Past Featured Articles

We have all experienced moments when we thought the map was incorrect in some aspect. Today climbing in glaciated alpine ranges, often a map is incorrect necessitated by the retreat of a glacier. I remember my first experience climbing through the fog of a mountain whiteout to aptly named Pea Soup Gap on Mount Daniels. Peering through this gap we expected to find a glacier filling a basin, not the beautiful but uncrossable jade colored lake, pictured above right. Today ascending in a glaciated range you may encounter a new alpine lake formed where your map shows ice. An easy route up a glacier may be replaced by impossibly steep, smoothed slabs. A gentle glacier slope in the valley bottom, may now feature a steep canyon with a difficult to surmount waterfall. The classic guidebook route description no longer is accurate. Changes in these areas are outpacing our slow paper remapping process. Below are a few examples of changes not reflected on maps of the North Cascades and a sample from other regions. I hope you will help me expand the latter sections with further examples.

There was a thread in the forums recently asking if there was a way to determine the elevation of cloud layers in the mountains(current and/or forecast). Generally speaking, yes, there is. In fact, you can determine more than just cloud information. You can find wind and temperature information also. Hopefully this article will give you some basic techniques to head for the mountains perhaps a little more prepared for the weather that awaits you. However, I caution you that Mother Nature is unpredictable, weather forecast models are not 100% accurate, and mountains do indeed form their own micro-environments at times. So use this information to plan, but as always, be prepared for the worst.

Why creating panoramas? I think they show scenery much better than single shots. Additionally panoramas can be used to create very high resolution images from every object with normal resolution cameras.

Perhaps you have heard such a phrase as “your climbing life is over when you have children”. Rest assured that is not the case. Most children love the outdoors and many are intrigued by exploration and challenging physical activity. This article will discuss several issues and have several tips pertaining to hiking and climbing with children. All are from my own personal experience and since every child and parent is different, your experience may be far different. Hiking and climbing with children can be a wonderful and exciting experience. It can also be frustrating at times, but is highly recommended.

On March 1, 2003 eight experienced backcountry skiers set out to ride Microdot Peak in Alaska's Chugach range [4]. With four feet of new snow and bluebird skies, conditions were ripe for some awesome turns. They were also ripe for big slides. Three days before, the avalanche forecast for the area was “Considerable to High”, meaning that avalanches, both natural and human-triggered, were likely. A pit dug by the group near the base of the run revealed an instability, yet the group proceeded. After 4 skiers successfully descended the slope the fifth skier triggered a large slab avalanche and was carried 700 feet. Two skiers watching from the bottom were knocked down by the powder blast. Fortunately, the skier caught in the slide survived, and the two knocked down were unhurt. It could have turned out different.

n historic times, glaciers grew during the Little Ice Age, a cool period from about 1550 to 1850. Subsequently, until about 1940, glaciers around the world retreated as climate warmed. Glacier recession declined and reversed, in many cases, from 1950 to 1980 as a slight global cooling occurred. Since 1980, glacier retreat has become increasingly rapid and ubiquitous, so much so that it has threatened the existence of many of the glaciers of the world. This process has increased markedly since 1995, leading to such bizarre steps as covering sections of Austrian alpine glaciers with plastic to retard melting.

In a brief and remarkable career spanning the southern summers of 1909/10 through to 1912/13, Emmaline Freda Du Faur assembled a truly remarkable climbing resume. Starting as a raw novice to mountaineering in December 1909, and armed only with her self-taught rocklimbing skills, Freda commenced her alpine career under the guidance of famous pioneer Mt Cook guide, Peter Graham. In order to assess Freda’s ability, Graham took her out on a 10 hour traverse of Mt Wakefield and Mt Kinsey at the extreme southern end of the Mt Cook range. This climb convinced Graham that his client was able to tackle bigger things without further assessment. Remarkably, and well ahead of his Edwardian time in this respect, Graham had said that he saw no reason why Freda should not be a mountaineer, despite the fact that she was almost certainly the first woman in his experience to express such a desire.

The "glacier" is somewhat of an unusual and interesting feature for Utah. A perhaps little known fact is that the glacier used to have some rather large (by Rockies standards) and visible crevasses before the Dust Bowl Route of the 1930's. Some of the old photos are available at BYU, and one is posted in the section below. After the 1930's drought, much of the glacier melted and has never recovered. After the Dust Bowl Drought the glacier was thought to be more of a perpetual snowfield over a rock glacier until the surface snow completely melted for the first time in the drought of 1994. During that year a large crevasse opened up in the talus, revealing glacial ice below. For now the glacier survives and is protected under the talus. The surface snow and ice also completely melted in 2003.

Perhaps you have heard some of the myths and lies. Lets examine them closely.

It’s a hard day for all the people in the world who love adventure and the freedom that only mountains can do. We are here to remember a great man who make the story of the flying and for it he’s tragically died on a sunny sunday of spring. Sunday 26, Angelo d'Arrigo crashed with an airplane and his spirit fly away from us. He has flown all over the world. He has flown across seas, deserts, volcanoes, glaciers and mountain chains in some of the remotest parts of the planet, flying with eagles and all kinds of birds of prey.