SummitPost.org

I have a supervisor right now that is just driving me crazy. He knows I'm in to climbing and hiking so he always wants to come talk to me about whatever is in the news whether it's lost climbers on Mt. Hood or Jordan Romero trying to summit Everest. This man has never set foot on a 7k+ peak and thinks he has it all figured out. From picking apart the deaths of climbers on Mt. Hood and telling me the mistakes they made, to telling me that now that one helicopter has landed on the summit of Everest they should start taking people up for money. He thinks he knows everything about the moutain. Saying things as they could guarantee safety in a helicopter ride and they could guarantee a summit. With no success I tried to convince him that not only could not absolutely not guarantee safety or a summit, you would also be jeopardizing the lives of climbers as a helicopter could possible decrease visibility or increase the chance of avalanches. Of course he disagrees and further says, that if it does endanger climbers they should just shut off the mountain and only let people access the summit by paying to take a helicopter to the top.

What the hell is wrong with this world, why are we all so lazy and looking for the easy way to do everything. I told him if he ruled the country, he'd probably have a road built to the top. Feel free to chime in if anyone else has had frustrating experiences with people outside of the climbing community thinking they know it all and having great plans which would devastate the mountains as we know them today. I think my supervisor may be watching too much Bill O'Reilly.

His glory story is always about this one time in college for spring break he and his buddies went hiking for a week in the Smokies. He talks about how horrible it was, because they packed can goods for food and only wore jeans and cotton shirts since it was in the 70's in the southeast. He said they don't understand how it went from 70 to 40 in just 50 miles. If he weren't my supervisor, I'd get up and walk out every time he brings up the subject. Given the situation though, I have to suffer through it.

One of my favorite comments on a SummitPost page is this one on the Table Mountain South Africa page by ben jammin:

Once at the lower cable station you have a choice between walking up to the crags or joining the lard-ass tourists and taking the cable car to the top of the mountain.

redneck wrote:He is trolling you.

Yes. He most certainly is.

gwave47 wrote:I have a supervisor right now that is just driving me crazy. I think my supervisor may be watching too much Bill O'Reilly.

So the possibility that your boss watches O'Reilly and that it drives you crazy, is what you are trying to really say here, right?

gwave47 wrote:I have a supervisor right now that is just driving me crazy. He knows I'm in to climbing and hiking so he always wants to come talk to me about whatever is in the news whether it's lost climbers on Mt. Hood or Jordan Romero trying to summit Everest. This man has never set foot on a 7k+ peak and thinks he has it all figured out. From picking apart the deaths of climbers on Mt. Hood and telling me the mistakes they made, to telling me that now that one helicopter has landed on the summit of Everest they should start taking people up for money. He thinks he knows everything about the moutain. Saying things as they could guarantee safety in a helicopter ride and they could guarantee a summit. With no success I tried to convince him that not only could not absolutely not guarantee safety or a summit, you would also be jeopardizing the lives of climbers as a helicopter could possible decrease visibility or increase the chance of avalanches. Of course he disagrees and further says, that if it does endanger climbers they should just shut off the mountain and only let people access the summit by paying to take a helicopter to the top.

What the hell is wrong with this world, why are we all so lazy and looking for the easy way to do everything. I told him if he ruled the country, he'd probably have a road built to the top. Feel free to chime in if anyone else has had frustrating experiences with people outside of the climbing community thinking they know it all and having great plans which would devastate the mountains as we know them today. I think my supervisor may be watching too much Bill O'Reilly.

I would endure him, then afterwards come here and post the details for our amusement . Or, next time, ask him to join you. Watching him squirm out of that would be worth the risk of him saying yes (and if he says yes, be nice and take him somewhere tame so he doesn't write you up afterwards...)

I had a friend who hiked with me on the local Phoenix-area "workout" peaks, but never anywhere outside the region. If I happened to be talking to someone about some peaks I had done elsewhere, he'd always butt in and proclaim how he'd beaten me to the top of such-n-such peak. Every single time, like it was his crowning achievement in life. Hell, everyone beats me to the top of the peaks.

I forgot to mention how he corrects me with terminology. This is my favorite.

He kept using the term cravaks when talking about "holes in the mountain". It took me a few seconds to understand he meant crevasses and I didn't want to get into the argument of whether they are in the mountain themselves or the glaciers on the mountain. He thinks they open up to the center of the earth. Anyways, I did not correct him since I understood what he meant. Later though when I was saying something to him and referenced crevasses, he stopped me and corrected me and told me that they are called cravaks. I tried to correct him but quickly realized he was having none of it because he remembered something he saw on tv one time and it was clearly referred to as a cravak.

I really do like the guy, he's very nice. He is just really misinformed on many things and it's frustrating when he holds his position as if he were a seasoned pro and knows so much about the mountains and climbing.

gwave47 wrote:I forgot to mention how he corrects me with terminology. This is my favorite.

He kept using the term cravaks when talking about "holes in the mountain". It took me a few seconds to understand he meant crevasses and I didn't want to get into the argument of whether they are in the mountain themselves or the glaciers on the mountain. He thinks they open up to the center of the earth. Anyways, I did not correct him since I understood what he meant. Later though when I was saying something to him and referenced crevasses, he stopped me and corrected me and told me that they are called cravaks. I tried to correct him but quickly realized he was having none of it because he remembered something he saw on tv one time and it was clearly referred to as a cravak.

I really do like the guy, he's very nice. He is just really misinformed on many things and it's frustrating when he holds his position as if he were a seasoned pro and knows so much about the mountains and climbing.

I forgot what a trip living in upstate South Carolina was.

I wonder what he would say if you were to loan him your copy of

Speaking of terminology, I very occasionally climb with a friend of a friend who, when talking about some of his (mostly guided) alpine adventures refers to the following features -

- coo-yar (umm, that's couloir)
- bergstrand (I keep trying to convince him it's bergSCHRUND)

Nice guy, asset to the community and all that

MikeTX wrote:

rhyang wrote:Speaking of terminology, I very occasionally climb with a friend of a friend who, when talking about some of his (mostly guided) alpine adventures refers to the following features -

- coo-yar (umm, that's couloir)
- bergstrand (I keep trying to convince him it's bergSCHRUND)

Nice guy, asset to the community and all that

most non-europeans have some trouble with those.

Not really. We have couloirs and bergschrunds here in California. There are glaciers on Shasta and in the Sierra Nevada. We have lots of mountain climbers here -- Andy Selters lives in Bishop.

Ah, yes .. texans and their quaint obscure dialects. One of my climbing buddies from the Republic of Tejas shows his colors every now and then

My point is that most decently experienced climbers I know pronounce 'couloir' and 'bergschrund' the same way. They want to avoid confusion -- it's about communication.

We also have a lot of europeans in the major CA population centers. If you go to a climbing gym in Silicon Valley you are likely to hear a lot of different languages being spoken.

The Chief wrote:

gwave47 wrote:I have a supervisor right now that is just driving me crazy. I think my supervisor may be watching too much Bill O'Reilly.

So the possibility that your boss watches O'Reilly and that it drives you crazy, is what you are trying to really say here, right?

Welcome back, Chief!

Bob Sihler wrote:

The Chief wrote:

gwave47 wrote:I have a supervisor right now that is just driving me crazy. I think my supervisor may be watching too much Bill O'Reilly.

So the possibility that your boss watches O'Reilly and that it drives you crazy, is what you are trying to really say here, right?

Welcome back, Chief!

Yes, Chief, welcome back!