Rodney Albert Newcomb, who died October 9 at age 91, was a pioneering avalanche expert and educator, and a leading mountaineer of his time. Rod was born in Riverside, California, in 1934 to Margaret Root and Daniel Albert Newcomb. He grew up dur...
Dale Bard in 1978 during the fourth ascent of Pacific Ocean Wall on El Cap. Photo by Randy Leavitt When Dale Bard was informed that he had only about a year to live, he took the news calmly, and even joked about it. His doctor, surprised, rem...
Dick Jackson in September 2003, working as lead guide in the Khumbu, Nepal, on a paragliding-mountaineering expedition. Photo courtesy of Jackson–Vander Noordaa Family In the old Aspen days, Dick Jackson was easy to find, at his Rocky Mountai...
Pete Cleveland (right) at Devil's Lake, where he was a respected and integral presence for decades. Photo by Amy Ferryman There are no mountains in the Midwest, so it is left to certain climbers to cast long shadows. For well over half a cent...
My father, Peter Lev, often reflected on his time as a guide and climber as “a time like no other,” a golden age. “There were no rules or regulations,” he’d say. “We just climbed because that’s what we loved to do.” He spent his life living and ...
Photo: Eric Boucher Virginia (Ginnie) Boucher was an unsung hero in American Alpine Club history. Starting in 1994, Boucher was the volunteer chair for the AAC Library Committee for a decade, introducing best practices for libraries—includi...
Franziska and James Garrett on Lotus Flower Tower in Canada's Northwest Territories. James Garrett refers to his wife as “the best climbing partner I've ever had.” Franziska Schawalder Garrett, who died October 17 at age 70, and her husban...
Henry Bizot on Cédric and Sophie (Point 5,090m), looking west into Tajikistan. The high summit on the right is Korzhenevskaya Peak (7,105m), the third-highest summit in the Pamir. Photo: Gabriel Fava From August 5–20, along with Gabriel Fava,...
Nearing the top of the second rock band on the north spur of Chomolhari III. This final step was bypassed by the almost vertical snow immediately to the right. Photo: Zhang Chengxin Chomolhari III (6,706m, 27°51'11.73"N, 89°18'2.24"E), on the...
Accidents run through every genre of climbing and represent technical errors, poor choice and/or misuse of gear, deficits in experience level, and more. But behind hundreds of recent accidents lie common themes and recurring patterns. Photo: Jer...
A climber descending the spectacular Monkey Face at Smith Rock. Rappelling is an integral and hazardous part of the climbing experience. Photo: Joe Peacock—Wikimedia “Good judgment comes from experience. Experience often comes from surviving ...
At 2:30 p.m. on March 9, a party of two ascended Left Gully with the intention of skiing one of the runs in Tuckerman Ravine. The party traveled on foot across the top of the ravine toward an area above the Lip, a feature near the top of the cirqu...
A climber from Group A near the top of Twin Peaks. At right: Skier 1, barely visible in the red rectangle, is ascending, shortly before being caught and carried in a large slide. On February 11, two parties of backcountry skiers were involve...
In April 2024, an avalanche was triggered at the top of the Heart feature on Mt. Shasta. It carried a snowboarder 1,000 feet (red arrow) and inflicted a broken femur and other serious injuries. The yellow circle marks the fallen snowboarder. Pho...
A popular ski tour on Mt. Rainier ends at Camp Muir, a high-altitude refuge at the 10,188-foot level, seen here in the yellow rectangle. Sparse snow led to a falling accident in November 2024. Photo: Walter Siegmund—Wikimedia I am a 29-year-o...
The southwest face of Mt. Temple. The blue rectangle marks the location of the broken cornice. The red dashed line denotes the path of the falling skier as they were carried by an avalanche over cliffs and steep snow slopes for 650 meters. Phot...
A helicopter photo of the Christian Peak crevasse accident site with rescue personnel visible in the blue rectangle. Note that there is no visible evidence of crevasses, but the accident and later probing revealed multiple thinly bridged slots. ...
Italy’s Boot on May 7, 2024. A group of skiers is barely visible in the yellow circle. The avalanche runout is marked in red, and the skiers’ skin tracks can be seen in the blue rectangles. Photo: Peter Wojnar On May 7, a party of five backc...
Pico de Orizaba (18,491 feet), also known as Citlaltépetl, is the third-highest peak in North America. In this view from the northeast, the upper section of the mountain is obscured by storm clouds. These upper reaches saw multiple exposure fata...
On February 2, Matthew Aaron Richard (27) lost his life in a climbing accident at the Wonder Wall, a popular area behind a swimming pool complex near the canyon’s entrance. That evening, a few dozen climbers were barbecuing at the base, and Matt e...