The San Francisco Chronicle reports two missing skiers have been found after they became lost in the backcountry near Alpine Meadows ski resort.

Both men are described as experienced adventure skiers, though according to the article, they did not intend to leave the resort on the day they became lost. Weather conditions were particularly foul that day, with high winds, a sustained blizzard, and white-out conditions. They apparently were unfamiliar with the resort and surrounding geography, and passed unaware beyond the boundary while skiing expert terrain in the blizzard.

What followed was a two day and two night ordeal in which they dug snow caves and slept on pine boughs, melted snow for water in plastic baggies, and followed a river downstream through heavy snow until a rescue helicopter spotted them. Aside from typical alpine ski gear and clothing, they had no backcountry equipment with them. The skiers certainly deserve credit for their survival skills, which kept them alive in life-threatening circumstances (more…)

The funny thing is, initially this didn’t even strike me as that big of a milestone. I mean, oil has been hovering around the $70-80 per barrel price for so long (relatively speaking), that I’d gotten used to the idea.

But wait a minute—only a few years ago, I believe the OPEC nations were saying that the ideal price would be in the $30 per barrel range, and that they would adjust production as needed to keep the price there.

In case you’re wondering why OPEC would want to keep prices down, the thinking at that time was that higher prices would lead to unwanted consequences, such as conservation, people driving less, buying more efficient vehicles, and turning to other energy sources. So OPEC wanted to keep the price of oil in that sweet spot where they charged as much as possible without damaging consumption—those old ‘maximize the function’ problems that you hated so much in college math class.

So why are oil prices now some three times higher? A big part of the answer has to be growth in the developing world… (more…)

Well, it’s here. The new, merged Backcountry-Couloir Magazine arrived in the mail this week. I don’t usually cheer mergers, so I wasn’t exactly leaping for joy when I heard that the venerable Couloir Mag (which began right here in SoCal) was going to be absorbed by Backcountry. I’m sort of the sentimental type, especially when it comes to blood-sweat-and-tears efforts like Couloir, which Craig Dostie built from a xerox newsletter into the “Earn Your Turns” classic we all know and love.

But, Couloir is gone now, which at least relieves us of the burden of having to decide which of the two mags to subscribe to (and feeling guilty about jilting the other). The addition of Couloir’s talent to the Backcountry pool certainly extends the magazine’s reach, offering the promise of better, richer coverage of the backcountry skiing world.

The debut issue features an extended 2008 gear review section, and an interesting article on a new avalanche terrain rating system that Canada is trying out. Overall, the new mag looks a lot like the old Backcountry Magazine, so if you’re pining away for Couloir, I recommend moping for a while—and then ordering up a Backcountry subscription.