Drifika, completion of southwest ridge to west summit; other ascents and attempts. The Czech expedition of Ondrej Baszczynski, Martin Klonfar, Ondrej Martinek, Petr Novosad, Martin Simunek, and Jiri Splichal spent most of August in the Nangma Vall...
East of Mount McKinleyH. Adams CarterA year before, as we had stood on the mountains above Anderson Pass, sharp, white peaks just to the south of us enticed our eyes away from the huge but graceful bulk of Mount McKinley and the black and white ri...
The War in the Alps. In the last issue of the Journal (p. 255) we summarized possible invasion routes from the Po basin to France and Germany. Although Allied armies are still on the outer perimeter of the Alps, the situation has greatly changed.T...
Anqosh Face of HuascaránCarlos BuhlerI LOOKED OUT ACROSS the upper Llanganuco valley on a stormy day in June. It was one of those days when the clouds loom heavy and dark as they roll in full of moisture from the jungle. I was familiar with what I...
Huayna Potosí, East Face. On August 19, 1997, in a 17-hour round trip, Marcos Barlena (Chile) and Eric Winandy (Belgium) climbed a route to the right of the classic Vía de los Franceses, staying below the southeast ridge of Huayna Potosí's Pico Su...
FALL ON ROCK, FAILURE TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONSUtah, Wasatch Mountains, Rig Cottonwood CanyonOn July 5, Karen Wilson, a student in an organized climbing course, took an unroped fall of approximately eight feet. Miss Wilson had completed her turn clim...
Cerro Bonete Chico, New Route, Central Andes. This mountain, with a revised height of 6759 meters, has been misidentified many times. Only with the new maps of a few years ago has the confusion ended. Bonete Chico (“Little Cone,” this because of t...
Chopicalqui, Northwest Ridge, 1980. In June, 1980, after climbing Pisco, a Czechoslovakian group led by Igor Norak and composed of Jakoslava Tallora, Sylva Talla, Zdenek Brebec and Josef Kada climbed the northwest ridge of Chopicalqui, pioneered t...
The Watchman, West Face, Central Pillar Watchman Direct, Previously Unreported. This new route (V 5.10 C1+ W.Y.A., 16 pitches, 7 bolts), climbed in September, 1999, by Eric Draper and I, begins dead center in the west face on a 1978 Scott Fischer/...
FALL ON SNOW, LOSS OF CONTROL, INVOLUNTARY GLISSADENew Hampshire, Mt. WashingtonOn March 11, Henry Dones (20) survived a spectacular 500-foot slide down the east slope of Mt. Washington. A Harvard student, he was one of ten members of an M.I.T. Ou...
Dirgol Zom. Six Japanese led by Kiyomi Katori are said to have climbed Dirgot Zom (6778 meters, 22,238 feet). No details are available at this time.
Nooksack Tower, Winter Ascent. Well, “the Devil had fallen,” but not the Demon. Nooksack Tower awaited a winter ascent. Dan Cauthorn and Bob Crawford had attempted it the previous winter. Seven stormy days inside their tent was the reward. However...
Thalay Sagar, Various Attempts. It was reported that Andrew Linblade (Australia) and Athol Wimp (New Zealand) attempted the north face of this peak in September, reaching 6350 meters before being turned back by continuing snow, extreme cold and in...
FALL ON ROCK, CLIMBING UNROPED, INEXPERIENCE, FATIGUEAlberta, Practice Rock at Lake O’HaraTwo young Lake O’Hara Lodge staff members got up early on July 29, 1982 and climbed Mount Lefroy. They were down early and decided to do some practice rock c...
Mt. Alverstone, West Face, Pugilist at Rest and The Wilford Couloir. In May, Barry Blanchard and I set out to climb the west face of Mt. Alverstone. After flying in with Gulf Air to the Hubbard Glacier, we set up Base Camp. A few days later (appro...
Big Kangaroo, South Face. On October 4, Chris Copeland and I climbed the first three pitches of the 1984 Thomas-Kearney route, but instead of exiting from the corner, we continued up it. From a small stance in the corner, we climbed a left-leaning...
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+...