--Last week the Seattle Times published a feature article on the Mountaineers Club and their new headquarters in Seattle. The new building is easily identifiable due to the fact that one side of the building is dominated by an artificial climbing wall. To read more, click here.
Grizzly Bear--A bear sighted three weeks ago in the Chiwawa River Valley north of Lake Wenatchee may actually be one of the secretive North Cascades grizzly bears, bear experts say. Government agencies believe there are perhaps 20 of them in the 10,000-square-mile North Cascades Grizzly Bear Recovery Area, which includes parts of Chelan and Okanogan counties. But there has not been confirmation of a grizzly in the region in decades. To read more, click here.
--Crystal Mountain Ski Resort is getting a lot of press lately. Their ski patrol team is featured on TruTV this season. To read more, click here.
--Ryan Alan Murray Triplett passed away on September 7, 2008, while soloing a multi-pitch climb near Mazama, Washington. Ryan was renowned for the new routes he developed and advocated for in Newhalem, Washington. Since his untimely passing, Ryan's friends and the climbing community have discussed different ways to honor his memory. They decided that naming a wall, Ryan's Wall would be appropriate and they will use that name in the area guidebook Ryan had begun drafting. To read more, click here.
Sierra:
--On Saturday, October 4th, Yosemite law enforcement rangers arrested a 62 year-old man from Merced, California, for hunting inside the national park, which is illegal. A tip from California Fish and Game led investigators to the location of a tree-stand well inside the park boundary. Park Officials report that after three weeks of surveillance the suspect was arrested. He admitted to shooting a deer, also within the park boundary, in 2007, according to park officials. To read more, click here.
Aviator Steve Fossett
--After the invasion of media from around the world, Mammoth Lakes returned to normal as many still wonder what really happened to aviator Steve Fossett. Why did he crash in the mountains above Mammoth Lakes? At least one man closely involved with the discovery thinks Fossett may have survived the crash, if briefly. Tom Cage, owner of Kittredge Sports, helped his employee, Preston Morrow handle the discovery of Fossett's ID and then plane wreckage, plus the wave of media calls. To read more, click here.
Notes from All Over:
--Dr. Amy Ruth Stien was killed last week in a climbing accident at Seneca Rocks, WV. It appears that the 49 year-old woman was on lead when she took a fall. At least one of her pieces failed and she hit the ground. To read more, click here.
Bell Rock, Sedona
--A mountain rescue ended tragically with the death of a department of Public Saftey paramedic who was fatally injured last week. Bruce W. Harrolle, 36, was fatally wounded by the rotating blade of a helicopter. Harrolle was assisting in a mountain rescue of two hikers stranded near Bell Rock in the Sedona area. To read more, click here.
--Alpinist Magazine suspended operations this week. The October 2008 financial crisis has forced them to suspend operations. Alpinist began in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, as an archival-quality publication dedicated to world alpinism and adventure climbing. The quarterly quickly gained a reputation for both superior writing and beautiful photography; by 2004, Italian climbing legend Reinhold Messner called it, "The best climbing magazine in the world today." To read more, click here.
--The Bush Administration is working to allow mountain biking in National Parks. Under the proposed plan, park managers will be allowed to decide on trail access for bicyclists instead of Federal Regulators. To read more, click here.
North American Gray Wolf
--In environmental news, Federal wildlife officials said Tuesday they want to remove wolves in the Northern Rockies from the endangered species list -- again -- by early 2009. That declaration came on the same day a judge restored the predator's endangered status, as part of a lawsuit filed by environmentalists. To read more, click here.
--A shameful group of bandits struck the rescue cache at the Gunks climbing area in the Mohonk Preserve and stole nearly $9000 worth of equipment including static ropes, rescue pullys, and other assorted odds and ends. To read more, click here.
--Chad Kellogg and Dylan Johnson completed the first ascent of the southwest ridge of Siguniang (20,505'), Changping Valley, China. The team made three bivis on the 2000-foot wall, encountering free climbing up to 5.11 and aid complicated by grass and moss in the cracks. To read more, click here.
--The Ministry of Tourism in Pakistan has decided to continue their program which has reduced mountain climbing royalty fees during the calendar year of 2009. Hmmm, I wonder why? Could it be because this guy hangs out in Pakistan? Or maybe it's because of this? Either way, these reduced fees make it a good time to climb this. To read more, click here.
