eldiente

Wrong. The economy only recovered after the War Machine revitalized it. Nice try though. Why didi WWII bring us out of the depression? Oh yeah, massive government spending,huge deficits, large government project (ships, tanks etc) and a huge increase in the the number of people hired by the government (army) People always like to us WWII as proof that the New Deal didn't work and that only the war turned things around. The New Deal wasn't big enough, it took a real crisis (war) and really massive government spending (war) to end the depression. So KKK, if you think WWII ended the Great Depression, your really arguing that what we need right now is more government spending?

Maybe there should be a list for everyone that has gone up Outer Space?

Freddie Mac was actually a very conservative lender. Most of their loans required 20% down for a house and required good credit scores.

Your quoting Young Republicans of New York? What all three of them from Buffalo? I'l try anything once. For the last 6 years we tried lower taxes on the wealthy, that was a disaster, even the wealthy people ended up hurting. Take a look at this link. http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/02/clinton-economic-record-and-rising.html During the Clinton years, the rich were taxed heavily yet they still made more money (in relation to inflation) than they ever did during Regan/ Bush years. Also note that during this time where we were taxing the rich heavily, the poor folks actually did better for themselves too. During the Bush years, taxes went down, and the rich ended up doing very poorly as did the lower class. Draw your own conclusions but in the last 30 years, cutting taxes for rich folks hasn't helped anyone, including the rich. -Nate

I fully support them going out of business. Yes, a lot of people will lose their jobs, a lot of those people happen to work in swing states that you have to carry to win a national election (off topic) These loans can put off bankruptcy for a few months but there is no hope for recovery for these giants. It would be the same if the government started pumping billions into the VHS industry, no matter what they do nobody wants to buy VHS.

My 2cents says do it in a day and leave all the crap back at camp. How does an average climber do the route in a day? Here is the "easy" way to do it, takes a bit more time but makes for a nice outing if your like me an hate climbing with a heavy pack and don't like walking around in the dark. 1.) Go early season when there the Sherpa Glacier is still in. Day 1. Hike in via Mountaineers Creek Hike is about 6 miles with some mild bushwhacking,enjoy the walk, sniff flowers, take a few pictures. Set-up camp at the base of the N. Ridge, scope out the descent cook a good dinner. Day 2. Get up early, climb the lower Ridge. (sometimes called complete N.Ridge) OR trudge up the Stuart Glacier and go up the notch to join the Upper N. Ridge. Summit with daylight left and start moving down the Sherpa Glacier back to base camp. Hike out to car if you still have energy. Or do a third day. Day 3.) Sleep-in at base camp, pack-up, hike out to car. Yes, this makes this a full 3 day outing for one route. On the plus side you'll be climbing light and doing it with a good night's rest. Double Plus, you'll be camping in a beautiful spot. (no permit required) Base Camp Gear. Tent, beer, all the comforts of home. Bugs are bad there, they could kill you without a tent. Route Gear. Approach shoes, (boots are too heavy) light crampons for Sherpa descent and axe. Small stove and pot to melt water at the notch. No bivy gear, bring a jacket and plan on topping out before it gets dark. You'll be less tired because your not hauling heavy bivy gear. Rack. Small rope, 60M x9mm would be fine but 30M of 8mm would be great for cutting weight. Depending on much simuling you do, I'd bring double set of cams up to a #2, single #3 and #4 and a couple of nuts. For this style of climbing I like to bring a lot of extra cams so I can do long blocks without re-racking, cams weight more but are worth the weight as they are so fast to clean. Comfy rock shoes.

That's lame. I've often wondered if is safe to leave gear up there. Maybe leaving a note on the gear would have helped? (probably not) When stuff like this happens, you always wonder what the thieve was thinking. How did he/she know when you were coming back? Can you imagine the situation where you you bump into the thief as they are walking out the door with you gear? That could be ugly when the victim has ice tools in hand.

I'm not sure you could even get bolts to stick in that crap. I tried to free climb the first pitch of some route out there years ago and it was like ice climbing on mushy snow. You grab a hold and it would gradually start to compact and slide down until you quickly grabbed another hold and repeat. Too bad, as it is a nice looking wall.

