Northwest:

--Things are not looking good for the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center (NWAC) in the Washington State proposed budget.  The budget cuts $43 million from State Parks, and included in this is $79,000 that is passed through to NWAC.  We are working hard to get the money put back into the budget, but we need your help! If you live in WA, please find your legislator on this page and send them a quick e-mail telling them how much you value NWAC. Contact them by April 8 and tell them that NWAC is a service that saves lives and is essential to safe transportation and winter recreation  in Washington. To learn more, click here.

Sierra:

 --A 64-year old Fairfax woman died while snowmobiling in Sierra County, authorities said Monday. Kathleen McCaffrey was found under her overturned snowmobile Sunday afternoon near Gold Lake, close to the Plumas County line."The rider had apparently rolled the snowmobile down a slight ledge and then became trapped beneath the snowmobile," said Sierra County Sheriff John Evans. To read more, click here.

Desert Southwest:

--In late March there was an avoidable accident in Red Rock, where the people involved nearly succumbed to hypothermia.  To read an analysis of the accident, please click here.

--Photos from this year's Red Rock Rendezvous have been published, here.  Look for our Red Rock Rendezvous news round-up on this blog on April 18th.

--Joshua Tree is celebrating seventy-five years as a National Park.  To read more, click here.

Himalaya:

--A Nepalese mountaineer who has climbed Mount Everest more times than anyone, is leading a new expedition to clean up trash left behind on the world's tallest peak. Apa Sherpa and a team of climbers and guides left for Everest on Wednesday with the intention of hauling away 4,000 kilograms of the garbage left behind by climbers over the years. To read more, click here.

Notes from All Over:

--Aspen local, Adam Dennis was killed Monday in an avalanche in the Aspen Highlands sidecountry. Authorities received a call from a group in which Dennis was skiing at 2:45pm, according to a Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office press release. The caller, using a cell phone, reported the slide in Desolation Row, an out-of-bounds run dropping toward the Maroon Creek Valley accessed from the Highland Bowl ridge.

--A skier who rode an avalanche 2,000 vertical feet down a peak in Grand Teton National Park Friday recounted the maelstrom that churned him several times under heavy, flowing debris. Jimmy Chin, an adventurer, photographer and climber from Victor, Idaho, said that the avalanche alternately crushed him and spit him back to the surface as he fought its grip down Shadow Peak. To read more, click here.


--After four hours, emergency teams were able to rescue a 29-year-old man who fell while climbing the 1st Flatiron just outside of Boulder, Colorado, late last Wednesday night. The Boulder County Sheriff's office says Alex Babowicc of Delaware was climbing on the east side of the 1st Flatiron with a friend around 7:20 p.m., when he fell about 20-30 feet. He had moderate to serious injuries, including a lower back injury and was having trouble breathing. To read more, click here.

--The cubs of a brown bear that savaged a Swedish teenager have been put down after their mother fled. The three baby bears were destroyed against the wishes of 12-year-old Olle Frisk, who was mauled by their mother after he accidentally skiied into their lair as they were hibernating. To read more, click here.

--After climbing the old Jeff Lowe route Metanoia as a body double for a movie about Lowe's life, Wharton climbed the North Face of the Eiger in 7 hours and 15 minutes.  To read more, click here.

--Raphael Slawinski and Grant Meekins recently put up a new four pitch line in the Canadian Rockies they named Peach (WI 5 M8). This in itself isn't that big a deal, instead, it's the style with which they put up the new line. No bolts were used and they did it in excellent style. The video below documents the pair's second ascent of the route. To read more, click here.



--Speaking of Raphel Slawinski, he has a great blog up with some tips on drytooling technique.  Check it out, here.

--Brit Julianne McGregor plans on Hula-Hooping herself up Africa’s highest mountain to raise money for the World Cancer Research Fund – and ‘put a smile’ on the face of friend Megan Houchins, who has thyroid cancer. Miss McGregor said she was inspired by her friend’s optimism in the face of seven failed operations during a ten-year battle against the condition. To read more, click here.