Well, specifically its fossilized tracks were discovered, but we’re not splitting hairs here. An archaeology team working between 2006-10 discovered abundant bird tracks from some massive creature, and after a bit of research they discovered that this particular bird was uncategorized. This new discovery seems to prove that Denali was rich in birdlife 70 million years ago, which could become important knowledge if you ever travel back in time.

Rand McNally is trying to stay relevant to travelers in the internet age by releasing a top place to ski each year. It appears that they’ve chose Lake Tahoe as their spot for 2010-11.

An actual email exchange between my friend Brian and I last week:

Rocky: good seeing you in san francisco.  how was tahoe?

Brian: Tahoe was like Snowbird in July 2007.  All the snow was receding and if you took a wrong turn, you would end up on bulletproof ice.  But we have a hot tub and that helps when there is no snow.

Indeed Rand McNally. A few weeks of warm weather do wonders for the base.

A new policy would require climbers to get written permission to place new fixed anchors or replace broken ones. The details of this new policy are TBD, meaning that the NPS decided to rush this one out and see what people think before they bother actually figuring anything out. On one hand it’s good to protect the rock from freewheeling idiots, on the other, replacing anchors and actually doing helpful maintenance could turn into a bureaucratic nightmare. The NPS has opened a commenting period to hear what the public has to say on the topic.

Julien Regnier participates in what appears to be a car or tire commercial that would appeal only to a handful of skiers. How do you even put a ski rack on a convertible?

The North Face is reportedly shelling out $8 million to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association to be the official clothing sponsor of the new U.S. Freeskiing Program over the next 8 years, which includes the 2014 games in Russia. What does this get The North Face? Besides this blog post, they’ll get to outfit the skiercross and the U.S. Olympic Freeskiing Team, assuming that event is even accepted into the Olympics when the IOC meets this April. It’s quite a risk for The North Face, but it can only be good for the U.S. team since they get that $8 mil regardless. Way to secure funding up front guys.

Ian and Neal Provo embarked their latest adventure: reviving the early days of snowboarding with ‘snow surfing.’ It’s hard not to have fun in that much powder.

My friend Chris used to jump off the chairlift on the last run of every day and ski to the parking lot. The Ski Patrol would chase him down and take away his lift ticket in the parking lot. There was little else they could do in Upper Michigan. But that might not be the case in Washington soon. A state law would make it illegal to ski out of bounds at resorts, punishable with up to $1000 fine.

This could get ugly. While the ski patrol wouldn’t be able to hand out tickets, they could write down license plates or take IDs and hand the out-of-bounds skiers off the police for processing. While I applaud their efforts, I have to ask where they draw the line. What happens if someone touring nearby passes in and out of a resort? Besides, part of me would prefer that people who duck ropes occasionally get caught in an avalanche. It’s important to thin the gene pool.

Photographers creeping their through the backcountry, trying to be silent to avoid disturbing animals are on track to lose their status as ‘most likely to get mauled.’

“I don’t think that running in bear habitat is a risk to bear habitat or population levels,” Servheen told the committee during its Missoula meeting on Thursday. “But some of these people are not aware of the dangers they put themselves in. This long-term running, at dawn and dusk, at night with headlamps: These are the specific things we tell people not to do in bear habitat.”

Apparently the biggest concern is for ultra marathons through grizzly-inhabited forest. When dusk sets in around mile 90 and the runners are punch drunk from exhaustion, they’re not going to be able to put up much of a fight. If these races continue to grow in popularity, I speculate that grizzlies will start lining up along race courses like they currently do streams during salmon spawning.

A 63-year-old mountain guide was on a solo tour in the Pyrenees when he spotted an aluminum tube resting in the snow. He recognized it as an avalanche charge fired from a compressed air cannon, so he gave the tube wide berth. In an extraordinary fit of bad luck, the charge blew up just as he passed underneath. It didn’t trigger an avalanche, but it did blow shrapnel into the poor guy’s head. He was able to call for help and get evacuated, but a little research shows just how terrible this guy’s luck was. The local ski patrol says there haven’t been any unexploded charges all season - or all last season. It seems the last time one went unaccounted was in 2007. Why this charge exploded at the exact moment that the guide was skiing next to it is a mystery. I just hope this guy has a better retirement plan than buying lotto tickets.