Tronador. This peak was the object of a number of determined assaults by both German and Italian parties this past summer. On January 29th Hermann Claussen climbing alone left his bivouac at 4 a.m. and reached the summit at 10 p.m., spending the n...
FALL ON SNOWWyoming, TetonsAfter climbing Mount Owen via the Northeast Snowfields, Jeff Selleck (26) and his climbing partner, John Richardson, began descending the Koven Couloir. Forty- five meters into the couloir, Selleck slipped out of a plung...
Karakoram The Ascent of Gasherbrum IV, by Fosco Maraini. Translated from the Italian by James Cadell. New York: The Viking Press, 1961. 320 pages, 108 illustrations (many in color) on 80 full pages, maps and sketches. Price $10.00.This is a splend...
Gongga Shan Tragedy. 1980 was the year China opened to American mountaineering: there were three expeditions, and a number of reconnaissances for future expeditions. In addition to the successful ski ascent of Mustagh Ata, the People’s Republic ga...
Mt. MOG, Owens-Walsh, and Mt. Bell, Zeitgeist. Alpine climbing—or perhaps “alpine crag- ging”—on lesser known, lower elevation peaks (but still with decent-sized faces) is catching on in the Canadian Rockies. This winter I enjoyed a number of grea...
The Mountain Spirit, edited by Michael Charles Tobias and HaroldDrasdo. The Overlook Press. $17.95.I was skeptical when asked to review this unusual anthology of mountain essays, literary criticism, travel notes, reminiscences, climbing accounts, ...
Lionel Terray, French idol of the 50s, wrote about Illimani’s huge south face: “The human being who succeeds in climbing this frightening and steep wall isn’t born yet.” Decades later the French Alain Mesili and the Japanese Giri-Giri Boys ascen...
FALL ON ROCK, PLACED INADEQUATE PROTECTION,FAILURE TO FOLLOW ROUTE, EXCEEDING ABILITIES California, TahquitzOn June 13, 1987, Myles Twete (29) fell while leading the sixth pitch (5.6) of Whodunit (5.9) at Tahquitz Rock. After six hours of climbing...
Colorado, St. Mary’s Glacier. On 6 September Bill Weiss (16), James McCoy (17), and Craig Nichols (17) started a care-free day of glissading and climbing. The party roped in and began practicing ice-ax arrests and glissading.At 11:30 a.m. the bott...
Frozen gusts of thin air painfully escaping our weary lungs. Infinite stars splashing over dark velvet. “Happy birthday!” Robert Rauch screams into the Andean storm as I lean on my ice axe, panting. “Thank you,” I want to tell him, but my words ar...
Legislature Acts Concerning the First Ascent of the Grand Teton. A possibly unique instance of legislative attention being devoted to a subject primarily of mountaineering interest, is a resolution of the Wyoming legislature concerning an ascent o...
Kichatna SpiresAndrew Embick, M.D.The CATHEDRAL SPIRES of the Kichatna Mountains, in the southwestern Alaska Range, offer the most challenging climbing in North America. The weather characteristic of the area is very bad, but the granite can be of...
Mountaineering Club of Alaska. The club’s 1997 climbing activities included the following: On April 4, Elena Hinds, Cory Hinds and Jim Francis summitted Mount Marcus Baker (13476') in the Chugach Mountains via the original (1938) Washburn route, t...
December, 1999. Steve Schneider was in Las Vegas for a slide show from his solo first ascent on the Central Tower of Paine in Patagonia. “Yo, Shipoopi!” he exclaimed when he arrived at my home. He shoved the cover of the recent American Alpine Jou...
Climbing Blind, by Colette Richard. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1967. 159 pages, 5 photographs. Price: $4.50.Colette Richard became blind at the age of two and wrote this book when she was 28. She describes her experiences and sensations in climbing s...
San Lorenzo, Café Cortado. The Up Project is a series of expeditions I conceived, in order to bring some strong climbers to remote locations around the globe. Our first trip was to Pakistan (see report elsewhere in this Journal). Our second trip, ...
Bandarpunch I. An Indian expedition led by Aniruddha Das successfully climbed Bandarpunch I (6387 meters, 20,955 feet) in August. Details are lacking.
Pumori Ascents and Attempts in the Autumn. Pumori (7161 meters, 23,494 feet) was the scene of many expeditions in the post-monsoon season. Two Spanish parties made the 48th ascent of the peak together, climbing the southeast face to the northeast ...
Western Kokshaal-too, Komorova Glacier, various ascents; At Bashi Range, Acha Kaeyndi Valley, various ascents. In August Eddy Barnes (U.K.), Sari Nevala (Finland), Vanessa Wills (Australia), and I headed to Kyrgyzstan, intending to make first asce...
Kang Karpo, Yunnan. Kang Karpo (6840 meters, 22,441 feet) is the highest mountain in Yunnan. It rises in the ridge above the deep gorges of the Mekong and the Salween as an eastern extention of the Himalaya. Although the region is completely of Ti...