Unprecedented amounts of good weather greeted climbers in the 2007–08 Patagonia season, resulting in numerous new routes and significant ascents. [Note: This summary supplements the individual reports, mostly of longer routes, below.]On the southe...
The Mountains of New ZealandKate GardinerLITTLE more than a fortnight's voyage from San Francisco lies New Zealand with its English-speaking population and glorious Southern Alps, a veritable Mecca for the mountaineer with as good and perhaps even...
Kampur, attempt. In August and September Pete Linkroum, Jacob Moore, and I explored the Ishkoman region of the Hindu Raj. Our plan was to attempt Jutebar Peak (ca 5600m) near Darkot Pass, but due to poor conditions we turned our sights to a new li...
In August, as part of a Mammut Team Trip, I joined Austrian David Lama and Swiss Giovanni Quirici and Stephan Siegrist, and with photographer Rainer Eder, filmmaker Christoph Frutiger, and expedition organizer Robert Steiner (Germany) made a trip ...
Everest via the Great Couloir. Our climbing team of Lincoln Hall, Andrew Henderson, Greg Mortimer, Tim Macartney-Snape and me as leader was joined by a four-man film crew and two Nepali assistants. We felt totally intimidated by the huge 3000-metr...
Peak Gorky (6,050m), south face, Slovenia Direct. In July-August 2003 the region of famous peaks Pobeda and Khan-Tengri was visited by expedition from Slovenia. Its members were mostly young alpinists, climbing at such heights for the first time: ...
The Northern Borkoldoy has a staggering collection of gnarly looking peaks topping out at just under 5,000m. The 4x4 journey to reach them was the hardest I have ever undertaken. The direct back roads from Naryn to Issykul feature dramatic gorges,...
TABLE III1951-881959-8819891989TerrainUSACAN.USACAN.Rock26273211009Snow1491254338Ice1235571River12300Unknown18610Ascent or DescentAscent23353279814Descent1511228414Unknown2354520Immediate CauseFall or slip on rock1696157686Slip on snow or ice59612...
OVERDUE - CLIMBING ALONE, FALL ON SNOW,Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park, Avalanche CanyonOn August 5, Patty Felder contacted park dispatch to report that her husband, Richard Felder (58), was overdue from a descent of Avalanche Canyon. They had ...
On August 3 Scott Adamson, Tom Adamson, and I stepped off the plane in Bishkek, courtesy of an AAC Lyman Spitzer Grant. We immediately realized the extent of the communication barrier and were glad to see our contact, Misha Sohorukov (mis48@ramble...
A large group was gathered at Military Wall on September 12 playing music, possibly loud enough to make communication between climber and belayer difficult. Climber was getting into the upper knee bar on Reliquary (5.12b) when he fell near the las...
A Logical DilemmaWhen “logic” is seen as an ethical failure, one climber’s “progress” becomes another’s “regression”—or worse, a theft from the future of adventure. Herewith, another installment in the eternal argument on bolts and how they’re pla...
The Price of Adventure: Mountain Rescue Stores from Four Continents. Hamish MacInnes. The Mountaineers, Seattle, 1987. 192 pages, black and white photographs. $15.95.The Price of Adventure contains stories of rescues on ten different mountains on ...
The MacCoffee Tien Shan Expedition departed Singapore on July 20, 2005. [This report was filed two years late due to the expedition’s exclusive media arrangement— Ed.] We were soon inserted by helicopter onto the Siemienova Glacier at 3,943m. On J...
A Note on Ancient CramponsSimler, in his De Alpibus Commentarius (1574), says “people are accustomed to tie iron shoes, like those of horses, and furnished with three sharp prongs, securely to their feet, so that they may get firm foothold on the ...
Tinchenkang (6,010m), ascent and tragedy. A team of five from the Mumbai Chakram Hikers Club attempted Tinchenkang in October. On the 19th the leader, Mangesh Deshpande, and Sadasivan Sekar, with Sherpas Ang Dorje and Mingma, reached the summit at...
Colorado, St. Mary’s Glacier—west of Idaho Springs—Sunday, February 24, 1957 was a bright sunny morning as Russell Foley (15), Gary Moss (16), Jack Ganley (18), George Garramone (16), and Ellis Lance (17) packed their lunches and left their parent...
WEATHER, HYPOTHERMIA, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENTCalifornia, Yosemite Valley, El Capitan, The NoseOn April 9, two parties of climbers started up the Nose (Grade VI) on El Capitan. One group included John Montecucco (30) and Shawn Kelley (28) and the othe...
The Entropy WallA direct route up Mt. Moffit’s north face.Jed BrownThe Hayes Range has long been a sort of local range for Fairbanks climbers. It doesn’t have the glamour appeal of Denali or the Ruth Gorge, and access is a problem. (The Talkeetna ...
Two flights, three days of bum-bruising off-road driving, and two days of scenic hiking brought us to our base camp (4,600m, 33°16'19.52"N, 76°54'20.20"E) in an arena of unclimbed mountains. It was September 1, and we were in a western branch of t...