From tomorrow’s News Tribune:

A local mountaineering company is facing more than the usual challenges as it tries to get 24 climbers to the summit of 29,035-foot Mount Everest.

Nepal has imposed a near-blackout on communication on the south side of Mount Everest, Eric Simonson of Ashford-based International Mountain Guides said Tuesday.

The communication limitations come as Nepal, not wanting to hurt relations with Beijing, tries to enforce a strict ban on protests during China’s upcoming Olympic torch relay to the summit of the world’s highest mountain. Dozens of armed Nepalese soldiers have been posted at Mount

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From the USOC:

The U.S. Ski Team’s Lindsey Vonn (Vail,CO) outshined top American athletes in March to win the United States Olympic Committee’s (USOC) Athlete of the Month award for the second month in a row.

“To win Athlete of the Month once is an honor in itself, but to win it twice in a row is incredible,” U.S. Alpine Director Jesse Hunt said. “The awards are a testament to Lindsey’s outstanding athletic abilities and the historic accomplishments she has made for the USA this season,”

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The Vancouver Sun reported this week that the 2010 games will not have an international Olympic torch relay for the Vancouver/Whistler games.

Tough to blame them after all the havoc surrounding the ongoing relay for the 2008 summer games in China.

An excerpt from Jeff Lee’s story in the Sun:

Vancouver’s Olympic organizers won’t conduct an international torch relay but may still make stops at some locations, including London and Vimy Ridge, Vanoc CEO John Furlong said Thursday. But a final decision to take the torch outside of Canada will have to await a review by

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Free Tibet protesters forced the Olympic Torch to be extinguished three times today.

You’d think the IOC would have seen this coming when they awarded the games to China.