Mukut Parvat (7,242m). Lionel Albrieux’s eight-member French team approached this high mountain from Ghastoli, establishing base camp at 4,800m on the Pachhimi (West) Kamet Glacier. After putting an advanced base at 5,300m, they climbed alpine-sty...
FALL INTO CREVASSE—Alaska, Mt. McKinley. Ian Wade (30), Jen Jern (28), Mathew Wells (29), Ray Smutek (39), Robert Redmayne (32) and James Roscoe (25) were ascending the East Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier planning to climb the Cassin Ridge. Approxim...
Everest, summer and autumn attempts with ski and snowboard. In stark contrast to the spring season, when 69 teams swarmed on the north and south sides of Everest, there was only one expedition on the entire mountain in the summer and just one othe...
P 5550 and Badshani, above Pasu Glacier. Jonathan Preston and I arrived at the Pasu Glacier on August 9, hoping for a month’s climbing on worthwhile alpine objectives below 6000 meters to make full use of Pakistan’s trekking regulations. One week ...
P 11,880 and P 11,610, North Fork of Ruth Glacier. Our expedition was made up of Konstantin Ferrari, leader, Gert Judmaier, Hans Penz, Wolfgang Wippler, Helmut Tschaffert and me. After being landed on the Ruth Glacier on June 19, we had very warm ...
FALL ON ROCK—HAND HOLD CAME OFF, OFF ROUTE Alberta, Castle Mountain, Goat Plateau ApproachOn July 15, a party of two climbers scrambled up the standard approach for the Castle Mountain bivi hut. During the approach, they lost the rough trail and e...
Annapurna South Face. Bae Hyun-Chul, Kang Duk-Moon, Im Jong-Bum, Hwang Dong-Jin, Hong Jea-Ki, Lee Soo-Ho, Kim In-Ki, Kim Jae-Suck, Jung Hyun-Gu, Park Jung-Hun, Lee Won-Hee and I as leader climbed on the south face of Annapurna. We established Base...
El Capitan, Highway To Hell. Gabor Berecz and I, both from Munich, spent a few weeks again this year in Yosemite. After making the fifth ascent of Never Never Land (VI 5.10a A3-) with bivies, climbing the very dirty Aquarian Wall (VI 5.10a A2+) (b...
Andrew Embick pioneered big walls, steep ice, and cold waters in Alaska and Canada from the mid-1970s through the nineties. He mentored and inspired a generation of Alaskan boaters and climbers. He was a father of two, brother of three, and friend...
THOMAS WALTER1958-1992Tom Walter was climbing toward the southeast ridge of Mount Foraker after two days on the Pink Panther route. Tom, Colby Coombs and Ritt Kellogg were climbing quickly, anxious to finish the route in worsening weather when fro...
Giri-Giri boys Fumitaka Ichimura, Ryo Masumoto, and Takaaki Nagato made the first ascent of the east face of Daddomain, although the three originally planned a direct ascent of the imposing east face of Mt. Edgar (6,618m). After setting up...
Royal Tower, Arizona Highways, New Route, and Various Activity. John Mattson, Josh Zimmerman and I had originally started a route on the southeast face of the Royal Tower in June, 1999, calling the first seven pitches The Jester. On June 20, Matts...
Yushu, Kunlun, Qinghai. Yushu (5933 meters, 19,466 feet) is a sacred peak at 35°45'N, 93°41'E on the west side of the Kunlun Pass between Xining and Lhasa. We Japanese women, Sachiko Sawada, Haruyo Ichikawa, Haruko Tsujino and I as Japanese leader...
FALL ON ROCK, FAILURE OF NUT, FALLING ROCK North Carolina, Hanging Rock State ParkThis account combines two accidents on the same route.In September 1980, Karl Pfefferkorn (19) was climbing a route called Capitol Staircase on Moores Wall when he f...
RAPPEL ERROR – SLACK IN ROPE, FALL ON ROCKColorado, Rocky Mountain National Park, Twin OwlsOn June 25 Todd Burke had led the first pitch of Organ Pipes (II, 5.6) on the Twin Owls formation. He then pulled the rope up through all pieces of protecti...
The Blacksmiths. The steep wall between Cheap Shot and Dry Hard has been the scene of aborted aid attempts due to loose rock and massive roofs. In fall 2005 and spring 2006, Jared Ogden and I tried to find a free variation, but were unable to forc...
AVALANCHE, INEXPERIENCEAlberta, Jasper National Park, Columbia Icefields, Mount AthabascaOn June 9, B.M. and N.Z. climbed Mount Athabasca via a variation of the standard North Glacier Route. They opted to descend the standard “ramp” route. The par...
Himal Chuli Attempt. A six-man Polish expedition led by Tadeusz Piotrowski attempted Himal Chuli (7893 meters, 25,895 feet) by its unclimbed south ridge. The porters quit on April 12 and so the march-in took three weeks. Base Camp was established ...
Manaslu Attempt and Tragedy. A 15-member Japanese expedition to the east ridge of Manaslu was led by Seigo Matsushima. On October 27, Shinja Furukawa, Hiroshi Kokub, Hitoshi Kudo and Ichigi Kudo reached 6500 meters and descended. The next day Ichi...
Mt. Elbrus, Ascent, and New Year Millennium Celebration. During the New Year, a team from Moscow led by Maxim Shakirov and comprising Juri Saveliev, and Sergey Larin, together with Igor Cheresku (leader of Shkhelda Emergency Rescue service), greet...