The New York Times is running an article on the epidemic of ACL tears and other injuries in U.S. female athletes.

Female participation in sports in this country is exploding, credited in part to a 1972 law, TITLE X, which mandated equal opportunity in sports to female athletes.

As more and more girls and young women compete in sports, it would be natural to expect to see more female sports injuries. But, as the article points out, female athletes may be uniquely vulnerable to sports injuries. As they hit puberty, physical changes, including the structural design of the body and hormonal differences, take place in women’s bodies (more…)

Grab your car keys: Tioga Pass Road is open to Ellerly Lake and the Yosemite park entrance, coming from Highway 395. Reports are that snow was very hard and frozen last weekend, with little softening, thanks to chilly temps (and even some rain). Mount Dana does not sound fun: rocky upper and too much bare ice on the couloirs below.

South Lake may have the best skiing until things soften up farther north. Sun cups are reportedly manageable in the area.

Horseshoe Meadows Road is now open to the meadows gate, with the campground roads still snowbound beyond. Haven’t heard anything about skiing here or the Langley region, except for this report of skiing Langley’s Northeast Couloir. Looks a little bare to me.

I’m debating the fairly crazy notion of a Bairs trip this weekend. Guess Birch Mountain didn’t beat me up enough—though it did take a full week to recover. As for the local mountains, I haven’t heard anything. I do believe there’s still snow on north aspects, but no word as to whether or not it’s soft enough for good skiing.