"… no one needs to be taught to climb; one merely needs reminding of something one knew even before going to school.” —Tom Patey, “Apes or Ballerinas,” Mountain, May 1969 WHILE the theory of crack climbing is simple, the practice can be qu...
Kangchenjunga’s North FaceCarlos BuhlerKANGCHENJUNGA’S NORTH FACE rises two vertical miles in one sweep of overlapping cliffs, rock faces and hanging glaciers. It is a masterpiece of nature’s architecture, designed to discourage climbers from atte...
San Rafael Swell, La Piñata. On November 9, Franziska Garrett and I were surprised to find the big hulk of a desert tower adjacent (west-northwest) to Mexican Mountain still unclimbed. After driving the Mexican Mountain Road and parking at its ter...
National Climbing Classification SystemLeigh N. OrtenburgerTwo years have now passed since efforts were initiated to establish a single climbing classification system for use throughout the United States. The intention was to devise a logical and ...
Vancouver EpisodeWilliam R. Hainsworth THE Seward Glacier storm was running true to form when Walter Wood suggested I take advantage of the “socked in” day to jot down a few notes, while memories were fresh, on the ascent of Mount Vancouver. Immed...
Attempt on Mount Kimball, Eastern Alaska Range. Mount Kimball (10,350 feet) is fully 500 feet higher than its nearest contender in the eastern Alaska Range, although many of the lesser peaks east of the Richardson Highway have been climbed. A seri...
OVERDUEAlberta, Rocky Mountains, Jasper National Park, Mount GeraldineTwo inexperienced climbers read the route description for Mount Geraldine in a local guidebook and decided that this was a reasonable objective for low- end climbers. Although M...
A Himalayan Classic—Makalu’s West PillarKitty Calhoun GrissomMY HEART WAS POUNDING from lack of oxygen and excitement as I scrambled up the last talus slope and reached the abandoned stone walls that would become our Base Camp. Above, thin wispy c...
Ama Dablam, west face. Yasuyuki Shinno and Takahiro Yoshida made a very rare ascent of the west face. It appears the pair hoped to climb a new line between the American and Smid routes but decided there was too much steep rock, so instead more or ...
ROGER SHERMAN WHITNEY1905-1965Roger Sherman Whitney, born at Wainscott, Long Island on June 19, 1905, lost his life along with Thomas Heim on July 21, 1965 while descending a steep snow slope at 19,300 feet on Ranrapalca in Peru.A graduate of Yale...
A.A.C.: Sierra Nevada Section. New officers were elected at the final meeting in December 1951: Oscar A. Cook, chairman; Robin Hansen, vice-chairman; Richard C. Houston, secretary-treasurer; Lawrence G. Coveney and David R. Brower, additional memb...
In Cold Blood, West Face of Sentinel Rock. The renowned American authority on mountaineering, Curtis W. Casewit, says, “Solo climbing is insanity.” And Mr. Casewit, of course, is an honorable man. I love to read such fatuous remarks, coming as the...
Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. Our Mountaineering Section topped off another good year in 1989. Membership growth continued as the sport becomes more popular, activities keep expanding and members have even found time to go climbing!The Second An...
Snowpatch Spire, Sweet Sylvia. In the Bugaboos during the last week of July, Craig Luebben, Will Hair, Brad Jackson and Kennan Harvey teamed up to establish Sweet Sylvia (V 5.12b) on the right end of the east face of Snowpatch Spire.Will and I arr...
Cerro Torre SoloMarco Pedrini, Club Alpino Svizzero *THE ENORMOUS advances in free climbing achieved in the last ten years have also raised the standard of classic alpinism, especially in regard to light expeditions and major ascents undertaken in...
In January-February 2008 I spent eight days during a two-week period putting up, and then trying to redpoint, a new route on an unclimbed tower at Na Pha Daeng. I eventually managed to climb the whole of the crux pitch to a point just four meters ...
Northern Fairweather Range, Various First Ascents and Descents. On April 18, our group of seven climbers and skiers (Jim Earl, Tiffany Scrymgeour, Chris Erickson, Anne Sherwood, Brendan Cusick, Chris Trimble and Hjoerdis Rickert) were flown from Y...
East Face of Thor PeakRichard PownallFEW of the many mountaineers who frequent the Teton Range know or have heard of Thor Peak, a mountain rising to an elevation of 12,018 feet, located at the head of Leigh Canyon and partially hidden by the massi...
Northeast Face of Mount BabelBrian GreenwoodSOME YEARS ago a leading California climber stated that climbing in North America had not yet reached the same standards as in Europe. I am sure no one would express that opinion today – certainly not in...
Russell O. Huse 1908-2004Russell Huse’s roots are deeply embedded in the area of Ventura County, California, originally known as the Rancho El Conejo, part of which was named Rancho El Triunfo and later called the Russell Ranch. This 6,000-acre fa...