Outdoors, action and adventure

U.S. Capitol celebrates arrival of Wyoming Christmas tree

The U.S. Capitol has its Christmas tree, a 67-foot Engelmann spruce that arrived Monday in Washington, D.C., via truck from northwest Wyoming.

According to an Associated Press story on the Casper Star-Tribune website, the tree will be raised on the West Front of the Capitol. It'll be decorated on Dec. 7 with ornaments crafted in Wyoming to fit this year's theme: "Wyoming, Forever West."

House speaker Nancy Pelosi will light the tree during a 5 p.m. ceremony.

"The Capitol Christmas Tree is often referred to as 'the People’s Tree' because it reflects the generosity of the state that sent it to Washington," Pelosi said in a statement posted on the Capitol website. "This year, the people of Wyoming are showcasing their great state with a magnificent tree and beautiful ornaments. May the tree light the way for a blessed Christmas and a happy holiday season."

The tree, a grand specimen of the Bridger-Teton National Forest, was chosen in July and felled earlier this month. Its 5,000-mile delivery included 35 stops in various communities.

-- Pete Thomas

Image of Capitol Christmas tree is courtesy of the U.S. Capitol website

Sea Shepherd set to unleash Godzilla on Japanese whalers

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will turn Godzilla loose on the Japanese whaling fleet this season in an effort to step up its Southern Ocean harassment campaign.

The swift and ominous-looking interceptor vessel has the moniker Gojira and was named after the ferocious monster in the legendary Japanese film, known in English as Godzilla.

The 115-foot boat launched Monday in Fremantle, Australia, and has joined the Steve Irwin and Bob Barker in Hobart. Later this week the three boats will begin the journey to Antarctic waters, where their crews will await the arrival of the Japanese whaling fleet.

Japan also will reportedly step things up. For the first time in three years the whaling ships will carry armed members of the Japan Coast Guard to help prevent sabotage by the activists, according to the Japan Times.

These seasonal confrontations have become increasingly tense, with high-seas collisions underscoring the danger and controversial nature of some of the methods used by Sea Shepherd, which has been criticized for risking human lives in its effort to save minke whales, which are not an endangered species.

Last season Sea Shepherd scuttled its interceptor vessel, the Ady Gil, after claiming it had been rammed and irreparably damaged by the crew of a Japanese vessel. New Zealand investigators found both crews to have been at fault.

Japan annually targets about 900 whales -- mostly minkes but also a handful of endangered fin whales -- during a three-month Southern Ocean season that generally begins in early December.

Japan gets around an International Whaling Commission ban against commercial whaling by using a "research" loophole and designating the hunts -- long considered an important part of Japanese culture and tradition -- as scientific missions.

However, pressure to persuade Japan to curtail its effort has been mounting. The IWC last spring submitted a proposal calling for Japan to reduce its quota to about 200 over a 10-year period. Australia has been trying to use an international court to halt whaling in the Antarctic, where the slaughter of whales occurs within a designated sanctuary.

Last season the Japanese fleet killed 506 minke whales and one fin whale. Officials with Japan's Fisheries Agency and the Institute of Cetacean Research regard Sea Shepherd as a terrorist organization and have acknowledged its harassment has obstructed the hunting objective.

Though the whaling missions are said to be scientific, whale meat is sold commercially throughout Japan.

Skateboarding school helps to empower kids in Afghanistan

Amid the fighting and poverty in Afghanistan, within a country torn apart by war and spilling over with uncertainty, a small but growing number of young people ride skateboards.

They share a common passion. They skate as a means of building relationships and to forget about -- if only for brief periods -- the bombings and other harsh realities that are part of so many young Afghan lives.

 

Two of these skateboarders -- Murza and Fazila -- are subjects of a documentary produced earlier this year and recently released online (posted below), entitled "Skateistan: To Live and Skate in Kabul." The film, directed by Orlando Von Einsiedel, provides a glimpse of a hard life in a hard place, through the eyes of the skateboarders.

Skateistan is a co-ed school with a current enrollment of 320 students. It was established 13 months ago with the purpose of engaging and empowering urban and displaced youths through classroom instruction and skateboarding.

