 Alaska Climber Injured in Haiti Earthquake
Christa Brelsford, of Anchorage, Alaska, was volunteering in Dabonne, south of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on an 11-day program to teach adult and child literacy when the quake hit. It took her brother Julian and their friends nearly an hour and a half to dig her from debris, her legs trapped by rubble when a building collapsed. Her right leg was amputated from the shin down. Visit: keepchristaclimbing.org to learn more and to make a donation.
 Keeping Up
January 2010 - It’s another deep powder morning and Jason calls me as planned. He’s leaving town and will be here to pick me up in a half-hour. “I’m not wasting time coming in to get you,” he says over the usual cacophony of Widespread Panic and arguments over where to lay first tracks. “If you’re not out at the gate when I get there, I’m not stopping.”
 The Human Snowball
January 2010 - The last time I skied was the
first time I almost died. Although
it’s been well over a decade since
the incident, the story has become
legend among relatives. It’s told with the
same relish that campers tell that ghost
story about the maniac with the hook arm,
except the hooked psycho’s tale is slightly
more flattering.
 Scrapplefest: The Dharma pig lives
January 2010 - Does a pig have the power to change lives? Brothers Christopher and Geoffrey Hanson collaborated on the 1998 film “Scrapple,” which asked just such a question. “Scrapple” has been called “‘Babe’ on acid” and “The skibum’s version of ‘Easy Rider,’” but perhaps the mountain-town cult film displayed within its low-budget frames a prescient notion of what was to come.
 A Field Guide to Middle-Aged Men Who Name Themselves After Handsome Carnivores
January 2010 - I am wary of men named Raven.
Especially naked 52-year-old men
spreading their legs toward me in the
hot springs while waxing on and on
about their mellow attitude towards life. “It
was ‘given’ to me,” they tell you when you ask
them how they got their name, though never
by whom nor under the influence of what.
Ever notice they’re never “given” names like
“Nudibranch” or “Naked Mole Rat”? No, they
are always named after creatures with grand
mythological significance. Carnivores, usually.
And handsome. Raven. Bear. Wolf.
 Mountain Weather
Updated 1/20/10 by Michael Fagin - Weekly updates on mountain weather for a different location each week and updated every Thursday. We will cover the following: Alps, Cascades, Sierra, Aconcagua, and more will be added. Lead forecaster Michael Fagin has been providing mountain weather forecasts since the 1970's.
 Teton Boulder Project Releases Design Plans
Bouldering Park scheduled for construction in Summer 2010 - Jackson, Wyo. Organizers of the Teton Boulder Project have released plans for a bouldering park they seek to construct at the base of Snow King Mountain in downtown Jackson Hole. The park, which is being designed by Nona Yehia and Jefferson Ellinger of E/Ye Design under the auspices of Teton County Parks and Recreation Department, is scheduled for construction in Summer 2010.
 The Third-Annual Mountain Dog Photo Contest
We’re looking for photos of Fido going about the business of being a canine lucky enough to frolic in Mountain Country! Drop-dead deadline was December on 21, 2009. Even though you've missed the 2010 Dog Photo Contest you can still upload your photos to our community gallery where we'll be picking one of YOUR photos for EVERY ISSUE of Mountain Gazette. CLICK HERE to upload your photos to MG's PhotoPost Community Gallery
 Telemark Truth
December 2009 - The lore of skiing is full of fascinating tales. Some of them actually are true. And some are not, being based more on outdoor versions of urban myths than on accounts of reallife events or persons. Were a list of current skiing myths to be drawn up, Telemark might well top it. Not the practice; that’s real-life daring. It’s the word itself that’s fogged.
 Jackson's Famed Powder Pilots
December 2009 - Watching “Swift. Silent. Deep. The Story of the Jackson Hole Air Force,” — the recently released rockumentary- style history of America’s most-famous band of ski bums — I kept thinking three things: 1) What made these guys so much more myth-makingly friendly than any other group of “hard charging, hard drinking, hard drugging skiers” (to quote JHAF co-founder Benny Wilson)? 2) Did this particular cadre of high-altitude athletes really play a pivotal role in shaping the present state of American skiing? And 3) Damn, I’d really like to go ski some deep powder right this instant.
 The Teton Ice Park Opens at Grand Targhee Resort
Thanks to Local Support and Sponsorship the Teton Ice Park will officially open Saturday, December 19, at Grand Targhee Resort - It’s been a steep learning curve for local mountain guide Christian Santelices, but his dream became a reality when he climbed on the “KB Wall” for the first time on Sunday. While cold temperatures the past few weeks seemed ideal for making ice, a series of frozen pipes, and miscellaneous snafus have slowed progress.
 Breathcicle
December 2009 - 25 truths about riding the bike home on a deserted mountain highway, with 8 inches of snow, at 11 p.m., in a whiteout: 1. The experience bears little resemblance to a most sublime pastime: biking home through a deserted alpine valley, at 2 a.m., on a vivid starlit minus-20-degree night. Although both journeys require blind faith, offer heightened sensation and result in exuberant spiritual clarity, there is one elemental distinction: ice.
 Christmas Naked
December 2009 - You’re 10 years old in your home sewn jammies, tearing down the hall to what you know is there, you just know it: a banana-seat bike in the living room, green with tassels, and Santa’s the greatest! Your mom and dad light cigarettes and beam. The tree’s lit up red and green, and on the turntable John Denver’s singing “Silent Night” all high and nasally again and again and again.
 Turn, turn, turn
November 2009 - Throw your weight forward.
Lean into the abyss. Let go.
My skis are turned parallel to the edge of the cornice. The ground drops away and plunges into steeps and gullies studded with snowdrifts, trees and tree wells. Hints of rocks and downed timber break through the surface.
 Behind the Lines
November 2009 - (Being the Tale of a Rocky Mountain Canary’s Response to ‘Economic Downturn’) Here’s a picture postcard from the past, with this caption at the top: Rocky Mountain Canary Looking for a Tenderfoot. On the back is a postmark from 14,110-feet, stamped over these words, “The ‘Rocky Mountain Canary’ got his name because of his raucous bray; however, the burro is held in considerable esteem by prospectors, miners and others who must travel in the rough country beyond the trails. He is a patient, intelligent and faithful companion and helper.”
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