St. Elias, East Ridge. In November 1983 sailing-yacht Northanger left England, bound for Alaska via the Panama Canal. On May 23 Rick Thomas, John Jewell, Nigel Young and I left her at anchor in Icy Bay and set off to backpack, ski and manhaul eigh...
Mt. McKinley from Seattle. Erden Eruç bicycled from Seattle to Talkeetna, then walked, with friends, 67 miles into the Southeast Fork Kahiltna Glacier base camp, and climbed the West Buttress to the summit with two others. Due to time constraints ...
FALL ON ROCK, PLACING PROTECTIONNew York, ShawangunksIn November 1981, a young woman (18) fell while trying to clip in to a fixed piton on Try Again (5.10). (Source: Brad Snyder)AnalysisTwelve of the 14 accidents in the Shawangunks this year were ...
Second Ascent of Lucania and Third of Steele. On June 19 Gerry Roach, Mike Humphreys, Gary Lukis and I assembled on the Chitina airfield. Gerry and half our equipment took off up the Copper River valley toward Lucania, 150 miles to the southeast. ...
Half Moon, Lunar Rubble. On July 12 Sue Harrington and I completed a six-pitch route on the northwest face. The climb begins to the right of the two prominent dihedrals below the summit. Flakes, cracks and ledges diagonal from right to left and le...
Mount Foraker. Kurt and Peggy Bittlingmaier and Dave Scott made an attempt on the southeast ridge of Foraker but gave up after a week because of bad snow conditions.
Gangchhen Ledrub, Langtang Himal. A Japanese expedition was active in the Langtang Himal, being the third Japanese group in the region. (See A.A.J., 1959, 11:2, pp. 245-6 and A.A.J., 1960, 12:1, p. 69.) They were above 20,000 feet on Gangchhen Led...
Thalay Sagar Attempt. Unfortunately, due to other commitments, we had to climb during the monsoon and out of four weeks on the mountain we had only two days without snow. Despite that, we climbed on all but two days. We attempted the north flank, ...
Tower Peak, Northeast Face. In September, John Nye and I climbed this face via a long, shallow comer system (5 pitches, III, 5.9).Al Swanson
BENIGHTED IN (1) RAIN AND (2) SNOWSTORM, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENTAlberta, Rocky Mountains, Mount CoryOn August 11,1985, two climbers ascended Cory Crack, a popular gully/chimney route on a limestone face near Banff. They were stopped by darkness one p...
Kun and Nun. Numerous ascents are now being made of Kun (23,250 feet) and Nun (23,410 feet). A Japanese group led by Kunihiko Kondo attempted both the northeast ridge and the west face of Kun in July. The liaison officer, Captain H.K. Joshi, accom...
Peaks in Himachal Pradesh. Dharamsura (White Sail; 6445 meters, 21,145 feet) was climbed by Scots led by A.N. Ridley. A peak in Bara Shigri (6225 meters, 20,424 feet), whose name was given by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation both as “Snow Cone...
Aquarius. In June, Jim Bridwell and Kim Schmitz put up a new line between the west buttress and the dihedral wall. The route starts near the left side of the great apron between these routes and meanders to a ledge about 1000 feet up, where the wa...
Kang Bum. Japanese climbers placed their Base Camp south of this mountain at 4590 meters on October 18 and Camp I at 4850 meters two days later. On October 23 leader Nagahisa Sugawara, Yasuo Nagai and Tetsumi Yajima reached the summit, followed on...
George Mallory, by David Robertson. London: Faber and Faber, 1969. 279 pages, 17 pages of photographs, 3 maps and two sketch maps.“Mon dieu! – George Mallory …he’s six foot high, with the body of an athlete by Praxiteles, and a face – oh incredibl...
Rignys Bjerg, numerous first ascents. The eight-member British team of Bob Appleyard, Guy Beaumont, Martin Bohl, Rob Coles, Sean and Sue Dolan, Mike Palmer, and Phillip Smithson chose a previously visited glacier system in the Western Rignys Bjerg...
Everest: The History of the Himalayan Giant. Roberto Mantovani. Introduction by Kurt Diemberger. Mountaineers Books: Seattle, 1997. 143 pages. Hardback, large format, with numerous historical images and color photographs. $35.00If you enjoyed Walt...
Buni Zom Group. Another Austrian expedition was led by Johann Hofer and composed of Rudolf Ludwig and Andreas Schlick. After traveling from Chitral to Maroi by jeep, they took four days to Rahman in the Laspur valley and another day and a half up ...
Thamserku Attempt. A Spanish expedition was led by José Luis Fernández. The three other members, José Manuel González, Srta Azucena López and Miguel Angel Rodríguez, got to 6300 meters on the new route they were attempting, the west face, on Octob...
Nevado Chugllaraju, west face. American Thai Verzone and Australian David Clinton climbed a new route on Nevado Chugllaraju’s west face. Their route angles up and right, atop a prominent hanging glacier from the lower left side of the face on 45-6...