iPod. iPhone. iCar?

Just when you thought technology couldn't get much more integrated (think iPhone's ability to make calls, listen to music, view photos, etc), there are whispers of a possible iCar in the works--what would be a collaboration between Apple and Volkswagen.

No blueprints have been drawn out just yet, but Steve Jobs of Apple and Martin Winterkorn of VW met in California recently, the Associated Press reported. The car would be outfitted with gadgets directly from Apple and according to market research done by Capital, a German financial magazine, young people would really dig it.—Alicia Carr

El Hijo del Santo Must be Proud

Mexican police have arrested six people and seized 57,000 endangered olive ridley turtle eggs from them in the southern state of Oaxaca, where the eggs are believed to have aphrodisiac powers, the New York Times reported Aug. 29. We think legendary Mexican wrestler and sea turtle defender El Hijo del Santo must be overjoyed! Look for our interview with him in the September issue.— Christina Erb
 

Fitness Q&A: Is there a fitness difference between a high cadence and a low one?

Digital Stock

If you spin at little or no resistance at high speed, do you gain the same benefits as you would spinning with resistance at a lower speed? Are you burning the same amount of calories?

— Stephanie

Stephanie,
Not all pedal strokes are created equal. Spinning with little or no resistance at a high speed is not the same as riding with more resistance at a lower speed. Both methodologies are part of a comprehensive training program for cycling, but they accomplish different goals. Pedaling at a high cadence with little resistance, you are training your neuromuscular system; the pattern and speed of muscle contractions. Pedaling at a higher resistance, you are training muscle fiber recruitment and force production. In other words, they are basically two different workouts. MORE>>

Do you have a question of your own?

 

Gear Guy: Are any hiking boots designed to reduce toe stress while walking downhill?

Torre GTX Hiking Boots (courtesy, Montrail)

My wife’s toes are constantly jamming into her hiking boots on day hikes. We do moderate (8 to 14 mile) day hikes, and the downhill portions obviously create the greatest toe stress. Is there a particular type of hiking shoe that would remedy this?

— Ron
Richmond, Virginia

Actually, if you’re doing 8 to 14 miles a day in hilly Virginia country, I’d call you serious day hikers.

But because your wife seems to be having this problem, and you are not, it’s pretty obvious that her boots don’t fit. They’re a bit too short, and maybe too wide as well.

Does that mean you need to buy new boots? Not necessarily. MORE>>

Do you have a question of your own?

Spider Web Engulfs Park Trail in Texas

Charlotte would be proud of the sprawling spider  web that's enveloped a 200-yard stretch of trail in a North Texas park. The web, which covers several trees, shrubs and the ground, has captured thousands of bugs and has got scientists and locals running.  In opposite directions, of course. —Christina Erb

Video: Armada of Surfers Turns Back Superferry

It's been anything but smooth sailing for the Hawaii Superferry since its launch on Sunday. Beset by legal challenges and delayed by a flotilla of protesters, the inter-island ferry has now suspended service indefinitely.

Hawaii Superferry Inc., the company that operates the 350-foot Alakai, suspended service Tuesday after the Coast Guard said it could not assure safe passage of the 350-foot catamaran.

On Monday, protesters on surfboards and canoes blocked the entrance to Nawiliwili Harbor on Kauai, forcing the ferry to return to Honolulu despite an 85-foot Coast Guard cutter attempting to clear a path.  Eleven people were arrested during the protest. 

Gov. Linda Lingle, who has been a supporter of the ferry, requested the service be suspended because of public safety concerns.    

Environmentalists are concerned that the ferry could endanger whales, spread invasive species, and damage the pristine waters surrounding the Hawaiian archipelago.

The service is the first of its kind in Hawaii, where residents and tourists had previously traveled island to island via local airlines.  —Ryan Krogh

 

SUVs or Cows? Which are Worse?

Feeling guilty about driving that SUV? First, read our latest Big Idea column on why trucks don't always deserve sneers (see Shut Up About My Truck, September 2007), then take note: Animal rights groups are touting the message that eating meat is worse for the environment than driving, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

Where's the evidence that going vegetarian equate to being an environmental do-gooder? In November, the U.N. Food and Agriculture organization reported that the livestock business contributes more to gas emissions than all transportation combined.

