Arches National Park has been studying the effects of climbing and canyoneering on the National Park, and they’ve shared the study and opened public comments on their three options. Their study looks at the “effects on natural and cultural resources and wilderness character, increase in use levels, the development of new routes, use of fixed [ more... ]

A California man drove his car over a cliff in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks on May 28 landing 300 feet off the road, his car almost completely covered in heavy brush. His family contacted the police that day but had no idea where he could be. Two days later they found out that [ more... ]

Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes you eat what the bear leaves behind. Dan Ryan kicks into one of the May 13 monsters at Teahupoo and gets himself a faceful.

It has been a loooong time in the wilderness for the status of placing climbing bolts in federal wilderness. In June 1998 the U.S. Forest Service banned all fixed climbing anchors within the designated wilderness areas under its jurisdiction. This didn’t just mean permanent bolts: It meant that pitons, nuts, and pretty much any form [ more... ]

If you want to go to Wrangel Island, be prepared to take an icebreaker or a helicopter. Not to mention a jet, or several, to Russia, since you’re going to wind up 90 miles north of Siberia. For the last leg you could tag along, as writer Hampton Sides did for his current story in National [ more... ]

More than 40 routes and hundreds of potential new ones will be impacted by a BLM ban on a 400-acre section of Castle Rocks, Idaho. Climbing will still be permitted at the much larger, and more widely known City of Rocks. The Bureau of Land Management was vague about its reasons for the ban and [ more... ]

Say you live in Cairns, a part of “Oz” closer by far to Papua New Guinea in the north than to Sydney. The diving and scuba are amazing near the Great Barrier Reef. The paddling is quite epic. But there’s a danger, and it isn’t sharks: It’s saltwater crocodiles that can grow to 21 feet. [ more... ]

The fantastic gear shop Neptune Mountaineering had a strange man try on a pair of La Sportiva Olympus Mons Evo boots and stroll out of the store without paying. I suspect he thought the $1000 boots looked pretty cool, though I’m guessing he’s not planning on climbing K2 with them. I think he’ll find they’re [ more... ]

And you thought road cyclists had a bad reputation. In Front Royal, Virginia, locals are so afeared of those dirtbag hikers walking the nearby Appalachian Trail, they rejected a bid by a couple who wants to build a hostel, as well as a bed and breakfast. The hostel would have been small, just five beds, [ more... ]

Two teenagers embarked on a 6-hour hike at the end of last month in Trabuco Canyon, California. “We wanted to touch the clouds,” one said. “That’s why we went up there. We wanted to be in the clouds at the top.” They became disoriented and called 911 for rescue, but the dispatcher had a hard [ more... ]