The idea was born after Australians Oliver Percovich and Sharna Nolan visited Kabul with skateboards in 2007, set the boards down became surrounded by dozens of curious kids.

They co-founded Skateistan in October of 2009 and today dedicated teachers and volunteers provide schooling and skateboarding lessons on property donated by the Afghan National Olympic Committee.

Skateistan, which is funded largely through private donations and operates on a shoestring budget, strives to share positive stories about Afghan youth though various media platforms. "Skateistan: To Live and Skate in Kabul," is one example.

In the documentary Murza, 17, talks about having grown numb to a lifetime of violence and about his former job washing cars, often in freezing temperatures, to make ends meet.

That was before he attended Skateistan. He now works there, helping to maintain the wooden ramps and teaching new students how to skate.

"Skating has become a habit and I'm addicted to it," he says in the film. "If I don't skate, I become ill. Life is hard in Kabul. It is solely because of the support of Skateistan that I am standing now."

Surprisingly, given Kabul's recent hard-line governance by the Taliban, more girls are becoming part of the Skateistan program.

Fazila, 12, works on the street selling chewing gum, but is also a student. "Life is hard for me personally because my family is poor and sometimes we can't afford enough to eat," she says. "[But] at Skateistan I don't feel that my surroundings are ruined, I feel as though I'm in a nice place."

Her father does not support her new hobby. Neither do many adults throughout Kabul look favorably upon kids -- especially girls -- rolling around the streets on skateboards.

But as other societies have long-since learned, it's not easy to dissuade separate passionate skaters from their boards. "Their opinions are meaningless to me," Fazila says. "I really like skating and I won't stop."

Murza closes the documentary by expressing, pensively, his thoughts about the future during the post-Taliban era, and of the need to rebuild Afghanistan and find peace.

"I don't want war anymore," he says, as he and his friends skate off and into the distance, down ruble-strewn streets.

-- Pete Thomas

-- Images show Skateistan students Murza (top) and Sabrina riding the ramps at the school facility. Both are courtesy of Skateistan

Editor's note: This post also apears on the GrindTv.com skate blog

Leonardo DiCaprio donates $1 million to help save tigers

Leonardo DiCaprio  was in attendance today -- and announced he was making a $1-million donation -- as world leaders gathered in Russia approved an ambitious plan designed to protect wild tigers from what many believe is an imminent threat of extinction.

Because of poaching and critical habitat destruction, only 3,200 tigers remain throughout Asia, where 100,000 of the magnificent beasts roamed a century ago.

The first-ever tiger summit, held in St. Petersburg and hosted by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, resulted in the approval of a plan intended to double the number of wild tigers by 2022.

About $127 million -- the funding coming largely from governments and conservation organizations -- will help support what is known as the Global Tiger Recovery Program.

Provisions within the plan, among other things, call for paying poor countries to halt deforestation and provide for stepped-up enforcement against trafficking in tiger parts, which are in high demand in China and India, for use as traditional medicine and aphrodisiacs.

DiCaprio, a board member of the World Wildlife Fund, attended the summit and added star power to a conservation effort that needs all the help it can get. His $1-million donation was made available immediately.

University of Utah offers Snow Day, classes closed

Of course, for skiers and snowboarders, the following announcement that appears on the University of Utah website, can only mean one thing:

Time to hit the slopes!

 

Avalanche claims staff member at Wolf Creek in Colorado

Wolf Creek in southern Colorado was closed for the day Monday after the resort's Ski Patrol director was killed in an early-morning avlanche. Scott Kay, 41, left behind a wife and two young sons.

The sad news comes as resorts throughout the West are enjoying abundant early snowfall, in time for the busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Kay had been working to make the slopes safe for guests when the avalanche struck at about 7:45 a.m. Thoughts are being shared on the Wolf Creek Facebook page.

The resort will re-open Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. local time.

-- Pete Thomas

Cabo San Lucas anglers enjoy influx of striped marlin

Cabo San Lucas marlin fishermen venturing north to the Golden Gate and Finger Banks -- and some points along the way -- are beginning to encounter the large concentrations of striped marlin the high spots are famous for at this time of year.

