Free Republic

INNSBRUCK, Austria - Avalanches killed two skiers and seriously injured another Monday, and experts warned that recent storms have created unstable conditions ripe for more snow slides in Austria's Alps. A 41-year-old American and a 39-year-old German died in an avalanche in Lech am Arlberg in the southwestern province of Vorarlberg that also critically injured the American's wife, also 41, the Austria Press Agency reported. Officials did not immediately release the names or hometowns of the victims, who were located after a 30-minute search by 15 mountain rescue experts using a pair of specially trained dogs. They said the German...

Tenta faces another cancer hurdle 'Earthquake' John Tenta has revealed that he is facing yet another type of cancer, this time in his lungs. After disclosing that he had cancer of the bladder in May, ending his in-ring career, Tenta endured chemotherapy for months. But Monday, he told his fans on the WrestleCrap.com newsboard that things had taken a turn for the worse... remainder of article

An avalanche killed at least five mountaineers from the Czech Republic and Russia as they climbed a peak in Kyrgyzstan on Thursday, their tour operator said. A mass of thawing snow and glacier ice hit 20 Czech and Russian mountaineers as they approached the Central Asian state's highest peak, the Khan Tengri, an official from the tourist firm Aksai Tour said. Rescue work was going on. Several groups of climbers, numbering 50 altogether, were trying to climb the snow-capped peak when the avalanche struck. It is a matter of honour for many experienced climbers in the former Soviet Union to...

<p>RENO, Nevada (AP) -- The U.S. military is demanding the return of five howitzers that two Sierra Nevada ski resorts use to prevent avalanches, saying it needs the guns for the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.</p> <p>Alpine Meadows and Mammoth Mountain received the artillery pieces on loan from the Army and began using them last year to fire rounds into mountainsides and knock snow loose.</p>

BANFF, Alberta Three ice climbers were killed after being caught in an avalanche in Banff National Park, Canadian officials said. Their names and home towns were not released pending notification of next of kin but early reports indicated they were from the United States, said Parks Canada spokeswoman Shelley Humphries. The three, part of two climbing parties, were on Mount Wilson north of Lake Louise when the avalanche apparently knocked them off their climbing route Thursday.

Paris - Four people were killed in an avalanche in Poland as snowfall blanketed much of Europe on Thursday, triggering traffic and rail chaos and forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights in Britain, Germany and Denmark. Four people were found dead after being caught in an avalanche in Poland's southern Tatra mountains, the Polish news agency PAP reported, citing rescue services. The two men and two women, who set off from a mountain shelter on Wednesday to explore a cave, were swept away by an avalanche 50m wide and 400m long, and fell several hundred metres. In Britain, snow...

<p>BOISE, Idaho — An avalanche crashed down onto a mountainside cabin early Friday morning, filling the home with snow and killing a couple as they slept.</p> <p>Marsha Landolt, 55, the dean of the University of Washington Graduate School (search), and her husband, Robert Busch, 58, were killed in the avalanche, which occurred between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m., the Camas County Sheriff's Office reported.</p>

man, seems my alma mater can't shake the bad news BOISE, Idaho — An avalanche that rushed down central Idaho's Soldier Mountain struck a cabin early today, killing the dean of the University of Washington's graduate school and her husband. Marsha Landolt, 55, and Robert A. Busch, 58, were killed in the avalanche, which occurred about 1:30 a.m., the Camas County Sheriff's Office reported. Five other family members survived. Two dug themselves out and went for help; the other three were rescued. Emergency workers evacuated all the cabins in the region until the avalanche danger passes, officials said. The ski...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- An avalanche swept across New Zealand's tallest mountain Wednesday, killing three climbers and injuring three others, rescuers said. The injured climbers were rushed to a nearby hospital in the city of Christchurch, emergency services told reporters. It wasn't immediately clear how seriously they were hurt. The victims were located as rescuers, some with sniffer dogs, searched areas of 12,349-foot Mount Cook following the 9 a.m. avalanche, said a spokeswoman for Garden City Rescue Helicopter. Identities of the climbers were not immediately available. The peak, on New Zealand's South Island, is 500 miles southwest of the...