While the PETA manager for vegan campaigns, Matt A. Prescott, told the NY Times that environmentalists are pointing fingers at the wrong things (SUVs, not steaks), could it be that both transportation and livestock farming are major contributers to global warming? Why pinpoint one or the other?

PETA is certainly out to make the public choose; their latest campaign consists of a Hummer with a chicken-suited driver holding a banner that proclaims meat is the top cause of temperature rise, the NY Times said.

For global-warming naysayers, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report that confirms that greenhouse gas emissions are a "likely" cause of high temperatures this summer in the Geophysical Research Letters. Last year ('06) is proving to be the hottest year yet, barely beating out 1998—both of which were El Nino years. It marked the ninth year for temperature increases and was 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the 20th-century average, according to the study.

How does Al Gore feel about eating fewer cheeseburgers? We may never know. But, according to the NY Times report, Gore's deputy press secretary noted that on page 317 of "An Inconvenient Truth" there is a recommendation to "modify your diet to include less meat."—Alicia Carr

USA's Lagat Wins World Championship in 1,500 Meters

A U.S. runner has won the first gold medal in the 1,500 meters in 99 years.

Yesterday, American Bernard Lagat of Tucson, Arizona beat the best middle distance runners in the world at the World Track and Field Championships in Osaka, Japan -- the first ever gold medal at the championships for the U.S., and the nation's first gold medal of any kind in the event since Mel Sheppard won at the Olympics in, ahem, 1908.

Lagat, who won Olympic bronze in the event in 2000 and silver in 2004 while competing for Kenya, became a U.S. citizen in 2004. He holds the American record in the 1,500 meters.

"It feels great to be a champion, representing the United States. I've waited since 2004 for this. I can never be happier than this right now. My coach James Li is a master of laying out strategy. He came out to my hotel room and said that you have the speed and the experience, and that's the most important thing. He said that you know what to do. I was thinking about relaxation the whole way through during the race. This race is for William Lagat, my brother-in-law and number one fan who passed away," Lagat said afterwards, in comments distributed by USA Track and Field.

In Osaka, hopes were also high for Alan Webb, Lagat's teammate, who recently set an American record in the mile--besting Steve Scott's 1982 record in July. Webb had the fastest 1,500 meter time of the year of anyone on the starting line.

Webb took the lead from the gun, dashing to the lead of the pack which crossed through the first lap in 58.63 seconds. Webb and Lagat were running second and third through 800 meters at 1:58. The pack was still tight at the bell, with Webb and Asbel Kiprop of Kenya shoulder to shoulder into the final lap, with Lagat in third. On the final stretch, Lagat surged into the lead and Webb fell apart, finishing a disappointing eighth.

"I wanted to be in the top three up until the last fifty meters. I was thinking to myself in the last fifty, 'I think I'm going to win this, but I didn't want to celebrate just yet'. I've never been like this--I've always been a silver medalist," Lagat said. His time was 3:34.77. Lagat will compete in the 5,000 meters Thursday.

Webb, who finished less than a second later in 3:35.69, was outspokenly critical of his performance. He congratulated Lagat, but didn't mince words about himself: " I was doing so awesome until this week. It was a colossal breakdown. I've changed nothing really. I thought I had more left than I did. I wish I could learn a lesson from that, but I learned nothing. I got nothing out of it. If I wanted to get seventh, I would have run for seventh and gotten seventh, or whatever the hell I got. I didn't come to get seventh, I came to get first. I didn't."

Don't worry Alan. We still love you.

--Justin Nyberg

Photo courtesy USA Track and Field.

Holy See Takes to the Crowded Skies

On Monday, 140 pilgrims from Rome began their trip to the shrine of Lourdes in France flying on a wing and a prayer, quite literally.  The pilgrims were the first passengers on the Vatican’s inaugural foray into the world of discount airlines.

