A couple from Carbondale became lost in a blizzard on Friday and couldn’t find the mountain hut where they’d agreed to meet some friends. Searchers roamed the woods on snowmobiles, but couldn’t find them in the storm. It’s unclear whether they were still looking for them when the duo climbed out of their snow cave and made their way to the yurt. I wonder if they still have to pay for the yurts use for those two days? I also think I’d be pissed if I’d been missing for two days and found my friends playing cards and drinking whiskey at the hut.

Brad Zdanivsky was climbing for years before he fell asleep at the wheel of his car coming home from a funeral. He was 18 years old and a quadriplegic after the accident, but the guy still climbed more days that I did last year. Now at 33, he’s worked with software developers and engineers to develop an intricate climbing rig that supports his vitals as he picks his way up cliffs.

“Who cares about walking? That’s damn boring,” he says. “I remember seeing guys in rehab who were doing better physically, left with more muscle and didn’t have the same physical challenges, but kind of fell apart. I think they lost their sense of humour and the ability to laugh at themselves and the process, because it is a pretty absurd thing to basically learn how to do everything all over again.”

In 2003, he climbing a big wall near Squamish, British Columbia, and a couple years later he did another 650-meter climb in 14 hours. Perhaps the most impressive feat? He hasn’t launched a career as a motivational speaker.

Join superhunk Bear Grylls for a weekend of one-on-one bromance. The rules of proximity infatuation are sure to kick in while sharing bodyheat in the Outback or just taking a hot tub at the all-inclusive resort where the crew actually kicks back at the end of every day of filming. The Man vs. Wild star has teamed up with Degree body deodorizing products to offer a lucky winner a chance to join him on an adventure. Good luck. I’ve been up for two days straight entering the contest under aliases.

via The Adventure Blog

Good god. I want to shoot myself in the face taking the bus across the state. They stop every 10 miles to drop-off and pick-up, the bus smells worse than a dive bar and has even more drunk people, and they take forever to get anywhere. Apparently it didn’t bother National Geographic Traveler writer Andrew Evans, who rode from D.C. all the way to the southern tip of South America. It took 44 busses, and on the way he became something of a celebrity for shooting a photo of the above penguin that had gotten dressed up for the wedding but then apparently wet his tux at the reception and decided to just walk around naked.

via Wend

Brian Head ski resort in Southern Utah is up for sale with the asking price at $34 million. They say they average more than $6.8 million and 141,000 skiers each year. The last owner suffered a heart attack and died in 2008, so it’s not exactly a low-stress job. At this crazy price, you could afford to buy 34 million $1 ski resorts in Canada, so pretty much that entire country.

The Arizona legislature has slashed funding for state parks by 80% since 2007. The state’s already closed five parks, and several more are waiting to run out of money and be shut down. But some Arizona desert lovers are coming up with cash to keep them open. One former Texan rolled into a parks meeting and wrote a check for $8000, just enough to keep the Lost Dutchman State Park open for another month. The hope is that private donations can keep the park rolling until the state finds its feet again.

Sounds like a good idea on the surface, right? Bunch of rich people pitching in to keep the parks going for all us little people. But what happens when one of those rich people who’s donated lots of money asks to host a Hall and Oates reunion concert at Lost Dutchman State Park? Then they start charging admission and making loads of money. Listen to me Arizona, taking big, private cash is a slippery slope that ends with yacht rock concerts. Be careful.

via Wend

It must be so weird for the families of the guys who go and live among the bears. You have to assume that you did something wrong to drive your child to a surrogate family of wild animals.

Lynn Rogers has been hanging out with black bears in Minnesota for ages, and he even stuck a camera into some of their dens to capture cute mom-and-son footage. Compensating for something? Anyway, Lynn sounds a lot like the Grizzly Man, but instead of being a wild recluse hanging out with Grizzlies in Alaska, Rogers has about 40 years of experience dealing with bears as an animal scientist. He was on the Today Show promoting his upcoming reality show,

via Backpacker

NASA scientists were intrigued when they came across an amateur photographer’s shots taken 20 miles above the earth’s surface.

“A guy phoned up who worked for NASA who was interested in how we took the pictures. He wanted to know how the hell we did it.”

They assumed he used a homemade rocket to capture the images, but he did it with a simple balloon and Nikon digital camera using readily available parts. NASA admitted that running a similar project would have cost them millions. Granted, it would have cost NASA a lot, but NASA would have probably had a monkey taking the photos, and it’s tough to argue with any science that’s advancing the cause of apeman butlers.

Thanks Brian

A local news station in Oregon hit paydirt when their traffic chopper spotted two missing hikers. The 23-year-old and 24-year-old were prepared for the cold and snow, but had hoped not to spend the night on Mt Defiance after getting lost in the afternoon. The KGW Sky 8 helicopter spotted them and alerted local authorities who scooped them up a couple hours later. You pretty much have to give an interview after that. Have fun getting booked between the story about the huge upside-down tomato plant and the dog how called 911.