Hachindar Chhish, East Face. The march-in with 110 porters to the foot of Hachindar Chhish from Aliabad in Hunza took us four days. On May 30 we established Base Camp on the Muchichul Glacier at 12,000 feet. We used no high-altitude porters. Our r...
El Gigante, Blade, Scars, and Stars. In November 2000 I returned to Mexico with Jakub Gajda and Gareth Llewellin to attempt El Gigante. The month-long journey was wrought with near-death encounters and bucketsful of snakes. But we succeeded in est...
The Lieutenants, East Face, Purcells. The striking, well-photographed background peak at the Lake of the Hanging Glaciers is simply known as the Lieutenants. On August 6 John Rupley and I climbed its east face from the lower part of the valley gla...
New Hampshire, Cannon Mt. On 28 April David Koop (20) and Charles Ericsson (20) were climbing Sam’s Swan Song on Cannon Cliff. They had reached the last significant pitch and were slightly off to the left of the usual route. Koop was 40 feet above...
RAPPEL ERROR—FALL ON ROCKCalifornia, Owens River Gorge, China WallOn February 4, Ian Seevers Mack (23) died after falling 115 feet while climbing China Wall.Apparently Mack was preparing to rappel when he fell. Mack was anchored and as his partner...
Everest Attempt and Tragedy. Peter Hillary led an expedition of two New Zealanders and four Australians on an attempt on the west ridge of Everest from the Western Cwm. They had three fixed camps above Base Camp plus a bivouac at 7900 meters. Five...
El Gigante, Los Sueños del Gigante. This 22-pitch route (5.11d/A0 or 5.12d) was established in mixed style, by Alex and Nathalie Catlin and Matt Greco, in December 2003. The route was cleaned on rappel over three weeks (and could use more). Many p...
Himalchuli Winter Attempt and Tragedy. A Polish expedition led by Józef Stepien hoped to climb the main peak of Himalchuli by its southwest ridge. Although there were seven members, only two were really high climbers. Deputy leader Wieslaw Panejko...
P 19,080 and P 18,560, Arwa Valley. The nine-man team from the Mountaineers’ Club of Calcutta led by Baidyanath Rakshit climbed two unnamed peaks north of the Arwa valley. T.S. Subramanian, Barun Ghosh, Provat Kumar Ganguly, two Sherpas Lakpa Tser...
Mountaineering Club of Alaska. During the year many club members climbed on non-club sponsored trips in the Chugach, Talkeetna, Wrangell, Alaska, and Kenai Ranges. Three members climbed Mount Drum (12,010 feet), and second ascents were made of Mou...
Tangkongma, Southeast/Northeast Ridge. It was reported that Jamie McGuinness (New Zealand) led an international commercial expedition that made perhaps the third official ascent of Tangkogma (6215m) via a possible new route. The mountain, which si...
Jaonli. Leader Chuck Evans, Andrew Pollard and Tim Dickinson of an eight-man British expedition climbed Jaonli (6632 meters, 21,760 feet), reaching the summit on August 7.
A.A.C., New York Section. The highpoint of the year’s events for the New York Section was the annual dinner, with Gaston Rébuffat as principal speaker. A capacity gathering of 150 attended the black-tie affair at the Union Club on October 1, attra...
A.A.C., Sierra Nevada Section. It was a very active year for this section of 105 members. Besides the customary involvement in climbs all over the world, many members took great interest in the policies and workings of the Club. At one meeting we ...
Chamlang. After a 15-day approach march from Jiri, during which Frank Weiner and Barbara Ottl had high-altitude problems and had to leave, we reached the Hongu valley. Base Camp at 5000 meters was below the northwest face of Chamlang. The other fo...
Bojohagur Duanasir. Tsuneo Omae led a Japanese expedition which made the first ascent of Bojohagur Duanasir by its southwest ridge. They approached via the Hasanabad Glacier west of the peak. They placed Base Camp at 4300 meters on June 19 and Cam...
Hand of Fatima, further notes to Wright’s report. The Hand of Fatima towers close to the town of Hombori within a region mainly occupied by the Fulani tribe. Hombori’s unique position shares tribal borders, so the regional market trades between ma...
Chearoco, Illampu, Pico del Norte, Cordillera Real. A very successful German expedition was led by Heinz Gall and Dieter Schoodt. On July 31 they made a new route, the east face on Chearoco (20,102 feet). On August 14 and 15 Georg Frey, Schoodt, S...
Ganglagachu. A ten-member French expedition led by Philippe Allibert and Jean-François Tripard on October 25 climbed Ganglagachu (c. 6000 meters) in northern Bhutan, an “elegant,” although not very difficult snow-and- rock peak. A photograph appea...
INADEQUATE PROTECTION—RAPPEL FAILURE, ANCHOR SLING KNOT PARTEDWashington, Icicle Creek CanyonOn August 28, 1989, Gretchen Glatte (23) fell about 20 meters, breaking her neck, elbow and both wrists, and collapsing a lung when the sling being used f...