Montana and Idaho fire forecast calls for increased activity

The skies to the west of Missoula looked a bit smokey last night, most likely from the agricultural burning over in Washington and Idaho. But it made me wonder enough to look at the National Situation report. In the news over the last 2 weeks there have were two articles pointed to the possibility of a hot and smokey summer.

Missoulian article: Fire forecast calls for more activity

excerpt: The coming wildland fire season will be slightly more active than normal in western Montana, authorities predicted this week.

Idaho news: Idaho fire season expected to be very active
A dryer than normal spring has setup Idaho for a what could be a repeat of 2007 when 346,000 acres burned in the Boise National Forest.

Lou Dawson reviews Stepping Up (2nd edition) on WildSnow.com

Recently Lou Dawson over at Wildsnow was kind enough to have a look at the book Sam Cox and I put together, Stepping Up (2nd Ed). We thought who better to review the book, but the man who has written six books on backcountry travel in the Colorado high country. The ski industry is always a great place for networking.

Lou had some great compliments about the book such as, " The amount of detail is stunning — obviously of biblical import for anyone aspiring to be a disciple of “The Ridge.” ". But he also had a point of critique which I can only agree with - "...overall lack of historical anecdotes about the individual routes...". This is certainly something we can work on in the future. Thanks for everyone's support on this project, it's been a lot of fun.

Follow this link to the review on WildSnow > http://www.wildsnow.com/1851/bridger-bowl-guidebook-stepping-up/