The chartered Boeing 737 is the first airline specifically devoted to Catholic pilgrims and the plane is painted in yellow and white, the papal colors, with the interior decked out in papal logos. 

And, yes, in case you were wondering, the flights will have their own in-flight entertainment, the Vatican said, though the featured films will likely be much closer to Cecille B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments than Kevin Smith’s Dogma. 

The crew operating the flight is even trained in “voyages of a sacred nature.” And if that isn’t enough to scare the of bejesus out of an agnostic aviophobe, the flight’s slogan,“I’m searching for Your Face, Lord,” should.

Still, the Vatican hopes to serve 150,000 passengers a year through a deal struck with the Italian airline Mistral Air, the company from which the plane is chartered.  Destinations will include Mt. Sanai in Egypt, the shrine of Fatima in Portugal, and Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

Predictably, other European carriers, including Ryanair—Europe’s largest low-cost airliner—scoffed at the notion of the Vatican entering the airline business.

“Ryanair already performs miracles that even the Pope’s boss can’t rival, by delivering pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela for the heavenly price of 10 euros,” the company said in a statement, according to Reuters. 

Let the holy air wars begin.   

–Ryan Krogh

Surfers Block Hawaii Superferry

Hawaii's first-ever ferry service between islands completed its maiden voyage Sunday, sailing two days earlier than planned, but docking an hour late because of protesting surfers blocking the port in Kauai.    

The Hawaii Superferry was loaded with passengers taking advantage of discount fares of just $5, a tenth the normal fare, to travel between islands.  Despite its apparent popularity, though, the fight over the ship’s environmental impact is far from over. 

Last week Hawaii’s Supreme Court ruled that the state should have required an environmental impact study before the ferry service began.  But state transportation officials, noting the ruling didn’t ban the ship from running, still allowed the ferry to set sail. 

Environmentalists claim the ferry moved up its debut by two days in order to sway public opinion before an impact report is completed.  They argue the ship could endanger whales, spread invasive species, and pollute the pristine waters surrounding the Hawaiian archipelago.

The protesters, hundreds of whom cheered on the surfers blocking the ship from shore, plan to ask a judge to halt the ferry service until the impact study is complete.

The 349-foot catamaran, dubbed the Alakai, will offer daily service between the islands of Maui, Oahu, and Kauai.  Hawaii Superferry hopes to introduce service to the Big Island beginning in 2009.   

–Ryan Krogh

Kara Goucher Wins First U.S. Distance Medal in 15 years

In another step forward for American distance running, 28-year-old Kara Goucher became the first American to ever win a medal in the 10,000 meters event at the World Track and Field Championships this weekend.

It's the first time an American has medaled in a track and field distance event since 1992.

Goucher's race came out of nowhere. The Portland, Oregon runner and college standout had the ninth-fastest personal-best time of the women toeing the line August 25 in Osaka, Japan--a group that included American marathon record holder Deena Kastor--but she ran a tactically brilliant race and surged away from the pack with seven laps to go, finishing third in 32:02.

The weather was balmy, so the pack took it easy through the first 5,000 meters (16:29). The pack thinned and regrouped, then thinned again, while Goucher pushed into second with seven laps to go. She was passed, and fell into fourth with just two laps remaining, but surged ahead with a powerful last lap to stay ahead of Britain's Joanna Pavey, who finished on a second behind her.

"We've been training so hard in the heat. With the pace so slow, I was thinking to myself that this is good for me," Goucher said after the race, in comments distributed by U.S. Track and Field. "With two laps to go, I was thinking that fifth or sixth would be good, but then I thought about running in the sauna suit [during training], and the 90-mile weeks, and the aqua jogging, and I said to myself, 'sprint.'"

After her finish, Goucher toured the track with an American flag, something that hasn't been seen after a distance event in some time.

Kastor finished a disappointing sixth in 32:24, and fellow American Katie McGregor, of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, finished 13th.

Goucher, a University of Colorado graduate, was NCAA champ and was making her first appearance at the World Championships.

Previously, the highest ever finish for an American in the event was Lynn Jennings, who finished fifth twice, according to U.S. Track and Field. Jennings was the last American to medal in a distance event, with a bronze in the 1992 Olympics.

