T.C. Price Zimmerman seemed to live a charmed, or at least exceptional, life. He was, concurrently, president of the American Alpine Club and dean of the faculty at Davidson College. He had graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Williams College; studied a...
This has never been climbed,” Dhruv tells us. A passionate local climber and a living guidebook, Dhruv Joshi helped put our expedition to India together. He points to a beautiful pyramid just to the south of Nanda Devi East: “About 6,300 meters.” ...
These days, becoming a great alpine climber undoubtedly requires high-level physical fitness and proficiency across various climbing styles. However, as others have said before, alpine climbing isn’t just a sport—it feels more like an art form. Ph...
It had been a 50-day odyssey to get from Oban, Scotland, to the massive shield of granite called Mirror Wall on the Renland peninsula of East Greenland. Those seven weeks included sailing through rough seas, vomiting with seasickness, dodging stor...
Kajaqiao (left) and Manamcho seen from the northwest over the Manam Valley. The first-ascent route on Manamcho (Fowler-Ramsden, 2007) faces the camera. The 2024 route up the southwest face and ridge lies near the right skyline. Photo: Lai Xingzh...
The northwest face of Jiongmudazhi (6,590m) and the line of the first ascent in September 2024. Photo: Tong Haijun/Wang Yongpeng Less than a month after climbing Chuchepo (see report here), Tong Haijun and Wang Yongpeng returned to the area i...
Chuchepo (6,613m or 6,650m) with the northeast face, climbed in August 2024, in shadow. Photo by Tong Haijun/Wang Yongpeng The Nyanchen Tanglha East is a vast area of unclimbed 6,000-meter peaks, some of which are spectacular. In the southwe...
Sir Duk from the southeast. (1) 2024 ascent to the west shoulder. (2) 2000 ascent up the south ridge, the first ascent of the 6,614-meter mountain. The summit route climbed in 2009 up the south-southwest face is hidden behind route 2. Photo by F...
Dane Steadman about 1,300 meters up the north pillar of Yashkuk Sar I at the end of the second day on the route. Sax Sar, climbed during acclimatization, is the high peak in right center. Photo by August Franzen. Crashhhh! rang through the pe...
The 1,670-meter southwest arête of Kaqur Kangri (6,859m), with bivouacs shown. The summit is hidden behind. The team descended along the northwest ridge (left). Photo by Spencer Gray. I was not expecting so much delight. Ryan Griffiths, Matt...
Barbara (Babsi) Zangerl near the top of Free Rider on day four of the route’s first flash ascent. Photo by Miya Tsudome for Highpoint Productions. Over the years, my partner, Jacopo Larcher, and I have spent a lot of time on El Capitan, but s...
Ondra Húserka approaching an ice smear during day three on Langtang Lirung’s east face. The ice was bypassed on the left to reach the site of the pair’s third bivouac. Photo by Marek Holeček. The dramatic events of the days on Langtang Lirun...
Aerial view of the Gasherbrum group from the southwest, taken in October 2006, showing (A) Gasherbrum IV (7,925m), (B) Gasherbrum III (7,952m map elevation), and (C) Gasherbrum II (8,035m). The foreground ridge holds the summits of Gasherbrums V...
Matteo Della Bordella, Alex Gammeter, Symon Welfringer, and I reached Tasiilaq in East Greenland in mid-July. Our climbing goal was the huge, unclimbed northwest face of Drøneren (1,867m), near the head of South Skjoldungen Fjord (Inugsuarmiut Fjo...
Win, Lou, and Peter Whittaker (left to right). Lou Whittaker, a world-renowned mountaineer and guide, passed away at his home near Mt. Rainieron March 24. “Big Lou” was 95. Lou grew up in Seattle alongside his identical twin brother, Jim. Th...
Photo: Knut Pohl/Powderguide Out of Western Europe in the late 1960s and early ’70s, a new form of alpinism was dawning: that of skiing down—after climbing up—terrain formerly thought of solely as climbs. While names such as Vallençant and B...
John Rupley died on July 20 from pulmonary arterial hypertension and cardiac failure, the result of chemotherapy-induced pulmonary fibrosis. A leading American alpinist from the 1950s through the ’70s, he also was a productive researcher and teach...
Bob Kamps (left) and Dave Rearick preparing for the first ascent of the Diamond in 1960. NPS Photo Pioneering free climber, mathematician and teacher, long-distance cyclist, master woodworker, self-taught classical guitarist, aspiring astrona...
Photo by Cameron M. Burns On July 28, 1992, John Middendorf and Xaver Bongard reached the summit of Great Trango Tower, a massive shield of rock in the Karakoram. They had spent the previous 18 days climbing the east face, fighting poor weath...
Photo by Liz Leightner “Let me say it,” he whispered through a grin. “You’re young, and you’ll have plenty of time to blow things up in the future. I should handle this one.” We were discussing a difference of opinion in climbing policy, muc...