Climbing and Outdoor News from Here and Abroad - 9/26/19

Climate Crisis:

--The title from this Daily Chronicle article says it all: "Shorter Ski Seasons, Worsening Wildfires: How Climate Change Will Hit Outdoor Recreation in the Pacific Northwest." To read the piece, click here.

Northwest:

--Komo News is reporting that, "Local seismologists are calling for change saying most volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest are severely under-monitored. This comes after a recent report from the New York Times that said that the U.S. is doing a poor job of tracking the country’s most dangerous volcanoes." To read more, click here.

The North Ridge of Mt. Stuart from the headwaters of Mountaineers Creek.

--Parking on the Mountaineers Creek Road near Leavenworth is going to get cruxy. The Forest Service no longer allows people to park along the side of the road. You have to park in the parking lot. This is a major access point for the Enchantments, as well as for Mt. Stuart. To read a forum thread on this, click here.

Sierra:

--Yosemite's Facelift is coming soon. In the lead-up to it, we often see articles like the one published by the San Francisco Chronicle: "In the days leading to a massive annual cleanup event in Yosemite Valley, climbing ranger Jesse McGahey was already thinking about one place he would probe for hidden deposits of trash: the top of El Capitan. That’s where rangers recently retrieved hundreds of pounds of junk left by rock climbers, a cohort of seemingly unlikely culprits. Most of it was old gear — dirty nylon ropes, haul bags, climbing shoes — and lots of plastic water bottles. But in July, McGahey also found something he never had to clean up before: a used poop tube, the cylindrical waste-disposal apparatus that accompanies climbers who wrestle with big walls for days at a time." To read more, click here.

--The Sierra Wave is reporting that, "the Eastern Sierra Council of Governments is sitting on a $618,750 grant for the specific purpose of developing potential projects focused on sustainable recreation on this side of the Sierra Nevada. Locals will get a chance to get in on the action at the first in a series workshops Thursday evening at the Tri-County Fairgrounds." Thursday evening means tonight! To read more, click here.

Desert Southwest:

--Trump said that climbers couldn't get over his wall. He stated that they had mountain climbers there trying. The problem? It didn't happen. We and many others were surveyed by the Daily Beast to see if we knew of anyone who had tried it. To read more, click here.

Colorado and Utah:

--Epic Pass, Ikon Pass? Which is right for you? Outside has you covered.

Notes from All Over:

--Davo Karnicar, the Slovenian who made the first complete ski descent of Mt. Everest, recently died at the age of 56. Karnicar was killed in a tree cutting accident on September 16th. To read more about his amazing life, click here.

--Last week at the 2019 Piolets d' Or ceremony in Lądek-Zdrój, Poland, alpinist John Roskelley recreated the final hours of his son's life. American Jess Roskelley, and Austrian climbers David Lama and Hansjörg Auer, were killed on Canada's Howse Peak on April 16th. Through the use of recovered videos and photos, John took the audience through the story of the climb. And though he and others have a strong understanding of the climb and the first part of the descent, there are still some questions about the accident. To read the article and see photos, click here.

--In related news, Rock and Ice interviewed the winners of the Piolets d' Or. To read about it, click here.

--Climb the Hill took place late last week. Rock and Ice reports that, "This year Climb the Hill, an annual advocacy gathering in Washington, D.C., focused on issues such as pushing back on the Trump administration’s “energy dominance” agenda, supporting the Restore Our Parks and Public Lands Act, funding the Land & Water Conservation Fund, and advocating for action on climate change. Concurrent with these efforts, a new initiative sought to utilize mentors like Bethany Lebewitz, the founder of Brown Girls Climb, returning from last year, to ensure equity and inclusion in policy discussions." To read more, click here.

--Snews is reporting that, "once again, the government considered the outdoor recreation economy a significant part of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product, this time breaking out statistics in each by state. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) put outdoor recreation at 2.2 percent, or $427.2 billion in 2017, outweighing mining, utilities, farming and ranching, and chemical products manufacturing. The report reaffirms the industry as an economic driver, following the first government report last year that counted it as 2.2 percent ($412 billion) of the 2016 GDP." To read more, click here.

--The Jackson Hole News and Guide has a great article out about the results of a skier survey surrounding the use of Teton Pass. To read the article, click here.

--And finally, Gripped is reporting that, "It’s been announced that the term Free Solo has found its way into the Merriam-Webster dictionary." To read more, click here.