Friday, January 30, 2004
Annals of Adventure--Goulash Eating...I Mean Iceboating...Hungarian Style: The 2004 iceboating world championships have been going on in Hungary, at Lake Balaton. Iceboaters must be a very laid back crowd because it's almost impossible to find detailed reports and results. However, TWC did come across an intrepid UK iceboater named Gareth Rowland, who is posting reports and pictures to the web. From what I can tell, the racing has been quite variable, with light winds some days and dodgy ice conditions on other days. But the eating, apparently, has been very good. Here are some offbeat vignettes from Rowland's Hungarian adventure:
Jan 18: "Yesterday we were invited to a Hungarian tradition of killing a pig and during the course of the day eating it. After it was shot the butcher got to work. First on the menu was the liver cooked in a nice sauce. We had to leave part way through to go to the ice and move our yachts as the ice near the hotel had broken up on the shoreline. We found a car park across the bay, nearer to the race area. Later I printed some pictures of the pig and returned to the party. By then they were down to the cutlets in a very nice onion and tomato relish. In the background the butcher was taking an axe to what was left of the pig and the bacon and skin was going on the barbie [BBQ]. Also on he menu with the pork was Hungarian schnapps to wash it all down. For a sweet nibble a Hungarian donut was produced, but it was like strips of dough tied in a knot. You put your own jam on if you wanted. Damned good though!!...Tomorrow it looks like I may have to use the GPS and plot the area of safe ice as there is open water out there and I now have the ability to plot the track on a real map. There are also cracks and a large hole, so the Brits are hopefully going to provide an accurate map of the ice.
Time for another beer!"
Yeah, but what about the iceboating?....
First Competitors Meeting: "After a lengthy discussion which centred on the Balaton ice conditions and the access to the ice for the 200 competitors it was agreed that all the representatives would walk the ice and drill frequently to check the ice thickness and then return to the Committee to further discuss what they had walked and then make a decision by voting on whether we should stay in Hungary or move to Poland."
Poland?
Jan. 19: "Temps did not drop last nite. Now 2.5 degrees. Cracks and holes in places. Can see open water from hotel. Not good. After some driving around we found the hot pools at Heviz. The central section had two hot pools of 33c sulphurous water that apparently is slightly radioactive. For many years they have been used for the healing properties (that should get rid of that nasty rash)!...After the warm swim we ventured out in the 1 deg weather and swam outside. This was chilly with cooler water - about 26 degs with weeds and little fish. It wasn't long before we were back in the hot pools! On the way out the hot showers were of volcanic water so I am sure we smelt well of sulphur...Walking round the town of Heviz we found a nice cafe-bar that had Hungarian Goulash on the menu, so we decided on the goulash soup and a Hungarian beer. Not sure the waiter was impressed by two sulphurous Englishmen invading the place, but it was damn good."
Uhh, Gareth, hope you're not planning to have any (more?) children. But for the last time, what about the sailing?
Jan. 21: "With only 0 deg C the Hungarian police, who hold jurisdiction over the lake here at Balaton, did not want us to sail but oddly allowed the ultimateresponsibilityy to rest with the Race Committee. So the committee decided, so as to preserve future sailing on Balaton, and for the safety of 200 skippers, to suspend racing for the day. Throwing caution to the wind K1 [Chris Williams] and K11 [myself] decided to join the brave out on the ice in a moderate wind. At least the previous day's "plastic ice" at the shoreline had hardened to allow a creaky\crackly access to the yachts....Rigged up we had to negotiate the cracking running 50 metre out parallel to the shore line. This had water in places and maybe ice underneath. Anyway we managed to cross it safely. Out on the ice it was good hard black ice with only small bumps of old melted and refrozen snow. I took the video camera out and mounted it on the front runner looking back with a wide angle lens then I had it on the tiller. I got some good pictures in the fast conditions. About 1:00pm we retired for lunch before we broke anything. We went into the local main town and did some shopping and had another even better Hungarian Goulash soup. It was served up in silver tureens and you were supplied the ladle and plates, spoons etc. We assumed it must be a very posh place as the bill for two goulashes and two beers came to 6000 Hungarian Forints [around 15 British pounds]. Turned out we were paying the bill for the next table!"
