Climbing and Outdoor News from Here and Abroad - 12/8/2022

Northwest:

--Here's some video from Sunday when a snowboarder experienced an avalanche in the Mt. Baker Backcountry:



Desert Southwest:

--Climbing is reporting that, "Around noon on December 4, local authorities received a call that a climber had fallen around 200 feet while climbing on the Left Wall on El Cajon Mountain, near San Diego. Nathaniel Masahi Takatsuno, 22, had, according to eye-witness accounts, been free soloing Leonids—a three-pitch 5.9—when he fell." To read more, click here.

--A TikTok influencer is in trouble after hitting a golf ball into the Grand Canyon. From USA Today: "In the video, which appeared on 20-year-old Katie Sigmond’s accounts on Oct. 26, Sigmond hit a golf ball and subsequently lost most of her club when the driver’s shaft flew into the canyon after the ball. Social media users were quick to share Sigmond’s stunt on platforms such as Reddit, where a screen recording of Sigmond’s Snapchat Story garnered more than 900 comments. Commenters condemned Sigmond for littering as well as endangering people and wildlife below her. The influencer – who has a combined 10 million followers across TikTok and Instagram – was going viral for the wrong reasons and she appeared to delete the posts." To read more, click here.

Colorado and Utah:

--SnowBrains is reporting that, "On Saturday, at least two people were caught in two separate avalanches in Colorado. Both of these large and dangerous avalanches were near Berthoud Pass." To read more, click here.

--There was an inbounds avalanche at Snowbird on Sunday.

--This guy is celebrating his one hundredth year skiing...

Notes from All Over:

Climbing is reporting on some unfortunate news from Iran: "The family home of Elnaz Rekabi—who competed without her hijab at the Asian Continental Championships in October—has been destroyed according to IranWire, a pro-reform media source. A video has reportedly circulated showing footage of climbing medals among the ruins." To read more, click here.

--The Iphone 14 has a emergency message service that works through satellites, similar to an inReach. SnowBrains is reporting on the first known rescue using this new technology: "On December 1, 2022, at around 2:00 am, the Alaska State Troopers were notified that an adult male traveling via snowmachine from Noorvik to Kotzebue had activated an Apple iPhone Emergency SOS via satellite on his iPhone after becoming stranded." To read more, click here.

--Speaking of the Iphone 14, it does appear that an unanticipated problem with the device is that it is reporting ski crashes as car crashes. Check it out.

--SnowBrains is reporting that, "on the morning of December 1, 2022, Colorado second-grade elementary school student Maddock Jefferson Lipp set a new world record as the youngest person to ski on all seven continents. Maddock, age eight years and 25 days, went from the Ocean Diamond ship off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula via Zodiac craft to shore, near a gentoo penguin rookery. From there, Maddock, along with his older sister (Keira Lipp), father (Jordan Lipp), and IFMGA ski mountaineering guide (Jorge Kozulj), ascended the lower portions of Mount Hoegh in Antarctica. With several inches of fresh powder, the four skied down the slopes of the glaciated mountain back to shore and the penguins." To read more, click here.