Mount Russell, West Face. Alan Kouzmanoff and I climbed a new route on this face in June. It starts in a rotten, right-slanting crack about 40 feet right of the Rowell-Jones route, and climbs over two overhangs with a short hand traverse in betwee...
Colorado, Twin Owls. On 11 August Tom Fender and Stan Shepard were attempting a new climb on the South wall to the left of the chimney. On Twin Owls Shepard had nailed up a system of overhanging rotten cracks to a crumbly groove when he decided to...
Lone Pine Peak, The Streets of the Mountains. IV 5.10 A0. First ascent September 4-6, by Miguel Carmona and Joe LeMay. This route is on the far western side of the south face of Lone Pine Peak. Ascend the South Gully a short distance, then scrambl...
Mt. Thor, Midgard Serpent, Solo Ascent. In July and August, the young big wall climber Jason “Singer” Smith made a solo second ascent of Midgard Serpent (VI 5.9 A5, 3,600') on the west face of Mt. Thor. An account of his climb appears earlier in t...
Watkins Bjerge, First Ascents. After they were held up for seven days in Iceland, improved weather in Greenland allowed a British group to fly into the Watkins Bjerge. Undeterred by more poor weather, this group made first ascents of four of the r...
North Central Section. The North Central Section of the AAC continues to make progress toward having more communication, camaraderie, and interaction within the Club. Major projects for 2005 included further work developing a Section web site, cle...
STEVEN DONALD FREDERICK UNTCH1956-1994My friend Steve Untch was a big man with a big smile and a big heart. He cut a wide path wherever he went, infecting all whom he touched with his positive outlook on life. This unassuming man had the ability t...
Ama Dablam, East Ridge. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Club Alpin Belge, a joint Belgian-Swiss expedition climbed the previously unascended east ridge of Ama Dablam. Base Camp was at 17,225 feet. Camp I was on the glacier...
Eclipse Glacier, ascents. Glenn Wilks (U.K.) and Geoff Hornby (U.K.) flew into the Eclipse Glacier for 10 days and made ascents of peaks near Mt. Badham. On June 1 they made the first ascent of Peak 3,390m, via its southeast ridge, and climbed a n...
Sierra Club of California. Yosemite Valley was the scene of what was certainly the outstanding rock climb of 1958. On November 12 Warren Harding, George Whitmore, and Wayne Merry completed the longest tension climb of all time by scaling the verti...
On May 2, John Frieh and I climbed a new variation on the southeast face of Mt. Bradley, connecting the first third of Season of the Sun (Ichimura-Sato-Yamada, 2007) with the upper section of the East Buttress (Jochler-Orgler, 1987). The line depa...
Kangchungtse (Makalu II). A French expedition climbed the normal route, the west face to the south ridge, with four high camps. On April 22 leader Richard Jessup, Pierre de Montgolfier and Jean-François Porret reached the summit (7678 meters, 25,1...
Mount Whitney, East Face. On June 16, David Wilson and I ascended a new all-free route, Left Wing Extremist (V, 5.11a, 16 pitches) on this 2000-foot granite wall to the left of the old Direct East-Face route. We ascended a pedestal for two pitches...
FALL ON ROCK, FALLING ROCK, INADEQUATE PROTECTIONWashington, Liberty Bell MountainMy climbing partner and I (Larry Deyo, 35) had completed the second pitch of the Becky Route on Liberty Bell, and it was my turn to lead. We were climbing with two o...
Lord of Alaska, by Hector Chevigny. 8vo., 320 pages, including bibliography, index and end-paper map. New York: Viking Press, 1942. Price $3.00.This is the story of Aleksandr Baranov and the Russian adventure in Alaska, and should be read by those...
A Guide to Trekking in Nepal. Stephen Bezruchka. The Mountaineers, Seattle, 1981. 256 pages, black-and-white photographs, sketch maps, glossary, bibliography. $8.95.A Guide to Trekking in Nepal is the best and most comprehensive guidebook of its k...
Notable Ascents in the Cordillera Blanca, 1989. I feel that the international press has exaggerated the danger to climbers in the Cordillera Blanca. Despite many fewer climbers, many have visited the region safely during the past year. Among other...
Incahuasi, Ruta de las Peladas. Incahuasi (6,638m) lies on the Chile-Argentina border in the central Andes and is one of the highest volcanoes on earth. It was also one of the highest points ascended by the Incas for religious purposes. On April 1...
FALL ON ROCK, INADEQUATE PROTECTION California, Joshua Tree National MonumentOn November 16,1986, a report of a fallen climber on Jimmy Cliff rock was called in. John Hayward (43) was leading “Third World” (5.9), and while trying to place protecti...
Mustagh Tower Attempt. The Fantasy Ridge Mustagh Tower Expedition arrived at Base Camp at 14,000 feet on the Baltoro Glacier on August 8. The team included Lyle Dean, Steve Gall, Doug Snively and me. Dean replaced Peter Habeler, who had to cancel ...