You get the picture (thanks, Gareth...and have anotherr beer, or four). Imagine how much fun iceboating would be when there is actual iceboating happening. If TWC can dig up any real results on the Worlds, or race reports, they will be posted....
Hard Water Racer: What it's supposed to look like....
Jan 18: "Yesterday we were invited to a Hungarian tradition of killing a pig and during the course of the day eating it. After it was shot the butcher got to work. First on the menu was the liver cooked in a nice sauce. We had to leave part way through to go to the ice and move our yachts as the ice near the hotel had broken up on the shoreline. We found a car park across the bay, nearer to the race area. Later I printed some pictures of the pig and returned to the party. By then they were down to the cutlets in a very nice onion and tomato relish. In the background the butcher was taking an axe to what was left of the pig and the bacon and skin was going on the barbie [BBQ]. Also on he menu with the pork was Hungarian schnapps to wash it all down. For a sweet nibble a Hungarian donut was produced, but it was like strips of dough tied in a knot. You put your own jam on if you wanted. Damned good though!!...Tomorrow it looks like I may have to use the GPS and plot the area of safe ice as there is open water out there and I now have the ability to plot the track on a real map. There are also cracks and a large hole, so the Brits are hopefully going to provide an accurate map of the ice.
Time for another beer!"
Yeah, but what about the iceboating?....
First Competitors Meeting: "After a lengthy discussion which centred on the Balaton ice conditions and the access to the ice for the 200 competitors it was agreed that all the representatives would walk the ice and drill frequently to check the ice thickness and then return to the Committee to further discuss what they had walked and then make a decision by voting on whether we should stay in Hungary or move to Poland."
Poland?
Jan. 19: "Temps did not drop last nite. Now 2.5 degrees. Cracks and holes in places. Can see open water from hotel. Not good. After some driving around we found the hot pools at Heviz. The central section had two hot pools of 33c sulphurous water that apparently is slightly radioactive. For many years they have been used for the healing properties (that should get rid of that nasty rash)!...After the warm swim we ventured out in the 1 deg weather and swam outside. This was chilly with cooler water - about 26 degs with weeds and little fish. It wasn't long before we were back in the hot pools! On the way out the hot showers were of volcanic water so I am sure we smelt well of sulphur...Walking round the town of Heviz we found a nice cafe-bar that had Hungarian Goulash on the menu, so we decided on the goulash soup and a Hungarian beer. Not sure the waiter was impressed by two sulphurous Englishmen invading the place, but it was damn good."
Uhh, Gareth, hope you're not planning to have any (more?) children. But for the last time, what about the sailing?
Jan. 21: "With only 0 deg C the Hungarian police, who hold jurisdiction over the lake here at Balaton, did not want us to sail but oddly allowed the ultimateresponsibilityy to rest with the Race Committee. So the committee decided, so as to preserve future sailing on Balaton, and for the safety of 200 skippers, to suspend racing for the day. Throwing caution to the wind K1 [Chris Williams] and K11 [myself] decided to join the brave out on the ice in a moderate wind. At least the previous day's "plastic ice" at the shoreline had hardened to allow a creaky\crackly access to the yachts....Rigged up we had to negotiate the cracking running 50 metre out parallel to the shore line. This had water in places and maybe ice underneath. Anyway we managed to cross it safely. Out on the ice it was good hard black ice with only small bumps of old melted and refrozen snow. I took the video camera out and mounted it on the front runner looking back with a wide angle lens then I had it on the tiller. I got some good pictures in the fast conditions. About 1:00pm we retired for lunch before we broke anything. We went into the local main town and did some shopping and had another even better Hungarian Goulash soup. It was served up in silver tureens and you were supplied the ladle and plates, spoons etc. We assumed it must be a very posh place as the bill for two goulashes and two beers came to 6000 Hungarian Forints [around 15 British pounds]. Turned out we were paying the bill for the next table!"
You get the picture (thanks, Gareth...and have anotherr beer, or four). Imagine how much fun iceboating would be when there is actual iceboating happening. If TWC can dig up any real results on the Worlds, or race reports, they will be posted....
Hard Water Racer: What it's supposed to look like....
