Two climbers, one the editor of "Climbing Magazine," are recently arrested for setting a rock face ablaze (a yearly climbing tradition) in Joshua Tree National Park. One climber (the editor) basically told the court to go F themselves and is convicted of arson (on a rock?) banned from the park for three years, fined $1000, and placed on five years probation.

The Park Rangers who made the initial arrest are Tim Bertrand and Scott Fische. Sound familiar? These are the same two Rangers who chased Frank Gambalie into the Merced River, were he drowned, after landing a routine El Cap Jump.

In another Orwellian arrest, a school teacher on an outing with his class is arrested, also in Joshua Tree, after picking up the skull of a dead animal and getting caught with it in his tent by Park Rangers. He's fired from his teaching job and is also heavily fined.

All this (and so many other incidents) prove something I learned when I was about 7 years old, Boo Boo was right, "We're going to get in trouble with the Ranger, Yogi . . ."

Nick
BASE 194