For some fantastic photos of the race and Kara, go to the Osaka website.

On the men's side, on August 27, American's Abdi Abdirahman finished seventh (27:56) while Dathan Ritzenhein finished ninth in 28:28, and Galen Rupp finished 11th in 28:41.

"It went OK until five laps to go. I wasn't hurting but I started getting blisters on my heels," Abdirahman told USATF.

The highly anticipated final of the men's 1,500 meters, in which Americans Alan Webb and Bernard Lagat are among the favorites, is August 29. Webb has run the fastest time of the year among any of the finalists, but the competition will be fierce.

-Justin Nyberg

 

Bagging Wilson Peak: Climbing with Erik Weihenmayer

It’s 4 a.m. on a chilly Wednesday morning and blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer is flanked by his two guides beneath a grove of aspen trees outside of Telluride, CO. At this moment, seen or unseen, the view is nearly the same—pitch black in every direction.

Then, one by one, headlamps start to flicker on and cast shadows across 16 tired faces. Weihenmayer is, for the most part, silent. He’s here to lead us—the first legal group all summer—up an old miner’s road to the top of Wilson Peak to help the Trust for Public Land (TPL) raise millions of dollars to purchase the iconic mountain from private landowner Rusty Nichols.

After this morning’s climb, Weihenmayer will meet with potential donors at a fundraising dinner and express to them the need to purchase the 14,017-foot peak.

Wilson Peak will be the first fourteener to be repurchased from a private landowner in Colorado; it’s a symbol that private conservation groups can find common ground with private landowners and restore natural landscapes to the public. The 300 acres are estimated to be worth a few million dollars.

“This transaction opens the doors for other people that own fourteeners to see that TPL can be forward thinking. We’re really pioneering a way to compensate the landowner while restoring access to these iconic properties,” said Jason Corzine, senior project manager for TPL.

Five other fourteeners still remain disputed, and Weihenmayer hopes that this deal will be a tipping point for Mounts Lincoln, Democrat, Bross, Cameron, and Culebra Peak. He’s now become not only TPL’s new poster boy but also one of their strongest advocates.

Weihenmayer’s personal distaste for private ownership of quintessential peaks, vistas, and mesas was cemented during his years teaching in Phoenix, AZ. He used to spend afternoons climbing up Pinnacle Peak until private housing built up, effectively barricading the public from one of the city’s best climbing crags. Today, access is limited.

Phoenix’s inability to check residential growth prompted him, Weihenmayer says, to relocate to Golden, CO.

“They fenced it off. That’s why I moved to Colorado in 1997,” he said before the climb. “People here place a value on space for recreation. There are some places to me that just shouldn’t be owned.”

Now 10 years later, on this foggy August 22 morning Weihenmayer is here, trekking poles in hand, to help raise enough money by the end of October to ensure that Colorado remains a state that is protective of its peaks—and in the process bag his 25th fourteener.

We introduce ourselves, count off to 16 and then head up a worn gravel road banked on either side by aspen trees, quiet chatter intermixing with the crunch of our hiking boots. Most of us have been up since 3 a.m., traveling to the trailhead via back roads from the city center and no one is quite awake yet.

Weihenmayer is hiking behind his two guides and friends, Gavin Attwood and Nathan Disser. Attwood is wearing a bell around his two fingers, jingling it with each step—the sound keeps Weihenmayer headed in the right direction.

Other sounds serve to clue him in on the rest of his surroundings—our voices and the click of his trekking poles on rock tell him where each of us are walking, the shape of the ravine, and which side of the trail has the greater drop off.

Every once in a while Attwood says in his thick New Zealand accent, “Stay to the left here, Erik” and, later on, as the gravel road turns to broken rock near Nichols’s modest log cabin, “Okay, now we’re moving onto some chawcy rock here.”

Nichols, who joined us after the trek, bought two of his 26 mining rights in 1978 and, today, owns 300 acres, including sections of the mountain’s traditional Class III route and the summit.

