ROCK BROKE OFF, FALL ON ROCK, CLIMBING UNROPED, FAILURE TO TEST HOLDS, INADEQUATE PROTECTION, INEXPERIENCEKentucky, Red River Gorge State ParkOn October 2, a climber (22) was on top of Courthouse Rock looking for an anchor placement for rappelling...
Pyramid Peak, Attempt. The Australian Pyramid Peak Expedition consisted of seven climbers (Darren Miller, leader; James Serie, Gavin Dunmall, Nicola Sunderland, Scott Welch, Jon Chapman, Morvan Grant) with the aim to make the first ascent of this ...
TABLE IIReported Mountaineering AccidentsYearNumber of accidents Reported U.S.A-CAN.Total Number of Persons Involved U.SA.-CAN.InjuredU.SA.-CAN.KilledU.S.A.-CAN.19511421103195229321713195324271412195431413181955343929131956467151181957455328181958...
Arrigetch Peaks, Samurai Savitz and Rock Jock. Tim Kemple, Justin Sjong, and I flew to Betties, where we met Max Hanft, the only local climber. He accompanied us on our journey into the Arrigetch. Our team, with a combined age of less than 100, wa...
Snehätten, West Greenland. On August 13, Egidio Bolis, Dario De Nigro, Andrea Farina, Amedeo and Margherita Gatti, Emilio Moreschi, Giovanna Nava and I climbed Snehätten (Nugatsiaup Qaqa; 1765 meters, 5791 feet), the culminating point of Qeqertars...
FALL ON ICEAlberta, Rocky Mountains, near Lake LouiseOn March 11, 1984, two ice climbers (26 and 25) attempted the falls near the Plain- of-Six-Glaciers Teahouse in the Lake Louise area of Banff National Park. They traveled to the falls on cross-c...
RAPPEL FAILURE–INADEQUATE ANCHORAlaska, Moose's Tooth, Shaken Not StirredIn the early morning of May 1, around 0200, Kevin Cooper and Ryan Jennings (ages unknown, as they did not register) were descending from the “Shaken Not Stirred” route on the...
Z3, Zanskar Group. Our expedition consisted of Gianni Pasinetti, Giacomo Cenini, Piero Favalli, Rina Gentilini, Tullio Rocco, Massimo Sanavio and me as leader. We had as objectives Z3 and Z8. We placed Base Camp on August 7 near the Pensi La at 14...
Huandoy Norte, North Face, Attempt, and Northwest Face, Solo Ascent. It was 7 a.m. as Ed Diffendal and I began the task of flagging down a taxi in Huaraz, Peru, our sights set on climbing Huandoy Norte. As we flagged down a taxi, we realized that ...
FALL ON ROCK, RAPPEL ERROR-PROTECTION PULLED OUTBritish Columbia, Purcell Mountains, Eastpost SpireOn July 18, Dave Ireland (51) and Peter Uzieblo were about two pitches up Lions Way (5.6, six pitches) on Eastpost Spire. One dropped his digital ca...
Cho Oyu, Scientific and Climbing Expedition. We had a medical team, Drs. Julio Alberdi, José Martínez, María Jesús Alvarado and me as leader, and climbers Juan José Amezgaray, Atxo Apellaniz, Iñaki Kerejeta, Xabier López de Gereñu, Juan Oiarzabal,...
Gangapurna Attempt. An Icelandic expedition of five, led by Gudmundur Petursson, hoped to attempt Gangapurna by its east ridge from the col between Annapurna III and Gangapurna. However, they did not reach the col but abandoned the climb at 5500 m...
LOSS OF CONTROL—VOLUNTARY GLISSADEWyoming, TetonsOn September 9, 1984, Gwyne (51) and Marcel Davidson (26) left Surprise Lake at 0600 for a climb of Mount Owen via the Koven route. They reached the summit around 1500. They rappelled off the rock s...
Alma Negra District. In mid April, near the Alma Negra pass over to Chile, east of the city of San Juan, Argentines Antonio Beorchia, Antonio Mastellaro, Mario Muñoz and Edgardo Yacante made the first ascent of Cerro Mirador del Olivares (c. 4800 ...
Mount Adams, Lava Glacier Headwall. On June 21, Craig Eihlers, Clint Crocker, Matt Kerns, and I hiked the Killen Creek Trail #113 to Mountaineers Camp for our base. On June 22, we climbed to approximately 8500 feet by crossing over the lower porti...
Mt. Owen (12,910). Climbed by four parties, none of which followed throughout its entire length the route employed on the two previous ascents of this peak (1930) though all utilized the last portion of it (the west fissure) in scaling the Granite...
Shisha Pangma Tragedy and Ascent. Our 13-person expedition reached Base Camp at 16,400 feet on March 29. Supplies could be jeeped some eight miles further. The rest of the transport to Camp I at 18,700 feet was by yak. We were delayed until April ...
San Lorenzo Group, Cerro Hermoso, southwest summit. From a base camp in Rio Oro Valley, Italians Luca Maspes and Diego Fregona made what they believe to be the first ascent of Cerro Hermoso’s southwest summit, calling it “Cumbre Silvia.” They clim...
FALLING ROCK, SEVERED ROPE, STRANDED California, Yosemite ValleyOn October 13, 1988, about 1100, Kail Giger (44) and Alex Clapasson were on the sixth or seventh pitch (below Dolt Hole) on The Nose route of El Capitan when a rock fall occurred. Cla...
Everest Attempt. Ours was not a successful attempt. Indeed snow conditions were such that we didn’t even get close. The members were Bruce Farmer, Dick Price, Mike Rheinberger, Peter Allan, Warwick Anderson, Mike Perry, Graeme Dingle, Shaun Norman...