Field Reports: Lookout Pass seeking instructors

New ski and snowmboard instructors are being sought, trained and hired at Lookout Pass Ski Area.

“Newcomers will be trained in the fundamentals of teaching prior to the season opening, usually about Thanksgiving,” said Ric Clarke, Lookout Pass Ski & Snowboard School director.

“The season runs through the first week in April. We need instructors on weekends and weekdays – especially during Christmas break.

Candidates must be 16 or older and able to commit to at least one day a week, Clarke said, adding that instructors receive compensation based on the number of lessons taught, plus they get a free season pass and reduced season passes for family members, discounts on food and beverage concessions and retail items.

Frequent clinics help them improve their ski and snowboard skills, Clarke said.

Contact: (208) 744-1659 or 208-660-8720 or ricclarke@imbris.net.

Rich Landers

CLIMBING

Investigators probe Skinner’s fatal fall

A friend who’s scaled peaks with renowned rock climber Todd Skinner says he sometimes used gear beyond its life span, and fears a frayed climbing harness strap may have snapped, causing him to plunge to his death in Yosemite National Park.

It will take authorities days – possibly weeks – to officially determine why Skinner, 47, fell 500 feet to his death Oct. 23 while attempting to pioneer a new route up Leaning Tower, an imposing rock face near Bridalveil Fall, the famous waterfall near the entrance to Yosemite Valley.

As Skinner lowered himself down the rock wall, a nylon loop attaching his harness to the rope broke, and he fell, hitting the side of the mountain, said his close friend Paul Piana, who received an emotional call from Skinner’s climbing partner, Jim Hewitt, on Monday afternoon.

“Jim told me it was some equipment that was too worn, which makes it really tragic,” Piana said. “Todd and I have contributed to the design and tested a lot of equipment, so we have a lot of faith in its durability. Sometimes maybe because of that, you become a little too complacent.”

In 1988, Skinner and Piana became the first to free climb the Salathe Wall, a particularly difficult route on El Capitan, the park’s massive 3,000-foot monolith, using a technique with no artificial aid to climb – just a rope to protect against falls.

Associated Press

WILDERNESS

Wilderness enacted for California

More than 273,000 acres in California’s North Coast has been designated as wilderness and 21 river miles have been given wild and scenic status under Congressional legislation enacted last month. The Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act was signed by President Bush on the day the U.S. population was estimated to have reached 300 million.

So far in the 109th Congress, President Bush has signed four laws protecting nearly 400,000 acres of wilderness, including desert canyonlands in New Mexico (Ojito Wilderness), a tropical rainforest in Puerto Rico (El Toro Wilderness), and rugged peaks in Utah (Cedar Mountain Wilderness).

Other wilderness bills pending and possible for passage this session include: 76,000 acres in New Hampshire’s White Mountains and Vermont’s Green Mountain National Forests; nearly 320,000 acres in the Boulder-White Cloud Mountains of Idaho; up to 125,000 acres of Oregon’s Mount Hood; 545,000 acres in eastern Nevada’s White Pine County and about 20,000 acres around Browns Canyon near Salida, Colo.

Rich Landers

NATIONAL PARKS

Superintendent retires at North Cascades

Bill Paleck, the superintendent of North Cascades National Park who also oversees operations at two national recreation areas in far north-central Washington, has announced plans to retire after 14 years on the job.

Paleck started his 37-year NPS career as a seasonal trail laborer at Saguaro National Park in Arizona.

As superintendent at North Cascades, Paleck oversees operations for the national park, as well as Ross Lake and Lake Chelan recreation areas. He cited completion of a learning center, with the cooperation of Seattle City Light and North Cascades Institute, and renovation of the Golden West Visitor Center in 2004 among his proudest accomplishments.

Among the more difficult relationships for the superintendent is communicating with the roughly 100 residents of Stehekin, a remote community at the end of 50-mile Lake Chelan that is only reachable by boat or floatplane. The community surrounded by federal land has been critical of the Park Service.

Paleck noted that his successor faces challenges there, including a battle over extending telephone service to the area and rebuilding a road washed out by floodwaters several years ago.

Bark beetle and spruce budworm attacks in the forests will mean more large wildfires in the future, and melting glaciers that provide recreation and hydropower for communities west of the Cascades will need attention, he said.

Not to be forgotten are the park’s declining budgets in recent years. About 15 positions that were filled by full-time, career park employees just six years ago have either been cut or are filled by seasonal workers, he said.

Associated Press

YELLOWSTONE PARK

Tourists not deterred

Despite higher gas prices, about the same number of people visited Yellowstone National Park this summer as did last summer.

At the end of September, 2.7 million tourists had entered the park on recreational visits. said the numbers show that high travel prices didn’t make a considerable difference this year.

“There was a lot of talk about gas prices having a significant effect,” said Al Nash, park spokesman. “We just didn’t see that here.”

Visitation was up 8.9 percent in September, which featured great weather this year.

Associated Press