--Over two years ago, Seattle resident Dave Stodden lost his wife and daughter in a horrible act of violence near Pinnacle Lake. Filmmakers are now working with Stodden to create a documentary about the unsolved murders. His hope is that a renewed interest in the case brought on by the documentary will turn up more leads. To read more, click here. The following video from Seattle's King 5 News details the story.
--The 2008 Northwest Mountaineering Journal was recently published online. This is a great resource and well-worth a read. To look at it, click here.
--The Seattle Times recently published an article about the glaciers in the North Cascades. Scientists in the article predict that nearly one third of all the glaciers in the North Cascades are doomed to melt away. The other two-thirds may have a chance if we do something to curb global warming. To read more, click here.
--Under pressure from websites like nwhikers.net and access groups like the Washington Trails Association, the Naches Ranger District folded under pressure. The District intended to shut down at least one major access road that was washed out by flooding in 2006. However, due to intensive lobbying on the behalf of backcountry users, they will reopen the 1800 (Bumping) road as far as the Swamp Lake trailhead, a popular access route to the Pacific Crest Trail and numerous high-country lakes. To read more, click here.
Alps:
--In late September, French Alpinist Patrick Gabarrou put up a new hard route on the North Face of Grandes Jorasses, Chamonix. Gabarrou named the route for the late Hughes d'Aubarede and respectively called it "Hughes d'en Haut" (Hughes is at the top). d'Aubarede was one of the 11 killed on K2 in a well publicized accident. To read more, click here.
The steep walls of Marmolada in the Italian Dolomites.--Someone copied and pasted a number of pages into a thread on Supertopo.com about the first female ascent of the Matterhorn. Annie S. Peck was the first woman to climb the Matterhorn in 1896. She wrote about her ascent in McClure's Magazine. To read more, click here.
Himalaya:
Dogonomba (Andy Bourne)
The West Face of Mount Everest (Guy Cotter)--A Korean team summited Meru South (21,850') in the Garhwal Himalaya on July 13, 2008. The team sent the the previously unclimbed northeast face. After fixing about 6,000 feet of rope to attain the base of a 1500 foot headwall and Camp 2, the team completed the route capsule-style. They found severe weather and conditions with the climbing topping out at 5.10 A5. To read more, click here.
Sierra:
--It appears that missing adventurer Steve Fossett's airplane has been found. The remains of a wrecked plane were found nearby Mammoth Lakes, California in the Eastern Sierra. Though there is ample evidence that the plane belonged to Fossett, as of yet no body has been located. To read more, click here.
--The New York Times ran an article this week about the world-famous dirt-bag climber Chongo Chuck. Chongo is respected by many climbers for his ability to live off of literally nothing while pursing his passions of climbing, slacklining and writing. The man spent countless seasons living in the backwoods of Yosemite and doging rangers in order to live the way he wanted to. One of our favorite parts of the article is the "related links" section at the bottom. The related links together include "Rock Climbing" and "Homeless Persons." To read about Chongo and his life, click here. To read commentary on the article and on Chongo's life, click here.
Notes from All Over:
--The online edition of Climbing magazine currently has an incredibly funny "how-to" article for women. Essentially it's a "how-to avoid lame dudes at the rock gym that are trying to pick you up" article. To read the article, click here.
--Speaking of funny, supertopo.com has a great thread running right now wherein a number of people have posted climbing related cartoons and jokes. Take a look at it, here.
