FALL ON SNOW AND HAPE/HACE-ASCENDING TOO FASTAlaska, Mount McKinley, West ButtressAt 1430 on May 17, Frainciso Borja (32), a member of the Blue Skies Expedition, was witnessed by NPS Ranger Scott Metcalfe and VIP Kirk Mauthner falling from just be...
Mount Shuksan, Nooksack Cirque. Pete Doorish and I visited a summit immediately northeast of Nooksack Tower by climbing from a camp near the northeastern arm of the Price Glacier. The climbing was enjoyable at the outset, but the rock became incre...
AVALANCHEAlberta, Banff National Park, Mount Wilson, Wilson MajorOn January 10, J.W. (29) and J.S. (23) were approaching the ice climb Wilson Major on Mount Wilson. They had climbed up the WI III approach pitches of Lady Wilson’s Cleavage and were...
Beartooths, Granite Peak, Directissima. In late July Bob Goodwin and I made what may be a new route on the north face of Granite Peak. We reached the north ridge of Temple Peak at noon and stared over at the north face, determining the most direct...
Lauper Bjerg Attempt, East Greenland. The British Tasilaq Expedition started with four members: Anthony Day, Stuart Raeburn, Nigel Topping and me. Unfortunately, Day had to leave the expedition early. Along with geological and glaciological studie...
Goat Glacier, various ascents. U.K. climbers Glenn Wilks, Geoff Hornby, Alistair Duff, and Susie Sammut flew into the upper part of the southwest fork of the Goat Glacier in the Granite Range. This fork had not been explored by climbers from Ultim...
Kankar Pünzum Attempt. The Himalayan Association of Japan expedition was composed of Michifumi Ohuchi, leader, Yoshio Ogata, climbing leader, Hitoshi Watanabe, Sadao Hangaya, Koichi Ezaki, Shinya Kobayashi, Makoto Miyoshi, Tetsuya Kudo, Fumie Kume...
FALL ON ROCK, UNROPED, POSSIBLY OFF ROUTEWashington, Guye PeakOn October 13, Ken Colburn (49) was climbing Guye Peak with a friend when he fell 300 feet over a cliff to his death. The two had just unroped near the summit when they reached easier t...
Chamlang East Attempt. Jon Deak and I, one of four regular members and founder and life president respectively of the Juilliard Mountain Club (and both professional double bass players), set up “Bass” Camp near the lower Barun Glacier in mid May. ...
Heartstone Peak, North Buttress. In late July, from a fine camp on a tiny outcrop at the edge of the Cataract Glacier icefall, Carl Diedrich, Greg Collum and I spent a beautiful day ascending this unclimbed buttress. The route was entirely snow an...
FALLING ROCK, FAILURE TO TEST HOLDS California, Mount WhitneyOn July 3, 1986, Mike Meteyer (27) and Jim Raymond (28) were climbing the Classic East Face route on Mount Whitney. In the early afternoon they were at the lower portion of the Grand Sta...
Broad Peak Tragedy. We reached Base Camp at the foot of Broad Peak on May 7. We gave up our original plan to traverse all the summits since we lacked the facilities to do so. We divided into two groups. Hermann Lais and Helmut Rüdele attempted Bro...
Pisco Oeste, Via Traversiade. On the south face of Pisco Oeste (5,752m) on August 21 Italians Tarcisio Bello, Ivan Camolini, Michele Grigenti, and Bruno Castegnaro climbed what may be a new route, Via Traversiade (TD+, 90°) in 10 hours from the ba...
Campanile Esloveno, Above Bariloche, Northern Patagonia, 1992. February 13,1992 was the 40th Anniversary of the first ascent of the Campanile Esloveno, which caused quite a stir when it was first done. In celebration of the event, Dinko Bertoncelj...
On September 19, during Argentina’s dry 2010 winter, in the remote and little-visited Cordillera Ansilta, located 250km north of Mendoza and 50km from Barreal, Gabriel Fava (Argentina) and I climbed a new route on Ansilta 4 (5,116m). From ba...
Gasherbrum III, Southwest Ridge Attempt. Our objective had been the north ridge of Gasherbrum III, which was reconnoitered by Cassin in 1958. In the event, we tackled instead the long, rocky southwest ridge, which rises from the top of the dangero...
University Peak, St. Elias Range. A first ascent of this 15,030 foot peak (at the time the highest unclimbed peak in North America) was completed June 19 and 20, 1955 by Keith Hart, Leon Blumer, Sheldon Brooks, Tim Kelley, Norman Sanders, and Gibs...
Wetterhorn Peak, North Face. In late September 1973 Paul Hogan and I made what we think was the first ascent of this face by the natural break in the middle. The 800-foot face required six leads and five hours. The last pitches were climbed in a s...
The Jaw, North Ridge. Loring Woodman and Duncan Cameron made the first ascent of this route on August 21 from the saddle between the Jaw and the Outlier (Peak 10,628). After the first vertical step, 90 feet of scrambling brought them to a slight o...
SLIP ON SCREE AND ROCK, UNPROTECTEDAlberta, Rocky Mountains, Mount TempleOn August 13, 1990, a lone climber was descending the “tourist route” on Mount Temple. It is speculated that he went slightly off route at the grey cliff band where the scree...