He clearly loves the mountain despite its lack of trees and multitude of loose slabs—and he and his family come to the land each summer for a bit of seclusion, a solitude that, he says, has grown less prevalent each year.

Nearly 30 years ago, bagging fourteeners slowly became a statewide, if not national, obsession. Nichols’s modest log cabin sits near the base of the mountain, perched next to a ravine and before 1980, visitors were rare. He’d see one or two hikers a week and Nichols describes himself at that time as a “country housewife.”

“I’d say, ‘How are you doing? Come on in! Would you like something to eat?’” said Nichols.

But then the “quality and quantity” of climbers changed, Nichols said, and with it his friendly housewife persona; about 10 years ago he had three structures burned, hydraulic hoses cut on his Sno-Cats, and gravel and sand put in his gas tank.

“The hikers that came through changed from the laidback “Leave No Trace” to “Leave Nothing Standing or Undamaged” in the basin,” he said.

Three years ago, tensions rose even further when Nichols began requiring hikers to sign a waiver and pay $100 to cross his property. This year he cut off access completely, leaving unfazed mountaineers with two options: trespass or do some scary Class IV scrambling up dirty loose rock along a different route to the top of the summit.

Nichols says he was forced to create a waiver system for litigious reasons. The mountain was mined extensively in the past and is strewn with nearly 40 mining structures, including old mining cabins and, more dangerously, mining prospect holes, shafts, and tunnels that run underground, sometimes only inches away from the surface. A $100 fee and a waiver made him less liable in the event someone was injured, he said.

Back in town, Nichols’s housewife persona has long been replaced with an almost mythical perception of him as a gun-toting Texan that has no right to own the land.

Nichols is the first to admit that he hunts; that he owns guns, has them on the property, and even has a gun case on the front of his four-wheeler.

“Yes, we have guns on the property. We’re from Texas but we’ve never drawn a gun on anybody,” he said, despite the fact he and his family have been physically threatened.

Nichols is charming. He’s quick to joke, but he’s also equally lawyer-like, refusing to discuss how much his land is worth, why he closed down the mountain—even refusing to name his favorite part of his land—all for litigious reasons.

But one thing he did make clear is that he has a deep-rooted love for the land. He hired a geologist years ago to better understand the mountain’s potential for mining and submitted to authorities a “zero discharge” mining plan of operation that would ensure the ore would not be left to foul the environment. But in the end he decided not to disturb its barren beauty.

“I love this area up here just as much as anyone. Money is not the only consideration,” he said.

But on the mountain, this issue and its weighty significance for future public-private land debates disappear.

After 3,000 vertical feet, we rest on the first saddle with the hardest, most dangerous part of the climb still to come, joking about the sudden urge to sing Kumbaya or tell an inspirational story.

“I heard this blind guy climbed Everest once,” someone calls out.

“Yeah, I heard he faked it,” Attwood jibs.

Weihenmayer just laughs. He’s known Attwood since 2001 and the two continuously rag on one another. Attwood jokes that he’s holding up the entire group, Disser agrees, and Weihenmayer, in return, says Attwood is slowing him down, and calls Disser “Blue Steel” while mocking his handlebar mustache.

At the last saddle, about 100 vertical feet from the summit, the route unexpectedly turns into a Class IV climb and Disser openly wishes that he had known to bring a rope. Weihenmayer listens silently to the conversation and then says, “It’s sounds like it’s harder than we thought it would be.”

He can’t guess what the terrain will be like from where he sits on the last narrow saddle, so we describe to him how the last 100 vertical feet stretch out for a dozen feet before rising straight up the loose rock over a rocky chute that channels into a valley more than a 1,000 feet below.

“A fall here would be catastrophe,” Disser says, pausing, before asking, “Who’s in?”

We mumble amongst ourselves but in the end we’re all game. Hand over hand, we slowly move forward. We test each hold with each step and move cautiously down onto the ridge. Weihenmayer kicks a baseball-sized rock loose and yells to Disser, “Watch out!”

But the rock doesn’t have a chance to pick up momentum since we’re so tightly grouped together and it just bumps against his leg.  This is the sole reason why we’re climbing within a few feet of one another.

