Avalanche Warning Issued By The Flathead Avalanche Center

BACKCOUNTRY AVALANCHE WARNING
IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
06:00 MDT Wed Mar 18 2026

The Flathead Avalanche Center in Hungry Horse has issued a BACKCOUNTRY AVALANCHE WARNING for the following areas:

NWS Missoula MT - MTZ001 (MTZ001)...MTZ002 (MTZ002)

* WHAT...Above-freezing temperatures, strong winds, and rain have created very dangerous avalanche conditions.

* WHERE...Slopes above 5,000 feet in the Whitefish, Swan, Flathead Ranges, and the Lake McDonald and Marias Pass areas of Glacier National Park.

* WHEN...In effect from Wed 06:00 MDT to Thu 06:00 MDT.

* IMPACTS...Natural and human-triggered avalanches are very likely. Wet loose avalanches will entrain a dangerous amount of wet debris. Weak layers buried several feet deep may fail, resulting in very large and destructive avalanches.

* PRECAUTIONARY / PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...Very dangerous avalanche conditions. Travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended. Avalanches may run long distances and can run into mature forests, valley floors, or flat terrain.

Consult http://www.flatheadavalanche.org/ or www.avalanche.org for more detailed information. Similar avalanche danger may exist at locations outside the coverage area of this or any avalanche center.



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Check out our online trail guides:

• Glacier National Park: HikinginGlacier.com

• Grand Teton National Park: TetonHikingTrails.com

• Rocky Mountain National Park: RockyMountainHikingTrails.com

• New, improved and expanded edition on the history of hiking is now available on Amazon

The Austin Sisters

On August 31, 1821, three young ladies from the nearby town of Jefferson, New Hampshire arrived at the Crawfords’ homestead determined to ascend Mt. Washington. In her memoir, The History of the White Mountains, Lucy Crawford noted that Eliza, Harriet, and Abigail Austin “were ambitious and wanted to have the honor of being the first females who placed their feet on this high and now celebrated place.” Although foul weather forced the excursionists to bivouac three nights along the lower slopes of the mountain, the Austin sisters became the first women of European descent to set foot atop Mount Washington. Moreover, this was likely the first mountain of any significance to be climbed by white females in the United States.

Please note: the women in this photo are not the Austin sisters, but are Hazel Peek, [an unidentified woman], and Theodora Beckwith. The photo was likely taken around the turn of the 20th century.



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Virtually no one went hiking before the 19th century. What occurred that inspired ordinary people to take a walk through the woods for pleasure? Ramble On: A History of Hiking explores the rich history of hiking, and how it evolved into one of the most popular pastimes in the world.

Public Interest in National Parks Remains Strong as Visits Top 323 Million in 2025

The National Park Service announced last week that it recorded more than 323 million recreation visits in 2025, including over 13 million overnight stays, with 26 parks setting new visitation records.

Despite a 43-day partial government shutdown – the longest ever – the National Park Service worked to keep parks open and accessible whenever possible so visitors could continue to experience the nation’s natural and historic treasures.

Visitation data helps the National Park Service manage parks to provide safe, enjoyable visitor experiences while protecting the natural and cultural resources entrusted to its care. The Visitation Statistics Dashboard on NPS.gov provides recreation visit data for every park in the U.S. for 2025 and previous years—dating back to 1979 for some parks.

With at least one national park site in every state, the national park system offers opportunities for recreation, learning and inspiration to visitors of all ages. For an in-depth look at 2025 visitation, including individual park figures, please visit the NPS Social Science web site.

This year, the National Park Service is celebrating 250 years of American freedom. We stand ready to welcome millions of visitors to national parks as we help the country celebrate this tremendous achievement.


Visitor Use by the Numbers

* 323,014,305 recreation visits (406 parks report visitation figures)

* 1,386,749,187 recreation visitor hours

*13,016,577 overnight stays

* 26 parks set visitation records


Top 10 - All Sites in the National Park System

1) Blue Ridge PKWY 16,533,753

2) Golden Gate NRA 15,748,676

3) Great Smoky Mountains NP 11,527,939

4) Natchez Trace PKWY 7,994,783

5) Lincoln MEM 7,743,295

6) Gateway NRA 7,696,939

7) Gulf Islands NS 7,576,923

8) George Washington MEM PKWY 6,732,932

9) Appalachian NST 6,215,118

10) Lake Mead NRA 6,135,586


Top 10 - National Parks

1) Great Smoky Mountains NP 11,527,939

2) Zion NP 4,984,525

3) Yellowstone NP 4,762,988

4) Grand Canyon NP 4,430,653

5) Yosemite NP 4,278,413

6) Rocky Mountain NP 4,171,431 (up 0.4%)

7) Acadia NP 4,079,318

8) Grand Teton NP 3,800,648 (up 4.8%)

9) Olympic NP 3,584,187

10) Glacier NP 3,136,557 (down 2.3%)



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Check out our online trail guides:

• Glacier National Park: HikinginGlacier.com

• Grand Teton National Park: TetonHikingTrails.com

• Rocky Mountain National Park: RockyMountainHikingTrails.com

• The new, improved and expanded edition on the history of hiking is now available on Amazon

