Renowned Everest guide says using xenon speeds climb and makes it safer, better for environment

Finding the balance on short-term rentals

It’s fair to say the advent of Airbnb in 2008 changed the short-term rental market — it and its competitors gave hotels a run for their money, gave homeowners new ways to make an income and helped customers pay less for accommodations.

Online fundraiser for ‘polite, modest farmer’ facing firearms charges sending message, neighbour says

Thousands of dollars have been raised to help cover the legal fees of a Manitoba man charged after he allegedly fired a gun at thieves during a theft on his farm in August.

A quick look at where provinces and territories stand on time changes

WINNIPEG - Manitoba's government said Thursday the province will be sticking with daylight time year-round, making it the latest jurisdiction to move away from twice-annual time changes. Here's a look at where things stand across Canada:

British Columbia said in March that it was moving to permanent Pacific daylight time. The change also means that parts of northeastern B.C., which have been on mountain standard time year round, are now in alignment with the rest of the province.

Alberta also switched to permanent daylight time this year in what it calls Alberta time. The change means it now has the same time as Saskatchewan year round.

Saskatchewan has been on permanent central standard time since 1966.

Quilt tradition from Underground Railroad period big part of new exhibition

Long before she became a professional quilter, Melinda Clayton Patterson used to watch her mother make quilts from clothing scraps and cardboard templates.

“I came from a family of 14 kids, so going to whatever the store was back then, K-Mart or Woolworth, to buy quilts or blankets for 14 kids was just not feasible because the people were not wealthy,” she says.

“Quilts were not viewed as art. But when I came to Winnipeg, I started taking quilting seriously in my 30s … the heritage came later.”

Today, the 61-year-old native of East Preston, N.S., lives in Winnipeg, stitching together stories of her Black Loyalist heritage and Preston’s foundational role in the birth of Canadian Black culture.

Renowned Everest guide says using xenon speeds climb and makes it safer, better for environment

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Using xenon gas treatment and the latest technology is making climbing Mount Everest not just faster but also better for the environment, cutting down garbage and waste, a renowned mountain guide said Monday.

Lukas Furtenbach took a team of British climbers, who left London on May 16, to scale the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak on May 21. They returned home two days later, in one of the fastest ascents on record of the world’s highest peak, including the climbers’ travel from their homes and back.

The use of xenon gas treatment has, however, drawn controversy and has even raised the concerns of Nepalese mountaineering authorities who have announced an investigation.

“The only reason why we are working with xenon is to make climbing safer, to protect climbers from high altitude sickness,” Furtenbach told The Associated Press upon his return to Kathmandu. “We can see people dying on Everest every year and this is may be one step to improve the situation to make climbing high altitude mountains safer.”