Jay Peak in Vermont has agreed to pay an $80,000 fine for filing in wetlands with debris from construction of a golf course from 2004 to 2008. The current Jay Peak owner says that the two acres of destroyed wetland and streams happened before he came on board. Ugh, the only thing worse than playing golf is golfing on filled in wetland. Couldn’t they have built the golf course on an old toxic waste site? If you haven’t bought your season pass to Jay Peak yet this year, might I suggest taking up backcountry skiing? I know a place where you can get some great gear, and I haven’t filled in any marshes or streams with debris for several years.

via Adventure Journal

Over the summer Andreas Fransson made the first ski descent of Denali’s South Face, and he did it solo. The news broke awhile back, but now the video is available. The camera work might make you sick, but then again maybe it’s the adventure that’s stomach churning. “Life can’t be more cool than this.”

via Teton AT

The Ski Showcase, it’s like a Showcase Showdown only better because it includes skis instead of RV campers and washer/dryer combos. A couple of my friends at Backcountry.com spent several business hours testing skis for this coming season and putting together a guide with all the latest offerings. Check it out here.

The trailer for Solitaire has finally arrived, it’s a new backcountry film from Sweetgrass Productions. They’d been building anticipation for a while with several webisodes called On the Road with Solitaire, where they told stories of the years-long filming project. The polished product looks as soulful as you’d expect from Sweetgrass. Premier for Solitaire is in Denver on September 15^th.

Mount Ashland of Oregon has been running labor camps with 12 to 14 year olds for the past 18 years. Parents drop their kids off in the morning, and kids toil up and down the mountainside learning the joy of sweat in their eyes during manual labor. The Youth Summer Service Program runs from 7:30am to 4:15pm, and gets the kids 20 hours of community service (I presume most of them apply it towards shoplifting charges) and a couple free ski passes for the following year.