London, February 20, 1931.The Editor,American Alpine Journal.Sir:In my article in the American Alpine Journal, Vol. I, No. 2, “Reflections on Guidelcss Climbing,” I stated that to A. F. Mummery is often attributed the distinction of having broken ...

Around Russell FiordWilliam Lowell PutnamAS a result of plans formulated two years earlier, I began in January 1949 to organize an expedition to go into the Saint Elias Range and attempt the ascents of Mount Vancouver’s south ridge and Mount Cook’...

Choquetanga Group and Jachacunocollo of the Cordillera Quimsa Cruz, Sajama and Illimani. An expedition of Tochigi, Japan was led by Shigeo Abe and further made up of Moriyuki Kozai, Tadashi Hasegawa, Teiji Terauchi, Hitoshi Imai, Hiroshi Ono, Mori...

AVALANCHE, POOR POSITIONWyoming, Grand Teton National Park, Mount OwenOn the evening of April 22, Ranger Renny Jackson received a phone call from Jackson resident Christian Beckwith. According to Beckwith, his friend Stephen Koch (29) had not retu...

Cordillera de Ansilta, San Juan Province. Antonio Beorchia, Sergio G. Job and Jorge Varas on February 11, made the first ascent of the unnamed south peak (5100 meters, 16,733 feet) of Pico Ansilta #5, via its rocky southeast slopes. They christene...

Mt. Hunter, South Ridge, third ascent. In mid-June Forrest Murphy and I climbed Mt. Hunter’s South Ridge. It was likely the third ascent. We opted for the “direct start variation,” made by the 1986 second ascent. Here we found high-quality mixed c...

FALL ON SNOW AND ROCK, BAD WEATHER, AND “UNKNOWN”Washington, Mount RainierAt noon on May 23, 1981, Bruce A. Mooney (20) and Douglas D. Fowler (21) checked out from the White River Ranger Station to climb Liberty Ridge. They hiked into their high c...

M. HELEN SMITH(1876-1940)Helen Smith was born in Newark, N. J. She was graduated from Mt. Holyoke College in 1898 and a few years later became a biology teacher in Manual Training High School, Brooklyn, N. Y.From childhood she was an out-of-doors ...

Gasherbrum IV, West Face Attempt. The idea of attempting the unclimbed west face of Gasherbrum IV was formed in 1976 by Martin Boysen and me from the summit of Trango Tower. Even from a distance of 30 miles, the face was impressive; from its base ...

A Traverse of The Dent Blanche1Hassler WhitneyTIME had defeated us on the long ridge from the Triftjoch to the Rothorn. We had descended from the Pointe de Mountet, and were now crossing the expanse of the Glacier du Mountet between large crevasse...

Nepal, Various Activity in the Pre-Monsoon. Britain’s Alan Hinkes arrived in Kathmandu at the end of March with a film crew and publicity material describing him as “the most successful high-altitude mountaineer in Britain,” and quite rightly poin...

Alpine Pilgrimage, by Dr. Julius Kugy. Translated by H. E. G. Tyndale. 374 pages, 25 illustrations. London. John Murray, 1934. Price 12s.Perhaps you have a corner of a shelf among your mountain books reserved for The Playground of Europe, Scramble...

Mt. Huntington, Shi-Shi, and Mt. McKinley, Denali Diamond, third ascent. In April and May, Fumitaka Ichimura and I spent a substantial holiday in the Alaska Range.On April 25 we made base camp on the west fork of the Tokositna Glacier at 2,500m. W...

RAPPEL ANCHOR FAILURE, HASTE, RAINY WEATHER, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENTColorado, NotchtopOn the morning of August 5, 1983, Skip Hansen (36) and leader, Chuck Layton (26), started off to climb the Spiral Route on Notchtop. We arrived at the base of the r...

FALLING ROCK—FALL ON ROCKCalifornia, Yosemite Valley, Middle Cathedral RockOn June 2, John Kurth, 33, and Casey Shaw, 39, were climbing the Direct North Buttress (17 pitches) on Middle Cathedral Rock. Shaw led pitch 15 at about 6:00 p.m., followin...

Storm and Sorrow in the High Pamirs, by Robert W. Craig. Seattle: The Mountaineers, with the American Alpine Club, 1977. 176 pages, 56 color photos; maps and sketches, paperbound. $6.95.This is a truly sad and chilling book. Grief and pathos burst...

Sugar Tooth, Southeast Buttress. Over three-days in mid-June, Peter Haeussler and I (both of Anchorage) established a 20-pitch free climb on the Sugar Tooth. This was my third attempt at the route, the second with Peter, and the second ascent of t...

FROSTBITE, WEATHER, INADEQUATE CLOTHINGAlaska, Mount McKinleyOn May 5, 1985, the Vail-Denali Expedition, led by Ted Billings, was shuttling loads to a high cache at 5550 meters on the Cox Comb. About 1400, strong winds began blowing. Ted Billings ...

Igdlorssitt Havn, Cape Farewell, new routes. At the western end of Prins Christian Sund is an anchorage at the entrance to a valley. Marked on the map as Igdlorssitt Havn, it is unclear whether this local name refers to the anchorage or the valley...

First Ascent of the W. Ridge of The Grand Teton August 8th-10th, 1938. On account of the heavy snow coyer in 1938, serious rock climbing in the Tetons was delayed until late in the summer. On August 8th, Durrance and the writer left Jenny Lake at ...