JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — Those who have traipsed in the alpine precincts know well the sound of tumbling rocks. A few basketball-sized stones can cause a tremendous racket when bouncing down a couloir.

But the spectacle was intensely personal for Idaho climbers Roy and Sally Miller as they returned from a climb on the Grand Teton.

On Labor Day weekend, reports the Jackson Hole News&Guide, the couple were near their campsite, several thousand feet below the summit of the 13,770-foot mountain, when they heard the thunder. About 50 feet away car-sized boulders rolled. As his wife took a photo of the maelstrom, “she looked at me in horror,” Roy Miller wrote in an on-line forum.

“It sounded like jets, a herd of jets,” said Paul Horton, a guide with Jackson Hole Mountain Guides, who watched the phenomenon from a campsite.

Two climbers who were in their tent quickly evacuated to take shelter behind a boulder and watched as rocks pelted the tent.

Mountain relationship sullied?

WHISTLER, B.C. — A gondola that will connect the Whistler and Blackcomb ski areas — and in the process set world records for aerial height of such things — is being erected.

It is also ruffling a local sensibility. Writing in Pique, Mike Quinn said the first tower now visible “foreshadows a profound change in the relationships that we all share with the mountains.”

“For many, if not most of us, the mountains have represented purity, challenge and raw nature. Putting the hand of man in the high alpine in such a blatant way for all to see will alter our perception and the reality of the wilderness.”

Banff hoteliers want plan to compete

BANFF, Alberta — The lodging sector in Banff and Lake Louise is asking the Banff municipal council to develop a long-range economic strategy that will instill more business confidence and help Banff compete against other North American tourist destinations.

Darren Reeder, executive director of the Banff Lake Louise Hotel Motel Association, said the town is taking an ad hoc approach.

“This is concerning from a business standpoint, as long-range political agendas are often driven by a three-year election cycle, and long-range business decisions are made looking five to 10 years in to the future,” he said.

But the Rocky Mountain Outlook says others in the community continue to be worried about the arrival of chain store such as Starbucks and the Gap.