California, Taquitz Rock. On July 29, James Michael McLain (24), joined a scheduled climb at Taquitz Rock with Don Rappolee (38). They decided to climb the “Switchbacks” (Route #28, Climbers Guide to Taquitz Rock by Charles Wilts) and left the gro...
Tunshu Group, Cordillera Central. The idle Mina Pachancoto (c. 15,800 feet) is at the end of a remarkable road which penetrates deep into the heart of the Tunshu group from Pachacayo on the Río Mantaro to the east. There are almost daily trucks to...
The Obelisk, Far Out and other new routes. Lucho Rivera and I enjoyed several summer adventures in the rock-climbing wonderland that is the Sierra Nevada. First was a new route on the steep face of the East Ridge of Mt. Russell. The route offered ...
FROSTBITE, BAD WEATHER, INEXPERIENCEAlaska, Mount McKinleyA ten-member Fantasy Ridge party, with guides Mike Covington and Steve Gall, made a successful ascent of the South Buttress on Mount McKinley. They reached the summit on June 25, 1981 and r...
The Hubbard AffairKenneth Andrasko, Harvard Mountaineering ClubHUBBARD is such a tubby name, without serpentine or exception, no howling past or return to forever, just a designation. Its western countenance has that same schizophrenic symmetry as...
On April 24, Cam Lawson (30) was leading the sixth pitch of Iron Hawk, a Grade VI route on El Capitan. This pitch starts on the big ledge from which the El Cap Tree grows. Jason Kraus (29) was belaying from the ledge, using a GriGri clipped to his...
Boulder Gorge, Yosemite. September 28, 1966 was supposed to be a rest day. I had just returned from a Yosemite beat-out and did not feel up to anything hard. So I decided to give my wife Liz a treat by taking her up an “easy” first ascent. Vic Cow...
Mt. Index, Murphy’s Law. Stuart Taylor and I went in to check out the west face of the North Peak of Mount Index (5,353') on Friday, February 17, 2006. We planned to attempt the unrepeated Eve Dearborn Memorial (EDM)/Supercou- loir route. The appr...
Mount Snoqualmie, Northwest Face, First Winter Ascent. In January, Greg Colum and I decided to attempt the route first climbed by Dan Davis. The northwest face, not visible from the road, is one of the largest and steepest in the Snoqualmie Pass a...
FALLING ROCK, WEATHERYukon Territory, Mount Augusta, North ButtressAt 1500 on June 18, South District Ranger Daryl Miller in Talkeetna, AX, was phoned by Charlie Sassara’s wife, Siri Moss, about an accident on Mount Augusta—a border peak 20 miles ...
Cerro San Valentin, Ascent, and. Hielo Patagonico Norte, Traverse. Two of us, Tomasz Schramm and Andrzej Smialy, had as our goal to make a traverse of the northern part of the Hielo Patagonico Norte as well as to climb the highest mountain in Pata...
Various first free ascents. In February Brian Smoot, Colby Wayment, and I free climbed The Locksmith Dihedral (IV, previously 5.11 Cl), located on the wall to the left of the Watchman. This formation was dubbed “The Gatekeeper Wall” by Dave Jones,...
AVALANCHE Alberta, Banff National Park, Mount Wilson, Midnight RamblerOn February 12 John Miner, Jim Andrues, and Russ Howard were climbing Midnight Rambler (240 m. III, WI3) on Mount Wilson in Banff National Park. Two of the three were highly exp...
WILLIAM SARGENT LADD1887 -1949Little more than a year ago, a group of us stood in the Library of the American Alpine Club and heard Dr. Ladd tell us that the new house was ours. It was his gift, the fulfillment of an old dream. His unexpected deat...
Straight Up. The Life and Death of John Harlin, by James Ramsey Ullman. New York: Doubleday & Co., 287 pages, 32 pages of photographs. Price: $5.95.“… direttissima, glory on the wall for Big John Harlin, greatest of them all.” (Song)."—for som...
DONALD PHILLIPS1884-1938In the development of the Canadian Northwest, the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railroad in 1885. with the virtual extinction of the buffalo and the decline of the fur-trade, marked the end of an era. It was succeeded ...
A prominent rock peak with an unusual summit icecap, located between the upper forks of the Stony River, southeast of the nearby Revelation Mountains, is identified incorrectly on current topographic maps. The true Snowcap Mountain (ca 8,350') is ...
Peaks Above Darrah-i-Mulaw (Scottish). The Scottish Hindu Kush Expedition was composed of Dr. R.A. North, W.M.A. Sproul, W.J.A. Tauber and me. Following the pattern of previous years, there was much activity in the Hindu Kush. Our expedition was d...
Wide Awake Tower, Wild Fire. Being a Canadian Rockies climber bred on shattered limestone and blocky quartzite, I spent the spring and summer road-tripping, determined to learn how to climb cracks. After a couple of months of Indian Creek hand jam...
University Peak, 1954GIBSON REYNOLDSThe privileged first climbers to visit a major alpine region share an experience that is becoming rare in North America. One such relatively untouched region is surprisingly close to the well-traveled Chitina Va...