Free Republic

Mountainer Reinhold Messner, right, and colleague inspect the mummified remains of Ötzi the Iceman following his discovery in 1991. The famed mummy died from an arrow to the back on a high Alpine mountain pass 5,300 years ago. Now researchers are tracing his unusual movements right before his murder.A wounded—and possibly wanted—man, Ötzi the Iceman spent his final days on the move high up in the Alps until he was felled with an arrow to the back. About 5,300 years later, archaeologists are still unraveling the mystery of his death. Now, a new analysis of mossy plant remains from the...

Connor Cummings, of Rockaway, N.J., and an 18-year-old pal managed to get onto an upper floor of the landmark hotel overlooking Central Park with several pieces of camera equipment Wednesday night, despite not being guests there, police said. They then attempted to climb scaffolding in an interior shaft leading to the roof of the 52 story luxury E. 57th St. hotel, police sources said. Cummings and his friend were nearing the roof when Cummings slipped and fell nine stories, crashing onto a 43rd floor landing, police said. He died at the scene.

AMAZING VIDEO of a pair of outlaw tower climbers climbing the Shanghai Tower, the world’s second highest tower, from the street and up into and through the clouds until they get 650 meters off the ground. The rest of the skyscrapers remain far below with their tops pointing straight up through the clouds like hungry children holding their hands up and open hoping to catch a dropped morsel. Check out what the guy does at the 5:00 mark and be ready to vomit all over your tablet. Its sickenly frightening and I am not even all that scared of heights....

The White House has released its second monthly report card on Obamacare enrollment in state and federal exchanges, documenting a mix of progress and problems in the system since it launched in October. The numbers offer some good news: a surge in sign-ups in November after a barrage of improvements to HealthCare.gov, and robust online traffic to the insurance portals shows that interest in the products remains strong. But the figures also illustrate some serious problems ahead: there's a huge backlog of consumers who have applied for a plan but not yet picked one, and electronic errors on the computer...

So you want to bear hunt in Alberta, Canada?? Better pack extra underwear!!

A Job You Don’t Want: Climbing An 1,800-Foot Lightning Rod VIDEO What’s it like being a technician who free-climbs a third-mile tall broadcast tower to go to work? Every bit as terrifying as you’d imagine. By Ky Henderson We could describe to you what it’s like being a technician who has to free-climb a 1,768 foot broadcasting tower with a 30-pound tool bag dangling on a rope tied to his waist, only to reach the top to do his job while balancing on about one square foot of metal. But you may as well just watch this terrifying video of...

As the summer travel season approaches, airline industry experts predict that soaring fuel prices and a sharp pickup in passenger demand will push airfares up 15% over a year earlier — to levels not seen since before the economic downturn. Fare hikes have already begun, with six of the nation's largest airlines each raising rates at least five times since Jan. 1 for nearly all routes. By the time the peak summer travel season rolls around, travel industry experts predict, domestic airfares may reach an average of nearly $390, up from a low of $302 two years ago.

WASHINGTON, June 1, 2009 – Today marks the start of a monumental challenge for four wounded veterans, their two mentors and one guide, as they move from the base of North America’s highest peak in Alaska’s Denali National Park to the mountain’s base camp at an elevation of 6,850 feet. Denali, formerly known as Mount McKinley, challenges anyone so bold as to try to conquer its peak, some 20,320 feet into the Alaskan sky. Bob Haines, a firefighter and retired Army sergeant first class, said that regardless of training, Denali demands a lot of anyone. The team has been...

A famous urban climber Alain Robert, aka Spiderman, who has “conquered” the Eiffel’s Tower, Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, and Empire State Building, is coming to Moscow to climb the highest building in Europe – the Federation Tower.

WASHINGTON - State tax receipts jumped nearly 10 percent last year as a strong national economy increased individual earnings and corporate profits. Most states showed increases without raising tax rates, meaning the gains were caused primarily by an expanding economy, said Corina Eckl, fiscal program director for the National Conference of State Legislatures. "It's absolutely attributable to an improving national economy," Eckl said. "Very few, very modest tax changes happened last year." Nationally, states collected a total of $649 billion in taxes in the 2005 budget year, which ended in June for most states, according to a report Thursday by...

Stromboli OnLine is one of my favorite sites, with suberb volcano photography. They recently posted a new "Nyiragongo Expedition" feature. Below are three pictures sampled from the site. Go there for more. Nyiragongo at night from Goma View from the crater rim at twilight Active Nyiragongo lava lake

LOS ANGELES - Spirit, the mountaineering rover that successfully scaled a Martian hill this summer, is searching for flatter ground. After two months at the summit of Husband Hill, the six-wheeled rover is making its descent toward a basin to the south where it will explore an outcrop dubbed "home plate" that looks like a baseball diamond from orbit. The solar-powered Spirit's yearlong climb to the peak marked a major feat for the rover, which along with its twin, Opportunity, landed on opposite ends of the Red Planet in 2004 in search of evidence of the past history of water...

Two Iranian Women Conquer Mount Everest Jun 1, 2005 Two Iranian women made history when they became the first Muslim women to conquer Mt Everest, the tallest peak in the world. Farkhondeh Sadegh, a 36-year-old graphic designer, and Loleh Keshavarz, 26, a dentist, added a new chapter to the history of mountaineering when they climbed the 8,848 m peak Monday. They climbed the peak from the southern side through Nepal around 10.45 a.m. as part of the 21-member Iranian 2005 Everest Expedition. It was an especially heady triumph for Iran as besides bagging the honour of sending the first Muslim...

Iranian female climbers ready to scale Mount Everest May 27, 2005 New Delhi, May 27, IRNA-Farkhondeh Sadegh and Leila Bahrami, two gritty women are leading a team of seven Iranian women to the daunting task of climbing the world's tallest mountain peak, Mount Everest, `The Hindu' reported from New Delhi on Friday. Sadegh and Bahrami have been both to Nepal before and are seasoned climbers. They climbed Mount Pumori, a steep mountain of 7,161 metres, 8km away from Everest in 2001. All the members of the team are aged between 25 and 36 years, and except for Sadegh and Bahrami,...

Haiti Flood Deaths Climb; Food Supplies Tight 6 minutes ago By Joseph Guyler Delva GONAIVES, Haiti (Reuters) - More than a week after devastating floods hit northern Haiti the death count rose sharply as reports came in from remote areas on Monday and aid workers struggled to feed thousands of desperate people. The estimated toll from the floods triggered by Tropical Storm Jeanne climbed to about 2,400 after a parish priest reported "a total disaster" in small towns in Poteau, a region outside Gonaives. In Gonaives, young men grabbed food from an aid convoy and others robbed women for bags...

<p>LONDON (AP) -- Britain's biggest-selling hiking magazine apologized Wednesday after its latest issue contained a route that would lead climbers off the edge of a cliff on Britain's tallest peak.</p> <p>The February edition of Trail magazine gives advice to walkers caught in bad weather on Ben Nevis in Scotland about how to make a safe descent.</p>