A climber in Grand Teton National Park walked out of a couloir with the duos only climbing rope and left his friend to be rescued. To be fair, his partner had activated his SPOT beacon and a rescue helicopter had hovered over them while his partner indicated he required rescue before the guy left. What happened was the two were stranded, the one called for help while the other insisted he didn’t need it, and then once the one who didn’t need help saw the helicopter, he got out of there and hiked back. Then when he arrived home the park police issued him a ticket for disorderly conduct. The park said they issued him the ticket because he left before the rescue occurred and he took their only rope. It’s a very odd situation, and it’s easy to see both sides of the issue. But I will say that I’m glad the park police have one catch-all “disorderly conduct” ticket they can be issued to guys whether they’ve abandoned climbing partners or peed in the middle of the street.

Water is coming over the Elwha Dam in what must be a tremendously fun torrent for fly fishers to watch. The Elwha River Restoration Project has set up a webcam so that you don’t have to miss any of the dam busting fun. The National Park Service also created a video that demonstrates how the dam removal process is supposed to work, and oddly enough, there’s no part in the video where the water pours over that side of the dam.

Photo by IvoShandor

A U.S. court has ruled that the National Forest in western Pennsylvania can be mined for oil and gas. Why? Because the National Forest Service only has rights to the land’s surface, not what’s below it. Ahh, they got the oil and gas on technicality. So, I wonder, how will the companies mine these resources that are below the national park without putting mining equipment on the national park’s surface? Well, maybe they’ll just rent a campsite for the season and drill in the middle of a campground.

via Adventure Journal

Icebreaker’s bizarre ads are beyond what you’d expect from a long underwear company. Or really, beyond what you’d expect from any company that has something to sell. They succeed in getting people talking about Icebreaker, specifically how odd their ads are. This ad, the Elbow Deep in a Sheep campaign, was run in New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup. Fans who ‘reached into the sheep’ (it was fake) were rewarded with discounts on long underwear.

A deer hunter in Northern California tipped police off on what he thought was a massive stand of marijuana growing on public land. The police arrived and found 1,991 plants that they estimate are work about $3.8 million. They also dismantled a dam that had been setup to divert water to the illegal farm. People in the area reported that they’d seen workers going into the field every day, which begs the question why the police didn’t bother arresting anyone who’s been trashing wildlife areas to grow marijuana.

These farms on public land must be all over the place. If you’re in Northern CA and don’t have the money to fill your pot prescription, just go to a national forest and walk in a straight line. You’re bound to find a bunch of it for free sooner or later.

via Outdoor Pressroom

“I’m going to the Netherlands for a ski vacation.” This might be a slightly-less-made-up reason to travel to the Netherlands one day. Thijs Zonneveld is seeking support to build a 1km-tall and 3-km wide artificial mountain on what is now flat farmland. To me, this looks more like an elaborate ruse to defraud feckless Western and Russian investors, but I’d be okay with that. Those of you who speak Dutch can watch a short investment video about buying a timeshare in the fake mountain (or whatever it’s about, it’s in Dutch).

I could watch this video 50 times. Cyclists have been working to popularize the sport of cyclocross for years. Joey here may have done it all alone in a few seconds. I think Joey’s okay, too.

via GetOutdoors

Watch a news anchor struggle to find something to talk about while Jeb Corliss flies through a cave in China. I suppose it’s more of an ‘arch’ than a cave but I’m not going to argue with the guy who was close enough to high-five a member of his ground crew on his last YouTube video. The anchor keeps saying it was his “second attempt.” Since he survived to make that second attempt we can assume that his first attempt did not include him coming into contact with the ground without deploying a parachute first.

Getting outside may be good for your ADHD! Want to ride bikes? According to a new study kids that regularly run around in the woods or play in outdoor spaces have milder attention deficit hyperactivity disorder than kids who play indoors. Seeing as how almost every adult I’ve worked with has at one time blamed ADHD for not paying attention when I was talking to them, I assume that everyone could use a dose of outdoor fun.