The Evolution of Hiking Boots

The following is an adaptation from my new book, Ramble On: A History of Hiking:

Prior to the 1970s and 80s, most hikers wore hunting, riding, military or everyday work boots while hiking. Some even wore gym shoes. Grandma Gatewood famously wore Keds sneakers during her first thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 1955. While so-called “mountain boots” were also available as early as the 1850s, they were mostly worn by climbers and adventurers from the upper classes who could afford their high price tags. One of the earliest uses of the phrase “hiking boots” appeared in an advertisement in the 1912 edition of The Mountaineer, the journal of The Mountaineers club out of Seattle. The use of this phrase in this instance, however, likely referred to “mountain boots”.

The first major improvement in mountaineering boots came about as a result of a deadly climbing accident in 1935. While descending Punta Rasica, a rugged peak along the Swiss-Italian border, an expedition led by Vitale Bramani was caught in an unexpected blizzard. Unable to descend along the icy rock walls, six members of his party ultimately succumbed to exhaustion, exposure and frostbite. As was the custom at that time, climbers wore heavy, hobnailed boots along the lower slopes of mountains. As they climbed higher, they would exchange their boots for lighter rock climbing shoes, usually made with thin leather and felt-bottom soles that offered little protection against cold temperatures or moisture. Though they worked well in normal weather, the shoes offered virtually no grip in icy conditions. Convinced that inadequate footwear played the primary role in the deaths of his six companions, Bramani resolved to find a solution to the problem. Two years later he introduced a boot sole with an innovative tread design that he called Carrarmato, which means “tank tread.” The sole was made from vulcanized rubber, and featured heavy lugs that were designed to take the place of hobnails. The rubber lug pattern provided boots with outstanding traction, which allowed them to be used on a variety of surfaces, including uneven forest floors, bare rock, loose scree slopes, and hard-packed snow. Moreover, the rubber soles were highly durable, abrasion-resistant, waterproof, and provided far more insulation against the cold than leather soles. In 1937, with the financial backing of Leopoldo Pirelli, grandson of the founder of Pirelli Tires, Bramani launched his revolutionary new product. Taking the first two letters of his first name, and the first four letters of his last name, Vitale Bramani called his startup enterprise “Vibram.” Almost immediately, the lugged soles caught on with the climbing community, and eventually with hikers in the 1960s and 70s.

By the 1970s, American bootmakers were beginning to turn their attention towards the production of lighter boots for day hikers and backpackers. One of the first boots to deliver on this promise was the Danner 6490, which weighed in at just 3 pounds and 14 ounces. In its Winter 1973 edition, Backpacker Magazine declared that the 6490 was very close to being their “ideal hiking shoe.” Since the introduction of that boot, manufacturers have made numerous advances over the years that have reduced the overall weight of hiking boots. This includes the use of lightweight leather or synthetic fabric uppers, replacing stitching with cement or injection molding to attach uppers to soles, and the use of shallower lugs.

The next major technological advance in boots came in 1980 when both Danner and Donner Mountain Corporation introduced the first hiking boots made with Gore-Tex. The introduction of Gore-Tex resulted in boots that were lighter, breathable, more durable, nearly waterproof, and far more flexible, all of which resulted in increased comfort. Once the original high production costs were slashed, the use of Gore-Tex in hiking boots became the industry standard. Nearly all quality hiking boots sold today are made with Gore-Tex or some other waterproof-breathable fabric.

This new, improved and expanded edition on the history of hiking is available on Amazon.


Other excerpts from Ramble On:

* The Etymology of Hiking

* Women’s Hiking Attire During The Victorian Era

* How did hiking become so popular across the globe?

* The Historic Circle Tours of Glacier National Park



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Virtually no one went hiking before the 19th century. What occurred that inspired ordinary people to take a walk through the woods for pleasure? Ramble On: A History of Hiking explores the rich history of hiking, and how it evolved into one of the most popular pastimes in the world.

The Inkowas

Although there were a few organizations that excluded women, almost all hiking clubs in America welcomed females. There were even a handful that were founded by women, such as the Inkowa Club of New York City in 1915.

The Inkowas probably had the most bizarre and stringent criteria for joining any hiking club. Among its many requirements, prospective members had to be at least 18 years of age, be gainfully employed, must have walked 40 miles in four consecutive weeks, had to be able to identify 10 trees, 10 wildflowers, 10 birds, 2 planets and 3 constellations, and must have slept with wide open windows for at least two months between the months of October and May. Obviously, some of these requirements had to be accepted on good faith. After all, Grace Parker, the founder of the Inkowas, named the group for a Sioux Indian word that means “trustworthiness.”

You can read more about the early hiking clubs in Ramble On: A History of Hiking.



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Check out our online trail guides:

• Glacier National Park: HikinginGlacier.com

• Grand Teton National Park: TetonHikingTrails.com

• Rocky Mountain National Park: RockyMountainHikingTrails.com

• My new, improved and expanded edition on the history of hiking is now available on Amazon