Buhler boosts mountain rescue
Carlos Buhler – dubbed by Climbing magazine as “the most accomplished North American climber in the Himalaya” – is scheduled to give a presentation in Yakima on March 20 as a fundraiser for Central Washington Mountain Rescue.
Buhler was the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen,
Buhler’s program, “Exploration among the World’s 6000 meter Peaks,” is set for 7 p.m. at The Seasons, 101 N. Naches Ave., in Yakima. Admission: $10.
Six years ago, the staff of EverestNews.com selected four “Best of the Best” mountaineers in the world; Buhler was the only North American in the group.
“I believe in supporting mountain rescue,” said Buhler, a New York native who attended Western Washington University’s Huxley College in the late 1970s and now lives in Canmore, Alberta. “Those guys provide a tremendous service.”
Buhler’s program hints at his departure from mainstream high-altitude climbing among the 8,000- meter peaks. Instead he prefers small-team, extreme-style ascents of lesser-known peaks to big expeditions on the better-known mountains.
Yakima Herald-Republic
Wildlife refuges
Columbia burns
The Columbia National Wildlife Refuge has scheduled controlled burns south of Potholes Reservoir over the next few weeks.
The projects along Crab Creek are geared to improving wildlife habitat and controlling invasive plants.
Info: Refuge headquarters, (509) 488-2668.
Rich Landers
FISHING
Strait talk on blackmouth
While the news has been dominated by talk of the big spring chinook run forecast for the Columbia River, savvy Puget Sound anglers have been stocking their freezers with the delicious 10-pound-average juvenile hatchery chinooks, better known as blackmouth.
Although February has produced excellent fishing, “March is the pinnacle of winter blackmouth fishing in the Strait of Juan de Fuca through the San Juan Islands south to Olympia,” said Tony Floor, who managed Washington’s blackmouth program before retiring from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Hot spots in the eastern strait include “the south end of Hein Bank on an ebb tide, the north end of Middle Bank also on an ebb tide and Coyote Bank on either tide,” Floor said.
“Winter blackmouth love these banks in March, chowing down on herring, sandlance (candlefish) and shrimp,” he said. “Work the bottom 10 feet, between 100 and 140 feet of water and standby to make a bank deposit into your cooler.”
The next best weekend tides for blackmouth will occur on March 22-23, he said.
Rich Landers