2000 News Archive

Date	Topic
12/31	Tenzing Norgay Was Not A Sherpa Tenzing Norgay who with Hillary were the first two climbers of Everest was not a Sherpa. He is from Tibet and not Nepal (so you didn't know there was a difference!). It's a political thing. Read more.
12/31	Climber Falls to Death on Whitney on 50th Birthday A climber celebrating his 50th birthday on the Whitney fell to his death. Read more.
12/31	8 Die in Avalanches Since November Experts say it will be a busy avalanche season. 8 have died in the US so far. Ironically Colorado which is most avalanche prone has not had any fatalities. Read more.
12/31	Flap Over Backbone's Windmills The East's biggest windmill project slated for the Backbone summit (on the West Virginia side) as well as an operation near Mount Davis in Pennsylvania has stirred a flap as its rates are cheaper than what Pennsylvanians are paying for power. Read more.
12/31	Climber Falls to Death on Ben Neavis A winter climber fell to his death on Brtiain's highest point. Read more.
12/31	2 Climbers Survive 24 Hours on Hood on Xmas Two climbers -- including an Outward Bound instuctor -- survived a night on Hood even as an S&R effort was made. Were they unprepared? Read more.
12/31	Solar Eclipses on High Points So the Christmas Day solar eclipse was not for you. Here's a schedule about big things coming in 2017, 2024 and 2106 Read more.
12/31	11 Dead on Mexico's Orizaba 11 people have died so far this season on Mexico's highest point. Read more.
12/31	Elk Released in Smokies Elk have been released to roam the Smokies again. Read more.
12/31	9 Dead in Smokies Accidents in 2000 9 People have died in Smokies accidents this year -- including a hypothermia death last week. Read more.
12/31	Naked Rock Climbing Those nutty rock climbers. Here's site -- pusher.com --selling naked rock climbing pictures (tasteful we hope). Read more.
12/26	SC Looking To Buy NC Side of Sassafras South Carolina is in negotiations to buy the North Carolina side of Sassafras. Read more.
12/24	Clinton Elevates Country's Tallest Dunes from National Monument to National Park President Clinton has moved Great Sand Dunes with its 700 foot high dunes to national park status. Read more.
12/23	Hood Scraps Quotas Opposition to a climber quotas on Hood has resulted in the NFS eliminating them. Read more.
12/22	Rainier Considers Prohibiting Climber Park at Paradise Rainier is taking comments on a proposal to prohibit climber parking at the Paradise trail head. Climbers usually stay 3 days while day trippers stay 3 hours. Read more.
12/21	Slick Ice Claims 12 in Alps In One Weekend 12 skiiers and mountaineers (including 4 who were trying to rescue a dog) were killed in accidents involving unexpected ice build ups. Read more.
12/20	Is It Bad Luck to Move Mauna Kea Rocks? Bad supposedly ensues if you take rocks from Mauna Kea. Is a Highpoint legend or the truth? Join the debate.
12/20	Race Over the Tuckerman Headwall "Son of Inferno" is scheduled April 21, 2001 at Tuckerman Ravine. It has been transformed from mere skiing race to a run-kayak-bike-hike-ski race with the ski component ripping right over the Headwall. Read more.
12/18	Is Australia/Oceania's Highest Point Carstensz or Kosciuzko? Kosciuzko has traditionally been called the highest point in Australia/Oceania. However witht the debut of 7summits.com there's a debate. Join in.
12/16	Waterfall Ice Climbing If it's vertical you can climb it. There's a whole bunch of folks going up frozen waterfalls. Read more.
12/14	Largest Wind Generation Plant in East for Backbone The largest wind generation system in the East is scheduled for the Backbone Mountain summit on the West Virginia side. It won't affect that Maryland highpoint. Read more.
12/12	Whitney Permit Lottery in February There have been changes in the Whitney permit lottery (telephone options, interactive forms). Read more.
