--Is global warming shrinking Mount Rainier? A survey marker atop the Northwest's tallest peak sure makes it look that way. Protruding from the summit with nearly 2 feet of pipe high and dry, the marker appears to have melted out of the ice cap that covers the mountain's highest point. But records from the U.S. Geological Survey tell a different story. To read more, click here.
--Nearly two dozen Snohomish County search and rescue volunteers helped a hiker off Three Fingers Mountain on Tuesday night. The Stanwood man, 45, was attempting to hike the Three Fingers-to-Saddle Lake trail, Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said. “He picked a tough, tough trail,” Hover said. To read more, click here.
Sierra:
--At the last City Council meeting, Inyo Forest Supervisor Jim Upchurch gave the Bishop City Council an update on the Travel Management Plan for motorized vehicle travel. The process has been divisive over the years; but with a decision now in place, Upchurch says that the Inyo National Forest is a model that other national forests may follow. The debate over which dirt roads and trails for motorized vehicles to keep open and which to close off has been at the center of this process. At public meetings over the years, tempers flared between off road vehicle drivers and those that are concerned about vehicle impact. To read more, click here.
--Firefighters rescued a 20-year-old hiker who became stuck between two boulders that were perched toward the top of a cliff Wednesday evening. The unidentified man was hiking alone in the Jurupa Mountains in the southern part of the city about 7 p.m. when he fell 30 feet and became lodged between the boulders, said San Bernardino County fire spokeswoman Tracey Martinez. Firefighters rescued a 20-year-old hiker who became stuck between two boulders that were perched toward the top of a cliff Wednesday evening. To read more, click here.
--Forty-seven-year-old Andrew Lock has just climbed the 8,027 metre high Mt. Shishapangma in Tibet, to become the first Australian to have reached the summit of every so-called 'eight-thousander' on the planet. Only a handful of the world's elite climbers have made it to the top of the 14 highest mountains, including the impressive heavyweights of Everest, K2 and Kanchenjunga. To read more, click here. Following is a short video that was produced before he summitted all 14 peaks:
--A series of new lines were climbed in late August by mixed team of Scots and Americans in Southwest China. The team made a number of ascents on the Xuelian massif and were supported by the Lyman Spitzer Cutting-Edge Award from the American Alpine Club. To read about these ascents, click here.
--Sometimes the only way to stop a bully is to embarrass them. That's what Wildlife Officers in Estes Park have learned. They're dealing with an abundance of aggressive bull elk in the city this season. And it appears that the best way to embarass the animals is to cut off their antlers. To read more and to watch a video, click here.
--Most people probably don't think it's a good idea to own a bear, but a 37-year-old Pennsylvania woman died Sunday after being mauled by her pet black bear. Kelly Ann Walz was attacked when she entered the bear's cage to feed the 350-pound animal and clean its cage, according to Pennsylvania State Police. The bear lived in a 15-by-15-foot steel and concrete enclosure on Walz's property in Ross Township. To read more, click here.
--One way to get psyched for the ski season is by watching ski movies. Another way to get psyched about ski season is to watch ski movies with zombies in them. And yet another way is to watch the new Norwegian ski/zombie movie, Dead Snow. To see an incredibly gruesome trailer for this movie, check out the following clip...but don't watch it if you're faint of heart, or don't like horror movies, or don't like zombies, or don't like chainsaws near zombies... Weirdly, though this has been marketed to skiers on skiing website, they don't show a single skier in the entire trailer...
