Future of Hillwalking

On Fri, 3 Feb 2006 18:48:35 +0000 (UTC), Chris Malcolm
<[email hidden]> wrote:

|http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v439/n7076/full/439632a.html

LOL You can't get at it without subscribing.
Perhaps they are going back to the bad old days before Right to Roam ;o)
--
Dave Fawthrop <dave hyphenologist co uk> Please quote, with quote
character, previous post sniped to only the bit you are replying to.
Threads often contain 100s of posts dozens layers deep. Other people
use different newsreaders, they do not see or do what you see and do.

Dave Fawthrop said:

On Fri, 3 Feb 2006 18:48:35 +0000 (UTC), Chris Malcolm
<[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

|http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v439/n7076/full/439632a.html

Quoted message said:

LOL You can't get at it without subscribing.

Apologies. Here's a few snippets for educational purposes.

"Next came the diagnostics for her thermal underwear. Dutifully, she
checked batteries -- not that she'd be likely to need them. So long
as she kept moving, the piezoelectric fabric would draw enough power
from her body motion for the demon-pores to do their thing. That odd
name, if she remembered correctly, had something to do with a guy
named Maxwell. Powered by the combo of piezoelectrics, batteries and a
solar-web knitted into her parka, the Maxwell filters would keep her
warm by separating 'hot' air molecules from 'cold' ones. Turn them up
too high, and you could cook yourself in Antarctica."

"At last, when she'd swallowed the pills that increased her blood's
affinity for oxygen, the tent agreed she was ready. A door formed from
an invisible seam, the overpressure soughed out, and she slipped
through behind it. Nearby, other climbers were emerging from their
tents. Some were in pairs or trios, but most, like Courtney, were
solo. She pushed the stud that extruded the crampons from her
chemically heated boots, clipped onto the monofilament rope that led
all the way to the summit, dialled her oxygen to max, and started to
climb. She was in good shape, and with plenty of oxygen, no worries
about getting cold and no way to fall off, Everest wasn't really all
that much tougher than Ben Nevis."

"An hour later, she passed a group of purists."

" ... rather than wearing lightweight powersuits, they were bundled
like puffballs giant moving slowly, perhaps because of all that
clothing, but more likely because they'd chosen some form of archaic
equipment that didn't generate enough oxygen. Nor were they clipped
onto the monofilament. Instead, they carried their own rope as they
trudged slowly upward."

"Whisking by them as if they were standing still, Courtney couldn't
think of anything to say, so she contented herself with a polite
nod. She'd never understood such people. It was just a hike. Why make
it tougher than it had to be?"

--
Chris Malcolm [email hidden] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

Chris Malcolm <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Dave Fawthrop said:

On Fri, 3 Feb 2006 18:48:35 +0000 (UTC), Chris Malcolm
<[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

|http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v439/n7076/full/439632a.html

Quoted message said:

LOL You can't get at it without subscribing.

Apologies. Here's a few snippets for educational purposes.

"Next came the diagnostics for her thermal underwear. Dutifully, she
checked batteries -- not that she'd be likely to need them. So long
as she kept moving, the piezoelectric fabric would draw enough power
from her body motion for the demon-pores to do their thing. That odd
name, if she remembered correctly, had something to do with a guy
named Maxwell. Powered by the combo of piezoelectrics, batteries and a
solar-web knitted into her parka, the Maxwell filters would keep her
warm by separating 'hot' air molecules from 'cold' ones. Turn them up
too high, and you could cook yourself in Antarctica."

<Snip>
Hilarious! But someone told me that Maplin are doing a battery
heated body-warmer.
They didn't mention the size of the battery.
--
Gordon Harris

On Wed, 8 Feb 2006 20:07:45 +0000, Gordon <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Hilarious! But someone told me that Maplin are doing a battery
heated body-warmer.
They didn't mention the size of the battery.

I forgo the electricity stage and have rust powered toe warmers when
driving my cabless tractor in the cold! They actually work for about
six hours.

AJH

Chris Malcolm said:

It was just a hike. Why make
it tougher than it had to be?"

I quite agree. Where can I buy these oxygen pills?

Paul