FALLING ROCKWashington, Mount Ranier, Disappointment CleaverOn September 23 about 5:30 a.m., a rock struck and killed noted double amputee climber Ed Hommer. Mr. Hommer and three companions were climbing the Disappointment Cleaver route in prepara...
Rocky Heights—A Guide to Boulder Free Climbs 1980, by James S. Erickson. Published by the author. 280 pages, illus. Price $10.00.This is the finest climbing guidebook yet published. It is comprehensive, accurate, concise, compact, sturdily bound o...
ShiprockBestor RobinsonRISING out of the Navajo country in northwestern New Mexico is a 2000-ft. volcanic plug of tuff-breccia shot through with a few basalt dikes. This is Shiprock. According to Navajo legend it has been ascended twice. It was, t...
WEATHER, INADEQUATE CLOTHING AND EQUIPMENT, HYPOTHERMIA, FROSTBITEWyoming, TetonsOn September 12, 1985, at 0815, a check of climbing registration permits at the Jenny Lake Ranger Station revealed that two parties were overdue from climbs on 9/11/8...
WILLIAM ROBERTSON LATADY 1918-1979Bill Latady’s death at his home in Hingham, Mass. in October was a shock to his many friends and associates here and abroad. In his 62 years of vigorous life, he pursued several exciting and rewarding careers and ...
High Adventure: A Biography of Reinhold Messner. Ronald Faux. Victor Gollancz, North Pomfret, Vermont, 1982. 180 pages, 45 black and white photographs, 2 maps. $22.50.For many years, I have been a Reinhold Messner buff. I think that I have read al...
REGIONAL SAFETY EFFORTSThe Pacific Northwest Mountain Rescue and Safety Council was conspicuously active in rescue work in 1951. The Council also has directed its efforts toward development of specialized search and rescue equipment. An item of pa...
Aguja Standhardt (2,730m), south face, first complete ascent via El Caracol; other ascents. In 1977, when Aguja Standhardt was the most compelling unclimbed peak in the Fitz Roy range, Brian Hall and John Whittle (U.K.) attempted a line that trave...
Connecticut—Sleeping Giant State Park: On July 25, 1953, Thomas Beck (16) and Terrance Lockavitch (16) were climbing up the face of anabandoned quarry on Mt. Carmel. When they were 15 to 20 feet from the top Lockavitch felt they should not continu...
Alberta, Canadian Rockies, Mt. Athabasca. On 20 May Ed Bennington (24), John Root (25), and Barry Watamaniuk (24) were travelling behind another party of three who led a route through the icefall which deviated somewhat from the traditional route ...
Last Climb: The Legendary Everest Expeditions of George Mallory. David Breashears and Audrey Salkeld. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1999. Numerous archival photos. 240 pages. $35.00.How would the discovery of George Mallory’s body...
FALL ON ROCK, SELF-BELAY ERROR, MISTAKE WITH ASCENDERS, "SUMMIT FEVER"California, Yosemite Valley, EI CapitanIn late afternoon on June 3, Steve Gomez (37), Eric Sorenson (34), and Dave Goodwin (41), reached the last pitch ofMescalito (26 pitches, ...
Like the Sirens who lured Ulysses to a blissful yet certain death, the northwest face of the Devil’s Thumb continues to tempt the alpinist onto her flanks. Yet those who approach this beckoning alpine maiden should have themselves strapped to the ...
Fourteen Pacific Coast Fourteen-ThousandersDon M. WoodsWHEN I stood on the summit of Mt. Shasta, my first 14,000-ft. peak, I resolved that sometime I would climb the other 13 peaks of the Pacific Coast above this challenging height. This was June...
Nilkanth (6596 m), attempts: A seven member Korean expedition led by Ja Eok Gook originally hoped to attempt Dunagiri, which is on the outer walls of the Nanda Devi Sanctuary. In August they proceeded with full clearance toward this peak but once ...
A faint reminder of words written a couple days earlier crept across my subconscious as our only fuel canister sputtered empty on Great Trango Tower. Josh Wharton and I were over halfway up—the easy half—the 7,400-vertical-foot southwest ridge wit...
A joint Czech-Slovak expedition visited the Baltoro from July 26 to August 31. The team comprised eight climbers from Slovakia: Gabo Cmárik, Andrej Kolárik, Igor Koller, Jozef Kopold, Pavol Pekarcík, Juraj Podebraský, Erik Rabatin, and I. There we...
Escudo East Face Attempt, Paine Group. A German Alpine Club (DAV) expedition of eight men and two women led by Günther Manz attempted to climb a line on the right side of the east face of the Escudo (Shield) to the left of the route climbed by Gor...
Arwa Tower, Spire, and CrestWhen the weather gods smiled: two perfect weeks in the Indian Garhwal with the French High Mountain Military Group.By Antoine de ChoudensLast spring, eight of us from the French High Mountain Military Group (GMHM), insp...
Antarctic ImpressionsIn Four EpisodesWilliam SiriErebus rose from the sea in undulating folds of ice but still preserved its figure as a near-perfect volcanic cone. As if to prove its distinction as the only active volcano in Antarctica, a thin co...