# My effort to attone **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 27, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-effort-to-attone/157926 "2003-02-27T17:34:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ClawsOfCatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/87869e/32.png) [@ClawsOfCatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClawsOfCatt)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-effort-to-attone/157926/1 "2003-02-27T17:34:43Z")
Greetings. I am a newbie here. I was just taken to task in the BBQ Pit for not having enough variety in my first ten posts. The thread is _Say Hello to our newest OTP-ClawsofCatt!_\* [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=165835](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=165835) In an effort to attone, and to sufficiently diversify my posts, I would like to share excerpts from a book I am reading: “Fatal Mountaineer: The High-Altitude Life and Death of Willi Unsoeld, American Himalayan Legend,” by Robert Roper, St. Martin’s Griffin, New York. I have selected excerpts I think will be of particular interest to this board. > [@](#): > > The descent is almost fatal to (Peter) Lev, who finds himself midway down swinging loose on an unanchored rope. “It was desperate,” he said, "only my prusik (a safety knot) saved me… I pendulumed twenty feet or more, over and over, trying to get my boot up onto a ledge, which was iced. I hadn’t put my crampons on … I shat my pants. (page 260) > [@](#): > > “Willi was going last now … The two packs were very heavy … The harness that he was sitting in … was squeezing the very life out of him (He) looked fifteen feet below where Andy and Pete stood on a ledge looking up. ‘Help me, Andy,’ he begs, but there’s nothing Andy or Peter can do. > “In a few minutes he would be dead,” Leamer writes. His bowels let loose.” (page 261) > [@](#): > > Lying in my bag, at last at some kind of rest, there was a sharp jabbing pain in my calf. I thought, ‘This is it – thrombophlebitis.’ I reached down to my calf and felt this small, incredibly hard object inside my pants leg. It was a frozen turn, from my desparate moment on the Buttress. (page 262) There. I hope this helps. ---
**Author:** ![ClawsOfCatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/87869e/32.png) [@ClawsOfCatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClawsOfCatt)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-effort-to-attone/157926/2 "2003-02-27T17:37:01Z")
I messed up the good part on that last quote. > [@](#): > > Lying in my bag, at last at some kind of rest, there was a sharp jabbing pain in my calf. I thought, ‘This is it – thrombophlebitis.’ I reached down to my calf and felt this small, incredibly hard object inside my pants leg. It was a frozen turd, from my desparate moment on the Buttress. (page 262) ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-effort-to-attone/157926/3 "2003-02-27T17:51:04Z")
Ever crap your Buttress? ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-effort-to-attone/157926/4 "2003-02-27T17:51:58Z")
Ooh, clever. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-effort-to-attone/157926/5 "2003-02-27T17:54:45Z")
(Sorry, lieu, I was aiming for the vaunted #3 post myself 🙂 ). ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-effort-to-attone/157926/6 "2003-02-27T18:07:32Z")
Sorry, **ClawsOfCatt** , wrong forum. The nail-biting tension apparent in the passages you quote disqualifies them from being **mundane**. And the fact that you started the thread for an actual _reason_ means that it’s not really **pointless**. But thank you for **sharing**. I do hope you will take the above in the playful spirit in which it was intended. Welcome to the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-effort-to-attone/157926/7 "2003-02-28T06:10:36Z")
Should I correct her spelling, or would that be piling on an already persecuted newbie? I can’t believe we are wasting valuable hamster energy with this… ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-effort-to-attone/157926/8 "2003-02-28T07:50:07Z")
At least it wasn’t a “Tenth Post Party!” thread;) ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-effort-to-attone/157926/9 "2003-03-01T04:58:52Z")
Sounds like they need to start marketing a “Depends for Mountaineers” type product. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-effort-to-attone/157926/10 "2003-03-01T05:12:57Z")
Hi **Claws**! Howyadoin? How’s that for “a waste of bandwidth”? ---
**Author:** ![ClawsOfCatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/87869e/32.png) [@ClawsOfCatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClawsOfCatt)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-effort-to-attone/157926/11 "2003-03-02T21:52:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kaylasdad99 \* > \*\*Sorry, **ClawsOfCatt** , wrong forum. The nail-biting tension apparent in the passages you quote disqualifies them from being **mundane**. And the fact that you started the thread for an actual _reason_ means that it’s not really **pointless**. But thank you for **sharing**. > > I do hope you will take the above in the playful spirit in which it was intended. Welcome to the SDMB. \*\* Thanks, kaylasdad99 ---
**Author:** ![Davebear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Davebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Davebear)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-effort-to-attone/157926/12 "2003-03-02T23:32:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ClawsOfCatt \* > \*\*Greetings. I am a newbie here. \*\* Me, too. But, welcome! 🙂 > [@](#): > > **I was just taken to task in the BBQ Pit for not having enough variety in my first ten posts.** Wow! I thought this board was dedicated to “Fighting Ignorance…” I guess that kind of ignorance is okay? It’s just sad that these people don’t have anything better to do than berate someone for not amusing them sufficiently. (I followed the link and read enough to get the gist…and an unclean feeling. I didn’t follow the links from there to your posts, because the flamer didn’t seem to have an issue with the content; only the similarity.) Unfortunately, it’s been common on almost every board I’ve been on over the past 20 years, or so, for long-timers to belittle newbies. I guess it’s the only way they can feel superior. Anyway, while I haven’t happened across any of your previous posts, don’t let anyone make you feel like you have to post what they want you to post. Just ignore them, and they’ll eventually leave you alone and go back to pulling the wings off flies or find someone else to victimize. As a side note, your username reminded me a woman I used to know, called Kat, who had very long claws of her own.