The CBC reported one death: 44-year-old Swiss climber Uwe Goltz. If estimates of roughly 400 climbers on the mountain are accurate, with roughly a little over a week left in the season, the crowds may continue. Alpine Ascents said their team waited at the fixed lines in a May 24th (they are a day ahead) blog titled, Traffic Jam Below The South Summit.It has been slow going because, like Daves group, they are caught in a traffic jam Replica Audemars Piguet watches of some people going up the fixed lines and other people who have already summitted coming down. They are still doing well, justdealing with a lot of people up there. So we are still awaiting news oftheir arrival at the South Summit, and then their traverse across to the true summit. Stay with us.--Joe Spring
US wildlife refuges are so broke that drug dealers use them to grow marijuana and process meth. The National Wildlife Refuge Association reported to Congress Thursday on the dire state of the 548 refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge System, a Replica Chopard watches California-sized collection of parks that the association says is underfunded by 43 percent.Decreases in law enforcement, reports the AP, mean the refuges now harbor—instead of Memorial Day picnickers and wildlife—prostitution, torched cars and illegal immigrant camps along the Potomac River in suburban Washington, D.C.; gay hookups in South Carolina and Alabama; methamphetamine labs in Nevada; and pot growing operations in Washington state.Alaska, which accounts for 83 percent of the land in the refuge system, is particularly hard hit by the inadequate funding. Mad? Take action here.--Matthew Fishbane
Four major U.S. airlines, United, Delta, Northwest, and US Airways, are tinkering with the idea of following American’s lead in adding a charge for checked baggage, according to Bloomberg. Experts insist it’s inevitable that large carries—all floundering under the skyrocketing jet fuel prices—will have to take drastic measure to stay afloat. Replica Franck Muller watches Analysts and consultants worry that the added bad charge will drive more flyers to carry-on bags they would otherwise check, crowding planes and boarding painfully laborious. If you can get a ticket at all – some suggest the industry as a whole is going to have to cut service and capacity by 20 percent to cut costs and raise ticket prices enough to stay in the black. -Claire Napier Galofaro
