Amnesiac in the HimalayaThalay Sagar, GarhwalJohn ThackrayTHERE IS A MOMENT in most expeditions when the underlying illusions and fantasies fall away. The moment when that small grim voice within says, “Aahhh. Now, too late, I remember what an exp...
Kichatna Spire: East Face ProwMichael GraberTUCKED AWAY in a comer of the Alaskan Range lies a maze of glaciers and rock known as the Cathedral Spires. Approximately 45 miles southwest of Mount McKinley, the Spires are famous for Yosemite-like wal...
HANS PETER MISCH 1909–1987Peter Misch, professor emeritus in geology at the University of Washington, passed away on July 23 in his home in Seattle. Until a week before his death he had continued to visit his rock-filled office, advising graduate ...
LLOYD A. ANDERSON1902-2000Lloyd A. Anderson, an American Alpine Club member since 1942 and the founder of Recreational Equipment Inc., died September 13 at the age of 98. Although he climbed more than 400 peaks in this lifetime, making many first ...
FALL ON ROCK, RAPPEL ERRORNorth Carolina, Rumbling Bald, Cereal ButtressIt was July 2, 10:30 a.m. I had met Joshua Haddock (29) only ten minutes before I heard his body impact the ground. Mike, Brian, his 15 year- old son Cole, and I had the Cerea...
McKinley from the TraleikaWilliam Ruth, UnaffiliatedAS I wallowed waist deep through the slush ice of yet another overflow stream, I could only think this was insanity. It seemed like madness that our homeward journey was proving more of a hellish...
KENT ALAN JAMESON1958-1991Kent Alan Jameson of Oxnard, California, was killed on July 7 in a rappelling accident while descending Thunderbird Peak in the Sierra Nevada. Kent’s loss will be deeply felt by many. He left behind a substantial climbing...
Nanda Khat (6,611m), east spur and north ridge. Situated immediately west of Traill’s Pass, Nanda Khat has been a much-attempted peak, though few have reached the main summit. In premonsoon, a team of seven male and five female climbers, organized...
Aconcagua and Patagonia. The joint expedition of Nagoya University and the Tokai Branch of the Japanese Alpine Club was led by Kentaro Takagi and composed of Kunitoshi Ishiwara, Shigeru Ando, Tetsuo Ando, Toshiyasu Takai, Takashi Nakaseko, Makoto ...
FALL ON ROCK, PROTECTION PULLED OUT Colorado, Rocky Mountain National Park, The RookOn May 6, at 1900, Jorge Arias (40) was leading the final pitch of Cheap Date III, 5.10b, on The Book. Arias fell 20 feet from a point about 50 feet from the top o...
Longemain (6,294m) and Daddomain (6,380m), first ascents. The excitement started early on this trip. Originally heading to eastern Tibet, our permits were cancelled the day before we headed to Lhasa from Chengdu. Some parties had evidently annoyed...
This is the fourteenth annual report of the Safety Committee of the American Alpine Club and it is with great pleasure that we announce that we are including those accidents that occur in Canada in this report. This has been made possible with the...
Mount Rainier, Liberty Wall. On June 30 Roger Oborn, Don Jones and I completed the first ascent of Liberty Wall, so named because it is a large cirque wall between Liberty Ridge and Ptarmigan Ridge, and below the Liberty Cap Glacier on Liberty Cap...
Grand Teton, East Face. I made a new climb solo on the east face of the Grand Teton on July 14, 1979. After about 250 feet of scrambling above the top of Teepee’s Glacier to a point about 50 feet left (south) of the prominent wet dihedral, I follo...
RejuvenationAn invigorating trio of new routes in India’s Bhagirathi group.Marko PrezeljAfter my expedition to Makalu in the fall of 2008, a big project that demanded lots of time and energy—and ultimately was frustrated by poor conditions—I felt ...
Premier Group, Cariboo Mountains. On previous visits to this area a semi-circle of unclimbed peaks had been noticed lying around the large glacial basin at the head of S-4 Creek, a southern tributary of the upper Canoe River. The highest of these ...
Wrangell Range. On July 7, Alex Bittenbinder, Don Stockard, Ray Wagner, and I left the new McCarthy airstrip to walk up the Kennicott Glacier to climb what seemed to be three virgin 14,000-foot peaks northeast of Mount Blackburn, hoping also to as...
Eagle Rock Spire, Monument Valley. It had been a number of years since Fred Beckey and I had together accepted the challenge of sandstone climbing. This year our efforts were directed toward Eagle Rock Mesa and the 450-foot leaning needle to the w...
This is the fifty-fourth issue of Accidents in North American Mountaineering and the twenty-third issue in which The Alpine Club of Canada has contributed data and narratives.Canada: This was a year in which an unusually high number of experienced...
Panch Chuli Christian BoningtonThe BLOB OF LIGHT was a reassuring gleam, the head torch of one of the team, slowly descending the dark and craggy buttress to the tent where I had elected to stay that morning. I had been tired, worried about the di...