Nameless Tower, Trango Towers. Our expedition was composed of East German Berndt Arnold and West Germans Kurt Albert, Wolfgang Güllich, Wolfgang Kraus, Thomas Lipinski, Martin Leinauer, Dr. Jörg Schneider, Martin Schwiersch, Jörg Wilz and me as le...
Return to the AlpsUrsula CorningTHERE had been one summer after another of stifling New York heat—hands sticking to the table, body sticking to the chair—but there had been Alpine calendars on the desk to remind me of better things. Suddenly seven...
Climbs near Pumasillo, Cordillera Vilcabamba. With the arrival at Cuzco of Peter Radcliffe from Patagonia, our party was complete. John Gates and I had flown from New Zealand to meet Dave Bamford and Tom Clarkson following their different successf...
On January 3 James Mehigan, Olly Metherell, and Andrew Stokes-Rees made the first ascent of Fountain Gully on Afella in the Ouanoukrim chain. After a frantic evening of food shopping in Marrakesh, Mehigan and Metherell had their first scary moment...
INEXPERIENCE, PROTECTION PULLED OUT, FALL ON ROCKWashington, Icicle CreekOn April 29, 1989, I was assigned to lead three students, Tom Del Carlo (30), Bob Dalby, and Ken Wells, up a multipitch route known as “B & D” on the east side of Wadell’...
Gangchenpo, Jugal Himal. An all-Nepalese expedition from the Nepal Police Force led by Narayan Chand Thakuri made the first ascent of Gangchenpo (6387 meters, 20,955 feet). They climbed the southwest ridge of this handsome smaller peak, which lies...
Cerro Gallan, Province of Salta. Although our Austro-Swedish Andean Expedition did some excavations in the ruins of the Indian town of Guan- chin and of the fortress of Batungasta near Fiambalá, it was not there, near the Ojos del Salado, but 225 ...
Rambles and Mountain Climbs in Various Parts of the WorldWalter D. WilcoxTHE writer has been asked to compose an article on his various mountain climbs and adventures, omitting any reference to the Canadian Rockies, his favorite and most cherished...
Panchchuli II, Kumaon Himalaya. Beautiful, needle-shaped Panchchuli II is the highest of five peaks, traditionally known as the “five ovens” used by the five Pandava brothers during their journey to the Ultimate at the end of the Mahabharat. It ha...
FALL OR SLIP ON SNOW, CLIMBING UNROPEDWashington, Snoqualmie MountainOn April 14, 1991, a party of six Seattle Mountaineers assembled at 0720 near the Commonwealth Basin trailhead for an “Alpine Scramble” ascent of Snoqualmie Mountain. It was rain...
Celestial PeakEdward E. Vaillwhen ALLEN STECK AND I first saw Celestial Peak in October 1981, we vowed to return to China to climb it. We were accompanying one of the first groups of foreigners ever to visit the Siguniang mountain region of the Ti...
Shiwakte II. The Shiwakte mountains, which lie east of Kongur in Xinjiang, were first described by C.P. Skrine in The Geographical Journal in 1925. His photographs and the reports of the British Kongur expeditions of 1980-81 indicated that the mou...
The Grand Teton, Hossack-MacGowen Couloir, First One-Day Winter Ascent and First Ski Descent. On February 16, Hans Johnstone and I started from the Cottonwood Canyon parking lot hoping to climb the Hossack-MacGowen Couloir to the summit of the Gra...
AVALANCHE—Wyoming, Grand Tetons. At 1100 on Saturday, 12 January 1974, a 15-member National Outdoor Leadership School Teton Winter Mountaineering Expedition checked out with Ranger Pete Hart for a two-week stay, with a tentative base camp to be pl...
The Ulugh MuztaghRobert H. BatesFOR ME THE LONG quest began in 1966 on the slopes of Mount Russell in the Alaska Range, where I shared a two-man tent with Eric Shipton. Adams Carter had invited me to join him on an expedition and now we were shelt...
Zanskar, Lahaul, Ladakh, various ascents. In summer 2007 I made a number of ascents in the Indian Himalaya. I’d hoped to spend the winter of 2007–8 there, but lack of money and of motivation to remain in the mountains climbing alone drove me home....
This is the thirtieth volume of Accidents in North American Mountaineering and the first that has been edited and published jointly by the American Alpine Club and The Alpine Club of Canada. The first volume was published by the AAC in 1948, and s...
AlaskaBaby steps: lessons from Alaskan alpinismSteve HouseAmerican culture is obsessed by evolution, the concept of progress toward an imagined ideal. We are entirely dependent on it—to make the next sale, to grow the next stock, to sell the new c...
Chhomotang Valley: Chhomotang I, Chhomotang III and Thorchok II, first ascents; Thorchok I, second ascent; Chhomotang II (No Name Peak), ascent. In summer 2004 we explored climbing possibilities in the Chhomotang valley, 85km west of Leh in the Za...
Naming Alaska’s MountainsWith Some Accounts of Their First AscentsFrancis P. FarquharThe names of places, if properly investigated, provide a very good guide to the history of a region. This is particularly true in the case of Alaska where so many...