12/10	"High Tech Cotton" to Compete with Gor-Tex A California-based company is introducing a fabric with "Nextec's Cotton" to compete with Gore-Tex It doesn't get crunchy or noisy like other treated rain gear. Read more
12/8	Pakistan Doubles Porters Life Insurance Fees/Increases K2 Fees Pakistan has increased the climbing fees for climbing K2 and other summits. It has also doubled the porters' life insurance premiums Read more
12/6	Black Mesa Is Just a 45-Mile Long Lava Flow Jean Trousdale reports on the history of Black Mesa. Read more.
12/4	Becoming a 50 Completer Cost Me 9 Fingers and Toes Read the first hand accounts of two new completers and four new 48 completers at the Highpointers Club 4th Quarter Newsletter.
12/2	View From High Point, NJ, to Include Huge Condo Complex? Plans are underway for the MountainCreek ski resort to expand to cover all of the former wildlife refuge at Hamburg Hill. Read more.
11/30	Everest Melting to Below 29,000 Feet? A Chinese report indicates that Everest is melting (and moving north). Further evidence indicates the summit rock may below 29,000 feet. Read more.
11/29	Vail Woes A fire did $20 Million damage to the Vail Marriott Mountain Resort on Nov. 18. "Environmental terrorists" are suspected. In addition, a court convicted a skiier of murder following a collision on a Vail ski slope in which a man was killed. Read more
11/27	USGS Giving Away Outdated Topos for Wrapping Paper The USGS is giving away outdated topos for use as wrapping paper. Read more.
11/25	Mt. Washington Trail Signs Auction Ends Dec. 15 The AMC is auctioning off "distressed" trail signs from Mt Washington and the White Mountains. You have until Dec. 15 to bid on them. Read more.
11/24	Author of Original Highpoints Guidebook Dies Frank Ashley, the author of the original highpoints guidebook died. Read more.
11/22	Spectacular Boundary Web Site Matt Mueller has a spectactular web site on Boundary Peak -- the most comprehensive on the web. Visit it (photo from Matt's site)
11/21	Parking Ban Proposed at Yosemite A hot button issue int the backcountry is the proposed ban on cars in the Yosemite Valley. Read more. (photo from NPS Yosemite site)
11/20	Captor Pushed Off Cliff Survives? It was a great story. College climbers taken hostage in Kyrgyzstan escaped by pushing their captor off their cliff. The captor may not have died. Photo from Outside Magazine. Read more.
11/19	Crane Dropped on Machu Picchu Sun Dial in Beer Commercial An ad agency accidentally dropped a crane and damaged a sundial on Machu Picchu for a beer commercial. Meanwhile, the Inca Trail is closed for repairs and controversy rages on a cable car to Machu Picchu. Photo from Inca Trail. Read more.
11/18	20 Couples Marry on Mount Misti 20 Couples married on top of Mount Misti in Peru. Read more. (photo from round arequipa)
11/17	Baxter Starts Shuttle for AT Hikers AT hikers who arrive at Baxter in the short days are being shuttled to the Katahdin trail head so they can complete the hike and not break park rules which limit camping at Baxter. Read more.
11/16	Hillary Bemoans "Prima Dona" Climbers Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Mount Everest, says that climbers are now out more for themselves and are behaving liking prima donas. Read more.
11/14	Is Scales Mound the highest in Illinois A typo in the USGS GNIS database shows that Scales Mound is the highest in Illinois. Read more.
11/13	Sierra Club Founder David Brower dies. Read more.
11/12	Spiderman Arrested Climbing Singapore Tower Alain ``Spiderman'' Robert from France was arrested in Singapore attempting to climb the Overseas Bank Tower. Read more.
11/10	Climber Who First Soloed Dhaulagiri Breaks Legs in Backyard Slovenian Tomaz Humar who last year soloed Dhaulagiri broke both legs when he fell into a hole of a construction project in his backyard. Read more.
11/8	Fire Forces Evacuation of Outward Bound Base Camp at Linville Gorge, North Carolina. Fires in the Appalachians have destroyed more than 47,000 acres. Read more.
11/6	Canadian Roof Debuts Check out our new guide to the highest points in the Canadian provinces.
11/4	Founder of Expedition Inspiration Dies Laura Steele Evans who founded Expedition Inspiration for cancer survivors has died. Read more.
