Officials at Gifford Pinchot National Forest have created a non-motorized zone along the popular Monitor Ridge and Worm Flows climbing routes on the south flank of Mount St. Helens. The route is being closed to snowmobile use to improve safety for winter climbers, skiers and snowshoers.

Officials also announced that climbing permits are required for all winter recreationists that travel above 4,800 feet on the volcano. This is a change from previous policy that exempted snowmobiles from the climbing permit requirement.

Click here for detailed information about the Mount St. Helens climbing permit system and

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All areas of Puget Sound will close to recreational crab fishing at sunset Friday. After that all sport crabbers licensed to fish for crab in Puget Sound will have 13 days to report their winter catch.

State fishing rules require that all sport crabbers submit catch reports for the winter season to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife by Jan. 15, even if they did not catch any crab.

Catch reports are an important tool in managing the Puget Sound crab fishery, said Rich Childers, shellfish policy lead, in a news release. The agency needs to

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On behalf of Craig Hill, we want to wish all the readers of Adventure and The news Tribune a very Merry Christmas.

Thanks to everyone who sent us stories, photos, comments and the occasional admonishment. They all have helped make Adventure a better product. While Craig and I have a lot of fun doing our jobs, we do it to share our experiences and encourage readers to get out themselves.

We also encourage you to send us your suggestions on how we can improve the section. As I wrote in my column in today’s section, after five years

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Mount Rainier National Park officials just announced the snowplay area at Paradise is open for the season.

Enough snow has fallen at Paradise to protect the fragile vegetation there and the groomer has been repaired to make sure the runs are in good shape.

The snowplay area is immediately north of the upper parking lot at Paradise. It is the only place in the park sliding and sledding is permitted. Runs will be supervised by park rangers daily through Jan. 4, and on weekends and holidays from Jan. 9 through March 29. Visitors may use the runs when

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The Cowlitz River will open to smelt dipping Jan 3. Dipping will be allowed from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. each Saturday through March 28, under rules adopted by Washington fishery managers. Like last year, the daily catch limit will be 10 pounds per person.

All other tributaries to the Columbia River in Washington will remain closed to smelt fishing.

As during the past three seasons, most indicators point to another year of poor smelt returns to rivers in the Pacific Northwest, said Brad James, fish biologist, in a news release from the state Department of Fish

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Crystal is reporting 8 inches of fresh powder this morning.

(I’m reporting 6 inches of fresh powder in my front yard.)

School might be canceled in the Puyallup School District but plenty of kids are heading to school anyway – Carson Elementary on South Hill to be specific.

Why?

Because the back side of the staff parking lot offers a sweet sledding hill with a nice safe runoff into an open field. About 150 people were on the hill this afternoon, but the action has been going on there since the snow started falling earlier this week.

Here are some pictures from last night and this afternoon:

Shannon Hammel of

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Hurricane Ridge has a new webcam. Here’s what it looked like up there a few minutes ago.

Click here for the live view.