0_Wizard
Hi, I love mountain climbing
The term mountaineering describes the sport of mountain climbing.
chosen_Mountaineering_0
Mountaineering
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Mountaineering
The term mountaineering describes the sport of mountain climbing. While some scholars identify mountaineering-related activities as climbing (rock and ice) and trekking up mountains, others are also adding backpacking, hiking, skiing, via ferrata and wilderness activities, and still others state that mountaineering activities also include indoor climbing, sport climbing and bouldering. However most of the scholars, the term mountaineering understand as a climbing (which now refers to adventure climbing or sports climbing) and trekking (hill walking in 'exotic' places). Hiking in the mountains can also be a simple form of mountaineering when it involves scrambling, or short stretches of the more basic grades of rock climbing, as well as crossing glaciers.
Lynn Hill
Carolynn Marie "Lynn" Hill (born January 3, 1961) is a U.S. rock climber. Widely regarded as one of the leading competitive sport climbers in the world during the late 1980s and early 1990s, she is famous for making the first free ascent of the difficult sheer rock face of "The Nose" on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, and for repeating it the next year in less than 24 hours. She has been described as both one of the best female climbers in the world and one of the best climbers of all time. One of the first successful women in the sport, Hill shaped rock climbing for women and became a public spokesperson, helping it gain wider popularity and arguing for sex equality.
Mount Everest
Mount Everest, known in Nepali as Sagarmāthā and in Tibetan as Chomolungma, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The international border between China (Tibet Autonomous Region) and Nepal runs across its summit point. The current official height of , recognised by China and Nepal, was established by a 1955 Indian survey and subsequently confirmed by a Chinese survey in 1975. In 2005, China remeasured the rock height of the mountain, with a result of 8844.43 m. There followed an argument between China and Nepal as to whether the official height should be the rock height (8,844 m., China) or the snow height (8,848 m., Nepal).
Stefan Winter
Stefan Winter (born 16 March 1968) is a German ski mountaineer, former coach of the German ski mountaineering team, and alpine sports author. Winter is teacher of sports and German and a DAV mountain guide. He took part in several ski mountaineering tours in his teens and competed in ski mountaineering events, amongst others in the 2001 Trofeo Mezzalama race, in the 2005 Pierra Menta race together with Günther Maier, in the Trophee du Muveran and others. At the DAV he was head of the school sports climbing section of the "mountain climbing, training and security" department as well as leader of the DAV youth course program, a mountain climbing training institution for children and teens.
Rock climbing
Rock climbing is an activity in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Due to the length and extended endurance required and because accidents are more likely to happen on the descent than the ascent, rock climbers do not usually climb back down the route. It is very rare for a climber to downclimb, especially on the larger multiple pitches (class III- IV and /or multi-day grades IV-VI climbs). Professional rock climbing competitions have the objectives of either completing the route in the quickest possible time or attaining the farthest point on an increasingly difficult route.
Mount Adams (Washington)
Mount Adams, known by some Native American tribes as Pahto or Klickitat, is a potentially active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range. Although Adams has not erupted in more than 1,000 years, it is not considered extinct. It is the second-highest mountain in the U.S. state of Washington, after Mount Rainier. Adams is a member of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, and is one of the arc's largest volcanoes, located in a remote wilderness approximately east of Mount St. Helens. The Mount Adams Wilderness consists of the upper and western part of the volcano's cone. The eastern side of the mountain is designated as part of the territory of the Yakama Nation.
Steph Davis
Stephanie "Steph" Davis (born 1973) is an American rock climber, BASE jumper, and wingsuit flyer. She is one of the world's leading climbers, having completed some of the hardest routes in the world. She is the first woman to have Soloed a 5.11 grade climb, the first woman to summit all the peaks of the Fitzroy Range in Patagonia, the second woman to free climb El Capitan in a day, the first woman to free climb the "Salathė Wall" on El Capitan, the first woman to free solo The Diamond on Longs Peak in Colorado, and the first woman to summit Torre Egger. Davis has been married twice, first to Dean Potter, ending in divorce; then to Mario Richard.
