Climbing and Outdoor News from Here and Abroad - 8/20/20

Northwest:

--It appears that an individual suffered a broken leg after falling from the Catscratch Gullies on Forbidden Peak on Friday. Limited information is currently available, but we do know he was extracted via helicopter.

--On Friday August 7th at 8:13pm a large earthquake dislodged Baron Spire (AKA Old Smoothie), causing a massive landslide in the Sawtooth Mountains. Here's an article about the incident. The following incredible video was taken at Baron Lake:

--Snews is reporting on REI's decision to abandon it's new eight-acre headquarters: "After a pandemic-prompted trial run, the retailer will deconstruct the traditional idea of "headquarters" in favor of remote, flexible work." To read more, click here.

--Speaking of REI, it's being sued for selling an alternative hand sanitizer that doesn't have alcohol in it. The sanitizer appears to be ineffective against COVID-19. To read the story, click here.

--Idaho's Soldier Mountain Ski Resort is for sale, again.

Desert Southwest:

Death Valley recorded the Earth's highest known temperature on 

Sunday, since at least 1931.

Colorado and Utah:

--A woman at Sugarloaf in Utah was rescued by a football team (Seriously!) after her hair got caught in a mechanical ascender. It sounds like she was stuck like that for at least 45-minutes before the Dixie State University Football Team came to her rescue. Here's a video of the rescue on August 7th:

--The Access Fund is reporting that, "After sustained advocacy from the climbing community over the last several weeks, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced today that it has canceled its plans to auction more than 85,000 acres of recreation-rich land around Moab, Utah for oil and gas leasing." To read more, click here.

--Here's a great guide from Outside on adventures in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Notes from All Over:

--Liquid chalk kills coronavirus. Climbing is reporting that, "a team at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus tested 80-percent ethanol liquid chalk on SARS-CoV-2 and found that it cleared 100-percent of the virus within five minutes." To read more, click here.

--And you know what doesn't kill coronavirus, a buff-style mask. It appears that these masks are worse than no mask at all. To read more, click here.

--August 4th is now going to be an NPS fee free day, forever!

--The Hill is reporting that, "Michigan officials on Thursday said that a bald eagle attacked a government drone, sending the aircraft to the bottom of a lake. The incident occurred on July 21 when the eagle took down the Phantom 4 Pro Advanced quadcopter drone at around 162 feet, "tearing off a propeller and sending the aircraft to the bottom of Lake Michigan," the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy told NBC." To read more, click here.

--From NPR: "Amid pressure from Democrats and some Republicans, the Trump administration is planning to withdraw its controversial nominee to head the federal Bureau of Land Management. The sprawling public lands agency, which manages roughly a tenth of the landmass of the United States, has not had a permanent, Senate-confirmed director for the entire Trump era." To read more, click here.

--From Anchorage Daily News: "The Trump administration on Monday took another step to opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling for oil and gas, potentially fulfilling a decades-long dream for Republicans. Environmentalists, however, promised to fight opening up the coast plain of the refuge, a 1.56-million acre swath of land along Alaska's northern Beaufort Sea coast, home to polar bears, caribous and other wildlife, after the Department of the Interior approved an oil and gas leasing program." To read more, click here.