November 14th 2009 was a very sad day for the world of mountaineering.  Tomaz Humar, a Slovenian alpinist at the forefront of his sport, suffered a fatal fall from Lantang Lirung Mountain in Northern Nepal.  Tomaz was attempting to solo an unclimbed south face of this mountain when he slipped and suffered a broken leg and spinal injury.  After his fall, Tomaz was able to call his base-camp support team and let them know that he needed to be immediately rescued from the mountain.  Sadly, his last radio call to his support simply said “‘Jagat. This is my last” (Jagat was the man at the other end of the walkie-talkie conversation).   Tomaz died before his team could get to him and his body was found a couple days after his last radio contact.   This event is a real tragedy and brings to light the true dangers associated with mountaineering and attempting solo excursions.  Tomaz Humar will be greatly missed by the world of mountaineering.

Over the next couple of days, the night skies in our area will be lit up by one of the most prominent yearly meteor showers. The Leonid Metero shower is the product of the comet Tempel-Tuttle and can be seen every year around November 17. This year is a special occasion since it falls on a new moon with relatively clear skies. The best time to view the shower will be the morning of Tuesday November 17th with the most meteors per hour coming at about 3am on the 17th. Although the meteors will make very noticeable streaks around the sky, it is interesting to note that most of the meteors will range in size from 1mm to 1cm.