VIDEO OF THE MONTH

The Mazamas Blog celebrates the extraordinary climbing and hiking videos being made these days by club members. If you or a Mazama you know have a video you'd like to share, submit a link to the video, along with a short description, to mazamasonline@gmail.com. Each month, we will feature one video as Video of the Month.

This month's winner is Andrew Holman's outstanding piece entitled "Climb and Shoot."

UPDATE ON FRENCHES DOME LOGGING PLAN

On October 29 of last year, we reported on a new Forest Service plan to log a two thousand acre section of the ZigZag National Forest.  The "Horseshoe Sale" was directly adjacent to a number of highly valued trails and important recreation sites, including the Frenches Dome climbing area.

Forest Service watchdog group BARK recently announced that the Horseshoe Sale has been withdrawn.  According to Alex Brown, BARK's executive director, the sale "was withdrawn faster than any sale in Mt. Hood's history -- a testament to the disconnect between the Forest Service's timber program and the public's expectations for our forests."

You can view the original article by following this link.

EARLY OPENING FOR NORTH CASCADES HIGHWAY

According to a recent press release from the Washington State Department of Transportation, the North Cascades Highway is expected to be open around the first of May. The clearing project will begin on March 25 -- about the same time it began last year -- but unusually low snowpack in the area means the project will be completed more quickly. In 2012 the road was opened May 10.

 From the press release:

Snow depths at the summit of Washington Pass measured about 5 feet compared to 7.5 feet last year, while snow was 5.5 feet deep at Rainy Pass compared to 8 feet last year. Snow piles in the Liberty Bell avalanche zone ranged from 25 to almost 40 feet compared to 35 to nearly 60 feet in 2012.

You can learn more details about this year's snow study, as well as a few statistics from previous winters, by visiting the press release at this link.

FROM THE BULLETIN ARCHIVES -- CLIMBING AT A CLASSIC PACE

[From: June 2012 Mazama Bulletin]

By Ray Sheldon

It seems that nothing is new in the Mazamas. We usually find out that an idea is already a part our history. So I’ll open this story on “Classic Climbs” by saying, the first I heard of an age-oriented climb designation was when Hal Nichols led an “Old Timers” climb of Middle Sister on July 6, 1996. His over-55 leadership continued and in 1997 he led a group up Broken Top. Stan Enevoldsen was the assistant on both of those climbs.

GLACIER REPHOTO DATABASE: MOUNT HOOD

White River Glacier

In 2012, supported by funding from a Mazamas research grant, PSU geologist Hassan Basagic visited numerous mountains in the Pacific Northwest in order to duplicate glacier photographs originally recorded early in the 20th century. He is now compiling those images for his Glacier Repeat Photography Database, a website which "seeks to summarize the existing glacier repeat photographic record throughout the American West."

Mr. Basagic's first set of images are taken from the glaciers of Mount Hood.

Walking in the footsteps of renowned American geophysicist H.F. Reid and W.A. Langille, Basagic repositioned his camera precisely in the "photographic stations" used by these scientists over 110 years ago. The result is a juxtaposition of images representing a century of glacier retreat with unique clarity and precision.

"Read more" below for a collection of Mr. Basagic's images and commentary.  Click images to enlarge.  All photos courtesy Hassan Basagic.