--On August 23rd, a climber took a significant fall after resting on a bolt at Index. The hanger on the bolt broke and then the hanger on the next bolt down the wall broke as well. These old Kong hangers broke under nothing more than bodyweight. While the climber was okay, the incident was both serious and scary. To read more, click here.
A Painting from the Altitude Art Show in BellinghamClick on the Image to make it Larger
Sierra:
--On Sunday, Jeffrey Robert Maurer died after taking a fall on the Third Pillar of Mount Dana. Maurer, 47, worked in Yosemite National Park as a Wildlife Biologist. Over the last three years he also worked at the Yosemite Institute. To read more, click here. and here.
The Historic Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite Valley--The Ahwahnee hotel in Yosemite was evacuated on Wednesday last week due to a rockslide. Apparently a significant slide damaged a car, but didn't come anywhere near the historic hotel. To read more, click here and here.
--Bear activity in the El Portal area outside Yosemite has increased in the last several weeks. It seems that one particular bear has learned to open car door handles and is entering vehicles in search of food. On one occasion, the bear became trapped inside a vehicle and was found sleeping in the backseat in the morning. To read more, click here.
Alaska:
--Don Carroll, one of the two seasonal hotel employees rescued Monday on the Stampede Trail after a hike to the "Into the Wild" bus near Denali National Park, admits he had been rescued earlier this summer, wearing only a hoodie and jeans, after getting lost on another hike. (That time, he guided rescuers to his location with a phone text message.) "If police see me (hiking) in the woods, they're going to arrest me," Carroll, of suburban Chicago, told the local daily paper. To read more, click here and here.
Notes from All Over:
--From the US west coast to northern Siberia and south-east Asia, trees are growing at higher elevations, and at higher latitudes as the climate warms. Of 166 sites studied, trees are advancing at more than half, while they are receding at just two sites. The shift is revealed by the first global analysis of treelines published in the journal Ecology Letters. To read more, click here.
--Portland climbers Marcus Donaldson and Nate Farr made the first ascent of a line on Pucaraju (17,716') in Peru's Cordierra Blanca. The 1000 foot route was a full value experience with difficuluties up to WI 4, M6 and 5.8. To read about the route, click here.
--Alain Robert is at it again. The French "Spiderman" was recently arrested in Malaysia for climbing the 88-story Petronas Towers. Robert gained fame last year for scaling the New York Times building. To read more, click here.
The Controversial Artwork in Silt, Colorado
--A newly unveiled art piece in a Silt, Colorado roundabout is proving to be the butt of controversy for the town. And in hindsight, the town board should have seen it coming. However, it seems they chose to turn the other cheek. The backside in question is that of what is being perceived to be a naked rock climber on one side of a sculpture sitting in the middle of the town's new roundabout at Main Street and the Interstate 70 overpass downtown. To read more, click here.
--Marin County may be considered the birthplace of mountain biking, but mountain bikers aren’t feeling the love there these days. Tension is high between hikers and mountain bikers in this hilly region of northern California. The open space trails in Marin County are open to hikers and equestrians without restriction or limitation. But it’s another story for mountain bikers. They’re limited to only using certain trails – and bikers say there simply aren’t enough. The problem is that bikers don’t always stick to the legal trails, which angers hikers and rangers because they feel bikers harm the trails and cause safety concerns. To read more, click here.
