Daily Life

Interested in joining us for an outdoor adventure in Rocky Mountain National Park? Call or email Kirk’s Flyshop and ask for Apryle Craig or Phil Magistro for your Rocky Mountain National Park Hiking Guide.

This past Saturday, the Rocky Mountain chapter of Team in Training participated in the first-ever winter snowshoe event.  The 18 participants raised over $30,000 to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!  What an inspirational group!  Phil and I led a group of 10 to Loch Vale.  We had beautiful weather and wonderful views.  Everyone was impressively dedicated to the hike and cause.   Check out our pictures:

…and click here for tons more photos from 2010 Team in Training Rocky Mountain National Park Snowshoe Event!

Check out our recap on Kokatat’s blog:

http://blog.kokatat.com/index.php/go-wild-expedition-presents-first-slideshow-2220/

A big thanks to Justin and Carla at Ed’s Cantina for hosting our first slideshow!

On Sat, Feb 27, I led a snowshoe hike for Kirks for a strong young couple from Denver. At 10 a.m. we met at Kirks and decided on a route to Loch Vale and beyond. During our 6-hour snowshoe we had spectacularly warm, sunny weather with hardly any wind. We made great time and made it all the way to Andrews Glacier, which lies between Otis Peak and Taylor Peak. We passed some awesome alpine climbing along the way including Spearhead.

Looking up at the warm rock made me excited for climbing season. Also looking forward to guiding Longs Peak again this summer.

Just a quick reminder that we’ll be presenting a slideshow on our Inside Passage trip tonight!

Date: Thurs, Feb 25, 2010
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Ed’s Cantina, Estes Park, CO (map)

We’ll share pictures and stories from our 1,200 mile trip from Washington to Glacier Bay, Alaska, answer questions, and talk about the issues facing the wild Pacific salmon.

We went up into RMNP yesterday (Feb 18) and skinned to the top of the “Otis Redding Couloir“, at the base of Otis Peak on the south side of Chaos Canyon. I am not an avalanche expert, but we are definitely wary and keep an eye on things. It wasn’t pretty, and we bailed. Here’s the report I sent to CAIC.

We approached from the south (Loch Vale) and emerged just below the top of the gully. Decided to skin up and check out the steeper slopes. We noticed significant fracturing and set off a few small slides (~6-10″ deep) especially when cutting switchbacks near the top of the gully, north and northeast aspects. Dug a pit and found about four inches of powder with a 6″ thick soft slab below it. There were some crusty layers below, and then the rest of the snowpack below (4′?) was facets. The slab layer on top failed easily and cleanly after three or four thumps on an isolated column, AND we observed a natural slide (more of a slough) on a steep slope west of the couloir, and a big crown on a south-east aspect across Chaos Canyon.

We didn’t ski the gully due to conditions, but rather descended through trees and set off sloughs on most steeper slopes. Throughout much of the descent there was an obvious slab layer just below the recent snow with facets below.

It’s been snowing on and off since in Estes, and we’ve gotten 3-5 inches here in town since we got down…and it’s still coming down hard. Things are looking up for the early spring backcountry ski season!

Let’s Thank Target!

Target’s decision to drop net-cage farmed salmon from their stores across the United States proves the power of our collective voice as consumers demanding sustainable products and business policies. Your support in this campaign has helped pressure corporations to change. Take this opportunity to celebrate a victory and vocalize your appreciation for Target’s decisive action!

Send an email or fax to Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel, thanking him for acknowledging the destructive environmental impacts of the open net-cage salmon farming industry and making this major contribution to the sustainable seafood movement. Cut and paste the text below or send your own words of appreciation.

Below is an email you can send if you would like to show your support for their decision:
Dear Gregg Steinhafel,

I applaud Target’s recent decision to discontinue the sale of farmed salmon in all stores across the United States.

Acknowledgement of the impacts of net-cage salmon farming by a major retailer and the subsequent removal of this product from your stores is a huge step forward in the sustainable seafood movement.

It is this kind of corporate responsibility that consumers are increasingly expecting from the businesses they rely on, and I happily commend Target for showing such leadership.

Sincerely,

I’m very pleased to let you know about an opportunity to get the message about sustainable seafood out to an important national audience. To do so, we need your help.

Whole Foods Market recently tested a pilot program, in partnership with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, to promote sustainable seafood choices to its customers in a few select stores.

Now’s our chance to help persuade Whole Foods Market to make this a permanent and national program.  Click here to jump immediately to help!  It only takes about 10-20 seconds.

Using the Seafood Watch recommendations, Whole Foods will label wild-caught seafood in their case so consumers will be able to tell at a glance if a wild-caught product is a Monterey Bay Aquarium “Best Choice” or otherwise.

Please take action today and ask the president of Whole Foods Market in your region to adopt this program so that consumers across the nation can make good choices for healthy oceans.  It only takes about 10-20 seconds.

Yesterday, Phil worked helped dozens of folks into their first snowshoes at the Estes Park Winter Festival’s Winter Trails event.  I volunteered at the registration booth and then went up to Emerald Lake with our friends John and Meghan in the afternoon.  It was their first time out on snowshoes and first time in the national park in many many years.  I skied in and kept my skins on for the way out because there were so many people on the trail.

Curious what’s happening with the salmon?  We were pleased to learn that Marine Harvest (they owned the majority of the salmon farms that we paddled by during our Inside Passage Kayak Expedition) has requested federal funding for a closed-containment trial.  It is great to hear that one of the biggest farmed salmon producers is considering switching from open-net pens, which allow parasites and waste to flush directly into the ocean infecting wild salmon, to closed-containment, which would prevent pollution.

Marine Harvest requests federal funding for closed containment

In an exciting development in the final days of 2009, Marine Harvest Canada (MHC) sent a letter to Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), that included a request for support and funding for a closed containment pilot project. Read more>>

Esteemed scientists advise removal of farms along wild salmon migration routes

Early last month, a think tank of scientists gathered at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver to discuss possible causes of the Fraser River sockeye collapse and urgent next steps needed to protect this iconic species. The group released a statement noting that the 2009 return was the lowest in 50 years and that the productivity of Fraser River sockeye has been declining since the mid-1990s to levels so low that they are almost unable to replace themselves. Read more>>

Sea lice out of control in Norway

Salmon farms in Norway are experiencing explosive increases in sea lice, likely a result of growing resistance to chemical treatments for the removal of the parasite. This increase is severely threatening the survival of migrating juvenile wild salmon. Read more>>