Between the aftermath of some giant avalanches in Afghanistan and Kashmir, some smaller avalanches in the United States, and a handful of climbing accidents, it's been a hard week. Pay very close attention to avalanche conditions and be very careful while climbing...

Northwest:

-- Authorities say the body of a climber who fell into the crater atop Mount St. Helens has been recovered. The Skamania County Sheriff's office says the body of Joseph Bohlig was found Tuesday, more than a day after the 52-year-old man tumbled 1,500 feet. Bohlig, of Kelso, Wash., reached the summit with a climbing partner after a four-hour hike Monday. Bohlig took off his backpack and a layer of clothing then decided to pose for pictures near the rim of the crater. He was backing up when the snow gave way and he fell. To read more, click here.

Sierra:

--There is a movement afoot to name an unnamed Sierra Peak after Andrea Mead Lawrence, Olympic gold medalist, environmental activist and local politician. After a lifetime of working to protect the Eastern Sierra, supporters would like to honor Lawrence by naming a Sierra Peak in her honor. To read more, click here.

Desert Southwest:


--Two actresses have been cast in Danny Boyle's (Academy Awared winning director of Slumdog Millionaire and 28 Days Later) new film about a mountain climber pinned beneath a boulder. It's not clear exactly who Kate Mara and Amber Tamblyn will play in the reinvention of Aaron Ralston's Utah epic, but with James Franco as Ralston, it should be an interesting film. To read more, click here.

--Zion National Park is looking for volunteers to help park staff mark the boundaries of the park's new wilderness acreage and is inviting the public to visit on Friday. The wilderness designation is part of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act for Washington County, which was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 30, 2009. The law placed 124,406 acres under wilderness protection, 80 percent of them within Zion's boundaries. To read more, click here.

Alaska:

--Troopers have identified the skier killed in an avalanche Saturday along Hiland Road as 60-year-old William Brasher Schorr of Eagle River. The avalanche came just after 4 p.m. in an area known as "Three Bowls," roughly three-quarters of a mile from Mile 7.3 of Hiland Road, said Alaska Mountain Rescue Group volunteers. To read more, click here.

Notes from All Over:

--The death toll from an avalanche that struck a major stretch of road connecting southern Afghanistan to the north and Central Asia has risen to 169. Officials expect that the number will continue to rise as rescue efforts turn to recovery in the Salang Pass. To read more, click here.

--Avalanches have killed another three Indian soldiers in Kashmir, bringing the military death toll in the snow-hit region to 21 in the last week, an army spokesman said Thursday. The latest deaths occurred when two separate avalanches hit army camps high on the Siachen glacier, a hotly disputed zone on the India-Pakistan border which, at 6,300-metres (20,800 feet), is known as the world's highest battleground. To read more, click here.

--An avalanche in the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado killed a backcountry skier and injured another. Two men in a group of seven people using the backcountry hut system got caught in the avalanche Thursday near Ridgway at about 11,500 feet, Ouray County sheriff's investigator Joel Burk said Friday. A 27-year-old Manitou Springs man died of his injuries, and a 24-year-old man whose hometown wasn't available was hospitalized with a dislocated hip, Burk said. It appeared the Manitou Springs man was killed instantly, Burk said. To read more, click here.

--Rescue crews spent Saturday trying to recover the body of a man who fell to his death in Kentucky's Red River Gorge. It appears that the man was a hiker with no climbing experience or equipment. To read more, click here.

--A 40 year-old man died Sunday after he fell nearly 50 feet trying to scale an ice wall near Fawns Leap waterfall on Route 23A in the Town of Hunter, said Maureen Wren, a spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental Conservation. Daniel Pawlik, a resident of Stamford, Conn., was flown by helicopter to Albany Medical Center where he was treated for severe injuries and later died, said Wren. To read more, click here.


--On Tuesday, the Access Fund announced the winners of its 2009 Sharp End Awards. Each year the Access Fund recognizes individuals and businesses that go above and beyond to volunteer their time and efforts to preserving climbing access and the climbing environment. These recipients stand out in their commitment to the American climbing community, and the Access Fund is honored to present this year's awards to a worthy group of volunteers and activists. To read more, click here.

--Former AAI Guide, Steve House, spent last Wednesday soloing two New Hampshire testpieces. According to Alpinist.com, An Ice Climber's Guide by Rick Wilcox describes the first line, Repentence (III WI5, 3 pitches) as "the classic hard ice line in the East" and the second line, Remission (IV WI5+ 5.7, 3 pitches) as "the most difficult route at Cathedral Ledge." To read more, click here.

--In October, Wojtec Kozub, Marcin Michalek and Krzystof Starek made an ascent of 4,500 foot unclimbed north face in Nepal's Khumbu Himal. The wall lies on Melanphulan (21,558'), a beautiful peak that has only seen one previous ascent. To read more, click here.

--In late January Dave Birkett climbed the first ascent of a winter line on the East Buttress of Scafell Pike in England's Lake District. Never Ever Say Never (VIII 8 or E7 5c) follows a thin strip of ice which links up three rock routes. To read more, click here.

--Wisconsin authorities say a drunken man stole an ambulance from a ski area with the patient still inside. The Dane County sheriff's office says Fitch-Rona emergency responders were treating a patient in the back of the ambulance at the Tyrol Basin Ski and Snowboard Area in Mt. Horeb on Monday night last week. A 24-year-old Illinois man got into the vehicle and drove it around the parking lot. To read more, click here.

--A 22-year-old German skier was hospitalized with hypothermia after being trapped for six hours in a chair lift that had been closed down for the night, police said Sunday. The man got on the lift 20 minutes after closing time Saturday evening to descend to the Kaltenbach-Hochzillertal ski resort in the Austrian Alps, police said. At that time, the lift was still running for maintenance, but it was shut down shortly afterward. To read more, click here.

--Papua's provincial administration and a foreign party named Papua-Explorer are jointly building a guesthouse dubbed Carstensz Shelter on snow-covered Mount Carstensz in Indonesia's most-eastern province. Papua-Explorer leader Dr.Werner F.Weiglein told here Thursday (Oct. 15) about the project on the sidelines of preparations by 18 journalists and Papua administration officials to visit the location where the Carstensz Shelter is being built. To read more, click here.