WINTER SPORTS -- Stevens Pass ski area is celebrating its 75th Anniversary by being the first to open in Washington for the 2012/13 season. With more than 24 inches of snow in the past 24 hours, resort officials say the lifts will open at noon…
CYCLING -- Spokane's venerable Two Wheel Transit bicycle shop has moved to the South Perry Neighborhood from its former location on First Avenue at the west end of downtown. See the S-R story.
TRAVEL -- The Washington Transportation Department closed the North Cascades Highway at noon today because of heavy snow and avalanche danger. Three slides occurred and more than 4 inches of snow fell within 90 minutes, according to a department media release. At this point, the…
FLY FISHING -- Playboy magazine named Freestone fly rods its "catch of the day: power with ultrasensitivity." OK, let's move on.
FISHERIES -- A work group comprised of Oregon and Washington fish and wildlife commissioners on Thursday agreed on recommendations that would change state management of lower Columbia River fisheries by eliminating the use commercial gill nets by non-tribal fishers on the mainstem lower Columbia River.…
WINTER SPORTS -- A 28-hour Level I avalanche class geared to ski patrol, search and rescue and backcountry skiers/snowboarders is being offered over the next three months starting next week. Arch Harrison, local search and resecue and ski patrol veteran, will teach the classroom portion…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Getting personal with wild birds is tricky. Verifying whether a swan is male or female requires a hands-on fairly invasive peel-it-back and look. Western Washington raptor biologist Bud Anderson offers these observations to people he's heard declaring the age and sex of…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Birders have been reporting more and more observations of snowy owls showing up in Washington. Although they routinely venture this far during their winter migration from the arctic, Last year's big number of snowy owls across the northern tier of states was…
Rich Landers writes and photographs stories and columns for a wide range of outdoors coverage, including Outdoors feature sections on Sunday and Thursday.
