Bhagirathi III Attempt. Seven Czechs led by Dr. Miroslav Coubal attempted a new route on the rocky west wall of Bhagirathi III (6454 meters, 21,175 feet) but due to inclement weather they failed, reaching 5800 meters on September 5. The team inclu...
HERBERT J. KOTHE 1906-1986Herbert J. Kothe died on April 1, 1986 at the age of eighty. He joined the American Alpine Club in 1943. At that time he lived in New York. He later moved to Connecticut and in the early 1970s to Sarasota, Florida. He is ...
Nemjung Attempt. Brian Ottewell, Dave McCarthy, Ray Harris and I attempted Nemjung (7140 meters, 23,425 feet) by its south face and west ridge. We established Base Camp, Camps I, II, III and IV on October 10, 15, 22, November 1 and 2 at 14,500, 15...
North Tower of Asgard, North Face, Nunavut. From July 4 to 21, 1996, Txus Lizarraga, Raul Melero, Natxo Barriuso and I (all from Basque Country, Spain) put up the route Nunavut (VI 5.8 A4, 800m) on the north face of Asgard’s North Tower. (See note...
FALL ON ICEOregon, Mount Hood, Leuthold CouloirOn May 28, approximately 0600: Three of us (Michele and Tim McCall, and Ken), climbers from Eugene Mountain Rescue, were climbing the Leuthold Couloir route. A party of six was ahead of us. The last r...
Alto Ritacuba and Other Peaks, Cordillera Oriental. In late December 1980, I made alone the following ascents: from a camp near Laguna (lake) de Cardenillo, Nevado Alto Ritacuba (5464 meters, 17,926 feet) on December 24, Ritacuba Norte (Nevado de ...
Cathedral Mountain, Various Activity. On April 1, Tom Jones and I established the nine-pitch Fool’s Buttress (III 5.8 A0), which ascends the northeast buttress of Cathedral Mountain. Two pitches of fourth-class friction on the left side of the sub...
FALL ON SNOW, CLIMBING ALONE AND UNROPED, EXCEEDING ABILITIESColorado, Rocky Mountain National Park, Mount MeekerOn August 14, Scot Eden (25) was injured while attempting to descend from a partial ascent of Left Gully (a.k.a. Dream Weaver—II, AI 2...
Lashar I, first ascent of peak via south face; Janak, south face, attempt. I first saw the south face of Janak (7,041m) in autumn 2000, when leading an expedition to Jongsang, Pathibara, and Kiratchuli. From the upper Broken Glacier the southwest ...
Diran Tragedy, 1993. On page 262 of AAJ, 1993, reference was made to the death of Spaniards Francesc Xavier Socias and José Carlos Mármol from Mallorca on Diran. The pair were at Camp II on the normal north-face, west-ridge route at 6100 meters on...
Mooses Tooth. On April 27, members of the Mountaineering Club of Alaska climbed the steep German route of the Mooses Tooth to the western summit, taking 17 hours from the Ruth Gorge. The climbers were Julian Mason, Harry Johnson, Pete Panarese and...
Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park, Symmetry Spire. On June 10 Carlee Hendrix (26), Dale Swinney (31) and Ray Gump (35) had completed ascents of Ice and Storm Points and were glissading down the Symmetry Spire Couloir. Ray Gump had gone down about...
ALTITUDE SICKNESSAlaska, Mt. McKinleyKonrad Schumann (45), a member of the Stroebel Expedition from Germany, was evacuated from 12,800 feet on the West Buttress of Mt. McKinley on June 1, 1980.The group had initially planned a quick ascent of the ...
FALL ON ICE, INADEQUATE PROTECTIONBritish Columbia, Lillooet, Oregon JackOn January 7, H.C., S.P., and I headed into the hills south of Cache Creek for a day of ice climbing on “Oregon Jack.”The ice was in good shape, although quite “platey” on th...
After an injury in our party halted our attempt at the standard King Trench route on Mt. Logan, Morgan Lakey and I turned our frustrations to a pyramidal rock and snow peak five kilometers northwest of the standard Base Camp on the Quitino Sella G...
Dhaulgiri Tragedy. The recent Argentine expedition chose the still unclimbed Pear route, pioneered in 1954 and 1956 by Argentines. Mario Serrano organized the expedition well and it got to the base of the climb by early March. By the end of April,...
Squamish Chief, Grand Wall, First Free Ascent. On July 18 at 7 a.m., Annie Overlin and I embarked on what would become a historical day. Our plan was to make the first free ascent of the Grand Wall. I planned on red-pointing every pitch, and Annie...
Cerro Castillo, Southeast Face, North of the Southern Continental Icecap, 1982. Yugoslavs Tone Golnar and Ljubo Hansel, New Zealander David Waugh and Korean Chil Kyou Son teamed together to make the first ascent of the southeast face of Cerro Cast...
Ruth Gorge, Mt. Dickey, Blood from the Stone. In March, Sean Easton (Canada) and Ueli Steck (Switzerland) established a remarkable mixed route on the 5,000' east face of Mt. Dickey. The route, which they named Blood from the Stone, includes diffic...
C.l.S. Competitions, 1996. Russia is the only country in the world where mountaineers who make ascents in various mountains then send in their accounts to an arbitration board appointed annually by the Russian Mountaineering Federation to contend ...