1_Apprentice
I do as well.  Last year I went on a 3 week backpacking trip through the Sierra Nevada in California.  Have you been on any trips recently?
0_Wizard
No I have not. What did you like about the Sierra Nevada?
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Sierra Nevada (U.S.)
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California Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail followed the same corridor of networked river valley trails as the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail, namely the valleys of the Platte, North Platte and Sweetwater rivers to Wyoming. In the present states of Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah, the California and Oregon trails split into several different trails or cutoffs. By 1847, two former fur trading frontier forts marked trailheads for major alternative routes through Utah and Wyoming to Northern California.
Sierra Nevada (U.S.)
The Sierra Nevada (, , "snowy saw range") is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Basin and Range Province. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily in Nevada. The Sierra Nevada is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges that consists of an almost continuous sequence of such ranges that form the western "backbone" of North America, Central America, South America and Antarctica. The Sierra runs north-to-south, and is approximately across east-to-west.
Dream Chaser
The Dream Chaser Cargo System is an American reusable automated cargo lifting-body spaceplane being developed by Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) Space Systems. The Dream Chaser is designed to resupply the International Space Station with both pressurized and unpressurized cargo. The vehicle will launch vertically on an Atlas V, Ariane 5 or Falcon Heavy rocket, and autonomously land horizontally on conventional runways. Further development of the spaceplane includes a crewed version, the Dream Chaser Space System, which would be capable of carrying up to seven people to and from low Earth orbit.
Ecology of the Sierra Nevada
The ecology of the Sierra Nevada, located in the U.S. state of California, is diverse and complex: the plants and animals are a significant part of the scenic beauty of the mountain range. The combination of climate, topography, moisture, and soils influences the distribution of ecological communities across an elevation gradient from 1,000 feet (300 m) to over . Biotic zones range from scrub and chaparral communities at lower elevations, to subalpine forests and alpine meadows at the higher elevations. Particular ecoregions that follow elevation contours are often described as a series of belts that follow the length of the Sierra Nevada.
Flora of the Sierra Nevada alpine zone
The flora of the U.S. Sierra Nevada alpine zone is characterized by small, low growing, cushion and mat forming plants that can survive the harsh conditions in the high-altitude alpine zone above the timber line. These flora often occur in alpine fell-fields. The Sierra Nevada alpine zone lacks a dominant plant species that characterizes it, so may or may not be called a vegetation type. But it is found above the subalpine forest, which is the highest in a succession of recognized vegetation types at increasing elevations. Botanists have ranked the Sierra Nevada alpine zone floral bloom as one of California's foremost wildflower displays, with flowers of fantastic color and abundance.
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park ( ) is a United States national park lying in the western Sierra Nevada of Northern California. The park, which is managed by the U.S. National Park Service, covers an area of Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, giant sequoia groves, lakes, mountains, glaciers, and biological diversity. Almost 95% of the park is designated wilderness. On average, about 4 million people visit Yosemite each year, and most spend the majority of their time in the 5.9 square miles (15 km) of Yosemite Valley.
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. was established in 1979 by homebrewers Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi in Chico, California, United States. Sierra Nevada Brewing is one of the top breweries operating in the United States. As of 2016, it is the seventh-largest brewing company in the United States. The brewery produced in 2010. The brewery was named "Green Business of the Year" by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 2010 for its practices in sustainability. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. was founded in 1979, with founders Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi expanding their homebrewing hobby into a brewery in Chico, California.
1_Apprentice
It's really cool being around all of that exposed rock.  We don't have peaks like that on the east coast where I'm from.
