Don’t Forget Your Sun Protection!

Editor’s Note: This is a special guest post from Lisa Quale, Senior Health Educator at the Arizona Cancer Center Skin Cancer Institute. This post is part of our Sun Protection Weeks now happening. Through May 9th save 20% on select sun protection accessories from Buff, Tilley and Outdoor Research. Also, join us on May 3rd,…

2012 Mesquite Canyon 1/2 Marathon Race Report

With so many great opportunities to hike, climb and adventure around Tucson I rarely take advantage of the outdoor destinations outside of Phoenix. But this March I was tempted up to White Tank Mountain Regional Park to take part in the 1/2 Marathon length of Araviapa Running‘s Mesquite Canyon Race. The Mesquite Canyon Race has…

2012 Fleet Feet Arizona Trail Race Report

The day started with a early morning departure to Colossal Cave Mountain Park for the 8 mile 2012 Fleet Feet Arizona Trail Race – it was cold as we got in the car and hoped that it would be just a little warmer by the time the race started. The start and finish is the…

Section 17 Saguaro Census

On December 8th, a group of four Summit Hut volunteers joined two community volunteers and two Park Services employees on a Saguaro Census. We met at the Saguaro East visitors center and made our way to the Mica View Picnic Area. Our fearless leader, Irene, gave a brief overview of the history of Saguaros in…

National Geographic BioBlitz – Saguaro National Park

On October 21st, Saguaro National Park hosted visitors, scientists, researchers, volunteers and students from across the country in an effort to inventory as many species as possible inside the park. I was able to participate in the event as a “Photo Ambassador” – which was fancy BioBlitz-speak for “guy with a camera”. As I made…

Banff Film Festival & Summit Hut Grant Recipients

First off, I want to offer a big thank you to everyone who came out to this year’s Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour at the historic Fox Theatre. I hope you all enjoyed the evening and left feeling inspired to get out there and enjoy your own adventure. Sold out crowd of 1150 at…

Open Climbing Season at Cochise Stronghold

Chris tries to tell me what to expect on the fourth pitch: when my quads will start to burn in the layback, the point where I won’t be able to see my gear placements, and when I’ll be far enough above my last piece that I’ll just have to gun it to better ground. I…

Stop the Rosemont Copper Project

Arizona congressional representatives Gabrielle Giffords and Raul Grijalva have turned up the heat on the Forest Service in an effort to stop the disastrous Rosemont Copper mining project south of Tucson in the Santa Rita Mountains. Read about their recent efforts in an article in The Green Valley News. View the approximate location of the…

Banff Film Festival and Pima Trails Association

This past Friday evening, March 27, the Summit Hut hosted the Banff Mountain Film Festival for the 11th consecutive year in Tucson. Nearly 1,000 people filled the historic Fox Theatre to watch 7 films which ranged in length from 3 to 55 minutes. My favorite film of the night was Patagonian Winter, the story of…