Letters - Fall 2014

Letters from O/B readers.

Sick of Skate Skiers
Can you use your powers of the pen to stop the proliferation of the annoying trend of skate skiers on roads? You know the ones I mean—the spandex-clad, middle-aged activists who can’t wait for cross-country ski season, so they take to scenic streets in rollerblades and trekking poles to occupy three times the space of a runner or cyclist as they tack like a sailboat, stabbing asphalt with steel tips. They’re more annoying than the cafe-latte-crowd cyclists who ride line abreast in low-visibility lanes and refuse to make room for vehicles because they’re too busy saving the world and chatting about it amongst themselves. Please sick Gramps on them.—Willy Jasox 

*Sent and not spell-checked from my iPhone while crossing a busy street on my long-haul trekker bicycle.

Duly noted, Willy; when it comes to battling spandex, smugness, and trendiness, count us in. Check out the (somewhat) less obtrusive rollerblade hunters article—if we’re lucky, turf wars will break out, and these well-armed weekend warriors will oust the uppity drylanders.

Doubtful Doctor
I am troubled by the article “Get Higher” in the Summer 2014 issue. It is filled with misinformation. The author does not understand physics or physiology, and as a result, some of his recommendations are naive and dangerous.—Larry G. Leonard, M.D.

We reviewed the article, Larry, and the only errors we can find are 1) in the author’s explanation of the oxygen content of air—which does not, in fact, change with altitude, but does change in terms of how much oxygen the body receives, due to changes in air pressure and thus available oxygen molecules in a given volume; and 2) in the recommendation to descend a minimum of 1,000 feet upon feeling altitude-sickness symptoms, which should have specified its applicability to Montana’s mountains—at higher elevations, additional descent may be required.

Pull Out the Pimp
Your “Pimpin’ the Pocket Guide” contest in the MSU Pocket Guide is a disgrace. Making light of forced, violent, sexual objectification is shameful. And considering that one in five women in this country is sexually assaulted in college, your targeting of students with this little stunt is not only distasteful, but disgusting. It’s not cool and it’s not cute. Outside Bozeman has always had undertones of sexist elitism and your student “pimpin’” only makes you look further uneducated, privileged, and out of touch. Please, stick to the out-of-doors outside Bozeman and leave the sexism and the selling of such to the rest of the media. Thank you.—Nicholas Hagan

Sorry, Nick, our sensitivity manager quit last issue, after we asked her to pimp out the O/B delivery truck. You seem to have lots of time on your hands… maybe you could come up with a better name for the contest?

Does Snot Approve
Greetings—and I’ll get right to the point. Having followed, and enjoyed, your publication from your beginnings, I was shocked and chagrined to see this picture and article in your Spring 2014 publication (“Snot Rocket Snafu"). I have appreciated the quality and good taste which your magazine has contained—as well as all the information and attractive ads, etc. This article makes me sooo sad. It’s so crude.—Jessie Nelson

Point taken, Jessie—boogers, and stories about boogers, are best avoided in polite company. But the article was so darn funny, and so well-written, we just had to make an exception. Like that hilarious off-color joke at a dinner party—sometimes you just gotta go for it.