0_Wizard
I hear that there are elevation contours that follow the length of the Sierra Nevada
Particular ecoregions that follow elevation contours are often described as a series of belts that follow the length of the Sierra Nevada.
self_Flora_of_the_Sierra_Nevada_alpine_zone_3
Ecology of the Sierra Nevada
self_3_Ecology_of_the_Sierra_Nevada
Ecology of the Sierra Nevada
The ecology of the Sierra Nevada, located in the U.S. state of California, is diverse and complex: the plants and animals are a significant part of the scenic beauty of the mountain range. The combination of climate, topography, moisture, and soils influences the distribution of ecological communities across an elevation gradient from 1,000 feet (300 m) to over . Biotic zones range from scrub and chaparral communities at lower elevations, to subalpine forests and alpine meadows at the higher elevations. Particular ecoregions that follow elevation contours are often described as a series of belts that follow the length of the Sierra Nevada.
California Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail followed the same corridor of networked river valley trails as the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail, namely the valleys of the Platte, North Platte and Sweetwater rivers to Wyoming. In the present states of Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah, the California and Oregon trails split into several different trails or cutoffs. By 1847, two former fur trading frontier forts marked trailheads for major alternative routes through Utah and Wyoming to Northern California.
Sierra Nevada (U.S.)
The Sierra Nevada (, , "snowy saw range") is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Basin and Range Province. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily in Nevada. The Sierra Nevada is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges that consists of an almost continuous sequence of such ranges that form the western "backbone" of North America, Central America, South America and Antarctica. The Sierra runs north-to-south, and is approximately across east-to-west.
Flora of the Sierra Nevada alpine zone
The flora of the U.S. Sierra Nevada alpine zone is characterized by small, low growing, cushion and mat forming plants that can survive the harsh conditions in the high-altitude alpine zone above the timber line. These flora often occur in alpine fell-fields. The Sierra Nevada alpine zone lacks a dominant plant species that characterizes it, so may or may not be called a vegetation type. But it is found above the subalpine forest, which is the highest in a succession of recognized vegetation types at increasing elevations. Botanists have ranked the Sierra Nevada alpine zone floral bloom as one of California's foremost wildflower displays, with flowers of fantastic color and abundance.
First Transcontinental Railroad
The First Transcontinental Railroad (also called the Great Transcontinental Railroad, known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the "Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail network at Omaha, Nebraska/Council Bluffs, Iowa with the Pacific coast at the Oakland Long Wharf on San Francisco Bay. The rail line was built by three private companies over public lands provided by extensive US land grants. Construction was financed by both state and US government subsidy bonds as well as by company issued mortgage bonds.
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park ( ) is a United States national park lying in the western Sierra Nevada of Northern California. The park, which is managed by the U.S. National Park Service, covers an area of Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, giant sequoia groves, lakes, mountains, glaciers, and biological diversity. Almost 95% of the park is designated wilderness. On average, about 4 million people visit Yosemite each year, and most spend the majority of their time in the 5.9 square miles (15 km) of Yosemite Valley.
Dream Chaser
The Dream Chaser Cargo System is an American reusable automated cargo lifting-body spaceplane being developed by Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) Space Systems. The Dream Chaser is designed to resupply the International Space Station with both pressurized and unpressurized cargo. The vehicle will launch vertically on an Atlas V, Ariane 5 or Falcon Heavy rocket, and autonomously land horizontally on conventional runways. Further development of the spaceplane includes a crewed version, the Dream Chaser Space System, which would be capable of carrying up to seven people to and from low Earth orbit.
1_Apprentice
Yup.  There are contours everywhere.  They just describe and show a change of elevation of a surrounding landscape.
0_Wizard
Did you see any interesting plants and animals?
The ecology of the Sierra Nevada, located in the U.S. state of California, is diverse and complex: the plants and animals are a significant part of the scenic beauty of the mountain range.
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Ecology of the Sierra Nevada
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North-West University Botanical Garden
The North-West University Botanical Garden on the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University (NWU) is the only botanical garden in the North West Province of South Africa. The Garden spans just under three hectares and is open to the public. The history of the North-West University Botanical Garden dates back to 1962 when dr. Wynand Louw, a botany lecturer, requested land from the then Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education for the establishment of a garden to grow plant material needed for formal practical laboratory sessions in botany. The garden was referred to as the Veld Garden during this initial period.
