BACKCOUNTRY SKIING -- Professional skier Matthew Jamie Pierre died in an avalanche he triggered while snowboarding at the unopened Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort Sunday afternoon. Pierre, 38, of Big Sky, Mont., was snowboarding with a friend in the South Chute area when the avalanche…
MOUNTAIN PASSES -- The state Transportation Department has closed Chinook and Cayuse passes for the winter because of avalanche danger. The department says strong winds drifted snow Monday across both Highway 410 and Highway 123 on the east side of Mount Rainier. Access to the…
BIRDWATCHING -- Along with the first lowland snowfall, a snowy owl migrating to this area from the arctic was reported seen on the Rathdrum Prairie on Saturday by Inland Northwest Birders. On Sunday a different snowy owl was photographed along Wolf Lodge Creek and the…
SKI RESORTS -- The weekend storm dumped 21 inches of new snow on the Montana-Idaho border, giving Lookout Pass Ski and Recreation Area the jumpstart it needs to start operating its lifts and open for the season at reduced rates starting Friday (Nov. 18). Lookout…
ENDANGERED SPECIES -- Two of three California condor chicks that hatched in the Grand Canyon of Arizona earlier this year are doing well, including one that recently took its first flight from the nest. The other surviving chick is flapping its wings and hopping around…
All.I.Can. Teaser 2 from Sherpas Cinema on Vimeo. ADVENTURE FILMS -- Voted best full-lenght feature film at the recent Banff Mountain Film Festival, All.I.Can. takes ski movies to another level. Here's a mini-review from Spokane Mountaineer Steve Reynolds: “All.I.Can” just released, some already saying the…
THE LAND -- The Cheney-Spokane Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute is sponsoring a free public lecture “Latest Pleistocene Geologic History of Upper Grand Coulee” by Dr. Patrick Spencer on Thursday, (Nov.17), 7 p.m., on the Eastern Washington University, Cheney Campus, in Science Building,…
WILDLIFE ENCOUNTERS -- A woman scouting for deer during Washington's early deer hunt details her tense encounter with two wolves that apparently were defending their deer kill near Lake Chelan in this blog post by Andy Walgamott of Northwest Sportsman. No shots fired. I admire…
WILDLIFE WATCHING – Veterans and active military are being honored with a special eagle-watching cruise set for Nov. 26 on Lake Coeur d’Alene. The free two-hour partyboat cruise to view the annual congregation of bald eagles is organized by the U.S Bureau of Land Management…
Rich Landers writes and photographs stories and columns for a wide range of outdoors coverage, including Outdoors feature sections on Sunday and Thursday.
