The granitic massif of Mt. Balchen (Peak 11,140') sits at the head of the east branch of the Gilliam Glacier. Jed Brown, Seth Adams, and I landed eight miles (via Talkeetna Air Taxi) down from the peak’s West Buttress (climbed in 2003 by Michael W...
FALL ON ROCK, DIFFICULTY WITH RAPPEL SYSTEMCalifornia, Yosemite ValleyOn October 8, 1983, Brian Blair (19) fell about 30 meters to his death while attempting to rappel off The Bishop’s Terrace descent route. (Source: Kerry Maxwell, Ranger, Yosemit...
FALL ON SNOW, CLIMBING ALONE, EXHAUSTIONAlaska, Mount McKinley, Denali PassOn June 19, a solo climber from Canada, Michael Heck (61), of the “Whitevale” expedition flew onto the Southeast Fork of the Kahiltna glacier to begin a climb of the West B...
Sierra Club, Angeles Chapter, Rock Climbing Section (RCS). The RCS enjoyed an active, successful year under the leadership of Fred Wing, Chairman; Andy Fried, Vice-Chairman; and John Ripley, Secretary-Treasurer. Fifty-five days of active climbing ...
Cerro Piergiorgio, West Face, All You Need is Love. Michel Bordet and I put up the tent at the foot of Piergiorgio: 600 to 900 meters high and two kilometers wide, one part facing northwest, the other, west. Both aspects had only one route.A brief...
Lucania and Steele. In June and July, 1968, the Tohhoku University Expedition, Morio Kasai, Ikuo Abe, Kunio Moku, Sadanari Ashizawa and Tetsuo Nakatsu, reconnoitered Mount Lucania and the area. From a light plane they thought the west ridge offere...
Peak 8,010', A Fine Blend. Ryan Hokanson (Alaska) and I (Montana) headed to the Buckskin Glacier for a three-week adventure scampering trip, setting up camp just below the Moose’s Tooth on May 3. Two meters of new snow and spindrift thwarted our f...
FALL ON SNOW, RESCUE HAMPERED BY WEATHER Alaska, Denali National Park, Mount McKinley, West ButtressThe following account is that of a difficult and intense Denali Search and Rescue operation conducted on the upper slopes of Mount McKinley. The in...
Mont Blanc and the Seven Valleys by R. Frison-Roche. First published in French (Les Beaux Pays series) by Arthaud, Paris. Translated and adapted by Roland Le Grand with the cooperation of Wilfred Noyce. New York; Oxford University Press, 1961. 8 v...
Challenge: An Anthology of the Literature of Mountaineering, edited by William Robert Irwin, xx + 444 pages. New York: Columbia University Press, 1950. Price, $4.75.Dr. Irwin is an assistant professor of English at the State University of Iowa. He...
Mt. Geikie, Lowe-Hannibal Route. Most Canadian Rockies peaks consist of limestone, some solid, most crumbling. But hidden in the backcountry of the Tonquin Valley near Jasper rises a subrange of quartzite peaks. The gem of the area is the massive ...
On the next tower right of Fingerberry Tower (and bordering the Pigeon Feather access gully), in an August snowstorm Christophe Dumarest and Ben Rosenberg made the probable first ascent of the steep west face, via the Tiffen Route (6 pitches, 5....
Cerro Bonete Chico and Pilar de las Pailas, Northern Andes. Remote Bonete Chico (unofficial name) in Catamarca Province was ascended for the third time. Seven members of the Club Andino La Rioja approached via the Río de Oro and placed a high camp...
The “Whiskey Expedition” departed the 14,200-foot camp at noon on May 25 for a summit bid via the upper West Rib of Denali. Their plan was to summit and then accomplish a ski descent via the couloir system to climber's left of the West Rib. Two da...
Medical Therapy of High Altitude IllnessColin Kerst Grissom, M.D.WE WERE CLIMBING UNROPED on steep terrain near the top of the West Rib of Denali. We had made good progress initially after an early start from our camp at 16,000 feet, but the highe...
On September 9 John Frieh, Zac West, and I flew to the Burkett Glacier in the heart of the Stikine Icecap. A rare two-day weather window had appeared between the record storms and rainfall that had been hammering the area all summer. We abandoned ...
La Grande Crevasse, by R. Frison-Roche. 8vo., 300 pp., photographic illustrations. Grenoble: B. Arthaud. Price, 300 frs.A friend living in Madeira told me of Frison-Roche’s first book, Premier de Cordée. She assured me that the whole reading publi...
Huayna Potosí, Illampu, Cordillera Real. There were two Japanese expeditions to the Cordillera Real. The expedition of the Medical Department of Nihon University was led by Yoshihiko Kawakubo and Kenichi Shibata and had twelve other members. They ...
Classics in the Literature of Mountaineering and Mountain Travel from the Francis P. Farquhar Collection, an annotated bibliography by James R. Cox. Los Angeles: University of California Library, 1980. 58 pages, illus. Price $25.00.Some years ago ...
Sosbun Tower, Attempt, and Nameless Peak, Ascent. Even if they are “veterans” of the Karakoram, few climbers know the name of the Sosbun Tower. These rocky towers are located in the Sosbun Glacier. Taeko Yamanoi and I were with Daisaku Nakaga, wit...