Northwest:
--A hiker who used his cellphone to call for help despite being at least partially buried by an avalanche near Snoqualmie Pass Saturday afternoon was found alive about 7:30 p.m. He was dug out of the snow by rescuers and was hypothermic, according to a spokesman for the King County Sheriff's Office. The hiker called 911 on his cellphone about 3:15 p.m. Saturday, telling dispatchers he had been caught at the tail end of a long avalanche and knocked 100 feet off the trail, according to King County sheriff's Deputy Chris Bedker. To read more, click here.
--Rescue crews responded to a 28-year-old skier described as seriously injured when he was caught in an avalanche and slammed into a tree. The skier was plucked by helicopter from a snowfield in the Commonwealth Basin area just north of Snoqualmie Pass. To read more, click here.
--A preliminary autopsy report of the Oakland climber found dead on Mt. Shasta reveals high altitude sickness as the cause of death, the Siskiyou County Sheriff's office said last week. The cause of death was high altitude cerebral edema due to acute high altitude sickness, according to the sheriff's office. "In laymen's terms, it's when your brain swells," said Sgt. Mark Hilsenberg, who added that their office is still awaiting toxicology results to rule out any other cause of death. To read more, click here.
--Stevens Pass Ski Resort will start construction on a new mountain bike park and water treatment system this summer. The Forest Service announced the decision approving the proposed plan April 13. To read more, click here.
Sierra:
--The last round of storms has pushed the snowpack at Mammoth Pass to just about normal for the season. Green shoots already springing up in the valleys, along with a visible blanket of snow on the mountains points toward a good winter for water. As the season winds down, the LADWP website shows that the water content of the snowpack at the Eastern Sierra measuring sites is either a touch below normal for the season to well above normal for the season. To read more, click here.
Desert Southwest:
--Congratulations to AAI Guide Alasdair Turner. Alasdair recently passed his American Mountain Guides Association Rock Guide Exam in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.
The Red Rock Escarpment from the summit of Turtle Mountain--When visitors go to Red Rock Canyon today, they'll get more than a breath of fresh air and a sweeping view of the park's signature sandstone cliffs. For the first time since construction began more than a year ago, the visitors' experience will include outdoor exhibits that bring sturdy replicas of some of the park's most fragile features to the foreground: things such as American Indian rock art panels, desert tortoises in their natural habitat, and a life-size cougar that lurks atop one of the shade walls. The new and improved visitor center opened this week. To read more, click here.
Alaska:
The AAI Van, Packed to the Gills with Alaska Equipment, Food and Gear--The Alaska Operations Team left Bellingham this week. They loaded up one of AAI's ten passenger vans to the point where it was difficult for the four individuals to fit inside. They are currently somewhere in Canada and should make it to Talkeetna sometime tomorrow.
The Van Crew: AAI Guide Danny Uhlmann, Alaska Program Intern Stephen Magnuson,AAI Guide Kevin Hogan, and Alaska Food Coordinator Dustin Byrne
--Austrian climber Kurt Diemberger, the only remaining person alive to make first ascents on two 8,000 metre peaks, tells the UIAA about the historic expedition to the top of Dhaulagiri. Diemberger will be among the guests of honour at the Dhaulagiri Golden Jubilee Celebration in Nepal in mid-May, organized by the Nepal Mountaineering Association. To read more, click here.
--Sasha Gukov, Viktor Koval and Valera Shamalo recently completed and extreme route on the north face of Cholatse (21,129'). The Russian team has not yet posted the grade of the new route, but it is on an intimidating El Cap size wall in the heart of the Himalaya. To read more, click here.
Notes from All Over:
The Piolet d'Or was awarded over the weekend to two teams. A Kazak team comprised of Denis Urubko and Boris Dedechko won the Golden Ice Axe for thier new line on Cho Oyu and an American-Scottish team of Jed Brown, Kyle Dempster (26,906') and Bruce Normand won for a new line on Xuelian Feng (21,069') in China. To read more, click here and here.
--In 2003, Christine Ewing, a 22-year-old University of Missouri student, fatally fell about 20 feet from a rock-climbing wall set up at a minor-league baseball game in Columbia. Police discovered that the cable used to secure her to the wall was frayed, rusted and duct-taped. The case drew national media attention and inspired a change to state law requiring inspections of climbing walls. In 2004, the wall’s owner, Marcus Floyd, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault after a jury failed to convict him of involuntary manslaughter. To read more, click here.
--He’s no web-slinger but Alain Robert is gaining world renown for his death defying feats – namely scaling skyscrapers without safety equipment. In his latest climb, the 49-year-old French “spider-man” scaled the GDF-Suez tower in Paris before being arrested. There’s no word on whether Robert will be jailed. Robert, who has gained worldwide fame for shimmying up skyscrapers with nothing more than his bare hands and climbing shoes, landed on the front page of U.S. newspapers in June 2008 for his attempts to scale the New York Times building in Times Square. To read more, click here.
--Two more glaciers in Glacier National Park have become the victim of climate change. While Glacier National Park used to have over 150 glaciers, scientists believe that none will remain by the end of the decade. The latest two glaciers to become victims of climate change are Miche Wabun and Shepard Glaciers. To read more, click here.
--A massive ice block sheered off and tumbled into a lake in the Andes Sunday near the town of Carhuaz, some 200 miles north of the capital, Lima. The impact created a massive tsunami which flooded over nearby levies. Three people were feared buried in debris. Investigators said the chunk of ice from the Hualcan glacier measured 1,640 feet by 656 feet. To read more, click here. Following is a video on the tragedy:
--Renowned Japanese climber and explorer, Tamotsu "Tom" Nakamura, has returned from a recent expedition to Sichuan, China. His report, details the many unclimbed peaks in the region. Many of the peaks he refers to can be viewed in this gallery of his photographs. To read more, click here.
--Rusty Willis and Loren Rausch summited Bear's Tooth (11,612') on March 16th. This jagged peak is the feature that provides the name for Montana's Beartooth Mountains. The pair found serious conditions on 15 pitches that included 5.8 and M5 terrain. To read more, click here.
