BELAY AND TIE-IN ERROR, FALL ON ROCK, NO HARD HATUtah, Big Cottonwood Canyon, Dogwood CragOn September 26, University of Utah, Remote Rescue Training’s HighAngle Rescue Technician class was practicing rope rescue systems at the Dogwood crag in Big...
The Bean Pole, first ascent; Latok I attempt. On July 12 Bean Bowers and I headed up the north ridge of Latok I to put in a cache and check out the bottom section of the climb. Skirting to the west the rock buttress climbed by many parties, we cli...
On October 9,1993, Joel Blumhagen (43) and Darby Roach were climbing the standard route on Chair Peak. At 1245 Blumhagen clipped into an old piton behind a flake. The flake dislodged and fell on him, starting a small avalanche, and he fell. In t...
Fifty Favorite Climbs: The Ultimate North American Tick List. Mark Kroese. Seattle: The Mountaineers Books, 2001. 150 color photos. 224 pages. $32.95.My bet is that within a year Fifty Favorite Climbs (henceforth FFC) will be found next to Fifty C...
Washington, Denny Creek Trail—Eugene Todd (26), an experienced climber and member of both the Mazamas of Oregon and The Mountaineers of Washington, lost his life in an accident on Sept. 15.Todd and two other Mountaineers, Earl Doan and Tina Hess, ...
Mountain MedicineA review of High-Altitude Cerebral Edemaby Geoffrey Tabin, M.D.The week before Jeff Colovis and I went to climb the Black Dike on Cannon Cliff in New Hampshire, he broke four toes in an accident at his construction job. I suggeste...
Nalumasortoq, Cheese Finger at Three O’Clock. It was reported that Swiss Christian Dalphin led an international team that climbed Cheese Finger at Three O’Clock, an 18-pitch aid line estimated at 550 meters on the central tower of Nalumasortoq. Th...
Lhakpa Sherpa, Nandan Singh Negi, Pemba Sherpa, Thendup Sherpa, and I reached a previously unvisited col on the ridge north of Berthatoli Himal. West of Lata we headed south and crossed two passes traditionally used by shepherds to access the Ront...
New York, Shawangunks (2)—On September 6, Bob Mathews (30), Peggy Mathews (34) (No relation), and Allen Smith (22) set out to climb the “Indecent Exposure”, a variation of the “Easy Overhang”. Bob and Peggy were not affiliated with any club. Allen...
LOSS OF CONTROL, VOLUNTARY GLISSADENorth West Territories, Ellesmere Island, Grise FiordPeter Rogers was glissading a 40-degree snow slope in crampons on the unnamed mountain behind the settlement of Grise Fiord on 2 May 1978. He tripped, fell and...
P2, second ascent, via partial new route. On October 13 Ukrainians Sergei Bublyk, Sergei Kovalev, Aleksander Lavrynenko, and Orest Verbytsky, from a five-member expedition led by Kovalev, made the second ascent of P2 (a.k.a. Simnang Himal; 6,251m)...
Grand Teton, Second Tower, New Route, and Mount Moran, South Face, Various Ascents. In August, I made roped solo ascents of two new routes in the Tetons. The first was the Central Dihedral (IV 5.10+/ 5.11-) on the south face of the Second Tower. T...
Lhotse, Bulgarian Expedition. The Bulgarians had 18 members and seven Sherpas under the leadership of Christo Ivanov Prodanov. They set up their Khumbu Base Camp on March 23. Camps were established at 19,900, 22,300, 24,125 and 26,100 feet between...
Barron Saddle-Mt. Brewster Region, summary. It’s tempting to call the North Buttress of Mt. Hopkins (2,678m) a “last great problem” of the Barron Saddle-Mt. Brewster Region. However, that would be misleading, as it’s more the buttress being isolat...
Extreme Skiing in the Cordillera Blanca and Tsurup Oeste, Southwest Face. Eric Favret, André Genand and I skied the north face of Kitaraju on May 31. On June 8 we skied the northwest face of Alpamayo from the highest point we could, some 200 feet ...
Mt. Moroni, Voice from the Dust. In November Garrett Kemper, Tommy Chandler, and I climbed a new route (IV 5.11c) on the far south end of the southeast face of Mt. Moroni. A 200' splitter hand-and-finger crack, starting 60' above the ground, had c...
Forbidden Peak, Direct East Ridge. Over the Memorial Day weekend, Fred Beckey, Joe Hieb, Ed Cooper, and Don Claunch left Seattle for Cascade Pass country and Forbidden Peak, the majestic pyramid north of the Cascade valley. The true east ridge had...
Staunings Alper. The eight climbers of our expedition sailed in a ketch from Jan Mayen in the Faroe Islands and finally used the boat as Base Camp in the Damen inlet near Mestersvig. We made the following ascents. Jean-Marc Piron and Luc Ancion ma...
FALL ON ROCK, INADEQUATE PROTECTIONOregon, Smith Rock, Lyon's ChairOn July 7, Christopher Ekstrom (22) was leading the first pitch of Lyon’s Chair in the Morning Glory Wall area of Smith Rock State Park. Lyon’s Chair is a three star route rated 5....
Chopicalqui, North Face, Mirton Novice Extreme. On July 20, Pavle Kozjek (Slovenia) climbed Mirton Novice Extreme (TD/ED, 5+ 90°, ca. 800m) on the north face of Chopicalqui (6354 m). (According to Brian Sharman’s Climbs of the Cordillera Blanca of...