11/2	Will Bush/Cheney Sell All Parks and Monuments? A popular thread among outdoor enthusiasts is that Bush and Cheney plan to sell all national land. Read more.
10/31	Drama on Jerimoth In addition to the usual drama about Jerimoth Hill here's some more: There is some question about whether we are going to the right boulder on the peak. An 85-ton boulder near the summit is mystifying authorities as to how it got there. Jerimoth is credited with causing the worst snow storms in Rhode Island. State officials say that contrary to rumor no trash heap is higher than Jerimoth.
10/30	Bill Gates Turned Away At Lake Placid New York Magazine in its October 30 issue says that Microsoftie Bill Gates was refused a room at an exclusive resort at Lake Placid because of his kids.

10/29	Bodies of 2 Children Found at Baxter A member of a religious sect guided authorities to a grave at Baxter State Park on October where two babies were burried north of Grand Lake Matagamon.
10/27	Highpointing Connection for the World Series New York's great rivalry actually started on Manhattan's highest point. The New York Yankees were originally called "Highlanders" because they played at Hilltop Park on Manhattan's highest point. A Met lives on the highest point in New York City itself. You can look it up.
10/25	"Greylock Miracle" Prompts Canonization of First Saint of Millennium A shrine in Stockbridge celebrates the newest saint - Saint Faustina of Poland who was canonized this year after a Massachusetts woman was healed after praying at her tomb. Read more.
10/24	Himalayan Observatory Tops Mount Evans for Title of World's Tallest India has built a ground based observatory in the Himalayas at 14,763 feet. It tops the Denver University's telescope on Mount Evans for the title of world's highest. Read more.
10/20	Canada Considers Renaming Mount Logan Canada has apparently backed down on plans to rename its highest point Mount Logan in honor of the late Pierre Trudeau. Read more.
10/16	Congressman Vento Dies Bruce Vento, the St. Paul, Minnesota Congressman, whose name is almost synonymous with Boundary Waters Canoe died. A move is afoot to rename Eagle Mountain in his honor. Read more. Vote on the poll to rename Eagle Mountain.
10/12	Serbian Skis Down Mount Everest A Serbian who has also skiied Mont Blanc became the first to ski all the way down from Mount Everest. Read more.
10/8	$125 Million Resort for Greylock Plans are moving forward for a $125 Million resort on Mount Greylock. Read more.
10/6	New England Bouldering O.K., there aren't a lot of rock faces in New England. But that doesn't stop rock climbers who have taken up bouldering. Read more.
10/4	Looking to Walk the World's Highest Summits? Ann Bowker has an intriguing scrapbook of the highest mountains that you can climb without ropes.
10/2	Is Badwater the Lowest Point in the U.S.? Just because you made it Badwater doesn't mean you've been to the lowest point in the U.S. Read more. It's even been suggested the low point is really near San Francisco!
9/30	Mount Rainier Topic of "Scariest Movie Ever Made" The re-release of "The Exorcist" is noting in its hype that it is based on an incident that took place at Mount Rainier, Maryland. Read more.
9/25	Colorado 14'er Record Broken/Attempt Fails on California 14'ers. The speed record for climbing all 55 Colorado 14'ers was cut by one day to just under 11 days. Read more.
9/20	Frissell South Slope Hard to Find? We have a spirited debate on accessing Connecticut's highpoint. Read more.
9/15	Million Dollar Facelift for High Point, NJ The first part of a million dollar facelift in High Point is scheduled to be completed by November -- despite winds on the summit somtimes at 58 mph. Read more.
9/10	Bush Promises $5 Billion to Rebuild National Parks In Presidential politics George Bush has promised $5 Billion to repair the National Park system. Read more.
9/5	$20.8 Million Resort for Mount Magazine Summit A $20.8 million resort has been proposed as part of extensive changes to Arkansas' highest point. Read more.
9/1	Fire Season Ending Late summer fires threatened highpoints in South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. The fire in South Dakota started by arson at Jewell came within 6 miles of Custer and destroyed 8% of Black Hills National Forest. The Wyoming fire closed access to Gannett from Elkhart.
8/29	Stonewashed Jeans Mine Closed near Humphreys A mine in the San Francisco mountains near Humphreys has been closed. It was used for pumice for stone washed jeans in France. Read more.
