American Alpine Institute - Climbing Blog: Climbing and Outdoor News from Here and Abroad

Note:

As it's Thanksgiving weekend, desert climbing areas can be crowded and campsites may be limited. Please be respectful of one another and consider sharing tent sites when you can.

Northwest:

--How the reintroduction of grizzly bears will affect recreation in the North Cascades.

--A Search and Rescue team in Squamish just won a land rover.

Sierra:

--The Sacramento Bee is reporting that, "a climber had plans to meet his wife at a California trailhead after descending a mountain peak, but he never made it. Instead, a hiker found Marc Rockwell-Pate’s body Nov. 12 on Mount Agassiz, a day after he was reported missing, the Inyo County Search and Rescue said in a Facebook post." To read more, click here.

Desert Southwest:

--Here's a first person account of an accident at the Ultraman Wall in Red Rock Canyon last week. The accident -- lowering off the end of the rope -- resulted in a shattered ankle.

--News Channel 3 is reporting on the rescue of a hiker in Joshua Tree: "Authorities were called this afternoon to rescue an injured hiker. The incident happened a little after 3:30 p.m. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department's air rescue helicopter was requested to assist park services to transport a hiker to the hospital." To read more, click here.

Colorado and Utah:

--Gripped is reporting that, "on Nov. 19, Boulder County Communications was notified of a climber who had taken a big fall and sustained a head injury while climbing on The Dome in Colorado’s Boulder Canyon. According to a press release from Boulder County Search and Rescue, the 39-year-old male was leading when he lost his footing and fell. While falling, some of his trad gear pulled from the route resulting in him falling approximately 30 feet before his climbing partner was able to arrest his fall. The climber sustained serious injuries during the fall and was not able to walk to the trail head." To read more, click here.

--Here's an interesting SAR piece: "A Hiker and a Terrier Climbed a Peak. The Dog Came Home 72 Days Later. Rich Moore and his dog Finney disappeared on a hike in Colorado in August. Ten weeks later, crews found the dog alive. Now, friends and family are trying to understand what happened." And here's another excellent piece on the dog.

--Lor Sabourin, a guide and therapist that has occasionally worked for AAI, recently repeated an infamous 5.14 crack in Moab. To read about it, click here.

--Gripped is reporting on a "large rockfall took place on Weeping Rock in Zion National Park earlier this week. It temporarily stopped traffic and covered a popular parking lot in a dust cloud." To read more, click here.

--SnowBrains is reporting that, "the Utah Avalanche Center has received its first skier-triggered avalanche reports of the season following a recent storm that deposited up to 19 inches of new snow in the backcountry. The avalanches, primarily composed of soft slabs of new snow or wind-drifted snow, were reported in upper elevation northerly facing terrain." To read more, click here.

Notes from All Over:

--Important access news from Climbing: "Late last week, the National Park Service (NPS) and National Forest Service (NFS) released draft climbing management directives that would render all fixed anchors in wilderness illegal until each anchor can be individually reviewed by under-resourced land management agencies. The public has 60 days (from November 17) to comment on the proposals here and here. You can write your congressional representative to support the Protecting America’s Rock Climbing Act here." To read more, click here.

--There's been a fair bit of criticism of Jared Leto's climb of the Empire State Building. Climbing's piece about the ascent does a good job of putting their finger on what was wrong with the whole endeavor.

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