FALLING ROCK—Washington, Mt. Rainier. On June 18, a fifteen- year-old boy was injured by rockfall while climbing in the Thumb Rock area of the Liberty Ridge route with five others. His kneecap was broken, so a rescue team of eight had to lower him...
• Frank Smythe: The Six Alpine/Himalayan Climbing Books (Mountaineers $38.00) is the latest in the Mountaineers series that began with the Tilman and Shipton editions. Smythe wrote 27 books; these six, written between 1920 and 1939, include The Ka...
Mount Hayes Attempt. On May 19 John Giese, Doug Houck, Henry Bergner, Ed Nemecek and I were flown to the Susitna Glacier, southwest of Mount Hayes. We established Base Camp at 7100 feet, hoping to climb the west ridge which rises to the 12,500-foo...
Devils Thumb, Northwest Face Attempt, Coast Range. Michael Bearzi and I attempted the northwest face of the Devils Thumb. The climbing halfway up the northwest face was hair-raising, whereas the rest would have been impassible. Avalanche danger wa...
RAPPEL FAILUREBritish Columbia, Selkirk Mountains, Bugaboo SpireOscar Fleuhler (29), leader, John Leedale (24), and Daniel Minion (15) were descending the south ridge of Bugaboo Spire in light drizzle on 1 September 1979. They rappelled from the f...
Makalu, Ascents and Tragedy. Four teams followed the Standard Route, and success came to all of them, but was accompanied by tragedy to an Australian team. On May 8, David Hume and Mark Auricht became the first Australians to reach the summit of M...
Chacraraju Este, Cordillera Blanca. The eastern summit of Chacraraju (19,685 feet) remained the last unclimbed 6000-meter summit in the range until 1962 because of its forbidding difficulty. It had attracted the attention of the French since their...
Mount Stuart, Direct West Wall. We had often admired and looked at the prominent unclimbed triangular west wall, far below Mount Stuart’s granite summit. With powder snow being blown by heavy gusts and winter conditions, Don Cramer and I climbed o...
Pronghorn. East Arête of North Summit. Pronghorn has two spectacular buttresses. The southern leads directly to the main summit and is nearly vertical. The northern leads to the north summit and maintains a nearly constant angle of about 70°. It i...
SUP ON MIXED TERRAIN, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENT (ICE AX IN PACK), EXCEEDING ABILITIESAlberta, Banff National Park, Cascade MountainThe story behind this accident was largely pieced together from the evidence gathered during the lengthy search that was ...
India—Kashmir and JammuKun, 1976. Many expeditions now climb in the Nun-Kun group. There was one such on which we did not report last year which originated in Switzerland. It was the eighth on the mountain and the second successful one. On August ...
Condoriri Area, Cordillera Real. Paul Stettner, Alan Johnson, John Herbst and I arrived in La Paz on June 10. After ascents of Cerro Milluni and Huayna Potosí, we turned to the Condoriri area. Stettner and I enjoyed a route on a small unnamed peak...
Imperial College Staunings Alps East Greenland Expedition. Our eight-man scientific and mountaineering project was based on the Bersaekerbrae Glacier in the Staunings Alps from June 28 to August 30. We maintained a four-man mountaineering party, t...
Batian, Mount Kenya. Our group consisted of Juan Carlos Robla, Pilar Fernández, Teresa Marchán, Luis Suárez, Nando Marné, Luisa Alonso, César de Prado, Angeles García, Angeles Navarro, Paco Gómiz and me. After several ascents of Lenana by the norm...
Horsethief Tower, Labyrinth Canyon. This little gem lies in the northernmost part of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The first ascent was made by Ken Trout, Rusty Kirkpatrick, Kirk Miller and me in April. The approach across the Green River ...
RAPPEL FAILUREWyoming, TetonsOn the morning of July 17, 1981, Marvin McDonald (25) and Eric Breitenberger, both experienced climbers, signed out for a climb of the North Ridge of the Grand Teton. They planned to bivouac on the Grandstand that nigh...
FALL ON ROCK, INADEQUATE PROTECTION-FAILURE TO ASSESS ROCK FORMATION, INADEQUATE BELAY, EXCEEDING ABILITIES, FAILURE TO FOLLOW ROUTEOregon, Mount WashingtonAt sunrise on June 29, Eric Seyler (28) and Kurt Smith (26) left their bivouac high on the ...
The Latok Group, Clarification. The 1997 ascents of Latok II have allowed us to clarify the naming of the three peaks of the Latok group. Below, we list the altitudes given to the peaks by three different sources: the Ortograficzna Mapa Szkicowa K...
Eastpost Spire, New South Face Route. On July 29 Gay Campbell, Phil Nelson, Pete Zvengrowski and I climbed this route with Gay in the lead. The climb began in a prominent corner west of the Kor route. Hard climbing, where it was difficult to place...
Mount Fairweather from Canada. For years I had been fascinated by Mount Fairweather. Sitting astride the Canadian-Alaskan border, it is the highest peak in British Columbia. The idea of climbing the peak by a Canadian route vaguely developed in my...