FALL ON SNOW - UNABLE TO SELF-ARREST, IMPROPER ICE AX TECHNIQUEWyoming, Grand Teton National Park, Gilkey TowerOn August 9 about 1300, Chris Pazder (56) fell to his death while attempting to traverse from the South Teton to Cloudveil Dome. Pazder ...
Chacraraju Este. In mid July, Masael Alvial and I made two attempts on the Bouchard-Meunier route on Chacraraju Oeste. On the first attempt, we were stopped one pitch up by weather and bad ice. The second was stopped after three pitches when we fo...
OFF ROUTE, INADEQUATE CLOTHING, EXPOSUREWyoming, Grand TetonOn August 14, Douglas Cairns (36) and Daniel Cousins (30) decided to attempt the North Ridge after having failed to find their way to the Black Ice Couloir, their original objective. They...
Discounted peak royalties continue. During 2007 the Pakistan Ministry of Tourism maintained a 50 percent reduction on royalty fees for peak permits, and in November the government announced that these discounts and other concessions would continue...
Mount Moffit, Northwest Ridge, and Mount Hayes, East Ridge. Attempts on Mount Moffit (13,020’) were becoming annual events for Randy Waitman and I. When we flew onto the Trident Glacier he was making his third attempt on the northwest ridge and I ...
FALL ON ROCK WHILE BEING LOWERED, INADEQUATE ROPE LENGTH, NO HARD HAT, MISPERCEPTION Idaho, City of RocksThe following excerpts are from, an article written by Thomas Dewell, sent by a member—but without reference to the newspaper it appeared in.)...
Cho Oyu. Our expedition of three Belgians and two Nepalis established Base Camp and Camps I and II at 5750, 6400 and 7000 meters on July 31, August 4 and 12. We made the first summit attempt on August 13 and the second on the 18th. The third was s...
Colorado, Cussing Crack, Castle Rock, near Boulder-—On 9 August, Jeff Wheeler (14), Jerry Roach (14) and Ed Anderson (20) were climbing on Castle Rock. Wheeler was leading on a vertical wall near the top of Castle Rock, in Boulder Canyon. He was p...
Nanga Parbat Attempts on the Kinshofer Route, Diamir Flank. Aside from the expeditions noted above, there were four expeditions that failed to reach the summit. Peter Long led a group of six Scots who did not get to the top. There were two unsucce...
FALL INTO RIVERBritish Columbia, Jasper National Park, North Boundary Trail HikeD.H. and S.K. (from Germany) were hiking the north boundary trail of Jasper National Park. The summer had been extremely rainy and the rivers were all in flood. On Jul...
Four-legged Climber on Aconcagua. A bizarre ascent was performed by a dog of unknown pedigree in Aconcagua. This “climber” joined a group of Europeans from Laguna Horcones. He then disappeared and later joined Austrian Armin Liedl in the Berlin Hu...
Early American Ascents. In the Führerbuch of Christian Aimer, which contains extensive records of Meta Claudia Brevoort and W. A. B. Coolidge through the period from 30 July 1868 to 1 August 1884, one finds the following additional notes:Christian...
Moab Area, Various Ascents. Kevin Chase, Tom Gilje, and Tait Rees made the first ascent of the lone tower located on the north side of Heat Wave Buttress via the route Spitting Cobra (5.12 AO). This is located off State Highway 313, nine miles nor...
FALLING ROCK, NO HARD HAT, INEXPERIENCEWashington, Mt. RainierOn August 19, 1980, Doug Perry (26) was hit on the head by a large rock at 11,500 feet while descending Disappointment Cleaver. His injury was serious and he required a helicopter evacu...
Bear’s Tooth, Wind River Range. In early September Reed Tindall and I hiked to near the head of the Downs Fork of Dinwoody Creek. After sitting out a day of heavy hail and thunder, we set out for the spectacular formation of Bear’s Tooth. Our rout...
HYPOTHERMIA, EXHAUSTION, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENT, INEXPERIENCECalifornia, Yosemite ValleyOn June 29, 1982, at 1000, friends of Koji Sekine and Tsutomu Tagusari, two Japanese climbers, came to the Ranger Office and reported that they were overdue from...
Ptarmigan Peak, Western Chugach. In mid February, Tom Walters and I climbed the prominent north buttress of Ptarmigan Peak. The route ascends steep comers formed by massive blocks. With four 5th-class pitches on relatively sound rock, the climbing...
Gaurishankar Attempt. A Korean expedition led by Park Jong-Soo tried to climb Gaurishankar’s southwest ridge and over the south summit to the main summit. During their October climbing period, it snowed on three out of four days. The members final...
Hiunchuli, Southeast Face, Winter Ascent, 1986. Chris Watts and I departed a tea lodge at 10,800 feet on December 3, 1986 and toiled for five hours up steep grass slopes to set up camp on the moraine at 13,500 feet. True Camps I and II were placed...
San Valentin, First Winter Ascent. The correct altitude of San Valentin has not been determined with complete accuracy. It is given either as 4058 or 3876 meters (13,314 or 12,716 feet). It is surely the highest of the Patagonian Andes. The first ...