"Wrong-Way" VDH Update--Life in the Southern Ocean: Francis Joyon is back up to speed in IDEC, and should arrive home next week, to claim a blazing new world record. That leaves tough old Jean Luc Van Den Heede almost alone on the round-the-world course (until Fossett and De Kersauson set off in their big multihulls). VDH is still about 2000 miles from rounding the Cape of Good Hope at South Africa's tip, and all the poor guy can think about is a shower. Here's a taste of how such a seemingly basic routine can become a singlehanders obsession 83 days into a voyage:
"Yesterday, in a squall I collected a lot of fresh water in the mainsail. I heated it up this morning in my camping shower and was planning to take a nice warm shower this evening.... but the sun only came out for a brief while, and for the moment I'm going through some drizzle worthy of the English Channel, which is a foretaste of the front, which should go over tonight.
I'm going to have to wait a little while longer for the pleasure of what will be my first real shower since Cape Horn. Don't be alarmed! I'm keeping myself clean with some baby wipes. But it is true, I'm dreaming of a nice shower where I don't need to worry about how much fresh, warm water I use."
Well, if VDH has to stay a bit stinky for the moment, at least he can take pleasure from the fact that his lead over existing record holder Philippe Monnet is more than 19 days. On the other hand, he's still got almost two months of sailing left. The key question, really, is how many pairs of clean underwear does he have left.....
Smelly Day 83 Sailor: Phew, I wouldn't want to be trailing behind Mr. Baby Wipes.......
"Yesterday, in a squall I collected a lot of fresh water in the mainsail. I heated it up this morning in my camping shower and was planning to take a nice warm shower this evening.... but the sun only came out for a brief while, and for the moment I'm going through some drizzle worthy of the English Channel, which is a foretaste of the front, which should go over tonight.
I'm going to have to wait a little while longer for the pleasure of what will be my first real shower since Cape Horn. Don't be alarmed! I'm keeping myself clean with some baby wipes. But it is true, I'm dreaming of a nice shower where I don't need to worry about how much fresh, warm water I use."
Well, if VDH has to stay a bit stinky for the moment, at least he can take pleasure from the fact that his lead over existing record holder Philippe Monnet is more than 19 days. On the other hand, he's still got almost two months of sailing left. The key question, really, is how many pairs of clean underwear does he have left.....
Smelly Day 83 Sailor: Phew, I wouldn't want to be trailing behind Mr. Baby Wipes.......
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Wetass Photo Gallery--Skigasms: Stuck at your desk in the ice and slush? Some people ski for a living and some people take photographs of people who ski for a living. Lucky them. But Skiing Magazine is throwing us all a bone. The editors have posted a couple of galleries of incredible and extreme ski photos, here. If you want to fantasize for a few minutes--and who doesn't?--check them out. Here's a sample of what you're in for:
"Uhhh, Dude, when you said "Let's go skiing" I thought we'd be sticking to the groomed stuff...."
(Photo: Jancsi Hadik, via skimag.com)
"Uhhh, Dude, when you said "Let's go skiing" I thought we'd be sticking to the groomed stuff...."
(Photo: Jancsi Hadik, via skimag.com)
Annals of Slander--Messner Fights Back...With a Fibula: Regular readers of TWC may remember the controversy over whether Reinhold Messner abandoned his brother Gunther on Nanga Parbat in 1970 (previous TWC story here (scroll down)). Brief summary: In a new book--The Naked Mountain---Messner claims his brother died in an avalanche as the two brothers descended the Diamir Face. Other expedition members are contradicting Messner, saying that he abandoned Gunther on the mountain so he could make the first traverse to the Diamir side. Lawsuits ensued. Now Outside Online reports that Messner has produced a fibula bone that was unearthed in 2000 at the base of the Diamir Face, and has submitted it for genetic testing. If it is Gunther's it will support Messner's claim that Gunther was with him after the summit, and on the descent to the Diamir Valley. The testing should take a month or so. This heated mountaineering spitball fight gets stranger and stranger. Stay tuned....
Funky Fibula: "Gunther, is this yours......?
Funky Fibula: "Gunther, is this yours......?
Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Vanity Kills--Next up on the Fashionista Chop Block: Stingray: Alligator and mink are no longer good enough. According to Time magazine, the latest in celebrity chic is stingray skin. Known as "shagreen" (so the owners can pretend they are not wiping out an actual species), Cartier is flogging jewelry pouches and Bill Blass is marketing watch bands. If "shagreen" catches on the stingray will be in trouble because it is one of the ocean's most underprotected species. The celeb slaughterhouse is back in business. How come rat fur is never in fashion? Over to you PETA...