It had always been a great mystery to me. I've always assumed the bolt chopper was a non-climber, maybe a local land-owner or some folks from the Bible School. It would make no sense for a climber to chop anchors from an established route, especially at a dirty crag like that. I'd give $$$ to find out who this person(s) is. PM me for your reward.

For what it is worth. I've replaced the same set of rap anchors twice out there, only to see them get chopped within a day. This anchor has been chopped a few times already, there is at lest 8 holes there now and a mess of a epoxy to boot. Who is chopping all these anchors? I replaced the bolts as I was getting tired of rigging long static lines to trees and wanted to make it a bit safer getting to the edge. Oddly enough, there is one bolt for an anchor there (old) and whoever chops the new anchors always leaves this one behind.

At least not down in Australia.

Myself and Winter climbed some very nice ice on the shoulder of the Spur on Saturday. Very good stuff there, fat maybe 5-6 different flows in good condition ready to be climbed. N.Face looked good with the gullies having obvious flows coming down. Everything is either blue ice or rock hard neve. There was a bit of small rockfall coming down the Spur, mostly from the wind. No signs of icefall, very cold which helps. We met a party going up the N.Face on Sunday (Collin?) They might be able to give you some beta. Copper Spur Ice

We (Chris and myself) ran into a pair of climbers at the Tilly Jane cabin on Saturday night. I forgot your name, but we swapped a bit of notes before heading back down to the car. I was just curious to see how your climb went on Sunday, looked like you had good conditions for it. (Thanks for the Whiskey too!) -Nate

Yeah I use to go up Vomit Launch with no stick-clip. Then all of the sudden that starting foothold started feeling really slick the last few times up it, so I wussed and grabbed the dead tree stick clip up there and used it. The fall is very short but onto some nasty rocks and a long roll down the hill.

Huh? What sort of joke is this?

I've wanted one every so often, and I have to admit I've used make-shift clip sticks from branches for a few routes (Vomit Launch comes to mind) Overall I'd say no, it just isn't a fun way to climb. Feels whacky. Also, if the landing is decent (ie not huge boulders) it is kinda fun to treat the opening moves like a bouldering problem. I'd prefer to drag a crash pad with me rather than a clip stick. Plus, if I'm really having problems making the moves to the first bolt, the route is probably not going to happen no matter what sort of tricks I use.

Remove them

[ I'm basically just trying to figure out what would be substantially different between doing it at the Bat Wall and doing it on one of the Fremont Bridge pillars besides a shorter walk... ] Funny as I've always though those would make good gym routes, bolt on some holds, install bolts and climb. No joke, I bet some of those pillars are 30M+ tall and even have overhanging finishes.

Again, I'll say that this has nothing to do with climbing, bolting, ethic, trad or the usual things we yap about. This is just simply a case of some people leaving behind a bunch of metal junk that is of no use to anyone (climber or non-climber) and it should be viewed as litter.

Oh and btw Crimper you have plate numbers or anything about their car? I'd be in favor of calling the cops on this and/or drowning them in the river.

Sounds like they may be non-climbers, like the sport rappelers you'd see every so often back in the Midwest. This isn't bolt vs no-bolts, this is just someone out vandalizing the rock. No different than if someone went out there and bolted a metal staircase to the wall or cut a tree down to practice using their chainsaw. Could you report them to the cops or the Park Ranger? It might be good to let the Ranger know that this was not climbers, just some red-necks testing out their new drill. -Nate

Practice bolt ladder? Huh? Why? Even if your a total rookie, surely you could go down to Classic crack or any of the other cracks around town and practice aiding. If your really green and don't trust your bomber cam placements, drop a TR down classic crack and aid with a fixed rope on you. Ethics aside, who the hell has the time/motivation to go through all that trouble to fix bolts that they themselves will probably only use once? Who are these people? If you know to place a bolt, surely you'd know how pointless a practice aid ladder is. -Nate

These are good friends and many PDX climbers know them. This is sad beyond belief.

Anyone been up to Beacon lately? How's the wind? Looks dry enough but I'm seeing reports of strong winds up there. Anyone going to brave the cold and do it this weekend? -Nate

Any updates from this week yet? I was up there on Saturday and it was solid ice on Palmer, horrible skiing. Any chance it will thaw out and offer some Spring skiing in the next few days? -Nate