Recently in the People Category

According to Paste Magazine, Danny Boyle (“Trainspotting,” “Slumdog Millionaire”) will direct a new movie about the ordeal of Aron Ralston, who amputated his arm to free himself from a large boulder that rolled onto him as he climbed in the Utah mountains. “Christian Colson will produce and Simon Beaufoy is in talks to write the script. 127 Hours will be made by Fox Searchlight, and U.K.’s The Guardian reports that the film will begin shooting early 2010 and released later in the year.”

Ralston recently endorsed a proposal to prohibit extractive development in Forest Service and BLM lands.

“After decades of urban cycling, he’s come to believe that cities are best seen and understood from a cyclist’s-eye view, which hits a perspectival sweet spot, “faster than a walk, slower than a train, and often slightly higher than a person.” The results can almost mystical, he says in his new book, Bicycle Diaries.” Jebediah Reed writes about David Byrne’s dangerous infatuation with urban cycling on Infrastructurist.com.

Emmy-winning filmmaker Ken Burns’s new work “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” will begin showing on PBS September 27. It’s a six-episode series directed by Burns and written and co-produced by Dayton Duncan.

You can watch Backpacker magazine’s new 4-minute video interview with Burns here.

Rob Gauntlett, who with climbing partner James Hooper was the youngest ever to climb Mount Everest, died yesterday in the French Alps, possible as the result of an ice fall. “A young British adventurer whose exploits included climbing Mount Everest at age 19 died Saturday in the French Alps, his family said. A rescue team found the bodies of Rob Gauntlett, 21, and another British climber high on Mont Blanc de Tacul near Chamonix, The Sunday Times reported. Gauntlett’s mother, Nicola Gauntlett, told the newspaper the two friends were ice-climbing.” Full story by UPI.

“As a former president of the Adirondack Mountain Club, he helped transform the organization from a modest recreational group into a statewide conservation advocacy force with more than 30,000 members. ‘Almy was really a renaissance man in many respects in the world of conservation,’ reflected Neil Woodworth, ADK’s executive director. ‘He was one of the most effective citizen advocates I’ve ever met.’” Justin Mason on DailyGazette.com.