Within 15 minutes, we’re at the top, standing amongst the ruins of a 2006 plane crash, overlooking southwestern Colorado. It is a hard moment. Last fall, four people died here when their small plane slammed into the peak while trying to deviate around some bad weather.

We want to celebrate our five-hour ascent but the reality of what happened here is too sobering—the evidence of life is still scattered across the rock. It’s just after 9 a.m. and after we take a moment at the victims’ makeshift shrine, we stand together looking at neighboring fourteeners until the wind starts to pick up and forces us back down the mountain. —Christina Erb

SPF What?

It's time to stop questioning what that SPF number stands for on your sunscreen bottle. The number of minutes you can wait before reapplying (SPF 4?)? The number of UV rays the magical lotion can block out? The number is actually a rating system for the protection against burns from UVB rays—the suns shorter wave ultraviolet radiation. But scratch that. UVA rays are the culprit of sunspots and wrinkles, and, ahem, cancer.

The Food and Drug Administration has made a call for some relabeling. Manufacturers will be required to perform human tests for UVA rays and label accordingly. Products like zinc oxide and titanium dioxide (shields to UVA rays) have been dotting sun protection for years, but according to the proposed rules, manufacturers will have to star products (one through four) according to their level of protection against UVAs. Ratings like low, medium, and high will be added to the SPF and warnings to wear protective clothing and limit baking time will also be printed on the bottles.

Improvements cannot be expected for a period of at least 15 months. F.D.A. spokeswoman Rita Chapelle told the New York Times that there will be a 90-day comment period in which the agency can amend the rules.

Whether or not the rules will be enacted is the question. In 1999, it was proposed to prohibit boasts like "all day protection" and "waterproof" because they are misleading. The manufacturers objected, which is why you may have lobster face from surfing all day. Even though you swear you lotioned up. —Alicia Carr

New York Windmill Winds Down

What might have been the nation's first offshore windmill farm is no longer expected to go up. The project to build a cluster of 40 windmills set to generate electricity off the coast of Jones Beach on Long Island has been canceled due to multiplying costs.

Kevin S. Law, chairman of the Long Island Power Authority, proposed that the $811-million project is more than twice as expensive as getting it from conventional sources. Winning accolades from numerous environmental groups and public officials, the project was originally estimated at $200 million. When FPL Energy of Florida won the bid for the project five years ago, the price went up to $356 million. Over the years, rising costs made these estimates sky rocket. —Alicia Carr

Something's Fishy with the Puffer

A Thai doctor said Thursday that at least 15 people have died in Thailand during the last three years from eating puffer fish, which is often served as gourmet food in Japan but can be deadly if prepared incorrectly.  Many of the puffer fish were disguised by vendors and sold as other fish.

"Some sellers dye the meat of the puffer fish and make it look like salmon, which is very dangerous,” Narin Hiransuthikul, a doctor at Bangkok’s Chulalonkorn University Hospital, told the Associated Press. 

Narin said that in addition to the 15 deaths, another 115 people have been hospitalized from consuming the fish.  Eating the fish can cause vomiting, paralysis, and even heart failure.

The intestines and livers of the fish contain a deadly neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin, and if care is not taken when cleaning the fish, a puncture in the intestines could release the poison into the meat of the fish, and into the stomachs of unsuspecting consumers. 

Backpackers Find Remains of WWII Air Force Cadet

While in an alpine region of the Kings Canyon National Park in the Sierra, a couple of backpackers came across the remains of what is believed to be a missing airman from WWII. The largely decomposing airman was resting on top of a glacier where just two years ago another WWII aviator cadet was discovered less than 50 feet away and identified as Leo Mustonen.

Mustonen's AT-7 navigational trainer went down in a blizzard after taking off from the Sacramento airfield on November 18, 1942 with three other men who are, as of now, deemed missing. The Associated Press reported that military anthropologists will be analyzing the recently found remains to possibly identify him as one of the three others who were on the plane—William Gambor, 23; John Mortenson, 25; and Ernest Munn, 23.

