Search
Go

Discussion Topic

Return to Forum List
This thread has been locked
Messages 21 - 40 of total 47 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
dave729

Trad climber
Western America
May 22, 2015 - 04:01pm PT
Where are the "we must stop lightning (re:global warming) now" protests?

Where is the presidents call for a lightning tax, that would add $100 to
the average US taxpayers annual bill?

Should it be used to fund research into stopping lightning and prevent the
injury of over 240,000 people yearly world wide? A worthy goal.

But more likely it'll pay for junkets to posh tropical hotels where the only
scientific presentation happens at the pool. And its more often than not a
frosty jug of margaritas.


I nominate Philo to be the 1st gereral secretary of lightning eradication!
GSOLE
All in favor say aye..
philo

Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
May 22, 2015 - 04:07pm PT

Wow Dave why don't you get back to us after puberty. If your intent was to take a swipe at me consider yourself to have failed.
If you'd checked out the OP link you'd have an idea that lightning is a critical element in the overall and on going health of the planet. Additionally being struck by lightning is no laughing matter. Not in the least.
philo

Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
May 22, 2015 - 04:18pm PT


Gnome Ofthe Diabase

climber
Out Of Bed
May 22, 2015 - 04:59pm PT
Yikes
Philo
Yikes !
philo

Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
May 23, 2015 - 05:52am PT
zBrown

Ice climber
Brujň de la Playa y Perrito Ruby
May 23, 2015 - 07:11am PT
It's a very good show (the TV and the lightning), but did they discuss whether lightening ever strikes twice in the same place?

philo

Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
May 23, 2015 - 07:18am PT
It strikes wherever it wants whenever it wants and as many times as it wants.
The second video I linked discusses it.

zBrown

Ice climber
Brujň de la Playa y Perrito Ruby
May 23, 2015 - 07:25am PT
Double-feature, eh. I'll check out the second one too.

NASA-funded scientists have recently learned that cloud-to-ground lightning frequently strikes the ground in two or more places and that the chances of being struck are about 45 percent higher than what people commonly assume.

Here's one you don't see too often. Good thred philo.


This one I have seen and even closer up.


http://cdn.grindtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/shutterstock_61445455.jpg
philo

Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
May 23, 2015 - 10:54am PT

Brisket?
WBraun

climber
May 23, 2015 - 11:13am PT
Lembert Dome - Tuolumne Meadows

philo

Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
May 23, 2015 - 11:40am PT
Werner thanks for posting that one up.
I'd seen it before but couldn't find it again.
That is one incredible shot!
philo

Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
May 28, 2015 - 10:39am PT
http://www.9news.com/picture-gallery/entertainment/events/2015/05/28/mother-nature-couldnt-stop-the-decemberists-at-red-rocks/28068793/


Was trapped in this storm at Red Rocks Ampitheater.
Not good!
philo

Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
Jun 5, 2015 - 07:03pm PT
http://www.9news.com/picture-gallery/weather/2015/06/05/lightning-show-during-thursdays-severe-storms/28526781/

Phenomenal pics from todays extremely violent storm. Lightning, hail, tornados and up to feet of hail accumulation in sme Denver neighborhoods. WOW!
apogee

climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
Jun 5, 2015 - 07:46pm PT
'Lightning'

'thread'



Fritz

Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
Jun 5, 2015 - 08:19pm PT
Thanks for the great lightning & dead cow shots. Once I started climbing & researching lightning, back in the early 1970's I realized being close to lightning storms was dangerous, and being in contact with a wire fence during a lightning storm was really dangerous.

So----- about 1970, I'm working on a Forest Service "drift fence" close to the top of an 8,500 Ft. Butte, and a lighting storm is working up the valley below our crew.

I was older & far more experienced with thunderstorms than the stupid crew boss, but he was oblivious to the lightning.

When the storm was less than three miles away, my co-worker and I left and went to a lower area.

The “clueless” crew boss was really pissed.

The following Monday, we had a crew meeting with our district ranger. He explained that the lighting storm had not posed a threat, and in future situations with threatening weather; we should always rely on our crew boss for any information about threatening weather.

