Looking to save a little cash next time you set off your SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger? Instead of calling in the Coast Guard, keep this guy’s number on hand. Pilot Morgan Garvey is starting a nonprofit rescue operation that will rely on a couple small planes to fly people out of trouble. You’ll have to be close enough to a dirt road or airstrip to get help since he doesn’t have a helicopter, but his business could be very well positioned to do well now that everyone is setting off emergency beacons whenever their water tastes too salty. The non-governmental rescue is a good idea. It gives rich people an easy way out of the backcountry without them bothering anyone.
Sales of backcountry skis were up 57% last year, according to the folks at SnowSport Industries America. It’s not clear how they define backcountry skis, or whether they include splitboards. The whole, “Splitboarding is the answer” movement could have had a lot to do with the jump as more snowboarders realize the loveliness of not dropping from 15 feet up onto a sheet of ice. In any case, this is welcome news for people who care about saving the planet and don’t mind sharing the backcountry pow.
Backcountry.com Athlete Renan Ozturk and Corey Richards sent dispatches from their latest Nepalese expedition. This video is not only the story of the expedition, but the story of how they kept us all up to date. Like all of Renan’s work, the editing and camerawork are stellar.
Friend of Cold Splinters Eric Temple pulled together a handful of appearances Edward Abbey made on TV. In this one, I love how he drives a Cadillac into the park, years after the Park Service had given him a truck as his only way back there. Funnily enough he makes a joke about the Government supplying toilet paper in the pit toilets, well, not for much longer.
How very Euro. Budget pinches mean that some California State Park privies can no longer afford to be stocked with toilet paper. Hikers will have to bring their own rolls, which isn’t exactly news for the backcountry but in highly trafficked parks it’s a bit odd. I’m sure the bathroom attendants who work in the California State Park system will just begin selling TP alongside all the cologne and breath mints.
The Govenator signed a bill into law that would require minors in California to wear helmets when skiing, but it will not take effect because he then vetoed the companion measure that would require ski resorts to prepare annual safety plans. Politics is great because you can have your cake and throw it in someone’s face too. Schwarzenegger said he vetoed the bill because preparing safety reports would have cost the ski resorts a lot of resources and not necessarily done anything to improve safety. I have to agree. It’s not like Mammoth would have discovered a huge tiger pit in the middle of one of their runs, and ski resorts already have huge burdens of proving their safety so they can cover their asses with insurance and lawsuits.
I’d feel more confident that this was not a parody if these guys were wearing hunting clothes. As one commenter pointed out, it reminds me a lot of FUBAR. Looks like they have a pretty good glade run setup. Hopefully the ski patrol won’t hassle them too much.
A Canadian judge is suggesting that a young criminal who led police on a high speed chase through Calgary get into rock climbing or mountain biking. A court-appointed psychiatrist said the young man has a desire for thrill-seeking activities, and he needs to find a fix outside of driving a car on its rims at 100mph. Hell, this kid might be the next Dean Potter. That chase through Calgary must have taken hours with the Mounties giving chase on their horses.
A woman in Montana let her three dogs out before heading to bed. They started barking the moment she put them out, and she spotted a bear about 20 feet away was eating apples off a tree in her yard. The bear charged one of her dogs and she kicked it before it swiped her leg out. The bear turned its attention to her, and she ran for the door of the house. When she tried to slam the door, the bear stuck its head and shoulder in and she couldn’t get it closed. She reached around for some kind of weapon and her hand fell on a zucchini from her garden. She smashed the bear in the head and it ran into the night. The report doesn’t say whether the zucchini survived.