Kästle to Make Skis Again

Austrian ski maker Kästle--logo like a sideways Army corporal's insignia--laid its last topsheet in 1999 before parent company Benetton shelved the brand. Now, an Austrian group of former ski racers is reviving it with four modern-sidecut models to hit stores this January.
________________________________
Ted Ligety's fashion forefather: Kästle's old posterboy, Pirmin Zurbriggen.

New Islands Uncovered by Melting Ice

Less than a week after Arctic sea ice dropped to the lowest levels ever recorded, Norwegian scientists have announced the discovery of new islands uncovered by the melting ice. 

“Islands are appearing just over the fjord here,” Kim Holmen, Director at the Norwegian Polar Institute, told a seminar of 40 scientist and politicians gathered in Ny Alesund, a scientific outpost on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, according to Reuters.

The melting of polar ice and the discovery of these islands is leading experts participating in the seminar to question whether global warming is occurring much faster than U.N. projections. 

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated earlier this year that sea ice in the Arctic could almost completely disappear by the end of this century if global warming continues at its projected rate.  But scientists at the conference think the projection is much too optimistic.

“There may well be an ice-free Arctic by the middle of the century,” Christopher Rapley, director of the British Antarctic Survey, told the conference, according to Reuters.   

Rapley also said the IPCC’s report was “restrained to the point of being seriously misleading” about the potential rate of polar ice melt.

The U.S. national Snow and Ice Data Center said last Friday that Arctic sea ice had fallen to its lowest level ever measured since satellite date has been available, which dates back to the 1970s.   This year looks to be especially significant in terms of sea ice melt as the typical annual minimum for Arctic ice occurs in mid-September, almost a full month away.

 

Talk About Glacial Shrinkage!

In an effort to raise awareness of global warming and to demonstrate the effects of climate change, hundreds of people posed nude this past weekend for U.S. photographer Spencer Tunick on Switzerland’s Aletsch glacier.

The photo shoot was part of a collaboration between Tunick, who is famous for his mass nude photo shoots, and Greenpeace, who hopes the shoot will spur the public and decision-makers into making a concerted effort to combat global warming.    

Tunick, standing atop a ladder and armed with a megaphone, directed nearly 600 volunteers to pose in various positions and locations on and around the glacier, which is the largest in Europe.

“The human body is as vulnerable as the melting glacier,” Markus Allemann, campaign coordinator for Greenpeace Switzerland, said at the event.  “These naked people are braving the cold today because they want decision-makers to wake up and take immediate, forceful, and courageous steps to protect the climate.”

Aletsch glacier, in the Swiss Alps, retreated by 377 feet in a single year between 2005 and 2006, and its retreat is emblematic of most of Switzerland’s 1,800 glaciers.  If global warming continues on its current pace, nearly all the glaciers in Switzerland will have disappeared by 2080, according to estimates.   

Tunick said the photos are both works of art and political statements, and that he hopes people will realize after viewing them that global warming is more than just an abstract concept.   

“I want my images to go more than skin deep,” Tunick said.  “I want my viewers to feel the vulnerability of their existence and how it relates closely to the sensitivity of the world’s glaciers.”

Taking Wilson Peak: Q&A with Erik Weihenmayer

Take one mountaineer made famous by his blind ascent of Everest and pit him against a private landowner and you’ve got peace in the making—at least that’s what Erik Weihenmayer hopes.

Weihenmayer has joined the private conservation group Trust for Public Land in helping it negotiate with Texan Rusty Nichols, a Telluride area landowner, to purchase his 220-acre property and renew safe access to Wilson Peak. In 2006, Nichols charged a $100 fee for hikers to cross his property but this summer he shut down access, leaving avid hikers to do some scary Class IV scrambling up dirty loose rock along a different route to the top of the 14,017-foot peak.

To draw attention to access issues, and to help raise money for the purchase, Weihenmayer will climb the mountain August 22 and, in the process, knock off his 25th fourteener. Christina Erb spoke to the Weihenmayer about why he got involved with the issue in the first place and why he believes that mountains, lakes, and other natural wonders should be open to the public—permanently.