8/27	Kidnapped Climbers Push Guard Off Cliff Kidnapped climbers from Colorado and California escaped by pushing their guard off a cliff in Kyrgyzstan. Read more.
8/25	September Begins Moose Rutting Season on Katahdin Sure it's a great time to visit. But wathc out for that moose! Read more.
8/23	Parking Lot Built on Arvon The parking lot by the pond on Mount Arvon is built. You might see a beaver or a moose while climbing Michigan's highest point.
8/21	The Storm of the Millennium Drops 14 Inches On High Point A "500-Year" rain dropped 14 inches of rain on High Point, New Jersey, on August 12-13 causing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage and leaving thousands homeless. Read more.
8/19	West Nile Virus Found Near Northeast Highpoints The West Nile Virus has been discovered near the highpoints of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode lsland. Read more.
8/17	New Speed Record for Climbing Colorado 14'ers Ricky Denesik all 54 Colorado 14'ers in a record 12 days, 15 hours and 35 minutes. Read more.
8/15	190 Climbers Summit Mauna Kea The 2000 convention is history. Read Dave Covill's account.
8/13	Kentucky Closes on $4.2 Million on Black Mountain Summit Kentucky followed through and closed on a deal to save the Black Mountain summit.
8/11	Is Boundary the Worst Hike Up Highpoint? The Forum is debating unpleasant experiences on climbing Nevada's highest point.
8/9	Washington Post Article on Cell Phones in Backcountry
8/6	Oklahoma Named Site of 2002 Convention
8/3	Climber Killed Near High Point, New Jersey A climber in Delaware Water Gap fell to his death.
7/31	Do You Need a Rope on Borah? Borah is a Class 4 peak that requires a rope. Or is it? Read the discussion.
7/29	Hikers Discover Rare Glimpse of Rhode Island Highpoint Pete Anderson has sent pictures of Rhode Island's highest point -- the country's most inaccessible because of private property issues. See the photos!
7/27	Climber Attaches Himself to NFS Building for 11 Days to Protect Hood Logging A climber attached himself to the NFS office in Portland to protect proposal to log the slopes of Hood. Read more.
7/23	Smokies On Pace for Record Unhealty Ozone Days Smoky Mountain National Park is on a pace to have its most unhealthy air in its history. Read more.
7/19	Lightning Kills Climber on Long's Peak Lightning killed a climber on the Diamond Face of Long's Peak. Read more. Colorado is second to Florida in annual lightning deaths. Six people were injured in the last week alone.
7/15	The Hazards of Boundary Peak Stephen Drake has a cautionary tale about Nevada's highest point.
7/10	Highpointers Get Bad Press Over Rhode Island An AP article criticizes folks who climb Rhode Island's highest point at all hours. Read more.
7/3	Humphreys Peak and Wheeler Reopen! The fire hazard has subsided and Humphreys Peak has re-opened in time for the July 4 weekend. Wheeler opened on June 29.
7/1	Spruce Knob Summit Closed The Spruce Knob, West Virginia, summit and main access road are closed. Read more.
6/26	7-Year-Old Boy Rescues Hood Climbers A 7-year-old boy playing walkie talkie received a distress call from hikers on Hood and called it in. Read more.
6/24	Autopsy Confirms Bear Killed Woman in Smokies An autopsy confirmed that a woman was recently killed by a bear in GSMNP. Read more.
6/20	4 Dead in Plane Crash to McKinley Base Camp 3 rangers and a pilot died in a plane crash on Monday, June 19 en route to Kahiltna base camp. Read more. In addition there is a sad report of an accident involving a Coloado Springs guide. Read more.
6/16	Wheeler/Humphreys Close Indefinitely The fire hazard has caused Wheeler to be closed indefinitely. Read more. Humphreys Peak is also closed indefinitely. Read more.
6/14	Baltimore Sun Profile of Backbone The Baltimore Sun has extensive coverage of Backbone Mountain -- site of the 2001 Highpointers Convention. Read more.
