dberdinka

Looking for anything that resembles a piton hammer with a snow/ice pick. One of those old Chouinard alpine hammers would be perfect (see pic below). But any sort of alpine hammer that's short and preferrably cheap would be great. Will see vigorous use. PM or email dberdinka AT gmail DOT com.

What are the techiques and tools of choice for removing the stubborn roots of small trees that fill a crack for long distances? Squamish climbers must have come up with some pretty good tricks by now? Cordless reciprocating saw? Something else?

funny money not accepted

New with tags! and box! Weighs...470 grams, fits a lot of foot sizes. Particularly good with AT boots. $135 retail. Yours for $105 or Best Offer. In Bellingham will ship for another $6 via Priority Mail. PM or e-mail at dberdinka AT gmail DOT com

Go open the picture in the gallery. Right click on the picture and select properties. Then highlight and copy the url. Paste the url in yuor post preceded by Make sure there are no spaces. Nice TR by the way

Great pics. One of the modern classics of the Cascades IMHO with great climbing, easy access, beautiful position and a really, really long season.

Forming Up on 9/28!

Move in with their children?

I find it entirely curious that after giving the bankers 700 1000 million dollars so that "the financial system can work again" the Fed turns around today and starts direct lending to all the companies that actually produce something of value in this country. Wait a sec? Was that sort of the critical role that banks were supposed to fill so as to avoid a depression? You know, meet payroll and all that? So if you're going to do their job WHY tf DID WE BAIL THEM OUT?

Nice photo Drew.

It was a bad bill that the taxpayer would have ultimately lost 100s of billions on. The Democrats should go back to the original Dodd proposal, which included real equity sharing to recupe the cost of the program, and pass it with out the help of Republicans.

Oops, MattP, someone I know. Well I hope you pass that kidney stone soon Hey. I think I was having that same discussion with that same person. He was claiming 5000+. I was thinking like a couple hundred tops. If you look at peaks with summit registers, which begs the question what percentage of climbers sign summit registers? I would think a majority of climbers sign summit registers including the internet illiterate ones. When GeneP and I climbed the Kearney Route on the NE Buttress of Castle Peak in 2005 we were the only party in the summit register to have climbed it since the register had been placed in 1999. (The peak apparently only sees ~1 ascent a year) Kearneys guidebook had already been published for 3-4 years I think, implying we were the first party to go do what looked like a brilliant climb? I was a bit surprised. In 2006 when I climbed Nooksack Tower in late season (end of August) we were the only entry for the year. The previous two entries were by climbers who posted TRs of those climbs on CC.com My point being, with the exception of a handful of very, very popular routes there seems to be very little traffic on what are very well known but "difficult" routes.

Albeit having not seen the AAJ it sounds like the author had a fair bit of sand in their vah-jay-jay. Who was it? It's an excellent question: How much is going on in the realm of new routes or notable repeats in the Cascades that does not get sprayed about on the internet? Do reports on CC.com equal 90% of the total or 50% or 10%? While CC.com might be populated by only a small segment of the general climbing community one would hope that the NWMJ would have broader appeal and would hence receive info from more folks. I mean come on it's in part created and maintained by the mountaineers. Yet the new route info there is not substantially different from what one finds on CC.com. I can think of one major FA this summer that went down in the pickets by one of these "older generation" climbers, but I've seen it mentioned on Alpinist already and I'm sure it will show up in the NWMJ potentially as a whole article. Furthermore having got a peek at the rough draft of the next edition of the Red Cascade Alpine Guide there does not appear to be any (or at least very few) new routes that haven't been sprayed about online. Is Fred part of the online spraybot crowd mysteriously insulated from all the active older generation hardmen? Ah but yes regardless you should definitely provide a bridge for information between the more reclusive climbers out there and the rest of us glued to our computer screens. I'. really curious to know what else is going on!

I find it hard to believe there is anything left to cut up in Center Creek unless they're harvesting slide alder.

Jesus Christ that whole f%$&ing thing was horrible. Almost makes me want G-Dubbya for another 4 wars. I thought Barry got PWNED by McCain but I was listening to it on the radio. Evidently to know who won a debate you're supposed to watch it on the TV with the volumne off.!?!

Matt please explain how.... Eliminating Capital Gains taxes Deregulating the industry even further! and Insuring against losses so that once agin profits are privatized and losses are socialized ....has any populist appeal! The Republicans aren't mad about the cost of the bailout plan , their mad that the plan doesn't let the banks keep the profits from taxpayer money! ...and... "the bush plan" is radically different from the "dodd plan" both in cost and pain inflicted on the industry.

Come on Sol where's the "Der Sportsman" TR?

I have read (I think on CR) that the investment banks held onto the "Super-senior" tranches and sold off all the "bottom" tranches as investments. The fact that the banks are now struggling with the value of the very best part of the securities implies the investors of the world absolutely lost their shirts. Bailout or not no ones going to be trusting the US Financial Industry anytime soon.

Worthless? Aren't the properties still there as collateral? If that is the case, even with dropping housing prices, there is still a real asset represented by those securities right? House prices have dropped at most ~40% in places like Florida/Vegas/Phoenix, but that means that 60% of the value of those assets is still real and attainable. Right? Please correct me if I'm wrong. My understanding is that... Each mortgage security was subdivided into pieces that were then sold. They are arranged in seniority as to how they get paid out. Those that pay out first are less risky and hence have a lower rate of return, those that get paid out last have higher risk and hence are given a higher return. If you get enough forclosures in the pool of mortgages the security is based on some of these pieces are going to receive very little in payout. They also created CDOs based on these mortgages. The only expanation you'll ever see for them is that no one understands them. As far as I can tell each CDO is an insurance contract of some sort that were used to bet on the rate of return of the underlying security. So there is no underlying asset on these things and evidently many of them aren't worth crap.

All great posts if a little lacking in details. Always wanted to go to the Needles. Got any more pics?

Completely agreed. But things like the Rezko deal point to a candidate who might not be as different from the same 'ole as he tends to portray himself.

He's off to a great start: Tony Rezco William Ayers ACORN The William Ayers thing is friggin stupid. Smacks of desperation by those who spread it. The Tony Rezco/real estate story is truly disturbing. While there does not appear to have been actual favors traded by Obama what the fuck was he thinking? Obama wants the house but the seller will only sell it bundled with a neighboring piece of property. So Obama finds a buyer (Rezcos wife) and both lots are sold on the same day. Later Rezco's wife sells Obama 1/4 of the property for a 1/4 of the purchase price. For a lawn? WTF? So nothing was given away but Rezco did a great big favor Obama. In exchange for what? I'm an Obama supporter but this one more reason why that support is somewhat tepid.

No where to hide on the route! Glad you're OK, maybe Sasquatch wasn't happy with your presence?

If this isn't the pot calling the kettle black...