Climbing and Outdoor News from Here and Abroad - 6/23/11

Northwest:

--On June 12th, a snowmobiler accidentally rode her machine into an open moat on the south side of Mount Baker.  The rider suffered severe injuries and hypothermia, but was ultimately rescued by a combination of Mount Baker Climbing Rangers and AAI Guide David Farkas.  To read more, click here.

--The Forest Service said a helicopter rescued a climber off Mt. Shasta in far northern California after the man was hurt in a fall. USFS Ranger Jon Dove says the man was picked up Monday afternoon by a California Highway Patrol helicopter and taken to Mercy Medical Center in the city of Mt. Shasta. To read more, click here.


--Olympic National Park rangers fatally shot an elk that had been damaging tents and charging at patrol cars around the Hoh Rain Forest. Rangers said that the female elk first made trouble on Friday when it damaged a tent and rammed a patrol car, prompting the closure of the rain forest for the rest of the day. To read more, click here.

--The American Alpine Institute/Cascadeclimbers.com photo contest is in FULL SWING.  Check it out to win free course tuition, here.

--Controversy has arisen over a line bolted near Smith Rock's super popular Super Slab (5.6).  To read the controversy, click here.


Sierra:

--Fifty-one year-old Marcia Rasmussen was walking across a snow bridge spanning a small stream in Sequoia National Park last week when the hard-packed snow beneath her collapsed and she plunged four feet into the swift water.  “There was no warning,” she said. “One second I’m walking on top of snow, the next, I’m in the water.”  Dragged through the narrow icy tunnel carved by the creek, she tumbled down a waterfall before finding branches to stop her. But she was still stuck beneath several feet of snowpack.  To read more, click here.

Desert Southwest:

--BLM officials say they have restored a prehistoric pictograph at the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area outside Las Vegas that was defaced by a graffiti vandal last year. To read more, click here.

--Supposedly smart phones are getting smart about national parks. A company recently announced that it released an app – Chimani Zion National Park – for the iPhone and Android platforms.  The Zion National Park app, an indispensable resource for anyone exploring the 7th most visited national park in the United States, delivers a 45 minute audio tour of Zion Canyon, a high-resolution GPS-enabled map, constantly updated ranger led activities, over 75 photos and much more. To read more, click here.


Alaska:

--AAI Denali Team 6 summited on Saturday and has made its way off the mountain.  Denali Team 7 is currently moving up to camp at 14,200 feet.  And the AAI Saint Elias Range expedition has made a first ascent.  To read more, click here.

--Controversy surrounds the new line recently put up in the Alaska Range by Mark Allen and Graham Zimmerman. Arguments have been made that the route doesn't truly climb a new peak and that it isn't as remote as originally reported.  To read more, click here.

--A new line was recently established on Mount Hunter's infamous North Buttress.  The Cartwright Connection (Alaskan Grade 6: 5.8 A2 AI6 M6, 6500') was named for Jules Cartwright, a British mountain guide, who died in an accident in 2004. To read more, click here.

Notes from All Over:

--Authorities say a climber fell 20 feet from a popular state park route in New Hampshire and broke his leg on June 19th. Fish and Game Sargent Brian Abrams says the man was about 120 feet from the top of Cathedral Ledge on Sunday afternoon when he fell. The climber, 48-year-old Mark Gallagher has a fractured left leg. To read more, click here.

--Eleven years after being held hostage by a militant group in Kyrgyzstan, a professional rock climber is heading back to the Kyrgyz cliffs. In August of 2000, photographer John Dickey embarked on an ascent with three other climbers. Using minimal equipment, they planned to scale cliffs in the Kara-suu Valley of Kyrgyzstan. They were assured that aside from normal mountain hazards, the region otherwise posed no threats to their safety. To read more, click here.

--Rock and Ice magazine has posted an update on the many strange things going on around Three Cups of Tea author Greg Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute since Sixty Minutes produced a scathing report on problems with Mortenson's non-profit.  To read more, click here.

Gear Recalls and Safety Issues:

--Petzl has discovered a major potential danger with the GriGri 2. It appears that under the right circumstances, the lowering lever can stay open and not catch a person.  To learn more about this problem and the recall associated with it, click here.