One of the best single-day catch-and-release tallies this past week was at Gaspareño, just north of the Golden Gate, where Louisiana anglers Mike and Beth Charles released 15 stripers and caught two dorado.

Other high scores: 15 releases by Oregon's Tim and Lucy McCulloch aboard Bill Collector, and 12 releases by Texas angler Ross Donahue aboard Tracy Ann.

The catch: Obtaining live mackerel is the key to success but they're in limited or zero supply among the bait vendors. Crews of the top marlin boats have been catching their own mackerel en route to the fishing grounds.

Other species biting off Land's End are dorado (a decent bite at the marlin grounds), yellowfin tuna (on and off, to the north in the Sea of Cortez or straight south in a band of warmer water), and wahoo (a good morning bite, on dark-colored lures, best in the Sea of Cortez off La Playita.)

Average water temperature: about 80 degrees.

-- Pete Thomas

Sources for this report: Pisces Sportfishing, Fly Hooker Sportfishing and Gordo Banks Pangas.

Photo of angler posing with striped marlin (it only looks like Sammy Hagar playing the guitar) is courtesy of Pisces Sportfishing

Surfers go deep during first major swell at Pipeline

The focus of pro surfing is on the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, which on Sunday crowned Joel Parkinson as winner of its first jewel: the Reef Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa on Oahu's North Shore.

But but when the first significant swell of the season arrived in the middle of last week, many of the world's top stars were free surfing at the famously round and crowded Banzai Pipeline.

Some, including Sunny Garcia, Chris Ward and Jamie Sterling, wore Go Pro digital cameras on their boards of their heads, and the result is the following Hodgson Hawaii production. All of the footage is good but the Go Pro footage offerns a unique perspective from inside the barrell. Enjoy:

 

Danny MacAskill's street trials bicycle odyssey a video hit

As all travelers know, getting home from a faraway place can be an adventure, whether in a car, on foot or a bicycle. But for street trials pro Danny MacAskill, the adventure became a short film that has gone viral on YouTube.

"Way Back Home" has been viewed by nearly 400,000 people since it was posted Tuesday. The film follows MacAskill on a surreal bicycle journey from Edinburgh, Scotland, to the rider's hometown of Dunvegan in the Isle of Skye.

Be impressed, but please do not try these stunts at home:

 

-- Pete Thomas

-- Editor's note: A version of this post also appears on the GrindTv website

Andy Irons' family thanks surfer's many fans for their support

After a trying and emotional two weeks in the aftermath of the unexpected death of surfing icon Andy Irons, his family has released a statement, through the ASP World Tour, thanking fans and supporters from around the world for their incredible outpouring of support.

Andy's mother and father, Danielle and Phil, began with these words:

Danielle: "Andy's passing was met with the most overwhelming and powerful wave of love and support."
 
Phil: "The friendship and concern that has poured in from everywhere has been unimaginable, and we are deeply, deeply grateful. Words are beyond us."

Danielle: "It's like one big giant hug, arms around you, of comfort."
 
The family also thanked Billabong, which sponsored Andy and helped the family navigate through the ordeal. "Then they orchestrated such a soulful, loving day for the community and for Andy. Andy would have loved it! It was an extraordinary memorial," Danielle said.
 
The family also recognized the Kauai community of Hanalei, where Andy and his younger brother Bruce were raised, and thanked the people  for their Aloha spirit and caring. "We are still feeling the community's sorrow so deeply. It helps to go through this together," Phil Irons said.

Andy Irons, who was suffering from an apparent viral infection, died in a Dallas hotel during a layover while trying to get home from a contest in Puerto Rico. His family also thanked the ASP medical team and Rip Curl Pro Search contest doctors, who apparently could not convince Irons to stay in Puerto Rico rather than try to make it home.

"I know how stubborn Andy can be, and once he makes up his mind there's no changing it," Danielle said. "He was set on coming home."

Irons was 32 and left behind a pregnant wife, Lyndie. An elaborate memorial, attended by thousands, was held Sunday at Pine Trees in Hanalei Bay. Another memorial will be conducted by Billabong before the start of the season-ending Pipeline Masters, which is scheduled to begin Dec. 8.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo of ceremony for Andy Irons at Hanalei Bay is courtesy of © ASP / CESTARI