Field Reports: ge record set on McKinley
Michio Kumamoto of Tokorozawa, Japan, celebrated his 76th birthday on June 17 and then, on June 29, became the oldest person to summit Mount McKinley.
Kumamoto was climbing with three companions, the youngest of whom was 61 years old, said Kris Fister, spokeswoman for Denali National Park and Preserve.
This season, 1,218 mountaineers attempted various routes on Mount McKinley (down from last year’s record 1,340), with 573 reaching the 20,320-foot summit of North America’s highest peak. Five climbers died.
Climbing Mount McKinley and other Alaska Range peaks is allowed year-round, but weather and unstable glacier conditions typically limit the climbing season from late April to mid-July. Climbers were plagued this year by an early-season storm that scoured the slopes and left thin-brittle snow bridges over crevasses.
“Masatoshi Kuriaki, of Fukuoka, Japan, became the first solo climber to scale nearby Mount Foraker in winter.
Fister said 20 other people unsuccessfully attempted the 17,400-foot peak — North America’s sixth largest — after Kuriaki’s summit on March 10.
Staff and wire reports
CLIMBING
Rockfall kills NOLS leader
Pete Absolon, the Rocky Mountain director of the National Outdoor Leadership School in Lander, Wyo., was killed in a climbing accident in the Wind River Range on Aug. 11.
Absolon, 47, had been the Rocky Mountain director of the school since May and a NOLS instructor since 1990.
Fremont County authorities say that the fatal accident occurred in the Leg Lake area of the Wind River Range west of Lander. A rock fell and struck Absolon while he was making a 700-foot rock climb.
Associated Press
HUNTING
Idaho says no To Access Yes!
The Idaho Fish and Game Commission, during its July 19 meeting in Salmon, agreed to cancel the three-year Access Yes! Pilot Project in the Magic Valley Region after the first year.
Magic Valley Region Commissioner Wayne Wright said area landowners seemed to have little interest in providing hunter access to private land in exchanged for compensation such as non-transferable big game tags, pledges of help with habitat projects and enforcement.
Earlier this year, the commission authorized the Idaho Fish and Game Department to allot 11 pilot project big-game tags to landowners in exchange for access agreements, four of which were highly sought-after tags for antlered deer and elk in Unit 45.
“It’s time to regroup,” Wright said. “The hope was to use the tags to benefit both landowner and sportsmen, but that hasn’t worked. The department would be better off looking for alternative sources of money to buy permanent access across private lands to public land.”
Existing Access Yes! Pilot Project contracts will be honored through 2007.
Staff reports
HIKING
Stevens Lake trip
What: Five-mile group hiking trip to Stevens Lake.
Where: Meet at North Idaho College and travel by van to trailhead near Mullan.
When: Starting 7 a.m., Aug. 25.
Who: Sponsored by NIC Outdoor pursuits.
Cost: $12, includes transportation.
Pre-register to reserve spot, (208) 769-7809.