Utah’s Official Snow Drought:
SALT LAKE CITY — A roomful of water supply managers, weather forecasters and hydrologists sat a bit grim-faced Thursday in a water supply outlook meeting hosted by the National Weather Service. The bad news is that nearly all of Utah is in the clutches of a snow drought, with the statewide snow water equivalent hovering at 48 percent of average… More at Deseret News; Star Wars in the Snow Here.
Snowbasin Snags Salomon Jib Academy Stop:
Ogden, UT—Marking half-a-dozen years of slopestyle goodness, Salomon Jib Academy has announced its schedule for 2012. Five ski areas in the U.S. and Canada will host young athletes in one of the sport’s most coveted opportunities to learn from Salomon pros and compete for the chance to attend a week-long dream session at the Salomon Jib Academy North American Finals at Mammoth Mountain Resort in May 2012… More at Snowbasin Blog
X-Dance Action Sports Film Festival This Weekend in SLC:
This years X-Dance Action Sports Film Festival will be opened by Standard Films TB20 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Read on for the press release information: Standard Films TB20 is official selection of X-Dance Action Sports Film Festival 2012 and will be shown on the big screen at The Depot in Salt Lake City, Utah at 2:00PM. Each winter, the world’s top action sport filmmakers and athletes, along with cutting-edge bands and DJs and key figures from the entertainment industry… More at Transworld Business
Brian Head Resort Free Monday for Active Duty Military Personnel:
Brian Head, UT -Free Brian Head Resort lift tickets will be provided to all active duty military personnel, National Guard and Reservists on Martin Luther King Day this Monday. In the mountains of southern Utah, Brian Head will offer free skiing and snowboarding to all those presenting appropriate military identification at the ticket window. This represents a savings of $56… More at Utah Ski & Snowboard
WSU Environmental Club Offers Light Bulb Exchange:
OGDEN — Each Friday when school is in session, a handful of Weber State University students from the Environmental Club gather in the Shepherd Union building to trade light bulbs and to illuminate their cause. The bulbs they take in are traditional incandescent bulbs, still working and recently removed from fixtures in people’s homes and offices. The bulbs they hand out are either new CFL or LED bulbs, which require far less energy to create light and which last a lot longer… More at Standard Examiner
Utah Division of Wildlife Solves Mass Clearfield Bird Death Mystery:
CLEARFIELD — Utah Division of Wildlife Resources officials now know what caused hundreds of birds to die in Clearfield a week before Christmas; however, there are still several unanswered questions. Phil Douglass, the DWR conservation outreach manager for Northern Utah, said the toxicology results — received Wednesday, from birds sent to a lab in Logan — show the birds died after being exposed to Starlicide… More at Standard Examiner
Xplore Outdoors Adventure Calendar, Jan. 11th:
OGDEN NATURE CENTER: The Ogden Nature Center is located at 966 W. 12th St. in Ogden. For more information, please visit www.ogdennaturecenter.org or call 801-621-7595. Wild Wednesdays: Wednesdays at 3:30 p.m. Free for ONC members/$2 children/$3 seniors / $4 adults. Meet in the visitor center. More at Explore Outdoors
Armed and Dangerous Mountain Man Breaking into Utah Cabins:
KANE COUNTY, Utah — A photograph, captured by a trail camera in Kane County, is giving new life to a frustrating investigation of the so-called Mountain Man. Police say they believe the man has been breaking into cabins in Iron, Kane and Garfield counties, living in them and stealing from the owners… More at KSL
River Otters Now at Living Planet Aquarium:
SANDY — The Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy is unveiling a new exhibit to showcase three playful river otters. The exhibit is scheduled to open Thursday and will feature three male otters that moved to Utah from an aquarium in Riverhead, New York. The otters were born two years ago to parents caught in the wild in Louisiana… More at Standard Examiner
Saving Suckers by Shifting River Debatable:
PROVO — Around 100 protesters gathered outside the Utah Lake State Park Visitors Center Thursday night to oppose a proposal to shift the last 1.5 miles of the Provo River channel to the north, and restore it to a more natural delta environment. Officials say the proposal, while still in the planning stages, is key to reviving the June sucker population… More at Deseret News
Teenage Alpine Ski Racer Dies in Crash:
Erzurum, Turkey - Asli Nemutlu, a young member of Turkey’s national alpine ski team, was killed in a crash while training Thursday at the Konaklı ski resort near the city of Erzurum in the country’s east. Nemutlu, 18, reportedly fell and slid for some distance, fracturing her neck in the incident. Initial reports indicate that Nemutlu lost a ski, but it’s unclear if the ski’s binding released unexpectedly or if the ski came off in a fall… More at First Tracks
Collinson, Peterson Win Stop One of the Freeskiing and Freeride World Tour:
After being pushed back for two days due to weather, the skies cleared yesterday in Revelstoke for a bluebird finals days of the combined Freeskiing and Freeride World Tour. Kye Peterson, who also won the first day, had the highest score for his run on the 2,500 vertical feet Mac Daddy run, which hasn’t been skied in competition before… More at Skiing Magazine
Sierra Designs Introduces DriDown™ Technology at 2012 OR Show:
Introducing a major step forward in down sleeping bag performance, Sierra Designs debuts groundbreaking DriDown™ insulation technology in a new line of sleeping bags at the 2012 Outdoor Retailer Winter Market trade show in Salt Lake City. A vast improvement over regular down, DriDown™ features a molecular level polymer applied to individual down plumes during the down finishing process… More at SNEWS
Paul Robinson Establishes Vegas V15:
Paul Robinson has made the first ascent of one of his hardest problems ever: Meadowlark Lemon in Gateway Canyon, Nevada, in Red Rock Canyon. He believes the grade clocks in at V15, marking one of Las Vegas’ hardest (if not the hardest) problems… More at Urban Climber
“Two Army Black Hawk helicopters, an Air Force F-22 Raptor jet, and two unmanned Air Force drones” Search for Lost Couple:
Units from the U.S. Army, Air Force, National Park Service, and the Alamo West Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department activated on Monday to rescue a man and a woman who became lost in White Sands National Monument soon after becoming engaged… More at Outside
Wolves Photographed in Jackson Hole Subdivision:
A Jackson resident photographed three wolves near the Indian Trails subdivision Sunday, possibly marking a new era in the spread of the species south from Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks. Earlier this year, wildlife managers predicted that wolves and bears could become more common in or near subdivisions as hunting pressure and predation push ungulates such as elk and moose into residential areas… More at Jackson Hole Daily