Look for Outside Online’s on-the-scene report on Weihenmayer’s climb late next week. 

How did you hear that Wilson Peak’s most popular route might re-open?
The Trust for Public Land contacted me and told me what they hoped to achieve. I’m really interested in keeping access to climbing areas open. I think it’s important to keep the Rockies, the high mountains of the Rockies, totally accessible. I jumped on their offer to climb it.

What are some of the reasons why the Trust for Public Land wanted to purchase this property?
It’s the most popular and safest way to summit the peak. There was also a risk of him [Nichols] mining it for gold, which would have obviously cut off access. 

What do you think about private landowners being able to control access to public land?
You know, it sort of alarms me that there are fences around pieces of country. You should be able to hike a 14er in the most direct way.

So how much of this is a sure thing?
He’s willing to sell. He’s happy to sell. The Trust for Public Land doesn’t work without a willing seller. He wants to have beers in his cabin with me on the way down. We’ll do that. We plan to thank him. I know the locals are really thrilled about it.

This sounds like a pretty personal fight for you.
That’s why I moved from Phoenix. They did that a lot. They built houses around Pinnacle Peak. They fenced it off. That’s why I moved to Colorado in 1997. People here place a value on space for recreation. The Rockies are the symbol of America. It would be like if someone privately owned Lake Tahoe—there are some places to me that just shouldn’t be owned.

And that’s why you got involved?
I just want to be an advocate for what the Public Trust is doing. I want to create more awareness. I want to create a domino effect. There are other access issues in Colorado and elsewhere. It’d be a scary thing if these sorts of landmarks, monuments, of America, all became privately owned. I don’t want the domino effect to go the other way: One peak closes, than two, then three, four and five. I want Colorado to be able to offer permanent access. The word permanent is key.

Outdoor Retailer Photos: Part II

The "punch" luge at the Outside Gear of the Year party.

Outside editor Chris Keyes with the GOTY winners from Mountain Hardwear.

The Redwood Creek Winery party, where guests sampled award-winning open-fire recipes.

Hot Buttered Rum kicks out the acoustic jams at the Keen party.

The wind-powered props outside the Salt Palace. This year the press room also went paper-free; instead of massive press kits, writers were provided with a flash drive and could download the desired materials.

The chalkboard at Saturday night's Horny Toad party.

Outdoor Retailer: The Photos, PT 1

The ice sculpture at the Gear of the Year Party

Demo Days

Inside the Salt Palace

The paddling tank

Tent City

Eco-Pleasantville, Coming to a City Near You

Think of a place where you can walk your kids to school, meet your friends for lunch, enjoy green spaces, get electricity from wind turbines, not worry about gas pollution thanks to a policy that allows only hydro-fuel and electric-cars, and has a sustainable water supply. Sound too good to be true? It might be. Pleasantville or not, it's slated to be called Dongtan.

It's also one of China's solutions to its booming population, CNN reported. Over 20 percent of the world's population lives in the Asian nation and in order to not phase out the feeling of community due to super-stacked cities, the Chinese are focusing and planning around the idea.

London-based engineering and design firm Arup is laying out plans for the eco-city, Dongtan, designated for Chongming Island--an island off the coast of Shanghai and at the mouth of the Yangtze River. About two-thirds the size of Manhattan, they expect the island will hold half a million people by 2050.

To live in this city will mean to be aware; The city's functioning will center on treating wastewater, recycling and processing waste, and reducing the use of cars by promoting biking and public transportation.

While China may be headed in the right direction (thumbs-up for the eco-city!), the pinpointed island is surrounded by wetlands and next to a bird sanctuary where hundreds of rare species migrate for refuge.  When the point is to create the most minimal footprint possible, why shoulder up to an already endangered landscape? Is this a recipe for disaster?

What's more is that the rare species bird sanctuary inspired the idea to create the low-impact community. Wouldn't the idea be to leave it alone for preservation and not build directly next to it?

The eco-city's design firm, Arup, told CNN, "The key of the Dongtan concept is that all elements are considered." But, the question is, will half a million people be able to consider all of the elements in their day-to-day life?