"F*ck off, Pink, I have no desire to go to the Grammy's on your wrist......."
"F*ck off, Pink, I have no desire to go to the Grammy's on your wrist......."
Francis Joyon Update--Holey Multihull!: Our solo-sailing, non-stop circumnavigating friend is just about 2000 miles from home (maybe 10 days, tops), and guaranteed to set a blistering new world record...if he can just keep his boat upright and in one piece. Unfortunately, that is not proving easy as he cruises north past the western bulge of Africa. The bearings on Joyon's main traveler (which controls the mainsail) are shot AND he has noticed a small hole in the port float, which has allowed about 300 liters of water into the hull. Joyon is as cool as can be about the problem:
"I'm not worried about it but it would be rather good if I could fix it. The water has got into one of the compartments. I don't know how it could have happened. It's odd because the hole is almost round, on the side, as if something sharp hit the float. When the sea gets to it I can clearly see the water penetrating it and seeping out again. If necessary, the only way to repair it, if it's flat calm, is to swim out to it with some epoxy glue as it's impossible to get access to the hole any other way. But with a nice little harness… "
More worrisome is the area of calms and squalls he is passing through, where the sudden gusts of wind can flip his trimaran IDEC in an instant if Joyon is not vigilant in the extreme (no long naps, Francis!). Here's his description:
"Last night, I went from 5 to 28 knots of wind in 10 seconds. If you don't ease the sheets immediately that's all it takes to capsize a multihull! But I did ease the sheets straight away and five minutes later the wind dropped off. This morning it's not quite so violent. There are little squalls and flat calm. I hope it'll be ok."
TWC does too. Stay tuned, it's crunch time on the Atlantic.....
IDEC In Trouble: "Please, Baby, please. Just keep it together for another week or so...."
"I'm not worried about it but it would be rather good if I could fix it. The water has got into one of the compartments. I don't know how it could have happened. It's odd because the hole is almost round, on the side, as if something sharp hit the float. When the sea gets to it I can clearly see the water penetrating it and seeping out again. If necessary, the only way to repair it, if it's flat calm, is to swim out to it with some epoxy glue as it's impossible to get access to the hole any other way. But with a nice little harness… "
More worrisome is the area of calms and squalls he is passing through, where the sudden gusts of wind can flip his trimaran IDEC in an instant if Joyon is not vigilant in the extreme (no long naps, Francis!). Here's his description:
"Last night, I went from 5 to 28 knots of wind in 10 seconds. If you don't ease the sheets immediately that's all it takes to capsize a multihull! But I did ease the sheets straight away and five minutes later the wind dropped off. This morning it's not quite so violent. There are little squalls and flat calm. I hope it'll be ok."
TWC does too. Stay tuned, it's crunch time on the Atlantic.....
IDEC In Trouble: "Please, Baby, please. Just keep it together for another week or so...."
Darwin in the Sierra Nevadas--We Had to Kill the Creek to Save the Trout: Here's a pretty dubious plan: US Fish & Wildlife officials, in conjunction with California's Fish and Game Dept., want to poison an 11-mile stretch of Silver King Creek in the Sierra Nevadas in order to commit fishocide on the non-native species that are crowding out the Paiute cutthroat trout. Why does anyone care enough about the Paiute to dump poison into a pristine waterway? Officials claim it is the rarest trout in America and possibly the world (it exists only in this one creek). Much as environmental groups love trout of all kinds, they are understandably skeptical that randomly killing other fish and creek denizens is the best way to favor one species over another. The pro-poison gang is trying to pad their case by saying the poisoning would also benefit the rare yellow-legged frog and the Yosemite toad. Hmmmm, these poisonings always have a way of proving the Law of Unintended Consequences. Other reasons to be skeptical: 1) the good ol' Paiute, while undoubtedly rare, is itself a non-native species, having been transplanted to the Sierra Nevada about 100 years ago....and 2) the stretch of Silver King Creek that officials want to poison to boost Paiute populations is the stretch easily accessible to fishermen. Ahhh, so it's really just a plan to make life easy for California's omnivorous anglers, disguised as environmental do-goodism. TWC's position: Leave the creek alone and let the species that happen to be there--native and nonnative--duke it out poison-free. If the fishing lobby is too lazy to hike hard to find Paiute, screw 'em....
