On June 15, three European climbers from separate teams suffered varying degrees of frostbite, exposure, and minor injuries from falls while descending the upper mountain in poor weather.At 12:30 a.m., climber Steve House contacted the NPS patrol ...
On May 12 eight members of the military climbing team “U.S.M.C. Mtn. Warfare Training Center” flew to the Kahiltna Glacier to begin their climb. Over the following 12 days they progressed at an average rate up the West Buttress Route. On May 23, f...
On May 10 four members of the Romanian team “Explorer Denali 2014” flew to the Kahiltna base camp to begin their climb. Over the following 13 days they progressed at an average rate up the West Buttress Route.On May 23 three of the team members ma...
Sylvia Montag, 39, fell to her death on May 5 while attempting to descend from Denali Pass (18,200 feet) to the 17,200-foot high camp on the West Buttress Route. Montag had separated from her partner, Meik Fuchs, as they descended from Denali Pass...
Have you ever agreed to climb with new partners but wondered whether their safety skills were adequate? Have you taken a climbing class but wondered about the instructor’s qualifications?At the American Alpine Club, we believe that climbers in the...
Longtime readers will notice subtle but important changes to this year’s edition of Accidents, especially an increase in photos and diagrams. Our goal is not simply to dress up these pages but more to provide instructional information and visual c...
For the first route of our first day of climbing in Squamish, my climbing partner and I started up Calculus Direct, a 5.9 variation start to Calculus Crack on the Apron. I led the first pitch (5.9) with ease, built an anchor, and brought up my sec...
From July 6 to July 12, Gabe Messercola and I completed the first known traverse from Mt. Silverthrone to Mt. Brooks, including the three Pyramid peaks (a.k.a. Tripyramid). We climbed the chain of peaks from south to north, and the traverse inclu...
Vern Nelson Jr. and I climbed a new route on Argonaut Peak (8,451’), just east of Mt. Stuart, on April 26. Our route starts in a major left-facing corner system on the sheer north-facing wall between the northeast buttress and the northwest arête....
Mt. Silliman (11,188’) is a popular summit for peak baggers in Sequoia National Park. This is for good reason: It has a commanding view, is accessible as a day hike, and is on the Sierra Peaks Section list. In addition to its easier scrambles, the...
In November 2013, I went to Oman with Andrea Migliano, planning a three-week climbing trip. We rented a car and drove to Jabal Misht, the most famous mountain in the country. We hiked along the huge south face and checked a line on the right side,...
On August 4, Natalia Martinez and I, as part of our Uncharted Project (which has focused mostly on the Cordillera Darwin and Cordillera Sarmiento in southern Chile), flew into Kluane National Park. We landed on the Seward Glacier close to Mt. Sain...
On October 11, at approximately 7:15 p.m., several 911 calls came in to the City of Boulder Communications Center, stating that someone was yelling for help in the area of the First Flatiron. Temperatures at that time were in the low 50s (F), with...
On June 6 a climber was struck in the lower right leg by a large falling block while climbing Missionary’s Crack (5.10) . This was roughly in the area where a major rockfall occurred in August 2009. Two Kananaskis Public Safety personnel were heli...
Robert Adams, Tom Adams, Steve Kennedy, and leader Andy Nisbet (all U.K.), and Bill McConachie and I (both U.S.) visited an east-west side valley of one branch of the Darcha-Mayar Valley, immediately north of Ramjak (6,318m). Our objectives were t...
Every year more blank spots on the map are filled and more peaks are crisscrossed with new routes and variations. Inevitably, many climbers decry the disappearance of exploration and adventure in our world. But exploration is only evolving, not ...
Letters from Chamonix: Stories and a Novella. By David Stevenson. Imaginary Mountain Surveyors (Canada), 2014. 230 pages. Paperback, $24.95.Editor's note: Longtime AAJ books editor David Stevenson’s collection of short fiction won the Banff Mounta...
The Call of the Ice: Climbing 8,000 Meter Peaks in Winter. By Simone Moro, Foreword by Ed Viesturs, translated by Monica Meneghetti. Mountaineers Books, 2014. 224 pages. Paperback, $19.95. Simone Moro (Italy) is a remarkable high-altitude speciali...
Denali's Howl: The Deadliest Climbing Disaster on America's Wildest Peak. By Andy Hall. E.P Dutton & Co. (Penguin Group), 2014. 272 pages. Hardcover, $27.95.Blind dates don’t often work out well, but they only last a night. Climbing with peopl...
Cold Feet: Stories of a Middling Climber on Classic Peaks and Among Legendary Mountaineer. By David Pagel. Self-published, 2014. 384 pages. Paperback, $19.95.There are only a few climbing writers whose work I genuinely look forward to diving into ...