- Congratulations to AAI guide Dawn Glanc. Dawn recently passed her American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) Rock Guide’s Certification Exam. Passing this exam is a real accomplishment.
- On April 12th, a snowmobiler from Oregon made history by becoming the first known person to fall into the crater on Mount Saint Helens. John Slemp, 52, rode his snowmobile to the mountain’s summit, and then attempted to crawl out on a cornice above the crater. The cornice gave way in an avalanche and Slemp fell to the bottom. For the complete story, click here.
- A proposal for a new wilderness area in Washington State has slowly worked it's way through the Senate. The 106,000 acre parcel known as the Wild Sky Wilderness will be developed in the eastern part of Snohomish County.
- Former AAI Guide Majika Burhardt will present a slideshow tonight in Seattle on her new book Vertical Ethiopia which includes photos by former AAI Guide, Gabe Rogel. For more information, click here.
- Northwest climber, Colin Haley, will give a slideshow on his ridge traverse of the Torres in Patagonia in Kirkland on April 24th. Haley tagged the summits of Aguja Standhardt, Punta Herron, Torre Egger, and Cerro Torre with Rolando Garibotti in January. For more information, click here.
SOUTHWEST:
- Congratulations to Matt Daufenbach, Stephen Green, Dan Hernandez and Elijah Andrews. This foursome of AAI climbers recently passed the AMGA Single Pitch Instructor Exam in Red Rock Canyon.
- Mountainproject.com reports that the Red Rock Canyon Wilderness Climbing Management plan is slowly moving forward. A pilot program has been proposed to allow a limited number of new routes to be put up. This is a real step forward as there has been a ban on bolting in the wilderness in Red Rock for a number of years. To find out more, click here.
- Photos from the 2008 Red Rock Rendezvous are online here and here.
NOTES FROM ALL OVER:
- Ryan Johnson and Sam Margo recently put up a spectacular new 2,500 foot mixed route on the Mendenhal Towers of Alaska.
- In February, three climbers made the second winter ascent of the Grandes Jorasses in the Mont Blanc region of Europe.
- Authorities in Nepal are holding climbers at Camp 2 on Everest until May 10th. A deal between Nepal and China was struck to keep climbers away from the Olympic Torch which is slated to summit from the North Side of the mountain during the first ten days of May.
- An Italian climber plans to protest China's human rights violations on a series of mountaintops throughout Europe in early May. The protest is set to coincide with the ascent of the Olympic Torch on Everest.
- The Reel Rock film tour -- a climbing related film festival that travels to over 100 cities world wide -- is having a filmmaking competition.