Climber Ofira Zucker, 22, was constantly striving to reach new heights and take on new challenges, her mother Miri told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday. She told her parents in their last conversation that she was going to be the first Israeli woman to reach the summit of the Alpamayo peak in Peru. She came within 150 meters of what became her final goal. Zucker, an Ashkelon resident, and Guy Ben-Ze'ev, 23, of Haifa, died in an ice avalanche Monday morning in the Peruvian Andes. Four Germans, one Peruvian, one Irishman, and an Argentine were also killed. Zucker described her daughter...

Eight bodies, including those of two Israelis, have been discovered after a group of 16 climbers from around the world went missing while attempting to scale Mount Alpamayo in Peru, news sources report. The Israelis, Guy Ben-Ze'ev of Haifa and Ofira Zucker, were part of an 16-person expedition also including German, Argentinean, and Venezuelan climbers and local Peruvian guides. A representative from the Peruvian tour guide company Andean Kingdom told Channel 2 news on Tuesday that one of his guides saw the bodies and he is sure all the members of the group are dead. "One piece of ice fall...

Three Israeli mountain climbers who went missing Monday night after being caught in an avalanche on Peru's northeastern Andes Mountains were reported dead by the Australian Courier-Mail newspaper Tuesday. The three, on an 18-man expedition, were caught in the avalanche overnight Monday at 11 P.M. local time. According to local rescue services, the search for the eight was progressing slowly due to stormy weather conditions in the area. An official from the Israeli embassy in Peru told the Jerusalem Post that rescue workers had contacted several members of the expedition. According to the report, three Israeli, three German climbers as...

Avalanche Goalie Patrick Roy to Retire By JOHN MARSHALL, AP Sports Writer DENVER - Colorado's Patrick Roy (news) is retiring, ending the 18-year career of one of the greatest goaltenders in NHL history. Roy will make the announcement at a news conference on Wednesday, team spokesman Jean Martineau said. A four-time Stanley Cup champion, Roy leaves as the NHL's career leader in victories with 551 and games played with 1,029. He also is the all-time leader in playoff victories, games played and shutouts. Roy is still considered one of the best goalies in the game at age 37, but he...

Actor Martin Sheen says he's received an avalanche of hate mail and has been accosted on the street for his public stance against the war on Iraq. The star of NBC's "West Wing" program also believes network executives are concerned that his outspoken views may harm viewership of his show. In a report in today's Los Angeles Times, Sheen claims critics have demanded NBC fire him. The show's staff has been "100 percent supportive," but top network executives have "let it be known they're very uncomfortable with where I'm at" on the war, he said. Sheen also told the Times...

Seven skiers dead in B.C. avalanche (Second in a month) Canadian Press Sunday, February 02, 2003 REVELSTOKE, B.C. -- Seven teens on a high-school ski excursion in the treacherous back country of east-central B.C. died Saturday when a half-kilometre-wide avalanche roared down from a mountainside and engulfed their group. It was the second deadly slide to hit the region in as many weeks. Seven adults perished in a slide in January. The dead were six boys and one girl, all in Grade 10 at Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School, a private day school on an expansive rural campus in the foothills southwest of...

Up to 100 feared dead after ice, mud buries entire village A collapsing glacier triggers an avalanche of ice and mud in southern Russia, burying an entire village. GIZEL, Russia, Sept 21 — A collapsing glacier triggered an avalanche of ice and mud in southern Russia, burying an entire village and killing as many as 100 people, officials said Saturday. Emergency workers said the avalanche began Friday when part of a glacier in the Caucasus Mountains broke off above the village of Nizhny Karmadon in the southern republic of North Ossetia. MIKHAIL SHATALOV, the prime minister of the Russian republic...

[Don't give up! Scroll down for English!] "Misiva de Salvadoreños a Bush" Piden al mandatario de EU incluir el tema migratorio en su visita Juan José Dalton Especial para La Opinión SAN SALVADOR.-- Líderes de la comunidad salvadoreña de inmigrantes de las distintas ciudades estadounidenses dirigieron ayer una carta al presidente de Estados Unidos, George W. Bush, en la que le solicitan incluir el tema de los inmigrantes en las negociaciones de un Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC), que su país negociaría con Centroamérica. Los representantes líderes de la Red Nacional Salvadoreño Americana (SANN) aseguraron que una delegación en Washington,...