More bad news for the people of Arizona. A budget shortfall means that 10 of the state parks will likely close. Man, that state has been getting the crap kicked out of it lately. The parks stayed open briefly as private money was raised to cover their operating expenses, but the massive shortfall has made the locals desperate. If only there were a source of cheap labor they could use as a means to boost their local economy…

Put a couple Snickers bars under your windshield wipers and drive into bear country - at least one scientist is suggesting that feeding troubled bears might be a solution to taking care of them.

Link to National Geographic Story from 4.10.10.

It sounds good the way they say it, but taking on the responsibility of feeding these animals is something that could change their long-term habits. What happens when funding for the bear feeding program gets cut and all these nuisance bears don’t get their beef fat?

I think they use background music from the A Team for this video. Does anyone recognize that track? You could build an entire army base and a network of tunnels underneath it with this Chinese Military thing. I wonder if this is actually a military product, or if this is a clever Chinese infomercial that’s caught the heart of American bloggers. At about 2:52 they use it as a climbing tool, and then at 3:15 it’s a grappling hook that I likely wouldn’t climb on unless I’d also used the shovel to open a case of beer. Let’s please never get into a war with these guys. The video just goes on and on. I gave up at about 5 minutes.

The North Pole is an uninviting place. Besides the obvious freezing cold, you’re dealing with a frozen sea surrounded by landmass. That means days of trekking can be lost as the icescape shifts, and though you trek ahead 14 miles, you end up two miles farther from the Pole than where you began that day. While loads of people summit Everest every year, relatively few have successfully made an overland trek to the North Pole.

Now a few guys have decided to make it harder on themselves. They’re going to try to make the trip by rowboat. They’ll depart from Resolute Bay in Canada, and navigate shifting ice floes and miserable weather between portaging their boat over the ice. The good news is that they’re also going to be recording and broadcasting the entire expedition, so we can watch it from the comfort of our couches.

via Wend

My friends saw a group of Mormon Fundamentalists on the trail once, and I’ve told that story about a dozen times. I’d wear myself out trying to tell this one: Two hikers in Virginia came around a switchback and ran into the President and First Lady on a hike. Glad to see the Washington crew got into National Park Week, though I imagine the President always gets access to National Parks and museums for free. Another nice job perk.

via Out There

Holders of the Epic Pass at Vail will be able to use their lift ticket year-round. They can ski (if that’s what you call it) Vail all winter, and then head to Las Lenas in Argentina when summer hits to ski the other side of the globe. The massive catch is that you have to stay at certain hotels in Las Lenas, and I’m guessing the dirtbag ski bum motel converted to a hostel is not on the list. The Epic Pass costs about $600.

Zion is having a rough week. On the heels of recovering the bodies of two men in their twenties who died while attempting to float the Narrows on a log raft, another woman died while hiking. It’s believed she fell 1,000 feet from Scout Lookout on Angels Landing Trail. Take a look at some of the images of Angels Landing Trail - it’s surprising more people don’t fall off this thing.

A new study suggests that certain mosquitoes are attracted to the smell of beer and prefer victims who’ve been drinking. Fortunately, drinking a lot of beer makes you care less about getting bitten by mosquitoes and encourages building really big campfires that help keep the pests away. This is less of a problem in the Mountain West where mosquitoes don’t pile up, and it’s much worse news for developing countries where malaria is a problem.

You’ve either given up on skiing for the year, or you’re hanging onto garbage corn while your friends are out having fun on their bikes. Here’s a sweet POV video from Colin Haley skiing lift service above Chamonix France that serves as a nice reminder of how good it will be again next year. Terrain off the lift is insane in this place.