Thursday, January 14, 2016

Climbing and Outdoor News from Here and Abroad - 1/14/16

Northwest:

--A small group of skiers skied off the top of Mt. Si recently. This may not seem that astonishing, but the mountain is capped by a tower of rock...which they skied. To read more, click here.

--People everywhere have really gotten into bouldering. This is a bit outside the focus or our blog, but it does provide great training for longer routes and the mountains. Here is a link to info about a new bouldering guidebook for Western Washington that is currently under development. Also, the following video is really well done and will get you psyched for the sport:



--American Alpine Institute Guide Like Liz Scholarship applications are due on January, 31, 2016.

Sierra:


--A rockfall occurred above the El Portal Road (Highway 140) at approximately 5:45 tin the morning on Thursday, January 7, 2016. Due to the rockfall, the El Portal Road (Highway 140) is closed from the park boundary in El Portal to the junction of El Portal Road/Big Oak Flat Road (Highways 140/120). The road will remain closed as park crews assess the situation. There is no estimated time for reopening. To read more, click here.

Desert Southwest:

--The remains of a man police believe shot and wounded a state park ranger in 2010 and eluded more than 100 officers in a desert manhunt have been found, authorities said. Skeletal remains believed to be those of Lance Leeroy Arellano were discovered Thursday in a narrow cave near Moab, the Grand County Sheriff's Office said in a press release. Arellano was 40 when he disappeared. To read more, click here.


--The best climbing festival of the year is now accepting registrations. Red Rock Rendezvous will run from April 1-3. Come on out to Vegas and get your climb on! To read more, click here.

--A spike in radiation levels in soil around an active uranium mine just a few miles north of Grand Canyon National Park has led the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) to suspend air pollution permit renewal applications for three uranium mines. All three mines are located on public lands near the park popular with campers and hunters. To read more, click here.

--A report released this week by the Interior Department’s inspector general revealed a years-long pattern of sexual misconduct on Grand Canyon river trips conducted by National Park Service boatmen, contractors, and other federal employees. The report, spurred by a letter sent by 13 alleged victims to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, cited some 35 incidents spanning 15 years. And though it doesn’t name the subjects of its investigation, the report focused on three former and one current Park Service employees, identifying them only as Boatman 1, Boatman 2, Boatman 3, and Supervisor 1. To read more, click here.

--Looking for a summer internship in Zion National Park...? Click here.

Colorado:

--Richard Wright, a prolific Colorado new-route and crag developer, passed away January 4 after three years of fighting mantle cell lymphoma. Wright developed countless new routes along the Front Range of Colorado, and was a pioneer in the Rifle area. To read more, click here.

--A backcountry skier was rescued in the Sugar Bowls area Monday evening, according to the Pitkin County Sheriff's Office. Around 5 p.m., a skier called the Pitkin County Regional Emergency Dispatch Center because she was stuck in the Sugar Bowls area after experiencing an equipment problem. The skier left the Buttermilk Ski Area after hours to ski alone in the Sugar Bowls and reported that she was cold, weak, tired and unable to move. To read more, click here.

--People skinning up inside Aspen Mountain Ski Resort are making it difficult for snow cat drivers. To read more, click here.

--Skier visits at 21 Colorado mountain resorts were up 10 percent during the first two months of the ski season compared to a year earlier, Colorado Ski Country USA reported Tuesday, with its CEO citing "some well-timed storms" early in the season. To read more, click here.

--Climbing magazine is looking for a digital intern.

--Despite the armed takeover of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon, voters in the Rocky Mountain West still strongly support keeping their public lands in federal hands, according to the latest version of a bipartisan conservation poll. “These findings show us the Bundy family and the politicians who sympathize with them are far out of touch with most people in the West,” said former U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who participated in Monday’s Colorado College conference call on the annual Conservation in the West poll. “What Westerners are actually concerned about is drought, water scarcity and climate change.” To read more, click here.

Notes from All Over:

--A 30-year-old Calgary man limped away with a knee injury this week after an avalanche swept him and his friend down a steep gully in Canada's Banff National Park. To read more, click here.

--The following video is bound to give you nightmares for weeks, or maybe longer. A massive western rat snake slithered down the wall, down the anchor and down a climber's leg in West Virginia's Seneca Rocks recently. To read more, click here. To see a video that will give you the heebee jebies, click below.



--Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort wants two chairlifts and a zip line on property it owns in American Fork Canyon. Located north of Tibble Fork Reservoir in the canyon, some of the area is owned by the resort company. Based in Little Cottonwood Canyon in Salt Lake County, Snowbird shares a common ridgeline in the Wasatch mountain range with its American Fork property in Utah County. To read more, click here.

--Here's a cool concept. A new website is promoting outdoor company start-ups with GIVE-AWAYS. They are primarily promoting mom-and-pop style companies that build and market their own gear. To learn more about the website (reddyyetti.com), click here.

--Colin Haley and Andy Wyatt, both from the United States, have completed the first known one-day “car to car” ascent of Cerro Fitz Roy in Patagonia. To read more, click here.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for your comment. An administrator will post your comment after he/she moderates it.