Tomorrow is International Mountain Day, a day to celebrate the mountains and everything that they stand for. The American Alpine Institute will be presenting an event in Bellingham to celebrate the day. We will present rock rescue clinics and have a slideshow, an auction and a raffle with all proceeds going to help make the Index Climbing Area a permanent climbers park. To learn more about the event, click here.Northwest:
--The snowshoer who fell over a thousand feet to to his death Saturday afternoon in the North Shore mountains of British Columbia was Peter Holmes, a 24-year-old distance runner who recently emigrated from the U.K. The triathlon competitor came to B.C. this spring, and took a job as the communications manager with the International Triathlon Union. Holmes was hiking with friends on Goat Mountain on Saturday when he slipped and fell. To read more, click here.
--Crews from Bremerton-based Olympic Mountain Rescue helped authorities locate a missing hiker near a trail north of Lake Cushman on Sunday, according to the Mason County Sheriff's Office. Stuart L. Stoker, 31, was hiking the Mount Washington Trail, about 25 miles northwest of Shelton, on Sunday when he inadvertently left the trail, the sheriff's office said. He was able to use a cell phone to call 911 at about 12:30 p.m. To read more, click here.
Sierra:
--While reports of a massive black bear's expensive prowl and the apparent shooting of another smaller bear have made recent headlines, the 2009 bear season at Lake Tahoe has been uneventful, officials said. “It's been pretty slow, both because of the climactic conditions and because we simply haven't been responding to every call,” said Nevada Department of Wildlife Biologist Carl Lackey, referring to budget cuts earlier this year that affected bear responses. “We've had to focus on (calls) that pose immediate public danger.” To read more, click here.
Desert Southwest:
--It's quite uncommon for a person who has been missing for seven days in a snowstorm to be found alive. Well, an uncommon thing happened this week. Robert Sumrall survived being lost with the help of his trusty dog. And while Sumrall is alive and recovering after his ordeal, his dog is still missing. To read more, click here.
--Monday was a miserable day weather-wise to hike in Red Rock Canyon. But the day turned even worse when two hikers had to be rescued. The hikers called for help after one fell near a peak and hurt his ankle. To read more, click here.
Notes from All Over:
--When a 14-year-old girl died last month while skiing at Breckenridge, Colo., it was sad and significant news that was covered in a variety of local and national media outlets. Haley Rose Gans of Colorado Springs, who was wearing a helmet, apparently lost control at high speed and hit a tree on Nov. 20. She died from “blunt force trauma” to the chest, according to the coroner. A blog at Ski Magazine, owned by the Swedish media company Bonnier Corporation, also covered the tragedy and offered condolences to the family, but then the post mysteriously disappeared. In a note to the staff, a digital editor said that the post was pulled after executives at Vail Resorts, which owns several resorts, threatened to pull advertising. She advised the staff that they might want to avoid stories about fatal skiing accidents in the future. To read more, click here.
--This August, four Dutch climbers traveled to Greenland with hopes of climbing new routes. The team established numerous lines throughout the region and nabbed what they believe to be three virgin summits: The Cenotaph, McDonnell Peak and Small Lion. To read more, click here.
--Ascents of unclimbed peaks in China are now becoming almost commonplace. But they are still significant because none of the routes being completed are "give me's." Martin Ploug and Kristoffer Szilas recently completed the first ascent of “Ren Zhong Feng” in the Sichuan Provence, just south of the Minya Konka group. To read more, click here.
--REI has made the daring creative choice in an advertising campaign to show the backcountry as it is frequently experienced by most of us: cold, wet , often dreary and miserable. Are they nuts? To read more, click here.
--National Geographic Adventure will cease operations, it was announced last week a victim of the down economy and systemic changes in publishing. The final issue is December/January, the Best of Adventure, which is on newsstands now. To read more, click here.
--It’s been a long time coming, but Aron Ralston can’t wait to meet the little boy he says saved his life. Trouble is, he isn’t expected to be born for nine weeks. Appearing on TODAY Tuesday via satellite as part of the show’s week-long “Buzziest Stories of the Decade” series, Ralston, a mountain climber who famously cut off his own right arm to free himself after a tragic accident, told Meredith Vieira he had a premonition during his ordeal. During the fifth day of his six-day nightmare, he was visited by the specter of a young child — a child he firmly believes is the son his wife Jessica is due to bear him just after Valentine’s Day 2010. To read more, click here.
--It's 24 years since British climbers Simon Yates and Joe Simpson tackled Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. They were the first to reach the summit of the near-vertical west face of the 6344-metre mountain but what happened on the descent has been the subject of a book, a film and endless controversy in the mountaineering world. To read more, click here.
--Here's an interesting gear test. A friend of an employee at Black Diamond witnessed a climber girth-hitch a stopper through a bolt. Kinda' weird. Seems sketchy... So the dude at Black Diamond did a test and found some interesting results. Check them out here.
--While the national leaders and thousands of negotiators from across the globe have gathered in Copenhagen for climate change conference, American alternative rock star, songwriter Terra Naomi, Monday performed in Srinagar to raise awareness about battered environment, such as depleting glaciers in Kashmir. Naomi, the YouTube sensation, sang in an auditorium on the banks of world famous Dal Lake. Dressed in Kashmiri attire, she played her guitar and sang her super hit number "Say It's Possible", much to the applause of audience who thronged the venue Monday evening to hear Naomi's environmental call. To read more, click here.
--Erik Weihenmayer recently teamed up with Charley Mace and Access Fund Executive Director Brady Robinson to accomplish his hardest route to date: The Naked Edge (5.11b) in Eldorado Canyon. Weihenmayer is famous because he was the first blind man to climb the Seven Summits. To see the climb, check out the video below:
