‘The Summit Journal’s’ editor hopes to offer an independent voice in climbing media after most print publications merged Ollie Hancock/High Country News In 1955, at a time when women were not expected (or encouraged) to either climb mountains or start magazines, Jean Crenshaw and Helen Kilness started Summit Magazine. Concerned that no one would read it … Continue reading Historic Climbing Magazine Returns After Nearly 30 Years
A day fighting wildfires can require as much endurance as riding the Tour de France Ruby Mountain hotshots construct a fire line during the Dixie Fire in 2021. Joe Bradshaw/BLM Brent C. Ruby, University of Montana For three weeks in July, the world’s most elite bike racers climb steep mountains and sprint along historic cobblestones to … Continue reading Yellow Jerseys of the Fireline:
California’s snowpack was more than twice the average in much of the state in early March 2023. Mario Tama/Getty Images Dan McEvoy, Desert Research Institute After three years of extreme drought, the Western U.S. is finally getting a break. Mountain ranges are covered in deep snow, and water reservoirs in many areas are filling up … Continue reading Is the Western drought finally ending? That depends on where you look
Reflection Canyon Utah taken in 2015 What comes next for Lake Powell? Craig Childs/High Country News There is the crumpling, the mess. A marina that once floated in a cove has been towed out of the shrinking lake and dropped in a field of Russian thistle, its metal pontoons partially sunk into dry, crack-crazed soil. Cooler … Continue reading Glen Canyon Revealed
Climate change and rising demand are sucking the life out of the Southwest’s water supply. Jonathon Thompson/High Country News One of the most visible signs of the state of the West’s water supply is the big bathtub ring around the sandstone rim of Lake Powell, the nation’s second-largest reservoir. Whenever the massive hydrological system that delivers … Continue reading The Incredible Shrinking Colorado River
Trees are dying of thirst in the Western drought – here’s what’s going on inside their veins Juniper trees, common in Arizona’s Prescott National Forest, have been dying with the drought. Benjamin Roe/USDA Forest Service via AP Daniel Johnson, University of Georgia and Raquel Partelli Feltrin, University of British Columbia Like humans, trees need water to … Continue reading Trees are Dying of Thirst in the Western Drought
Another dangerous fire season is looming in the Western U.S., and the drought-stricken region is headed for a water crisis Dry conditions across the West follow a hot, dry year of record-setting wildfires in 2020. Communities were left with scenes like this, from California’s Creek Fire. Amir Aghakouchak/University of California Irvine Mojtaba Sadegh, Boise State … Continue reading Another dangerous fire season is looming in the Western U.S.