Bullsh#t.
philo

Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
Jun 5, 2015 - 09:21pm PT
Driving into the chill of building cloud cover - fearing the ever deepening imminence of today's atmospheric instability - and glad for the relative safety of my Volvo wagon, I crave the sun. Even unto swelter and dehydration I crave the sun. Ten years of progressive recovery from my lightning strike all but evaporated in the nearly two month solid stretch of thunder storm weather Colorado has been experiencing. A weather anomoly in a State that brags of 300+ days of sunshine a year. With every turn of the road taking me up into the mountains the weather thickens and my couragge thins. My head retracts turtle like into my shoulders with every shadow I drive into. In my guise as Sparkski the Polish magician electrician I'm heading to a long term and very valued client's home in the mountains above Boulder. Every foot of elevation gained has a corolary effect on my height. A cause and effect, an equal and opposite reaction. The weight of fear is an emotional gravity pressing me closer to ground. Pulling into the mountain driveway as rain starts to spit, the wheels crunching over gravel sound like distant thunder. I wince! Yes that's right I am a climber who's been struck by lightning and I make my living as an electrician. I'll give it a moment till the laughter that usually accompanies that apparent paradoxical disconnect settles down.
To be accurate, in my 40+ years of climbing, I've actually had two strikes, twelve serious ground shocks and too many too close of calls to bother remembering. So you could say it is an "highly charged" issue for me. In fact, at the moment I can't get out of the car with the clouds so pressing and close. My head feels thick and painfull and every little hair on my arms and legs dance with tingling anticipation as we all wait to see what happens next. The dance of electricity. To be clear, it's not the "fear of death" that haunts me at times like this, but rather surviving another electrical raping of my central nervous system and already PTSDed brain that shatters my nerve and halts my feet. In all honesty if I really thought that the next encounter of the billion volt kind would be fatal I'd move to Florida and take up golf. Instead I cower in my car unable to head out, torn between duty and dread. I feel ashamed, the wreck of a man who for most of his mortal existance had taken life by the horns and danced amongst the charging bulls of fate. Furiously scrawling notes in long hand before Zeus or Thor or other demons devor my lucidity. Hoping only that I make it through to a time I can transcribe the thoughts flooding through me now. In ten years the story of my "buzz" has been published many times. About me, but not by me. The experience so raw and pauinfull it is only now a decade later in this uncomfortable circumstance that I find my words pouring out of me. Rousing all my remaining courage I decide to try. Opening the car door and - like toe testing the hot tub temperature - I tenatively step one foot to ground. Cajouling myself to work I dive in or out as in this case and head for the stairs leading up to the job site. But I struggle against gravity, every limbs seems to weigh seventy five extra pounds. The three hundred pounds of emotional baggage exhausts me before the top step. Turning around and running to the safety of my Sweedish faraday cage the rain starts in earnest. I hear thunder and I flee.
Driving back through random spatterings of sunshine I wonder if I've made the correct decision or will I forever be a desperate wuss. In short order the skies of Boulder/Denver erupt with electrical violence, spawning tornados and in some Denver neighborhoods cases of feet of hail accumulation. I've chosen correctly, I crave the sun. Even unto swelter and dehydration I crave the sun.

http://www.9news.com/picture-gallery/weather/2015/06/05/lightning-show-during-thursdays-severe-storms/28526781/
philo

Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
Jun 6, 2015 - 01:53am PT
In this thread and my most recent TR I have in a most honest and sincere manner splayed my pain open for all to see. Some poster's unable to move beyond what's past have begrudged me my continuing presence and have been complaining about my posting habits. That's OK. They say, without having read or comprehended what I've contributed, that I post too much or too often or that I post through the night and into the morning. That's true. Why I have to ask, if what I post is climbing content and positive messages, are they so concerned or upset about it? Exactly who is being hurt by my posts or presence? I feel sorry for those folks particularly if my very presence causes them such a disturbance in their force. They have no idea what having your central nervous system flash poached by lightning can do to a person. They also don't know or understand how weeks and months of continuous stormy weather can wear a strike survivor down to raw nerves. Or how my reacting to the sonic boom of thunder too close has caused me to crack two maybe three teeth over the last few days. They don't grasp the desperate dance with the vicious mistress called insomnia. They couldn't possibly understand that for me after this intensely violent stormy period that even being able to communicate at all is a major victory. Writing helps keep the strain on my psyche at bay, an ongoing gauge of my minds ability to continue to function and manage to communicate. That this silly place is for me a little bit of sanctuary from the storm is of no interest to them. But that's cool I forgive them their ignorance and lack of compassion and sincerely hope that someday they find it in their hearts to actually read my contributions instead of knee jerking simply because I am posting.


Here is a part of my story from Outside Magazine.

http://www.outsideonline.com/1925996/body-electric
Gunkie

climber
Jun 6, 2015 - 04:15am PT
Lightning! The power and the mystery.

Losers of game 1.


philo

Trad climber
Is that the light at the end of the tunnel or a tr
Jun 6, 2015 - 06:15am PT
You know to take the time to post up in an knee jerk manner in an effort to make light of, make fun of or deride and debase a fellow poster who has honestly opened up the wounds of their most painful and devastating life event is pretty immature and uncultured. It is a fine demonstration of the compassionless hypocricy prevalent among the Clan of the Gun Homies that pop up like whack a moles in a vain attempt to intimidate and stiffle anyone with an opinion or perspective they dislike. My intent in the lightning thread was to pass on valuable information that could save lives of outdoor enthusiasts or at least help victims understand the debilitating effects of surviving a lightning strike. But some see it as me being all "me, me, me. That's right it's all about me... trying to be helpful and informative.
Truth is another day or two of violent stormy weather like the last two and i'll off myself. Then you won't have to be annoyed by my 8 year pressence here. Or if you just cant wait for mother nature to takes it's best shot I wll gladly ask the admin staff to purge all of my content to save the fragile sensitivities of the ten or twelve posters who can't help but leg hump me at every opportunity.
Some of my historical climbing contributions appear only here on the Taco but compared to the dis-ease I've caused the annonymous cowards and trolls of TacoTown, it shouldn't be any loss. Talk amonst yourselves. I have to head into the tempest again to try and get my work done before the heavens unleash again. You've got some time before I return home and request an official purging. Now if the admin decides they'd rather not purge me and all my content well then I guess you few, you proud, you latrines, will just have to live with me..
TGT

Social climber
So Cal
Jun 6, 2015 - 05:00pm PT
ZAP!

Messages 21 - 40 of total 47 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
Return to Forum List
 
Our Guidebooks
spacerCheck 'em out!
SuperTopo Guidebooks

guidebook icon
Try a free sample topo!

 
SuperTopo on the Web

Recent Route Beta