Past Featured Articles

Many will recall watching the news about the three climbers who died on Mount Hood last December. The story was in the headlines for weeks as search and rescue teams tried to locate the three climbers, often hampered by severe weather conditions. However, many do not know that it almost happened again when three more climbers and their dog went missing on Mt. Hood on February 18, 2007. It was a shock that after three climbers died in the middle of December, there was another rescue mission on the same mountain only two months later. Three members of the climbing party disappeared over an icy ledge and slid down some 500 feet before coming to a stop, while the other members of the group called for help. The three fallen climbers were able to build a snow cave to keep warm during the snow storm while the Portland Mountain Rescue team came to their aid. All climbers, and their dog, were brought down the mountain safely with only minor injuries. Bill OReilly, the host of The OReilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, has been an outspoken opponent of mountain rescues. On his show, he said, There was no reason for people to be trying to climb that mountain other than thrill seeking. Rescuers put themselves in danger and the taxpayers have to pay for it.2 OReilly is trying to use the recent events on Mt. Hood to restrict climbing to certain periods and seasons. Rather than presenting possible solutions to this problem, OReilly does not understand what draws climbers to these mountains and the actual costs of climbing related rescues. OReillys argument is unpersuasive due to his false assumptions about climbing in general, and his biased and incomplete data about mountain rescues.

Recently I have had several questions on how to make an animated gif. Animated gifs, whether to ‘spice’ up a user profile or to put together a sequence of back-to-back action shots, can add a nice touch to any project. In this article I hope to answer some questions about how animated gifs are made, what software to use and what SummitPost will accept.

Does a road to a summit cheapen the summit experience? Given that mountaintops are a natural place to install communications towers and the like, its no surprise that many peaks have roads that lead to the summit. On one extreme, you could drive the entire route and then lay claim to a successful summit visit. I dont think any climber or hiker would accept this as a proper way to climb a mountain, but nevertheless, there are other points to consider, and I welcome input and dialogue on the subject.

It seems like there's a lot of people out there who'd really like to rock climb, but don't know where to start. This article seeks to provide a roadmap through the learning process. This article won't teach you how to climb... that's up to you, but it will get you pointed in the right directions. There's lots of ways to learn to rock climb. This is a generic approach I compiled from guiding and teaching friends to climb. It's methodical and direct and should safely lead you towards self-sufficiency and competence in the vertical world. Some terms may be unfamiliar. Don't worry, it'll make sense in time. In the beginning everything seems unfamiliar, intimidating, and unforgiving. That's normal, imagine your first computer...

I thought I'd write down my thoughts about alpine rock climbing. Mostly, this means climbing traditionally protected rock routes in an alpine setting, likely involving crossing glaciers or hiking a long distance. The routes will have loose sections that would disgust a sport climber. But for the alpine climber, it's all about accepting the mountain on it's own terms: you saw it from a distance, thought it beautiful, and now want to climb it. With this attitude of acceptance you will find great joy as you weave your story with the mountain. These little notes aren't in any particular order. In my mind they are all equally important. Some are safety tips or basic common sense you've heard before or could guess. Any wisdom I've got comes in keeping them near to hand, where experience guides me on the next step.

First, I want to state that I am an amateur with the use of Google Earth and working with GPS files in general. This article is summarizing what I have learnt over the last couple months while trying to find a better way to manage and share my GPS file. I am hoping to get feedback on this article, which I will incorporate in this article in an attempt to become all encompassing on the topic.

What Is HDR?

From Wikipedia: "In computer graphics and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI) is a set of techniques that allow a far greater dynamic range of exposures (i.e. a large difference between light and dark areas) than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention of HDRI is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to the deepest shadows."

HTML is short for HyperText Markup Language and is the predominant language used for the creation of web pages. Put most simply, HTML tells your browser how to display information (text, pictures, etc) on your computer screen. When Josh and Ryle originally set up SummitPost for us mountaineering types to use, part of their job was to provide most of the “background” HTML (or framework) needed to make members’ pages display properly. Their superb design offers members with no knowledge of HTML the ability to design excellent pages. At the same time it allows those who wish to use HTML to gain precise control over how their pages look on the screen. As time passes more and more of SummitPost's members come to truly appreciate the extremely elegant design of this world-class web site.

This article will outline the story and details behind the discovery of Outlaw Arch which is located in Dinosaur National Monument. The original discovery was made on September 3, 2006 by Adam Pastula, Michael Kelsey, Stephen Ho, and myself.

Here are a few tips for keeping your water drinkable on winter hikes or overnight trips. We all know that the tubes on camel backs and like products will freeze in the winter, even if:

1. The bladder is close to your back;
2. You waste your money on an insulated tube;
3. You shove the tube inside your jacket (through the collar or pit zips).

Drinking water is extremely important in the cold. Often times your natural thirst is absent because you are cool, making it more likely for dehydration to set in. In addition to the typical dangers of dehydration, it can accelerate frostbite, and is an attributing cause of hypothermia. Avoid eating snow because it can lower your core temperature. So what are you to do? Save the bladder for warmer weather, you'll just end up carrying around six pounds of dead weight. You're better off with a nalgene bottle, and using the following tips.