Climbing News from Here and Abroad -- April 30. 2009

Northwest:

--A member of Vancouver's North Shore Search and Rescue died in a 30-metre fall down an icy crevasse while on a ski-trekking vacation, CKNW reported early Friday. CKNW said the skier, Johannes Müllegger, 36, was on a trip with two others when he fell on a glacier in Toba Inlet on B.C.'s central coast. The two others climbed down to where he fell and used his satellite phone to call for help. To read more, click here.

--An infusion of $62 million in federal stimulus money will fund 33 national park projects in Washington, including speeding removal of two dams in Olympic National Park and work on nine Mount Rainier projects that otherwise would be idled by a lack of funds. To read more, click here.

--A great thread is currently running on the climbers forum, Cascadeclimbers.com. The question that started it all was, "what are the five best routes in the Pacific Northwest?" Check out what people are saying, here.

Leave No Trace: Leave What You Find
This includes animal antlers. It is illegal to pick them up.

--Outlaw shed hunters can no longer depend on the dark of night. From now on, the night will have eyes. Armed with the kind of high-tech surveillance equipment usually associated with international espionage or cinematic whimsy, the managers at Oak Creek Wildlife Area and other state-managed lands are in a game of “gotcha” with trespassers looking for shed antlers. And they’re getting them, too — on film, with time and date on every frame. To read more, click here.

Sierra:

--Inyo Sheriff Officials reported a fatal fall in the Whitney region Monday. Forty-eight year old Los Angeles resident Kent Ashcraft was reported to have slid down an ice chute near the Mt. Whitney Trail. The man had been climbing the ice chute that leads to Thor Peak, along with his 18 year old son and two friends. The group had stopped near the top of the chute to take pictures when the ice that Ashcraft was standing on broke, causing the fall. To read more, click here.

--Yosemite climber Tom Evans has put together a website that details his many ascents on El Capitan. This page makes for great reading for the aspiring big wall climber. To check out his website, click here.

--Tuesday was the fourth day of searching the snow covered peaks of the Eastern Sierra for two people from Colorado that went missing after their plane took off from Tonopah NV Friday. To read more, click here.

Alaska:

April 28th photo of the summit crater of Redoubt Volcano showing the rubbly north front of the active lava dome (left and downslope of the steam plume).
This view is from the west.
Photo from the Alaska Volcano Observatory/USGS

--The Alaska Volcano Observatory reports the following:

The Redoubt eruption continues. Seismicity remains elevated.

Additional explosive events are possible with little or no warning. The volcano remains at ORANGE/WATCH and AVO is staffed 24/7.

Himalaya:

--Dodo Kopold recently soloed the southeast side of Annapurna in a single 40-hour push. The Slovakian climbed the steep southeast ridge of a sub-summit before traversing off the line to reach the main summit. This new line is the second route on the mountain's southeast side. To read more, click here.

Notes from All Over:

--The office staff at AAI recently found an incredibly cool website. Juan Hernandez Garces has put together multi-directional panoramic photos of climbers and mountain bikers. His website allows you to feel as if you have stepped into the photo and provides you with the ability to look in any direction. It feels like a video game and is a fun website to experience. To check it out, click here.

--The American Alpine Club recently announced their 2009 grant recipients. They awarded approximately $12,000 in grants to expeditions planning on trips to remote mountain ranges throughout the world. To read about the winners of the 2009 grants, click here.

--The 2009 Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) Friend of the Outdoor Industry Awards were presented druing last week's OIA Capitol Summit in Washington, D.C., to Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) for their leadership in advocating for public policies that support the growth and success of the active outdoor industry. To read more, click here.

--It appears that a concrete shelter with toilet facilities is in the process of being built at the base of Carstensz Pyramid in New Guinea. There are a lot of arguements on summitpost.com about how this is for commercial use and will somehow mar the beauty of the mountain. We feel that toilet facilities in high use areas are generally a good thing and do a great deal to keep an area from being too heavily impacted by human waste. To read about this and the arguments, click here.