El Capitan, Lost in Translation. Seven years ago I was inspired by Leo Houlding to find a line on El Cap and do it in perfect alpine style, from the ground to the top, free in a day. I tried this many times, but we got shut down every time. On El ...
Alaska Section. The summer of 2011 saw the completion of the AAC’s newest hut, the Snowbird, located in the Hatcher Pass area of the Talkeetna Mountains about 50 miles north of Anchorage. The Section launched the Snowbird Hut project in 2005, when...
Api Attempt. A Polish expedition of eight, led by Stanislaw Rudzin- ski, attempted the northwest ridge in alpine style in the post-monsoon season but failed at 22,000 feet. Several members who were not in on the actual attempt did place two suppor...
The Bugaboos, Various New Routes and First Free Ascent. Between July 24 and August 16, Patience Donahue and I lucked onto a weather window and scored three new routes and one first free ascent. The most significant route is Cameron’s Pillar (5.11+...
Koktang, 1982. Thirteen of the 19-member team from the Territorial Army climbed Koktang (6147 meters, 20,167 feet) on the Sikkimese-Nepalese frontier by its southwest face. The leader Captain K. V. Cherian, Nima Tasho Derje, Flight Lieutenant P. N...
On August 24, 1982, Peter Miller (30) and Krag Unsoeld (26) were climbing the Guide’s Wall. Around 1300, Unsoeld was leading the “double cracks” pitch. As he climbed the pitch, he placed two nuts. He ran into difficulty climbing and attempted to t...
FALL INTO CREVASSE, WEATHERWashington, Mount Baker, Coleman GlacierRescuers reached two seriously injured climbers on Mount Baker and were bringing them down the mountain in difficult weather conditions Monday morning.The drama began on Sunday, Se...
Makalu Attempt. This five-man expedition from the Netherlands hoped to climb the Yugoslavian route on the south face of Makalu. After establishing three high camps, leader Edewin van Nieuwkerk and Joost Ubbink reached 7600 meters on May 4. Exhaust...
FALLS ON ROCK, INADEQUATE PROTECTIONNew York, ShawangunksOf the 22 accidents reported from the Shawangunks this year, 21 were leader falls, half of which were more than three meters in distance. Eighteen falls resulted in fractures, and most invol...
P 10,240, Lemhi Mountains. For the most part, the Lemhi Mountains are rounded peaks of rotten sedimentary rock which offer little opportunity for interesting technical climbing. Fortunately, there is an exception. Located at the end of the Bear Va...
FALL ON SNOW, FAILED TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENT California, Mount GilbertOn June 22,1986, a group of climbers was descending the snowy west side of the crest ridge in order to ascend a snow chute to the summit of Mount Gilbert. T...
Chogolisa, Northwest Spur. In mid-May Adi Fischer, Hubert Wendlinger, Ludwig Nüssl, Georg Aicher, Heinz Fischer and I as leader drove from Rawalpindi to Skardu. Our approach up the Baltoro Glacier went according to plan, though we were snowed in a...
Santa Cruz Chico, east face to within 20m of summit. Scottish-based Jason Currie and Guy Robertson made a new route up the east face of the rarely climbed Santa Cruz Chico (a.k.a. Atuncocha), the 5,800m peak on the ridge between Santa Cruz (6,259m...
La Conquête du Salcantay, Géant des Andes, by Bernard Pierre. 193 pages, 15 illustrations, 3 maps, bibliographies. Glossary of Quechua and Spanish expressions by Prof. Theodoro Meneses. Paris: Amiot-Dumont, 1953.This book is an unqualified “must” ...
Aconcagua South Face. On January 3,I managed to climb the south face of Aconcagua on the direct (Messner) route, solo, in 15 ½ hours. It took another 5½ hours to descend the normal route. I was the only climber to do the direct route in the past t...
FALL ON SNOW, UNABLE TO SELF-ARREST Alaska, Mount McKinelyOn May 18, 1988, a nine member Genet Expeditions guided climbing team departed the 5200 meter high camp on the West Buttress of Mount McKinley and began their ascent toward the summit. Chie...
Gasherbrum II. Ours was the first commercial French expedition to an 8000er. We had three guides: Michel Vincent, Alberto Re and me. On July 11 Vincent, Re, Olivier Paulin, Theo Mayer, Pierre Gévaux, André Molinaire, Christian Frémont, all French ...
Squaretop. The right skyline of Squaretop when viewed from the Green River Lakes presents a 1800-foot sweep of excellent rock. When we arrived below the buttress after a hard approach, my brother Greg, Kent Christensen and I looked up in despair. ...
Middle Teton, North Face. To the east of the northwest chimney route, first climbed in 1955 by Goodrich and Reppy, is another similar chimney less attractive than the first and separated from it by a smooth face. From the Lower Saddle on July 30, ...
SLIP ON SNOW, INAPPROPRIATE EQUIPMENT/TECHNIQUEAlberta, Rocky Mountains, Mount LefroyOn the morning of July 7, 1990, a party of two were descending the west face of Mount Lefroy, unroped. While glissading, sitting and wearing crampons, one of them...