Precious Paiute: "Eat poison, losers. I'm not much to look at, but I'm really rare and I need more room to roam...."
Precious Paiute: "Eat poison, losers. I'm not much to look at, but I'm really rare and I need more room to roam...."
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Wetass Movies--"Touching the Void": This recounting of climber Joe Simpson's near-death experience on a rock face in the Peruvian Andes wowed Sundance and should show up in wide release. In 1985, Simpson and a climbing buddy, Simon Yates, made the first ascent of the forbidding Suila Grande. They got up in three and a half days. So far, so good. But as so often happens in climbing, it was the trip down that became a nightmare. Engulfed by a blizzard, Simpson shattered his leg. Yates initially tried to lower Simpson down the face, segment by segment. But eventually, with Simpson dangling over a void at the end of the rope and Yates unsure whether he was dead or alive, Yates no longer had the strength to keep going. Thus, Yates was faced with a most brutal choice: stay with Simpson and likely die, or abandon Simpson and leave him hanging, in order to try and save himself. Yates opted for the latter (Simpson, incredibly, managed to survive anyhow). Here's what Newsweek's David Ansen has to say about the pseudo-documentary (it contains recreated scenes because Simpson and Yates were not filming):
"Ordinarily, documentary re-enactments are terrible, tacky affairs, but [Director] Macdonald avoids the usual mistakes. There's no emoting, hardly any dialogue: just a straightforward, bone-chilling, admirably precise visualization of Simpson's extraordinary escape from an icy death, filmed both on the mountain where it happened and in the Swiss Alps. There's not an ounce of false piety or histrionics in Simpson's existential account of his will to live. An atheist and a pragmatist, he knows he can succeed only by breaking down his pain-racked task into small, achievable goals. One step at a time, indeed. By the end of this white-knuckle movie, you stand in awe at the depth of man's will to survive. "Touching the Void" leaves you emotionally and physically spent, and grateful it was only a movie, not a mountain, you had to endure."
Get me a ticket....
Abandoned: "Simon? Simon?.....You'd better stay away from my wife, you bastard!"
"Ordinarily, documentary re-enactments are terrible, tacky affairs, but [Director] Macdonald avoids the usual mistakes. There's no emoting, hardly any dialogue: just a straightforward, bone-chilling, admirably precise visualization of Simpson's extraordinary escape from an icy death, filmed both on the mountain where it happened and in the Swiss Alps. There's not an ounce of false piety or histrionics in Simpson's existential account of his will to live. An atheist and a pragmatist, he knows he can succeed only by breaking down his pain-racked task into small, achievable goals. One step at a time, indeed. By the end of this white-knuckle movie, you stand in awe at the depth of man's will to survive. "Touching the Void" leaves you emotionally and physically spent, and grateful it was only a movie, not a mountain, you had to endure."
Get me a ticket....
Abandoned: "Simon? Simon?.....You'd better stay away from my wife, you bastard!"
Mars Update--It's Raining Rovers!: The second Mars Rover--Opportunity--safely crashed down onto the planet surface over the weekend, giving the Jet Propulsion Lab pencil-necks something to cheer about after Rover #1--Spirit--went on the fritz last week. Opportunity landed smack in the middle of a crater--a "300 million mile hole-in-one"--according to one scientist, and everyone is already ooohing and ahhhing over the pics the souped-up golf cart is sending back. Scientists are preparing to roll Opportunity off the lander in the next few weeks. And they'll be getting very little sleep because at the same time they will be re-writing crucial elements of Spirit's software, in the hopes of getting Spirit rolling again. So it's going to be pretty slow, Rover-wise, for the next few weeks.....
The Other Side of Mars: Note the chimney, a vestige of Opportunity's former life as a pot-bellied stove....
(Photo: NASA)
The Other Side of Mars: Note the chimney, a vestige of Opportunity's former life as a pot-bellied stove....
