So, Mayor Kiss, of Burlington, Vermont, USA, decides that the 86 percent of tax payers that voted to change the empty, decommissioned power plant into a park were wrong. Mayor Kiss decides that turning the building and the grounds it stands on into a commercial facility is more financially intelligent for the city. Why is this relevant at all?

In the October 1 NewsWire there was some discussion about Mt. Mahindra. Number three above is the ascent line that was made by Kopold and Stefansky in 2003, which obviously shows that they did not make it to the top of the peak. This picture was published in the magazine Jamesak.

Here is the other side of Iapetus, one of Saturn's moons. If you go to saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and ciclops.org, you can check out hi-res images (so you can zoom in to the point where you can route find!) and get more information.

Having just read Marko Prezelj's article, "Based on a True Story" in Alpinist 21, I have to say that I am disappointed. While few people would deny that Prezelj is one of the most accomplished climbers in the world today, and that he had a mind-boggling year in 2006, I put down the issue with a bad taste in my mouth.

Though slightly sensationalized, as most news tends to be, this article does point out something that seems to dovetail rather well with yesterday's Mont Blanc Thermometer Blog. Climate change, whatever the causes, is becoming more and more obvious in relation to our favorite pastimes.

The Mont Blanc Massif's enormous expanse, divided into three separate nations, is completely free of protected status. Pro Mont Blanc aims to change that. But first they need to find out what's going on in the region. Thus, they're created the The Mont Blanc Thermometer...

Supported by a grant from Mountain Hardwear, Pat Goodman and Dave Sharratt and I left home on August 7th bound for the Miyar Nala in India's Himachael Pradesh. This broad, pastoral valley provides access to a series of glacier systems offering impressive rock walls and ridges to summits up to around 6,000 meters...

On Dec. 4th, 2006 Christine Boskoff, owner of Mountain Madness and AMGA member, and her climbing partner Charlie Fowler, one of the original AMGA examiners, were scheduled to return from a personal climbing adventure on Genyn Peak, Sichuan Province, China. Charlie's body was found at the base of the north face, where he was laid to rest by an apparent avalanche. The body of Christine was discovered seven months later on July 3, 2007 around the same height as Charlie. The pair were likely caught in a fatal avalanche on the peak in November of 2006.

The other night I got one of those texts that you can tell was written by someone so excited they could hardly hold a mobile phone in their hand. It was Kevin Shields enthusing to me that he had just soloed Fast + Furious in Birnam Quarry.

"At last. Everest has finally been conquered by the Nude Mountaineering Society."

I live in Malaga in Southern Spain, not so close to the Alps, but on September 11, I received notice of good conditions and weather on the way. I had to work that day, reached home at 21:00, gathered my gear, and hopped a plane in Barcelona. I met my partner Manu at 02:00 on the 12th, then drove all night, reaching Chamonix at 12:00.

Alpinist's first Weekly Feature, "1931 Exum Ridge Video," states that the third ascent of the Exum Ridge was made by Paul Petzoldt, George L. Waters III (the cinematographer), Walcott Watson, H.M. Sherman, Chas. E. Logan and a Mr. Lasky of San Francisco. With help from www.tetonclimbinghistory.com and Renny Jackson, NPS employee and co-author of A Climber's Guide to the Teton Range, we discovered that this group made the fourth ascent, not the third. The 1931 newspaper clipping, which is excepted in the Weekly Feature, and other period sources had failed to realize that the second ascent was made by Paul Petzoldt, who soloed the Exum Ridge on the same day that Glenn Exum first climbed that famous route. In doing so, Jackson said, they had neglected "an important piece of Teton climbing history."

Michael Kennedy marries Alpinist editor Christian Beckwith to Giovannina Anthony south of Wilson Wyo., Sept. 22, 2007.

The Russian Team that climbed Shingu Charpa's east face sends these photographs and topos of the route.

Alpinauts? Astroneers? The Cassini probe just returned this photo of Iapetus. Let's hope we get there someday—that ridge looks awesome.