6/12	Babu Took An Hour Longer to Climb Everest The sherpa who climbed Everest in record time did it 16 hours 56 minutes (he thinks it can be done in 12). Read more.
6/10	Dog Summits Hood Here's an amusing tale of a dog on the Hood. Read more.
6/8	First visit to Colorado's low point. Adam Roddy visited Colorado's low point. Read his report.
6/6	Blind Man Summit's Canada's Highest Point A blind climber summited Mount Logan on Friday, June 2. Read more.
6/5	Woman Dies in Fall from Hood Summit A woman looking over the northeast side of the Hood summit fell to her death landing near where climbers died on Hood last year. Read more.
6/4	Everglades More Dangerous Than Rainier? An article in the WSJ rated national parks on safety. It's much safer to visit Rainier than the Everglades. Read more.
6/3	Spruce Knob Tower Closed This Summer Spruce Knob, West Virginia, will close its tower for repairs this summer. Read more.
6/2	Record Crowds Visit Jerimoth Record crowds visited Rhode Island over Memorial Day weekend. In addition there are warnings that "open" flags on the summit do not refer to access! Read more.
6/1	June 4 is National Trails Day.
5/31	Smoke Obscures Humphreys Smoke from a fire on Kendrick Mountain-- Arizona's 4th highest peak -- is affecting climbing Humphreys Peak and may close an approach to the Grand Canyon. It has so far destroyed 7,000 acres. Read more
5/29	1 Dead/2 Airlifted on McKinley It's already been a rough year as climbing season begins on Mount McKinley. Read more
5/28	World's Most Deadly Mountain More than 2,000 people have died on Mont Blanc (compared to 162 on Everest). Read more.
5/26	Climbing Season Begins on McKinley Climbers on McKinley will have color coded garbage bags...Bears are a new threat on the mountain...Base Station Annie is retiring this year. Read more
5/25	Zion Bans Cars Zion National Park has banned most cars (you must use a shuttle). Read more.
5/24	New restrictions on climbing Marcy The New York DEC has imposed new restrictionns on climbing Marcy. Read more. They are also asking for a voluntary ban on Marcy hikes until mid-June
5/23	Bear Kills Woman in Smokies A bear reportedly killed a woman on May 21 in the Smokies. This is the first bear death in years but bear mauling are not uncommon in the Smokies. Read more.
5/22	Sherpa Climbs Everest in Record 16 Hours A sherpa on Sunday, May 21, climbed Everest in less than 16 hours -- four hours faster than the previous record. Read more.
5/20	Donations Sought for North Dakota Summit A visitor to North Dakota's summit says the owners are now asking for $10-15 donations to visit the private property. Read more.
5/17	Mr. Rogers' Last Words Mount Rogers, Virginia, was named for the founder of MIT. What were his last words? Read more.
5/15	New Low for Colorado It has long been thought the lowest point in Colorado was where the Arkansas River enters Kansas (3,350 feet). A review shows the point is actually where the Arikaree River enters Kansas (less than 3,321) in northern Kansas near the Nebraska line. Read more.
5/13	Eagle Mountain Trail Repair May 19-21 Help is sought to repair the Eagle Mountain Trail damaged in the July 4, 1999, blowdown. Read more.
5/10	Dogs Must Be on Leashed on Marcy Summit New rules require leashes on dogs above 4,000 feet in the Adirondacks. Read more.
5/3	Rename Eagle Mountain to Mount Vento? A proposal is before Congress to rename Minnesota's Eagle Mountain to Mount Vento. Read more.
5/1	GPS Unscrambled On May 1, President Clinton ordered the military to stop scrambling GPS. This will mean your GPS device should be accurate to within 10 feet. Read more.
4/27	May 12 Deadline for Millennium Trails May 12 is the deadline for Millennium Trails Registration. Your trail will get this nifty logo, White House involvement and national registration. Click here.
4/20	Museum Plans Unveiled The Highpointers Club wants to build a museum devoted to Highpointing on Missouri's Taum Sauk. Read more.
4/14	Guadalupe in March Rob O'Keefe started his Guadalupe climb in March after fire broke out in his hotel. Read his account.
