Field reports: Mountaineer’s body found after 21 years

CLIMBING – The body of a climber lost in a 1989 accident was found in August by two hikers in the Columbia Icefields in Alberta’s Jasper National Park.

William “Bill” Holland of Gorham, Maine, was found about a third of a mile down from the site of his fatal fall in the Canadian Rockies. He was climbing with a partner, Chris Dube, up 11,339-foot Snow Dome on a famously difficult route called Slipstream.

His body, which was in a crevasse and not retrievable at the time of the accident, was left to be transported unseen by the movement of the glacier.

Holland is survived by his wife, Anne Holland Bateman, who lives in Walla Walla, and his daughter, Laurel Holland, who was 5 at the time of his death.

News of the discovery came as a shock that gave way to warm memories for Laurel.

The 27-year-old Harvard-educated artist shared a line in a college application essay as she wrote about the loss of her dad.

All the answers she needs would become clear in time, she had written: “You’ve just got to wait for the snow to melt away.”

Staff and wire reports

Expansion under way at White Pass

SKIING – Loggers were cutting down trees and construction workers were making headway on a new High Camp Lodge last week, putting the finishing touches on a 767-acre expansion at White Pass Ski Resort.

It’s the first radical change to the ski area in more than 30 years and it doubles the space skiers and snowboarders can enjoy.

Two-thirds of the $9 million expansion project is privately financed, resort officials said.

Workers are creating 13 named runs and stringing two extra Doppelmyer chairlifts to take skiers up an additional 500 vertical feet.

The project has elevated the ski area’s highest point to 6,500 feet, and aims to provide more open space for skiers and snowboarders.

The new High Camp Lodge, at elevation 6,000 feet, offers a view of Mount Rainier and the Cascades.

Staff and wire reports

Archery accident kills Kelso man

HUNTING – A man was killed Sept. 10 in an apparent accident involving two bowhunting companions, a Cowlitz County, Wash., sheriff’s officer says.

Benny White, 50, of Kelso, Wash., was fatally injured while hunting near Toutle with a friend.

White and Ben Guay of Rainier spotted an elk and got out of their pickup to follow it, officers reported. Guay said White was in the lead when he stopped suddenly – and the hunting arrow in Guay’s compound bow pierced his friend’s back.

Guay said he helped White back into the truck and drove toward town, flagging down a deputy for help, but White died before he could be transported to a hospital.

Officers said the second hunter had not fired his bow and called it “just a freak accident.”

Associated Press

Volunteers needed for local trail work

TRAILS – Spokane Valley trails are getting the final rerouting touches of the season in weekend volunteer efforts spearheaded by Jane Baker of the Washington Trails Association.

Groups will be at Iller Creek Conservation Area on Saturday and Sunday and at Liberty Lake on Oct. 9-10.

Sign up: www.wta.org/ volunteer/trail-work-parties

Rich Landers