Haystack, Direct West Face. The smooth exfoliated west face of Haystack, as seen across Big Sandy Lake, is a landmark to climbers hiking in to the Cirque of the Towers area. It becomes increasingly steeper and harder as you move from the more slop...

White MountainsMt. Washington. The summer of 1942 marks the 300th anniversary of the first ascent of Mt. Washington by Darby Field. Looking for a route to the fur country, which was enriching the traders of Quebec, he had gone up the Saco River, c...

In Nepal’s geopolitical landscape, the West has a special place. West Nepal was one starting point of the Maoist revolution and forms a perfect example of the dramatic imbalance of economic development and tourism that exist within the country. Cl...

Half Dome, Peripheral Vision. On July 17, Karl McConachie and I completed the first traverse of Half Dome’s northwest face (VI 5.11c PDH). It is a line we had talked about since our ascent of Same as it Never Was in 1986, but just never got it tog...

LOSS OF CONTROL, VOLUNTARY GLISSADE—Washington, Mt. Shuksan. On a climb with the Mountaineers, Walter Swan (age unknown) lacerated his right thigh with the pick of his ice axe. “Whinney’s slide was icy and Walt ‘lost it’ part way down.” Injury res...

Bhagirati Parbat. The expedition of the Calcutta Climbers Club, led by Sujit Bose, made its base on the Basuki Tal (lake) at 16,200 feet south of the Chaturangi Glacier. On October 22 Bose, V. Govindraj, Amar Roy and the Sherpas Karma and Gyalbu m...

FALL ON SNOW, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENT, CLIMBING ALONE Colorado, Rocky Mountain National Park, Mount AliceOn August 29, David Ingersoll (40) left the Wild Basin Trailhead alone to check out possible routes on the East face of Mount Alice. Ingersoll sc...

The Parapet, South Face. Our unofficial naming of the imposing central crag of the Mount Bago jumble above Junction Meadow along Bubbs Creek came after a most enjoyable frolic on the solid rock of this formation. In May, Rick Nolting and I climbed...

AVALANCHEYukon Territory, Mt. Logan, Southwest ButtressJohn Lauchlan (24) and Jim Elzinga (25) were descending a snow face about 2,000 feet below the summit of Mt. Logan on 1 July 1979 after having climbed the southwest buttress. An avalanche came...

Castle Rocks, North Buttress of “Amphitheatre Dome.” A trip to the Castle Rocks in the western Sequoia area rewarded us when we found and climbed a fine face on the major peak in this compact group of granite summits, a mile south of better known ...

FALL ON SNOW, EXCEEDING ABILITIES, ASCENDING TOO FASTAlaska, Mount McKinley, West RibA ten-member British Army expedition “Summit to the Sea” checked into the Talkeetna Ranger Station for their briefing on June 2. Their original plan was to ascend...

Haizi Shan, 2003 and 2005 attempts. In October 2003 we traveled from Hong Kong to Sichuan by train. We were joined in Kanding by Neil Carruthers, Stephen Wai Wah Yip (Geordie), and Ron Yue, who arrived by plane.After renting a horse train from the...

Pisang Peak Ascent and Tragedy. In autumn a 20-strong Slovenian trekking group made the Annapurna circuit. Four members, all experienced mountaineers, decided to climb the Pisang Peak (6091 meters). The climb went smoothly and they reached the sum...

Sundance Peak, East Face. In late July Anne Ketchin and I climbed an interesting new route on the east face of Sundance Peak. Following a book crack that starts slightly left of center on the face we climbed five pitches to the top of the south ri...

HANDHOLD CAME OFF-FALL ON ROCK, PROTECTION (BOLT) PULLED OUTAlberta, Lady MacDonald, Stoneworks CragOn August 4, S. (20) was climbing a 5.12a sport route at a crag near Canmore. He clipped three bolts and moved some distance above the third bolt w...

Ranrapalca, North Face, Variation. It was reported that Patrick Knoll and Peruvians Guillermo Mejia-Ordóñez and Eduardo Angulo-Zambrano did a new start to the north face (TD+ 5.9 A2, 3,000 feet) of Ranrapalca (6162m) in the first week of August. T...

Spokane Mountaineers. Experiments during 1964 led to a thorough ski-mountaineering course in the fall, followed by experience climbs on skis. The attrition in attendance from classroom to snow-cave living was predictably high. Spokanites will init...

Nun, Northwest Ridge and West Face. The highest summit (23,410 feet) between Nanga Parbat and the Garhwal Himalaya, Nun, was climbed by a 15-member Mountain Travel team, led by Galen Rowell. Five climbers reached the summit and twelve got to the...

Rich Jack, 1948-2010In 1987 I was the rock-climbing director of a Boy Scout Ranch outside of Fort Collins. I needed to hire a couple of climbers to set up top-ropes, so I put up a notice at the climbing store and met with a tall, blond guy the nex...

Peaks in the Vicinity of Grave Lake. Grave Lake has long been a popular destination for pack trippers and fishermen; however, a perusal of Bonney’s Guide to the Wyoming Mountains and Wilderness Areas indicated that the mountaineering possibilities...