A large expedition from Ukraine, using fixed rope but no bottled oxygen and no high-altitude Sherpa support, climbed new ground on the left side of Makalu's southwest face. Led by Mstislav Gorbenko, the team divided into three groups to work on th...
Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Wild Bills’ Wall. Bill Forrest and I made a new route in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison (NCCS VI, F9, A5). We descended a steep gully south of Cross Fissures Overlook for 1500 feet and scrambled up a gully on the le...
ROCK DISLODGED—CAUSING FALL ON ROCK Wyoming, Devil’s Tower National MonumentOn August 20 at 1445, Jeff Pettenger (21) was leading a variation of the Bailey Direct finish to the Durrance Route when he fell approximately 100 feet, receiving fatal he...
Jieqinnalagabu (Namla Karpa) (6,316m), first ascent. We met our staff and got our permit for Tibet in Kathmandu on August 16. The first plan was to go to Kajaqiao, but when we arrived in Lhari we had problems with the road, the yaks, and the yak d...
Mulkilla, Central Lahul. The Indian Hari Dang with the French Alain and Cecile Barbézat attempted Mulkilla (21,380 feet), but they found the route too dangerous. They did make the first ascent of M5 (c. 20,900 feet) and climbed several other peaks.
Twice LuckyAscents in the Charakusa Valley of Pakistan.Steve HouseThe skin around Vince’s eyes pinches into crows’ feet of concentration. The first shadows of age. His mouth is drawn tight and square, cheeks flat against his face. He wears an expr...
Mount Chamberlin, Franklin Mountains, and Ascents in the Romanzof Mountains, Brooks Range. Two peaks were climbed for the first time on a month-long trip to the Franklin and Romanzof Mountains led by Graham Stephenson. On July 24 Mount Chamberlin ...
Peaks of the Sierra Nevada Exceeding an Elevation of Thirteen Thousand FeetNAME OF PEAKORIGIN OF NAMEN.LATITUDEW.LONGITUDEALTITUDEABOVESEAAUTHORITYFORALTITUDEFIRST ASCENTSAbbottCal. G. S.37°2300’118c4700"13,700Le ConteAgassiz NeedleWinchell3706301...
Homathko Snowfield Peaks. On July 28, Lucille and Stanley Adamson, John Hall, Daniel Hinckley, Bruce Peterson and I left Campbell River, British Columbia, in two heavily loaded Beaver aircraft for a month-long expedition to the Homathko Snowfield....
St. Elias Mountains, Icefield Ranges Research Project. The expansion and growth of scientific research and work in this area has been done so quietly and effectively within the past few years that its importance to mountaineers may easily be misse...
Nevado de Carás I. A Spanish expedition from Gijón established its Base Camp at the eastern end of the Laguna Parón at 13,450 feet. They then placed Camp I at 16,750 feet at the foot of the glacier southeast of Carás I or Nevado de Carás de Parón....
El Capitan, West Buttress, first free ascent; Free Zodiac, second free ascent. I get more obsessed with Yosemite every year. No matter how many times I see El Cap, my palms sweat and my heartbeat quickens. I spend hours examining its cracks, conto...
FROSTBITEAlaska, Mount McKinleyIn early May, a six-member party, the Index Alpine Club Expedition, flew to the Kahiltna Glacier to climb the West Buttress of Mount McKinley. On May 16, Alan Jennings (32) was frostbitten on his left foot while asce...
The Shark’s Fin ReduxSuccess at last on Meru Central’s spectacular Shark’s Fin, India.Jimmy ChinThe last move was merely a mantle: hands on the edge of a sharp granite ledge, a heel hook, and a press. When I pulled over the lip, I looked around, m...
Reflections On Guideless ClimbingNoel E. Odell“THE mountains are so kindly and so great that they reject none of those who turn to them, and they are good to all; to the men of science who come to study them; to the painters and poets who seek an ...
Silver Star Mountain, Central Couloir to near West Summit. Anne Keller and I had both noticed a classic-looking alpine couloir splitting the west face of Silver Star (8,800'), and I couldn’t wait for spring. The 1,900-foot-long ribbon of steep sno...
Mount Saint Elias- Southwest ButtressRuedi Homberger, Schweizer Alpen Club In Memory of Miroslav ŠmidI FIRST SAW MOUNT SAINT ELIAS as I was ascending Mount Logan in 1991. The plan to climb this magnificent peak developed slowly. As the highest coa...
Cambridge Arctic Canada Expedition, Cumberland Peninsula, Baffin Island. Robert E. Langford, leader, T. A. J. Goodfellow, A. R. Crofts, G. F. Bonham-Carter, C. W. Barlow and J. W. Dale, all from Cambridge University, spent two summer months on Baf...
In January 2000, I led an exploratory mountaineering expedition to climb a group of unnamed, unvisited peaks located within the boundaries of Chile’s Hornopiren National Park (latitude 42° S; topo map H-73: Rio Traidor). The peaks surround an exte...
Lone Pine Peak, Winter Chimney, first winter ascent. On March 11 Scott Nelson and I made the first winter ascent of the Winter Chimney (Carmona-LeMay, July 2005) on the south face of Lone Pine Peak (12,994'). The route starts up the classic Winter...