A question I get quite often from Easterners: Who's John Muir?

winemanvan wrote:A question I get quite often from Easterners: Who's John Muir?

maybe it's a trick question?

jvarholak wrote:"are you gonna drink that beer?"

good one. I don't get annoyed for being questioned by hikers - being inquisitive is a good thing, IMO. know-it-all ignorant smart alecs are the worst.

jfrishmanIII wrote:A good exchange I overheard here in Santa Fe ran:

Customer: "What's the elevation here?"
Waitress: "About 7,000 feet."
Customer: "Is that year-round?"

We get something similar--"What's the elevation of Anchorage?" Usually asked while gazing across the tidal flats ...

While riding up the tram on San Jacinto in late winter, a lady simply asked, "Is that real snow?" (Snow was everywhere)

Another good question was whether my backpack turned into a tent when I told her I was staying up overnight.

Ok - not necessarily from someone stupid but someone who had to talk incessantly to fill the dead air space and never thought about what he was asking ... during a slideshow on my Denali climb - specifically looking at the slides of the Kahiltna Glacier Airstrip Base Camp ...

1. How much water did you need to bring in? Uh ... none
2. Do you sit around a campfire at night? Uh ... do you see any trees?

I try to be pleasant and always abide by the policy that there is never a stupid question but WTF???

Oh and my favorite non-climbing question (stolen from the original Pink Panther movies)


"Ahem Sir, does your dog bite?"
"No"
Snarling, gnashing teeth, blood curtling scream ... "I thought you said your dog didn't bite?"
"That's not my dog."

Here's one:

What kinds of questions do stupid people ask?

I got this one once - "Hey, should I eat my sandwich?"

Only if you're hungry dude.

Fletch wrote:

Ejnar Fjerdingstad wrote:

Fletch wrote:My beautiful, loving, and smart wife (who has a PhD from UCLA) asked me while hiking in New Zealand, "Does the sun still set in the west down here?"

I said "No honey. It sets wherever you want it to..."

I take it the Ph.D. is not in astronomy?

Yep... not even close... she also asked me that same trip, "do birds arms ever get tired?"

I said, "you mean their wings?" - she had had a few glasses of wine at that point though...

Well, that's not so bad, comparative anatomically speaking wings are arms (or forelegs). And yes, like every body else, birds get tired too.

I was getting my haircut this afternoon.

I mentioned to the hairdresser that I just came back from Alaska and how beautiful it was.

She replied, "did you see people there?"

Have you climbed Mt. Himalaya?

Haha, nice one. My personal favorite occurred when belaying a friend on a particularly difficult slab route in Squamish. He was stuck at the crux move, and yelled down to me: "Where should I go?".

Simple answer was "Up!".

Not exactly a stupid question, but true nonetheless.

Just happened last week:

A confused dayhiker well off the trail and wandering around aimlessly.

Me: So where are you headed?

Him: I don't know. I've never been up here before...

(Oh wait---maybe I'm the one asking the stupid question.)

Jeff M wrote:Just happened last week:

A confused dayhiker well off the trail and wandering around aimlessly.

Me: So where are you headed?

Him: I don't know. I've never been up here before...

(Oh wait---maybe I'm the one asking the stupid question.)

Excellent!