Panchchuli II, Kumaon Himalaya. Beautiful, needle-shaped Panchchuli II is the highest of five peaks, traditionally known as the “five ovens” used by the five Pandava brothers during their journey to the Ultimate at the end of the Mahabharat. It ha...

FALL OR SLIP ON SNOW, CLIMBING UNROPEDWashington, Snoqualmie MountainOn April 14, 1991, a party of six Seattle Mountaineers assembled at 0720 near the Commonwealth Basin trailhead for an “Alpine Scramble” ascent of Snoqualmie Mountain. It was rain...

Celestial PeakEdward E. Vaillwhen ALLEN STECK AND I first saw Celestial Peak in October 1981, we vowed to return to China to climb it. We were accompanying one of the first groups of foreigners ever to visit the Siguniang mountain region of the Ti...

Shiwakte II. The Shiwakte mountains, which lie east of Kongur in Xinjiang, were first described by C.P. Skrine in The Geographical Journal in 1925. His photographs and the reports of the British Kongur expeditions of 1980-81 indicated that the mou...

The Grand Teton, Hossack-MacGowen Couloir, First One-Day Winter Ascent and First Ski Descent. On February 16, Hans Johnstone and I started from the Cottonwood Canyon parking lot hoping to climb the Hossack-MacGowen Couloir to the summit of the Gra...

AVALANCHE—Wyoming, Grand Tetons. At 1100 on Saturday, 12 January 1974, a 15-member National Outdoor Leadership School Teton Winter Mountaineering Expedition checked out with Ranger Pete Hart for a two-week stay, with a tentative base camp to be pl...

The Ulugh MuztaghRobert H. BatesFOR ME THE LONG quest began in 1966 on the slopes of Mount Russell in the Alaska Range, where I shared a two-man tent with Eric Shipton. Adams Carter had invited me to join him on an expedition and now we were shelt...

Zanskar, Lahaul, Ladakh, various ascents. In summer 2007 I made a number of ascents in the Indian Himalaya. I’d hoped to spend the winter of 2007–8 there, but lack of money and of motivation to remain in the mountains climbing alone drove me home....

This is the thirtieth volume of Accidents in North American Mountaineering and the first that has been edited and published jointly by the American Alpine Club and The Alpine Club of Canada. The first volume was published by the AAC in 1948, and s...

AlaskaBaby steps: lessons from Alaskan alpinismSteve HouseAmerican culture is obsessed by evolution, the concept of progress toward an imagined ideal. We are entirely dependent on it—to make the next sale, to grow the next stock, to sell the new c...

Chhomotang Valley: Chhomotang I, Chhomotang III and Thorchok II, first ascents; Thorchok I, second ascent; Chhomotang II (No Name Peak), ascent. In summer 2004 we explored climbing possibilities in the Chhomotang valley, 85km west of Leh in the Za...

Naming Alaska’s MountainsWith Some Accounts of Their First AscentsFrancis P. FarquharThe names of places, if properly investigated, provide a very good guide to the history of a region. This is particularly true in the case of Alaska where so many...

Qionglai Range, Various Ascents. In late August, 1997,I returned to the Siguniang Shan area of the Qionglai Range, on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. I had previously visited and climbed in this area (see 1996 AAJ, p. 310). Accompanied by...

Best of Boulder Climbs. Richard Rossiter. Chockstone Press, Evergreen, CO, 1992. 180 pages, topos and black-and-white photos. $14.95.Who decided which are the best of Boulder climbs? Why, the best Boulder climbers, of course. Knowing that any list...

Roaring Lion Canyon, New Routes. Many routes have recently been established in this little known canyon, primarily on the Thin Red Line Buttress. This is the first major tower seen after crossing the river and is about a mile and a half in. Upon s...

FALL ON SNOW, FAILURE TO FOLLOW ROUTE, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENT, EXCEEDING ABILITIESOregon, Three-Fingered Jack, South RidgeOn October 26, Karl Iwen (20s) fell to his death while descending Three-Fingered Jack.As he was unfamiliar with the mountain, K...

Shisha Pangma, Southwest Face Attempt. Catherine Destivelle and I left Kathmandu on August 24 and reached Nyalam the next day. We stayed there three days for acclimatization and to scout the route to the face. On August 29 and 30, we moved up to B...

Kolana Dome, West Face, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. John Liebeskind and I climbed the huge right-facing dihedral splitting the center of the west face. We entered low in the crack system by traversing left on scree ledges. After we passed two large le...

TABLE IReported Mountaineering Accidents.YearNumber of Accidents ReportedU.S.A. - CAN.Total Number of Persons InvolvedU.S.A. - CAN.Injured U.S.A. - CAN.Killed U.S.A. - CAN.195114211031952293217131953242714121954314131819553439291319564671511819574...

Mount Ratnachuli, First Ascent. The first mountaineers ever to set foot on Mount Ratnachuli were this autumn's expedition from Japan’s Shinshu University and the Nepalese Police Mountaineering Foundation. Their 7035-meter peak stands on Nepal’s bo...