(Photo: NASA)
Annals of Adventure--Going Down, Down, Down: Scuba diving is what pasty schlubs do at resorts in the Caribbean. Tech diving is what semi-sane adrenaline junkies do--because it involves exploring the sea hundreds of feet below the surface, at depths where blood gases can fizz like champagne if a diver is not careful. Tech divers see parts of the ocean the rest of humanity can only dream of. They also die with some frequency. Tempted? Before you suit up, take a dive with Californians Kendall Raine and John Walker as they explore a sunken German sub more than 200 feet under San Pedro Bay:
Raine sits on Sundiver's aft deck, burdened with more than 200 pounds of gear: twin 130-cubic-foot tanks of helium-oxygen-nitrogen trimix, a tank of oxygen-enriched air or nitrox for decompression when he ascends to 70 feet and another of pure oxygen to be used at 20 feet, plus a bottle of argon gas that he uses to fill his dry suit--argon molecules being large and offering superior insulation against cold. He carries a spare mask, an extra regulator, a spool of nylon line, a high-intensity canister light, two backup lights and a waterproof notebook on which is written his decompression profile. On one wrist he wears a compass and dive watch; on the other, a bottom timer. His dry suit is fitted with a discharge valve so he can expel urine.
Yup, there's a lot of gear. But human beings just aren't built to swim around 330 feet underwater. Here's more:
Most experts in the field agree on three things: (1) Deep diving is becoming safer as more is learned and as equipment gets better; (2) the blase deep-diving "cowboys" who rely primarily on bravado instead of science are incrementally removing themselves from the gene pool; and (3) what is known about safe decompression from very deep depths is still surprisingly sketchy in both its short- and long-term consequences.
Put another way, anyone with a few weekend training sessions can descend to 300 feet, but very few understand how to return alive, and even they face uncertainty.
"We know more about being in outer space than about being underwater," says David Mount, general manager of the Florida-based IANTD, the International Assn. of Nitrox and Technical Divers.
Or, as Walker jokes: "The dumber you are, the deeper you can go."
So what's the point of taking the dare?
Raine pauses and delivers one of those schoolteacher looks that you get for asking a question when the answer is self-evident.
"Adventure," he says, smiling.
Say no more, Deep-Diving Dude....
Decompression Hang-Out: "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer......"
(Photo: Kendall Raine, via LA Times)
Raine sits on Sundiver's aft deck, burdened with more than 200 pounds of gear: twin 130-cubic-foot tanks of helium-oxygen-nitrogen trimix, a tank of oxygen-enriched air or nitrox for decompression when he ascends to 70 feet and another of pure oxygen to be used at 20 feet, plus a bottle of argon gas that he uses to fill his dry suit--argon molecules being large and offering superior insulation against cold. He carries a spare mask, an extra regulator, a spool of nylon line, a high-intensity canister light, two backup lights and a waterproof notebook on which is written his decompression profile. On one wrist he wears a compass and dive watch; on the other, a bottom timer. His dry suit is fitted with a discharge valve so he can expel urine.
Yup, there's a lot of gear. But human beings just aren't built to swim around 330 feet underwater. Here's more:
Most experts in the field agree on three things: (1) Deep diving is becoming safer as more is learned and as equipment gets better; (2) the blase deep-diving "cowboys" who rely primarily on bravado instead of science are incrementally removing themselves from the gene pool; and (3) what is known about safe decompression from very deep depths is still surprisingly sketchy in both its short- and long-term consequences.
Put another way, anyone with a few weekend training sessions can descend to 300 feet, but very few understand how to return alive, and even they face uncertainty.
"We know more about being in outer space than about being underwater," says David Mount, general manager of the Florida-based IANTD, the International Assn. of Nitrox and Technical Divers.
Or, as Walker jokes: "The dumber you are, the deeper you can go."
So what's the point of taking the dare?
Raine pauses and delivers one of those schoolteacher looks that you get for asking a question when the answer is self-evident.
"Adventure," he says, smiling.
Say no more, Deep-Diving Dude....
Decompression Hang-Out: "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer......"