4/10	$10 Fee Proposed for Harney Read the Forum to read about the proposed $10 fee for crossing Black Elk Wilderness to reach Harney.
4/3	History of Mt. Davis salisburypa.com has put up a history of Mt. Davis.
3/26	New York City High Points The New York metro area reports are making a dogged attempt. Here's a picture of my golden retriever on Jaynes Hill, Long Island. Read more.
3/19	Ski DC? Consider skiing from Washington's highpoint. More info at MountainZone.
3/12	Is Marcy the 2nd Most Difficult Climb in the East? County highpointers are debating a list of the most difficult climbs in the East. Marcy was ranked #2. Read more in the Forum
3/5	A Dog's Guide to Highpointing A section has been added about hiking dogs. Check out my dog's page.
2/28	49 State Summits on Bike Kevin Foster has summited 49 states on a bicycle. (Here he is on Gannett). Check out his page.
2/22	Avalanches on Marcy/Mt Washington Kill 2 President Day weekend avalanches killed skiiers on Marcy and Mt. Washington. Click here for Marcy update. Here for Mt. Washington.
2/18	Goodwill Games Close at Lake Placid The Goodwill Games were broadcast on TNT from Lake Placid over President's Day
2/16	Jersey Mountain for Sale on Ebay The Hidden Valley Ski Resort ("New Jersey's highest ski resort") is for sale on Ebay.
2/14	Survey of Visits to Highpoints Matt Mueller is taking a survey to find out what is the most popular high point. Check out his survey.
2/11	New Topos for the World Endeavor launched Friday, Feb.11 as part of a massive remapping of the world topos. Read more on the Forum
2/8	Winter Ascent of Marcy Daniel Zongrone just posted a winter trip report about Marcy
2/4	Has Pinedale, Wyoming, become Trendy? The least visited state highpoint (and most beautiful?) has been discovered. Read more in the Forum.
1/31	Sassafras Mountain Rob O'Keefe may have been the last person to hike South Carolina's highest point in the 1900's. Read more.
1/24	Cerro de Punta, Puerto Rico The winter ascent of Puerto Rico's highest point is highlighted by coqui frogs, rain forest and waterfalls. Slide show, 360 summit panoramas also on the page.
1/19	Mauna Kea Convention Logo Check out the proposed logo for the convention at the highpointers.org.
1/12	Highpointers.Org Launched The Highpointers Club site has been relaunched. Check out highpointers.org
1/8	Restrictions on Mauna Kea Check out the Forum for details about restrictions on Mauna Kea.
1/7	Is the Florida Highpoint in the Right Spot? Stephen Drake who gave us the heads up on South Carolina has returned from the South after summiting South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Florida. He wonders whether Florida is the correct high point. Read his post in the Forum. Visit his pages.
1/6	Hike Arizona's 20 Highest Peaks and 20 Deepest Canyons Visit the page.
1/5	2 Dead as 1,500 Attempt Kilimanjaro for Millennium MountainZone has a strange story about 1,500 people (2 of whom died) attempting 19,000 foot Kilimanjaro for the Millinennium. And you thought Elbert or Whitney were crowded! Click here to read the dispatch.
1/4	Mont Blanc Photographs Alan Ritter sends a trip report and photos from a November visit to Mont Blanc.
1/3	Confluence Project Attempts to Photograph Major Longitude/Latitude Intersections The Confluence Project is attempting to photograph all major longitude/latitude markers. More details on the Forum.
1/2	Register to Chat Live with the Leader of the Mallory-Irvine Research Expendition on Jan. 19 MountainZone is host a live chat with Eric Simonson the leader of the expedition that found Mallory's body this spring on Everest. Click here to register.
1/1	Kentucky Signs Agreement to Buy Summit Rights The State of Kentucky at the last possible moment signed an agreement on Dec. 31 to buy the mineral and timber rights to the Black Mountain. This clears the way to end an impasse over the mountain that received national publicity. The Louisville Courier-Journal item is posted in the Forum.
12/31	Trouble Ahead for South Carolina? Stephen Drake just got back from a trip through the South Land. He reports in the Forum that there is an ownership dispute over Sassafras Mountain.

Much of the news reports are posted in the Forum archive.