Yosemite

Banff, BASE Jumping, Climbing, Film Festival, Film Review, Yosemite / 25.03.2011

In the best mountain adventure films a successful summit bid is never a forgone conclusion. Throughout the 15-pitch climb of The Asgard Project, a movie by Alastair Lee, you’re left wondering, “Are these guys are going to make it?” That riveting sense of anticipation will keep viewers on the edge of their seats. And though it received the prize for Best Film on Climbing at the 2010 Banff Mountain Film Festival even those with no alpine aspirations will enjoy The Asgard Project. It’s simply a great piece of cinema.
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Breaking News, Destinations, Diversity, Environmental Protection, Yosemite / 29.10.2010

Yosemite National Park  Ranger Shelton Johnson was as surprised as anyone. “I was more than surprised,” he said in a recent phone conversation. “I was shocked. When the EMTs resuscitated me I was pretty much flat-lined.” Standing outside the south entrance to Yosemite National Park, Johnson thought he was awaiting the arrival of six African-American women, all about to have their first camping experience. “I was told they’ve been friends since college and they were being reunited at a spa,” he said. “But unbeknownst to them they were being taken to Yosemite Valley for a camping trip instead. At least that’s what I thought.” Johnson thought he was in on a clever plot to welcome a group of nature neophytes into the great outdoors. But the joke was on him. “Here I’m expecting to meet these six African-America women and who shows but Oprah Winfrey and her friend Gayle King,” Johnson said. “I knew this was a project affiliated with her show, but to have Oprah right there in front of me was something else entirely. So yeah I was surprised, surprised in the best possible way.”
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Africa, Charitable Giving, Climbing, Destinations, Ethiopia, Yosemite / 18.09.2010

I turned 44 today. And while I write this I'm sitting on a toilet with my laptop in the lavatory of a dark hotel room in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Don't draw any salacious implications from my current predicament. I needed a quiet place to work so as not to wake my roommate, climber and writer Majka Burhardt. She’s asleep in the next room. And don’t get any funny ideas about that either. I’m on the roll away. For the next several days she’s my friend, guide and traveling companion through not only the wild outback of Ethiopia, but the convoluted path toward fulfilling my wayward dream of  becoming a professional adventure journalist.
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Africa, Climbing, Destinations, Ethiopia, Yosemite / 08.09.2010

Don’t expect me to apologize for loving what I do. I’m over feeling guilty about it. “So what kind of journalist are you?” the physical therapist asks as he reads my chart. “I write about outdoor recreation, gear, adventure travel, that kind of thing,” I say. “Really? Like for National Geographic Adventure?” “I wish. Mainly for trade publications, web sites mostly, magazines sometimes.” “Ever go anyplace cool?” he asks? “Going to Yosemite next week, then Africa,” I say. “Ethiopia actually.” “Uh yeah…you suck,” he says with apparent envy. “Roll over.”
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Breaking News, Diversity, Environmental Justice, Yosemite / 25.02.2010

Congresswoman Jackie Speier (San Francisco/San Mateo County) testifies today  before the House Natural Resources Committee.  Speier's bill, H.R. 4491, authorizes the National Park Service to study the role the African American regiments played in establishing the National Park System and to honor their legacy. "I am thrilled to have this opportunity to begin to tell the world of the momentous contribution the Buffalo Soldiers have made to our country," said Congresswoman Speier.   "It is fitting, during Black History Month, that we take the first steps towards the rightful recognition of these soldiers.   They were truly the first guardians of...

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