Climbing and Outdoor News from Here and Abroad - 11/4/10

Northwest:

--One of the climber's on one of AAI guide Alasdair Turner's Mount Baker Skills and Climb trips, wrote an article on her ascent for the UK based magazine, Trek and Mountain.  The issue with the story in it is out and on news stands right now.  The piece not only feature's Alasdair as a guide, but also features a number of his photos.

--Timothy Egan of the New York Times, wrote an editorial about the goat related fatality in the Olympic Mountains.  Egan seems to believe that goats follow people for food.  However, most of us who have been around goats a lot, know that they really want the salt in urine.  To read the article, click here.

--The mountain goat that fatally gored a man in Olympic National Park wasn't diseased or disabled, but was in breeding condition, or the rut. Preliminary necropsy results show that the mountain goat, an adult male, did not have viruses such as rabies, encephalitis, plague or tularemia, according to a news release from Olympic National Park.  The animal was killed after its October 16th attack on Robert Boardman, 63. Boardman was hiking in the park with his wife and a friend.  To read more, click here.

----The death of Northwest-based alpinist, Joe Puryear, has had an incredible impact on the Washington and Alaskan climbing communities.  A fund has been set up by his family to bring his body back from Tibet.  To learn more about this, click here.

Sierra:

--The Sierra Fund released the agenda for the “Reclaiming the Sierra” Summit on Mining Impacts, an inaugural public conference on how to address the ongoing human health, environmental and cultural impacts of over a century of mining in the Sierra Nevada.  To read more, click here.

--We missed this when it happened in October, but it appears that a climber on The Nose lost part of his thumb in a leader fall.  His friends found the thumb and it was successfully reattached.  To read the story, click here.

Desert Southwest:


The Rebel Within (5.9 - 170')
First Ascent by Scott Massey and Kevin Hogan, October 2010

--A couple of weeks ago, we noted that AAI guides Scott Massey and Kevin Hogan made a first ascent in Red Rock Canyon.  Here is a link to their new route.


--In partnership with the National Parks Conservation Association, Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water held the first jointly supported, volunteer-based restoration project at the iconic Joshua Tree National Park to help revitalize and restore the park, leading up to its 75th Anniversary. Breaking ground on Saturday, October 23, Arrowhead representatives teamed-up with park officials and community volunteers to restore two highly travelled areas of the park – the Hidden Valley Trailhead and trails leading out to the popular rock climbing area, Houser Buttress.To read more, click here.


Himalaya:

--Ncell, a subsidiary of the Swedish telecom company TeliaSonera, has installed a 3G cell phone data network in a Nepalese town that should reach the summit of Mount Everest. This high-tech improvement will allow summit-ers to communicate with friends, family, and organizers from the top of the world.  To read more, click here.

--Kyle Dempster and Bruce Normand recently climbed a direct direct route up the northwest face of Mt. Grosvenor (20,919') in Sichuan, China. Mt. Grosvenor, a neighbor of 24,790-foot  Minka Konka, has only seen one previous ascent in 2003, when Roger Payne and Julie-Ann Clyma ascended the western ridge.To read more, click here.


--In an amazing feat of solo endurance Silvia Vidal spent twenty-five days alone in the Kinnaur Valley in Himachal Pradesh, India, attempting first ascents.  Vidal was successful in her solo exploration and completed a new route on a kilometer high wall.  To read more, click here.


Notes from All Over:


--The preceding photo has been making its way around the web.  It appears to show an 800-lb grizzly bear chasing a seriously mauled bison down a road in Yellowstone National Park.  Many believed that this photo was faked, but Yellowstone officials have stated that the picture is indeed authentic.  To read more, click here.

--So this is fun and kind of weird.  There is a website that allows you to essentially "play dolly" with a cartoon rock climber girl.  In other words, you get to dress her however you see fit.  In other words, she can climb in teevas or rock shoes, etc.  To check out this quick diversion from whatever you're doing, click here.

--The American Mountaineering Museum, in conjunction with the American Alpine Club Library, is hosting the first-ever exhibition of art depicting climbing and mountaineering. It opens Thursday, November 18 at 6:00pm, with a free event that includes music and refreshments.  Alpine Styles is the first exhibition of its kind. It features works by Jamie Givens, Keith Svihovec, Emilie Lee, Mike Tea, and Renan Ozturk, who share their personal reflections on the climbing life through their paintings and illustrations. Many works are being shown in public for the first time.  To read more, click here.