Climbing and Outdoor News from Here and Abroad - 9/23/10

Northwest:

Mount Adams
Photo by Jon Hendriks

-- A 60-year-old Oregon man died in a fall during a climb on Mount Adams with his son early this week, an incident that was reported Wednesday after the son was able to contact authorities. Sergent Judd Towell, head of the Search and Rescue operation at the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office, said personnel from several search and rescue units in the region have arrived and began a search on Friday morning to locate and recover the body. To read more, click here.

--Iconic Northwest Climber Fred Beckey, 87, was profiled in Outside Magazine this month. A good chunk of the article was reprinted at cascadeclimbers.com.

--In what is believed to be the first Tyrolean traverse between the North and South Early Winters spires, Wyatt Southworth of Mazama made his way across the chasm, about 400 feet above the ground. To read more, click here.

-- A German adventure guide is feeling the heat after he had to be rescued from British Columbia's backcountry last week -- and unfortunately, not for the first time. A group of seven people trekked north of Harrison Lake to scout locations for a documentary about gold prospectors. The team became stranded in an area dominated by steep cliffs when heavy fog rolled in. "It was not possible to look around and to find the right direction to step down. It was too foggy," team leader Anton Lennartz told CTV News. To read more, click here.

--Two Northwest poachers made headlines when they not only shot a deer out-of-season, but then rolled their truck down an embankment and over it while trying to load the animal. If there is one thing that is clear, it's that these guys were not brain surgeons. To read more, click here.

--Sunnyside Crag, a cliffband that runs through Ross Park, near Pocatello, Idaho, was inundated with rock climbers Saturday, hoping to scale the basalt crags and earn as many points as possible in a competition. A total of 117 participants registered for the 29th Annual Pocatello Pump, hosted by the Outdoor Adventure Center at Idaho State University. To read more, click here.

--For nearly thirty-years the federal government has had a program to help restore the grizzly bear population in places like Idaho, Montana, Washington and Wyoming. It has made a difference in places like Yellowstone National Park and in the Continental Divide region of Montana, but unfortunately, not in the North Cascades, one of six designated recovery zones. Instead, this area has been locked in a standstill as political winds shift over the preservation of large predators. To read more, click here.

Sierra:

--Killing a bear in Mammoth Lakes is no small matter. The political will of the community leans strongly toward preservation of wildlife. Police Chief Dan Watson said that's what Police Sergeant Karen Smart had in mind when she took the responsibility to shoot and kill the problem bear in the Lakes Basin last week. To read more, click here.

--Bernd Zeugswetter, Hjordis Rickert and Greg Corliss made the first ascent of a new route in the Needles in the Sierra in late August. The Third Needle, where their new ten-pitch climb works its way up cracks, corners, and aretes, can be found just south of Mount Whitney. To read more, click here.

Desert Southwest:

--Paul Gagner and Jeremy Asaksen recently completed a new route on the east face of the Titan in the Fisher Towers. Their line was developed over six months of repeated trips to the peak and clocks in at 5.9, A3. To read more, click here.

Alaska:

The Late Former Senator Ted Stevens

--On Thursday, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R) of Alaska announced a piece of legislation that honors the late Senator Ted Stevens by naming the South summit of Mount Hunter and the northern half of the Chugach Ice Field after him. “Ted Stevens was one of the true giants of Alaska’s short history,” Murkowski said. “It’s an honor to nominate both a mountain and an ice field to be named in his memory.” The view of Denali allows one to see three great giants at a time. Denali itself, outranks the others in height, and Mt. Foraker comes in second. In between the two is third-highest peak, Mt. Hunter with its north and south summits, steep walls and jagged rocks. The south peak of the mountain is smaller than the first, but at 13,895 feet, it is believed to be the tallest unnamed peak in Alaska. In a short time, it could be called “Stevens Peak.” To read more, click here.

Himalaya


--Protest space is scarce outside the United Nations General Assembly in New York, but that didn't keep a group of Sherpas -- all of whom had multiple trips to Everest under their belts -- from protesting and holding signs that read, "Save the Himalayas." To read more, click here.

Notes from All Over:

--The Intermountain West is renowned for the beauty of its towering mountains and high deserts, but according to new research from an investigator with the University of Utah Brain Institute the region's lofty altitudes significantly influence a deadly problem: the high prevalence of suicides in this part of the country. To read more, click here.

--The Sichuan Mountaineering Association (SMA) in cooperation with UIAA Member Federation, the Chinese Mountaineering Association (CMA), has made public its new registration fees effective from January 1, 2011. They are applicable for all foreign climbers. According to Lindsay Griffin of the British Mountaineering Council, the fees represent an increase of up to six times the current charges, "making it financially much harder for small parties to attempt virgin peaks" in Sichuan. To read more, click here.