--Friends are remembering a Calgary man who died in a weekend avalanche in British Columbia as an avid backcountry skier, accomplished climber and safety-conscious adventurer. Manfred Rockel was killed on Sunday in Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park near Nelson while on a backcountry ski vacation with fourteen friends.
--Lyle Knight and Marc Piche made the first ascent of a new WI 6 in the Okanangan Valley of British Columbia. They have named their new 400-foot line, Mythologic.
--First it was milk, then eggs and then bread that began to disappear from the shelves of The Siding General Store, the sole grocery store in B.C.'s picturesque mountain community of Field. Then, five days after the avalanche danger shut down the only highway leading into and out of the town of three-hundred people, the liquor was disappearing. Finally on Tuesday afternoon, part of the Trans-Canada Highway reopened after the extended closure.
Sierra:
--Fifty-million years ago, powerful forces deep underground launched a new wave of mountain building that swept southward from British Columbia through Nevada and California, and on into Mexico. It was the beginning of what would become today's High Sierra.
--A series of large storms hit the Pacific coast throughout December and into January, causing power outages, road closures and massive snow accumulation in the Sierras. Some Eastern Sierra residents saw as many as three days without power, while flights to and from Mammoth Yosemite Airport were canceled for more than five-days at a time. While good news for “snowed-in” vacationing skiers, record accumulations kept backcountry skiers inbounds as the snow settled.
Desert Southwest:
--The Bureau of Land Management is accepting comments on its proposal to offer special recreation permits for groups within Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in Cottonwood Valley and along the 13-Mile Scenic Drive. Under the proposal, permits would be required for weddings, running and mountain bike races, charity fundraising events and other large group gatherings.
Rocky Harvey's Plane after Crashing in Joshua Tree National Park
--The morning sky above Joshua Tree National Park was bright blue and dotted with a few clouds as Rocky Harvey eased his van out of the driveway. He headed to Roy Williams Airport for an 8am flight with his instructor, Warner Henry. They would fly to Palm Springs, and Rocky would land his plane at an airport with a tower for the first time on his own.
Alaska:
--Solo winter Denali Climber Lonnie Dupre is getting there. On the 18th, he was at 14,200-feet and had made a carry to 15,200 feet, which in the regular season is the bottom of the fixed lines. As of this writing his plan was to be at 17,200-feet by the time you read this.
Mount Foraker from 17,200 feet
Photo by Jason Martin
Notes from All Over:
--The parents of a Boy Scout who died last year during a 20-mile hike in extreme heat are suing the organization whose famed motto, "Be Prepared," sets a standard they believe the hike's leaders failed to meet. Michael Sclawy-Adelman was 17 and close to reaching scouting's highest rank -- Eagle -- when he collapsed and died during the hike in the Florida Everglades in May 2009
--More than one-hundred people gathered at a bonfire and candlelight vigil Monday night to mourn and honor 16-year-old Joshua Waldron, who died Saturday from injuries he sustained in a skiing accident at Maine's Sugarloaf Mountain Ski Resort.
--A nineteen year-old woman was rescued Tuesday after she got lost at the Eldora Mountain Resort. The Boulder County Sheriff's Office said Gree R Garcia, was skiing at Eldora with her boyfriend and her boyfriend's brother. At 3:30pm, the group split up so the men could get in one more run. Garcia said she planned to continue downhill to the parking lot, but inadvertently traveled southward, and went out of the ski area boundaries.
--Last weekend, an amazing new variation was added to the ephemeral Gorillas in the Mist, a 500-foot thin-ice testpiece at Poke-O-Moonshine in the Adirondacks. Three top Northeastern climbers completed a the line that they called Endangered Species (3 pitches, M6+ NEI5+ R).
--The New York Times ran an incredible article this week about planes melting out of the glaciers in Bolivia and in the rest of the Andes. Apparently, the glaciers melting from climate change are revealing many secrets, including long lost planes and pilots.
--Rocktown Climbing Gym in Oklahoma City has made use of their local cold. They have farmed ice on the front of their building.
--Several bottles of key expedition equipment are making their way back home to Scotland more than one hundred years after being abandoned in Antarctica by Sir Ernest Shackleton. The British explorer's unsuccessful South Pole expedition of 1907 left quite a few bottles of alcohol buried beneath a hut in Antarctica. The stash was discovered last year.
Manufacturer Recalls and Equipment Issues:
--Backcountry Access (BCA), the North American manufacturer of avalanche safety equipment, has just announced a recall of its latest beacon, the Tracker2. BCA representatives say they have isolated certain issues that could cause a potential malfunction in the T2 units.
--The United States Consumer Products Safety Commission announced a voluntary recall of 3,500 Avalung backpacks due to a suffocation hazard. The backpacks, imported from China by Black Diamond Equipment, include air intake tubing that can crack at cold temperatures.
