Alto Ritacuba and Other Peaks, Cordillera Oriental. In late December 1980, I made alone the following ascents: from a camp near Laguna (lake) de Cardenillo, Nevado Alto Ritacuba (5464 meters, 17,926 feet) on December 24, Ritacuba Norte (Nevado de ...
Cathedral Mountain, Various Activity. On April 1, Tom Jones and I established the nine-pitch Fool’s Buttress (III 5.8 A0), which ascends the northeast buttress of Cathedral Mountain. Two pitches of fourth-class friction on the left side of the sub...
FALL ON SNOW, CLIMBING ALONE AND UNROPED, EXCEEDING ABILITIESColorado, Rocky Mountain National Park, Mount MeekerOn August 14, Scot Eden (25) was injured while attempting to descend from a partial ascent of Left Gully (a.k.a. Dream Weaver—II, AI 2...
Lashar I, first ascent of peak via south face; Janak, south face, attempt. I first saw the south face of Janak (7,041m) in autumn 2000, when leading an expedition to Jongsang, Pathibara, and Kiratchuli. From the upper Broken Glacier the southwest ...
Diran Tragedy, 1993. On page 262 of AAJ, 1993, reference was made to the death of Spaniards Francesc Xavier Socias and José Carlos Mármol from Mallorca on Diran. The pair were at Camp II on the normal north-face, west-ridge route at 6100 meters on...
Mooses Tooth. On April 27, members of the Mountaineering Club of Alaska climbed the steep German route of the Mooses Tooth to the western summit, taking 17 hours from the Ruth Gorge. The climbers were Julian Mason, Harry Johnson, Pete Panarese and...
Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park, Symmetry Spire. On June 10 Carlee Hendrix (26), Dale Swinney (31) and Ray Gump (35) had completed ascents of Ice and Storm Points and were glissading down the Symmetry Spire Couloir. Ray Gump had gone down about...
ALTITUDE SICKNESSAlaska, Mt. McKinleyKonrad Schumann (45), a member of the Stroebel Expedition from Germany, was evacuated from 12,800 feet on the West Buttress of Mt. McKinley on June 1, 1980.The group had initially planned a quick ascent of the ...
FALL ON ICE, INADEQUATE PROTECTIONBritish Columbia, Lillooet, Oregon JackOn January 7, H.C., S.P., and I headed into the hills south of Cache Creek for a day of ice climbing on “Oregon Jack.”The ice was in good shape, although quite “platey” on th...
After an injury in our party halted our attempt at the standard King Trench route on Mt. Logan, Morgan Lakey and I turned our frustrations to a pyramidal rock and snow peak five kilometers northwest of the standard Base Camp on the Quitino Sella G...
Dhaulgiri Tragedy. The recent Argentine expedition chose the still unclimbed Pear route, pioneered in 1954 and 1956 by Argentines. Mario Serrano organized the expedition well and it got to the base of the climb by early March. By the end of April,...
Squamish Chief, Grand Wall, First Free Ascent. On July 18 at 7 a.m., Annie Overlin and I embarked on what would become a historical day. Our plan was to make the first free ascent of the Grand Wall. I planned on red-pointing every pitch, and Annie...
Cerro Castillo, Southeast Face, North of the Southern Continental Icecap, 1982. Yugoslavs Tone Golnar and Ljubo Hansel, New Zealander David Waugh and Korean Chil Kyou Son teamed together to make the first ascent of the southeast face of Cerro Cast...
Ruth Gorge, Mt. Dickey, Blood from the Stone. In March, Sean Easton (Canada) and Ueli Steck (Switzerland) established a remarkable mixed route on the 5,000' east face of Mt. Dickey. The route, which they named Blood from the Stone, includes diffic...
C.l.S. Competitions, 1996. Russia is the only country in the world where mountaineers who make ascents in various mountains then send in their accounts to an arbitration board appointed annually by the Russian Mountaineering Federation to contend ...
Cerro Torre, Winter Ascent. On June 30 there was almost one meter of snow at Base Camp, but luckily Maurizio Giarolli, Andrea Sarchi, Paolo Caruso and I had skis. In about nine hours we reached the col on the southeast spur of Cerro Torre on the M...
Coast Mountains, remote areas summary. 2004 was an astonishing year in the Coast Mountains, especially the Waddington Range. The new Waddington Guide was felt dramatically, with perhaps triple the usual number of climbers entering the range. Moreo...
Yalung Kang Attempt. I had originally hoped to climb Yalung Kang by the normal southeast-face route with a small alpine-style team. When the members of my original team could not come and I could find no others, I decided to attempt it alone with ...
FALL ON ROCK, FALLING ROCKColorado, Mount AeolusOn July 6, 1984, Joseph Stolla (37), an experienced climber and an attorney from Englewood, Colorado, fell to his death from Mount Aeolus when a large block of rock broke off. A month later, a hiker ...
Cerro Selk’nam, First Ascent. On October 4, I made the first ascent of a peak near Bahia Pary, naming it Cerro Selk’nam after the historical indigenous people of the area. On September 25, I was dropped off and made Base Camp at Bahia Pary. After ...