Frances Montresor Buchanan Allen Penniman
Frances Montresor Buchanan Allen Penniman (April 4, 1760 - 1834) was an American botanist, and a figure of the American Revolution. She was remembered for her gardening skills and knowledge of botany. It may be that the specimens in the herbaria of Penniman and her daughter were the oldest in the state of Vermont, for the oldest in the herbaria of the University of Vermont are dated 1819. Frances Montresor was born April 4, 1760, in New York City, the illegitimate daughter of John Montresor, a British general killed in battle. The mother, Anna Schoolcraft, died in 1762, or 1766 in childbirth. Anna was the daughter of James Calcraft, a veteran British artillerist, who had also served with reputation under the Duke of Marlborough, and came to the United States after the treaty of Utrecht, with the exalted notions of the part he had borne in the field, and of the reign of Queen Anne, under whose banners he had served.
Carrière des Nerviens Regional Nature Reserve
The Carrière des Nerviens Regional Nature Reserve (in French "Réserve naturelle régionale de la carrière des Nerviens") is a protected area in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of northern France. It was established on 25 May 2009 to protect a site containing rare plants and covers just over . It is located in the municipalities of Bavay and Saint-Waast in the Nord department. The reserve was created to protect fifteen plants of regional interest and three plant communities listed in the Habitats Directive. Its flora are linked to calcium present in marl. It is located in a transition zone between the oceanic and semi-continental climates and that gives increased biodiversity, with typical species of the atlantic areas and others more continental.
List of ecoregions in North America (CEC)
This list of ecoregions of North America provides an overview of North American ecoregions designated by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) in its North American Environmental Atlas. It should not be confused with Wikipedia articles based on the classification system developed by the World Wildlife Fund, such as List of ecoregions (WWF) and Lists of ecoregions by country. The commission was established in 1994 by the member states of Canada, Mexico, and the United States to address regional environmental concerns under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), the environmental side accord to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Evolutionary history of plants
The evolution of plants has resulted in widely varying levels of complexity, from the earliest algal mats, through bryophytes, lycopods, and ferns, to the complex gymnosperms and angiosperms of today. While many of the groups which appeared earlier continue to thrive, as exemplified by algal dominance in marine environments, more recently derived groups have also displaced previously ecologically dominant ones, e.g. the ascendance of flowering plants over gymnosperms in terrestrial environments. Evidence for the appearance of the first land plants occurs in the Ordovician, around , in the form of fossil spores.
Hortus Botanicus Leiden
The Hortus botanicus of Leiden is the oldest botanical garden of the Netherlands, and one of the oldest in the world. It is located in the southwestern part of the historical centre of the city, between the Academy building and the old Leiden Observatory building. In 1587 the young University of Leiden asked for permission from the mayor of Leiden to establish a "hortus academicus" behind the university building, for the benefit of the medical students. The request was granted in 1590, and the famous botanist Carolus Clusius (1526–1609) was appointed as prefect. Clusius arrived in Leiden in 1593.
Wardian case
The Wardian case was an early type of sealed protective container for plants, an early version of the terrarium. It found great use in the 19th century in protecting foreign plants imported to Europe from overseas, the great majority of which had previously died from exposure during long sea journeys, frustrating the many scientific and amateur botanists of the time. The Wardian case was the direct forerunner of the modern terrarium, Vivarium (and the inspiration for the glass aquarium), and was invented by Dr. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (1791–1868), of London, in about 1829 after an accidental discovery inspired him.
1_Apprentice
We saw a few bears.  That was probably the most interesting.  Have you ever seen one in the wild before?
0_Wizard
No, was it a brown bear?
The brown bear ("Ursus arctos") is the most widely distributed bear and is found across much of northern Eurasia and North America.
