, and then get tired of looking at them when their follow-through falls short.
 
(Ummm... I think you meant westerly! 😁) Washington sounds nice! I have a friend who moved to Calgary, he said they are also in the rain shadow of the mountain range and get a lot of dry weather, but they also get deep snow at times. I have another friend who moved to england from oregon, she lived inland from portland somewhere, I'm not sure where, she showed me lots of photos of wilderness and mountains, so I can imagine what washington is like to some extent. I guess you have bears too! :) Well, it's a lot more domesticated here, it's been farmed for a couple of thousand years (actually, longer), no wolves or bears left, but we do have lots of deer, ponies, donkies and pigs that wander around in the forest grazing, the pigs go for the acorns in the autumn, we have a big crop each year from thousands of oak trees. We are actually in the rain shadow of the isle of wight which has some quite high hills, the island takes the brunt of the atlantic storms, a bit like ireland does, but we still get plenty of rain for much of the year. Which all makes this year very unusual, it's been so dry almost from february onwards, compared to last year when we had floods that lasted right up until around april or may. Yes most people here don't really like the very hot and dry weather, we're not used to it. I will check out some of your mountains on the web!
 
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