(Photo: Kendall Raine, via LA Times)
Monday, January 26, 2004
Darwin at Yellowstone--Wolves Eat Elk...Other Species Applaud: Finally, a "Man Tinkers With Nature" story that is going right..so far. Nine years after the controversial reintroduction of gray wolves to Yellowstone National Park, the Washington Post reports that park rangers and biologists are cataloguing a remarkable ripple effect that is great for the Park (unless you happen to be an elk). Before the lean, mean hunting machines arrived, 17,000 elk roamed the Park without a worry in the world, since aside from the odd grizzly bear taking a calf the elk had no natural predators to contend with (coyotes are too small to do them much harm). So they hung around the river banks, munching on Willow shoots, as well as Aspen and Cottonwood, discussing whatever it is elks discuss. The result--sparse tree growth along the rivers and a surpuls of elk. Fast-forward to today, when 250-300 hungry wolves are on the prowl. Suddenly Aspen, Cottonwood and Willow trees are flourishing once again. The reason: the elks finally figured out that if they languished by the river banks they were dead meat. According to the article, this realization took a little while to sink in:
"The first thing that happened was that the elk ignored the wolves," said Wildlife Conservation Society senior scientist Joel Berger, speaking by telephone from Driggs, Idaho. "The elk were treating 90- and 100-pound wolves like they were 35-pound coyotes. The elk were naive. They aren't naive anymore."
The wolves (and bad weather) have helped prune the elk population to about 8,000, soooo: the trees are growing once again, which means their shade cools the water, which lures trout, which in turn brings back migratory birds who feed on trout. The trees also bring back beaver, which can eat the low hanging willow branches. The beavers do what beavers do, and build lodges and dams, which in turn create marshland which attracts otters, mink, muskrat and ducks. Last but not least, all the elk carcasses lying around has also brought in ravens, magpies, and eagles. Bears and coyotes are also enjoying the free scraps. Pretty amazing. Thanks, elk. Park biologists predict that as elk grow more scarce and more wary, the wolves will branch out into other, more challenging, cuisine, such as bison. Doug Smith, the leader of the Yellowstone Wolf Project, can hardly wait to watch this large animal Death Match because it will test one of his wolf theories:
"Why do wolves hunt in packs? I think it's for the bison," he suggests. "It takes three wolves to kill an elk, but I have seen 10 wolves hanging off a 2,000-pound bull bison. They killed it, but it took nine hours, and the bison killed one wolf, gored another and broke the leg of the alpha female. Bison just pound them."
Yikes......
"That's right you stupid elk, treat me like a wimpy little coyote....Papa's going to EAT tonight!"
(Photo: National Park Service)
"The first thing that happened was that the elk ignored the wolves," said Wildlife Conservation Society senior scientist Joel Berger, speaking by telephone from Driggs, Idaho. "The elk were treating 90- and 100-pound wolves like they were 35-pound coyotes. The elk were naive. They aren't naive anymore."
The wolves (and bad weather) have helped prune the elk population to about 8,000, soooo: the trees are growing once again, which means their shade cools the water, which lures trout, which in turn brings back migratory birds who feed on trout. The trees also bring back beaver, which can eat the low hanging willow branches. The beavers do what beavers do, and build lodges and dams, which in turn create marshland which attracts otters, mink, muskrat and ducks. Last but not least, all the elk carcasses lying around has also brought in ravens, magpies, and eagles. Bears and coyotes are also enjoying the free scraps. Pretty amazing. Thanks, elk. Park biologists predict that as elk grow more scarce and more wary, the wolves will branch out into other, more challenging, cuisine, such as bison. Doug Smith, the leader of the Yellowstone Wolf Project, can hardly wait to watch this large animal Death Match because it will test one of his wolf theories:
"Why do wolves hunt in packs? I think it's for the bison," he suggests. "It takes three wolves to kill an elk, but I have seen 10 wolves hanging off a 2,000-pound bull bison. They killed it, but it took nine hours, and the bison killed one wolf, gored another and broke the leg of the alpha female. Bison just pound them."
Yikes......
"That's right you stupid elk, treat me like a wimpy little coyote....Papa's going to EAT tonight!"
(Photo: National Park Service)
Annals of Adventure--Elmo Conquered!: An anonymous Australian Jumbotron repairman logged the world's first successful ascent of Elmo's Face, a colorful and curious rock formation that bears a striking resemblance to the Sesame Street character. Next up: the notorious Cookie Monster chimney.....
"Okay, I'm past the nose. If I can just get over this damned bulbous eye...."
(Photo: Andrees Latif/Reuters )
"Okay, I'm past the nose. If I can just get over this damned bulbous eye...."
(Photo: Andrees Latif/Reuters )
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