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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Field Reports

The Spokesman-Review

MOUNTAINEERING

Locals have mixed results

Success and a reckoning with reality summarize two expeditions involving Spokane climbers.

Spokane climbers John Roskelley and his son, Jess, announced on Tuesday that they had abandoned their attempt to make a first ascent of the northeast ridge on 23,422-foot Gauri Shankar in Tibet. They had reached at least 17,000 feet.

“John said the face is ‘far too dangerous’ to attempt the climb,” said Fenton Roskelley, father of the former Spokane County commissioner. “Mild weather has melted most of the snow on the peak and is melting the ice that held rocks in place. As a result, rock falls are frequent and dangerous.”

John Roskelley made the first ascent of Gauri Shankar with a Sherpa companion in 1979 from the mountain’s Nepal side. Only two of 19 subsequent expeditions have succeeded on that route, he said.

Satellite-transmitted reports from the mountain are on the Web at www.roskelleyexpedition.com.

Meanwhile, Kevin Jones, 40 and Mike Hines, 42, recently returned from a six-week expedition in Tibet that put them on the summit of 26,902-foot Cho Oyu, the world’s sixth-highest peak, on Sept. 21.

“I’m still trying to clear my head from the climb, as well as my GI track,” Jones said Tuesday.

The two climbers booked with Seattle-based Alpine Ascents International. “They’re the Cadillac for these expeditions, and I only wanted to go over there once,” said Jones, noting the expedition fee was $16,000. “I didn’t have the money for Everest, and this is the easiest of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks.”

The sales representative for Rockwell Automation has a solid climbing resume of Northwest volcanoes plus McKinley in Alaska, Aconcagua in Argentina and Cotopaxi in Ecuador. Hines, a Spokane attorney, did not have so much climbing experience, but a lot of experience outdoors, Jones said.

“The climb went surprisingly smooth,” he said, noting that they eased into the high altitudes by taking 10 days to reach 16,000 feet. Four of the five clients reached the summit with their Sherpa guides. “We all came back with our fingers and toes,” he added.

Most impressive was Lakpa Rita Sherpa, a guide who’s climbed Everest nine times. “It was like bicycling with Lance Armstrong,” Jones said. “I weigh 185 and I’m 50 percent bigger than he is, yet he could carry 50 percent more than I can. At altitude, he was so far superior physiologically, he was like another species.”

Even the Sherpa who had to leave the trip was tough: “He had an absessed tooth and he wanted us to pull it out with a Leatherman.”

Rich Landers

CONSERVATION

CRP restrictions coming

Changes are coming for a conservation program, rich in benefits to wildlife, that pays farmers to take land out of production, the Bush administration said last week.

An estimated 35 million acres of farmland are idled each year at a cost of nearly $2 million through the Conservation Reserve Program, the Agriculture Department’s biggest farm conservation effort.

However, only farmers and ranchers who own the most environmentally sensitive land would get new 10- to 15-year contracts, said Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns. Most other farmers and ranchers will be offered contract extensions for only two to five years.

Contracts will expire on about 26 million acres from 2007 through 2009. Officials expect many farmers and ranchers will drop out because they don’t want short-term contracts.

Since its creation in 1985, officials said, the program has helped to reduce erosion, improve air and water quality and boost wildlife including ducks, pheasants, prairie chickens and sharp-tailed grouse.

Associated Press

BIG GAME

Moose has CWD

A moose killed last month in northern Colorado has tested positive for chronic wasting disease, apparently the first of its species known to have contracted the neurological disorder in the wild, state wildlife officials said last week.

The disease has been found in deer or elk in 10 states and two provinces.

Staff and wire reports

WINTER SPORTS FILMS

Extreme exposure

“Booter Crunk,” an outdoor adventure film featuring maniacs on snowboards and skis in lofty venues of Oregon, Utah, Tahoe, Alaska and Europe, will be shown Monday, 7 p.m., in Boswell Hall Schuler Auditorium at North Idaho College.

Bend, Ore.,-based Rage Films worked up more than 50 tricky jumps and obstacles of all kinds to stage the stunts. Some of the performers may be at the show. Tickets are $7.

Info: (208) 769-7809.

•The world premiere of “The Tangerine Dream,” the latest and perhaps the best of the outrageous adrenaline snow-shredding ski and snowboarding flicks from Teton Gravity Research, will be in Spokane Nov. 13 at The Met.

Tickets are $12 for adults and $7 for kids from 325-SEAT.

Rich Landers