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Brown bear
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Brown bear
The brown bear ("Ursus arctos") is the most widely distributed bear and is found across much of northern Eurasia and North America. It is one of the largest living terrestrial members of the order Carnivora, rivaled in body size only by its close cousin, the polar bear ("Ursus maritimus"), which is much less variable in size and slightly larger on average. The brown bear's principal range includes parts of Russia, Central Asia, China, Canada, the United States (mostly Alaska), Scandinavia, and the Carpathian region (especially Romania), Anatolia, and Caucasus. The brown bear is recognized as a national and state animal in several European countries.
Marsican brown bear
The Marsican brown bear ("Ursus arctos marsicanus") (Italian: "orso bruno marsicano"), also known as the Apennine brown bear, is a critically endangered subspecies of the brown bear, with a range restricted to the Abruzzo National Park, and the surrounding region in Italy. The Marsican Brown Bear is very similar to a regular brown bear with slight differences in their appearance and hibernation techniques. Baby Marsican bears tend to grow up fairly quickly. They are restricted to the National Parks the Italian government reserved for them. With their existence dwindling, the Italian government has recently begun to stress their conservation.
Polar bear
The polar bear ("Ursus maritimus") is a carnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is a large bear, approximately the same size as the omnivorous Kodiak bear ("Ursus arctos middendorffi"). A boar (adult male) weighs around , while a sow (adult female) is about half that size. Although it is the sister species of the brown bear, it has evolved to occupy a narrower ecological niche, with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving across snow, ice and open water, and for hunting seals, which make up most of its diet.
Kodiak bear
The Kodiak bear ("Ursus arctos middendorffi"), also known as the Kodiak brown bear, sometimes the Alaskan brown bear, inhabits the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago in southwest Alaska. It is the largest recognized subspecies of brown bear, and one of the two largest bears alive today, the other being the polar bear. Physiologically, the Kodiak bear is very similar to the other brown bear subspecies, such as the mainland grizzly bear ("Ursus arctos horribilis") and the now-extinct California grizzly bear ("U. a. californicus"†), with the main difference being in size. While there is generally much variation in size between brown bears in different areas, most usually weigh between 115 and 360 kg (254 and 794 lb).
Cantabrian brown bear
Cantabrian brown bear refers to a population of Eurasian brown bears ("Ursus arctos arctos") living in the Cantabrian Mountains of Spain. Females weigh, on average, 85 kg but can reach a weight of 150 kg. Males average 115 kg though can weigh as much as 200 kg. The bear measures between 1.6 – 2m in length and between 0.90 -1m at shoulder height. In Spain, it is known as the "Oso pardo cantábrico" and, more locally, in Asturias as "Osu". It is timid and will avoid human contact whenever possible. The Cantabrian brown bear can live for around 25–30 years in the wild. Believed to have originated in Asia, the brown bear ("Ursus arctos", L. 1758) spread across the Northern Hemisphere, colonising much of the Eurasian land mass as well as North America.
Ussuri brown bear
The Ussuri brown bear ("Ursus arctos lasiotus"), also known as the black grizzly is a population of the brown bear. One of the largest brown bears, Ussuri brown bears approach the Kodiak bear in size. It is very similar to the Kamchatka brown bear, though it has a more elongated skull, a less elevated forehead, somewhat longer nasal bones and less separated zygomatic arches, and is somewhat darker in color, with some individuals being completely black, a fact which once led to the now refuted speculation that black individuals were hybrids of brown bears and Asian black bears. Adult males have skulls measuring long and wide.
Bear
Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern Hemisphere and partially in the Southern Hemisphere. Bears are found on the continents of North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Common characteristics of modern bears include large bodies with stocky legs, long snouts, small rounded ears, shaggy hair, plantigrade paws with five nonretractile claws, and short tails. While the polar bear is mostly carnivorous, and the giant panda feeds almost entirely on bamboo, the remaining six species are omnivorous with varied diets.
1_Apprentice
Black bear