Mount Torment-Forbidden Peak Traverse, Cascades. The mile and a half long, truly Alpine ridge running from Mount Torment (8200 feet) to Forbidden Peak (8900 feet) had long been an objective of mine. On July 26, 1958 Buck Seller and Edward Cooper a...
Sierra Nevada Ascents. By the time you read this, a new Sierra Nevada Climber’s Guide will have appeared, authored by R.J. Secor and published by The Mountaineers. The following is a list of previously unreported Sierra Nevada routes that arrived ...
Annapurna Dakshin Tragedy. An 11-man Greek expedition had hoped to climb the east face of Annapurna Dakshin (Annapurna South) by the east face to the east ridge, the same route as the Hong Kong team in 1976. Four members, Deputy Leader Dimitris Bo...
El Potrero Chico, Battle Royale. Going to Mexico was perhaps the best decision I ever made. It is a land of happy people, cheap beer, and soaring limestone walls. What more could a climber ask for? Arriving at Homero’s campground, I flipped throug...
Saipal East, Attempt. Bruno Baumann, a professional adventurer and writer who lives in Munich but is an Austrian citizen, gave up his hope of making the first ascent of a peak that he has decided isn’t actually there. The peak is listed by Nepal’s...
Bhagirathi II. Japanese climbed Bhagirathi II by its east face. On October 16, leader Yoshiki Yamanaka, Masaki Hayashi, Yoko Mihara, Yuki Sato, Hitoshi Tsuge and a porter reached the summit (6512 meters, 21,364 feet) from Camp III. They had to biv...
The Rabbit Ears. These two pinnacles lie near the center of the northwest ridge of the Grand Teton, which forms the western boundary of Valhalla Canyon. On July 17, 1957 Fred Ayres and Leigh and Irene Orten- burger found the south pinnacle exposed...
Earth Angel, Long Canyon. In the spring of 1974 Ross Hardwick and I found and climbed the largest of the sandstone towers yet ascended in the Sedona-Oak Creek area. Earth Angel is a lofty 800-foot beauty poised against a secluded canyon wall sever...
Oregon, Mount Jefferson (1)—On September 6, 1954, Ben Oman (32), Sam Tompkins (42) and Robert Lee (42) climbed to the top of Jefferson by the East route, a climb which should be done only by experienced climbers. The trail marked with wands by a p...
Goose Rock, Squamish, B. C. Destined to be the “Yosemite of the Northwest,” Goose Rock, at the head of Howe Sound, has been attracting rock climbers since the recent opening of the new road to Squamish. The west and north walls rise virtually from...
Ishinca, Ranrapalca, and Urus Oeste, Cordillera Blanca. The Swiss Bernhard Wörner led a group largely made up of women to the Cordillera Blanca. The climbers were Marie Fischer, Rösli Bosshard, Martha Pfeiffer, Dorli Schnaufelberger, Erich and Suz...
STRANDED, OFF ROUTE, RAPPEL ANCHOR FAILURES—INADEQUATEPROTECTION, FALL ON ROCKWyoming, Grand Teton National Park, Grand TetonOn August 18, 1994, at 0200, Jenny Lake Rangers received a 911 call regarding cries for help coming from the north side of...
Pisco and Yanapaccha. Basques L. Blanco, J. Ortís and J.J. González made in August ascents of Pisco Oeste, Yanapaccha (5460 meters, 17,914 feet) and Yanapaccha Norte (5380 meters, 17,651 feet), the last peak by its steep south face, which required...
Cleaning Half Dome—Twenty-Two Years After. Bart O’Brien told it as it was (“Climbing Half Dome—Twenty Years After,” A.A.J., 1978, pp. 466-470). The bivy site and the foot of the northwest face of Half Dome were deep in the litter of hundreds of cl...
Noel Peak, Stikine Icecap. Between June 27 and July 18, Stacia Cronin, Jay McCubbrey, Peter VanderNailen, Tony Watkin, Beverly Wilson, David Wilson, Les Wilson, and I visited the northern Stikine Icecap of British Columbia. Our primary objective w...
FALL ON ROCK, DESCENDING UNROPED, NO HELMETColorado, Eldorado State ParkOn March 25, a thirty-two year old female experienced climber and her partner had just completed the first pitch of Blind Faith (5.10) on the west side of the Bastille. Rather...
Wyoming, Tetons, Symmetry Spire (3). On August 20 Thomas Morgan (16) and Robert Rosch had completed an ascent of Storm Point and were descending via the Symmetry Spire Couloir. Morgan decided he would try glissading down the snow field even though...
Langtang Lirung, East Ridge. A joint Nepalese-Japanese expedition, led by Akira Ban, was composed of four Nepalese from Tribuvan University and nine Japanese from Osaka City University. They completed a new route, which had been twice unsuccessful...
Lhotse Attempt. Our expedition of 14 Spaniards and 14 Sherpas began reconnaissance of the Khumbu Icefall on March 22. We were there at the same time as the Polish and Basque expeditions. Our objective was Lhotse by the northwest couloir. We were J...
The Boxtop, East Face. The east face of this interesting tower in the Cashmere Crags was first climbed on July 6 by Tom Oas and me. It is a two-hour, strenuous route on superb rock. One first scrambles to the top of the Mount Temple ridge east of ...