Thursday, December 10, 2015

Climbing and Outdoor News from Here and Abroad - 12/10/15

Northwest:

--There was a full avalanche burial just outside of Stevens Pass this week. The victim was dug out safely. To read more, click here. Following is a video about the incident:



--The U.S. Forest Service is hiring 1,000 temporary spring and summer jobs in Oregon and Washington, the federal agency announced last week. Applications will be accepted from Nov. 30 to Dec. 7, with positions in fields including fire, recreation, natural resources, timber, engineering, visitor services and archaeology. To read more, click here.

--Canada is currently considering a proposal that would connect several provincial parks, creating a new national park. The new park would connect Manning, Cathedral, Skaha and Okanagan Mountain Provincial Parks into one National Park called The South Okanagan-Similkameen National. Twenty years ago, 3,000 people visited Skaha Provincial Park and last year over 50,000 visited. To read more, click here.

--A group formed in the wake of an Oregon Supreme Court decision opening the door to liability lawsuits against recreation businesses will be holding a public meeting in Bend on Monday. The Oregon Big Tent Recreation Coalition was formed following a ruling by the court in the case of Bagley v. Mt. Bachelor. In 2006, 18-year-old Myles Bagley was paralyzed when he crashed while jumping in a terrain park at the ski area. Bagley sued seeking $21.5 million, but the Deschutes County Circuit Court and the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that by signing a liability release when he bought his season pass, Bagley had waived his right to sue. To read more, click here.

Desert Southwest:

--Utah's newest ski resort is set to open on December 21st. The Cherry Peak will open or the very first time. To read more, click here.

Colorado:

--Gerald Groswold, the Fraser Valley ski pioneer, passed away on Thanksgiving, just a year after Colorado's governor declared Nov. 15 as "Gerald F. Groswold Day." He founded the famed National Sports Center for the Disabled at Winter Park, the resort he helmed from 1975 to 1997. He opened Mary Jane in 1979, one of the state's largest resort expansions ever. Groswold helped form Colorado ski policy and served on more than a dozen boards that shaped the modern day resort industry. The Grand Foundation, which he founded in 1996, has distributed more than $6 million in the Grand County community. To read more, click here.

--Will Gadd may be getting older, but he's still got it. The renowned mixed climber sent an M14- this week at the Vail amphitheater. To read more, click here.

Notes from All Over:

--A nine-year-old girl who was found unconscious at Nakiska Ski Resort on Sunday has died. RCMP  and Alberta Alpine confirmed her death on Tuesday. She was a member of the U10+ Mt. Allen Ski Team and was skiing with her group on the Homesteader run at the resort in Kananaskis Country, west of Calgary, when it is believed she lost control and hit a tree off the main trail, according to Alberta Alpine. To read more, click here.

--Douglas Tompkins, a noted conservationist and the founder of the clothing brands North Face and Esprit, died on Tuesday after a kayaking accident on General Carrera Lake in the Patagonia region of southern Chile. He was 72. To read more, click here.

--Virtually every Western (and European) ski resort has a canine staff, a team of highly trained rescue dogs who use their speed, on snow agility and incredible sense of smell to locate buried avalanche victims faster than any known alternative. It is believed that one dog and its handler can do the job of 150 trained human searchers in the same amount of time. For much of skiing history, this canine safety net has been hidden behind the scenes, but resorts have given them an increasingly public persona in recent years – and guests love them. To read more, click here.

--There's an awesome new app out that helps you find phone service and allows you to send overdue notices. Check out the Facebook page for Cairn.

--A jury will hear arguments in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of a German exchange student who fell head first into a pocket of loose snow while skiing at Whitefish Mountain Resort in Montana, a federal judge has ruled. To read more, click here.

--It appears that there is a move in Wyoming to remove grizzly bears from the endangered species list. Experts believe that this will lead to an immediate population decline. To read more, click here.

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