Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
South America, Argentina and Chile, Northern Patagonia, Valle Pirita, Pirita Right, Voces en la Noche

Valle Pirita, Pirita Right, Voces en la Noche. While exploring in 2008, Josh Beckner glimpsed a large granite wall in Argentina’s remote Pirita Valley of the upper Rio Turbio drainage. On February 26,2009, Beckner, Jared Spaulding, and I crossed L...


Feature Article AAJ
Naming America's Mountains-The Cascades

Naming America’s Mountains—The CascadesFrancis P. FarquharThe Cascade Range is defined by the United States Geographic Board (Sixth Report, 1933) as "limited on the south by the gap south of Lassen Peak and extending northward into British Columbi...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
North America, Canada, A High-Level Glacier Route from Jasper to Field

A High-level Glacier Route from Jasper to FieldOne of the features of classical mountaineering in the Alps was the development of the high-level route between Chamonix and Zermatt. As originally laid down by Jacomb,1 in 1862, this required four da...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, Nepal, Kumbhakarna (Jannu) Attempt

Kumbhakarna (Jannu) Attempt. On September 25, Rob Mahoney, Kevin O’Meara and I established Base Camp at 15,000 feet on the Yamatari Glacier on the south side of Kumbhakarna. On October 1, we moved to Camp I at 17,000 feet. Camp II was established ...


Accident Reports ANAM
Fall on Rock, Inadequate Protection, Overconfidence, Colorado, Durango

FALL ON ROCK, INADEQUATE PROTECTION, OVERCONFIDENCEColorado, DurangoAfter 17 years of rock climbing, bad judgment finally caught up with me. Don’t let it happen to you. Climbing near Durango, I was on a route well within my ability and moved about...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, Pakistan, Nanga Parbat, First Ladies-Only Ascent

Nanga Parbat, First Ladies-Only Ascent. The first all-woman expedition to Nanga Parbat successfully climbed the mountain. The party consisted of Poland’s top women climbers: Dobroslawa Wolf, Anna Czerwinska, Krystyna Palmowska and Wanda Rutkiewicz...


Book Reviews AAJ
Berchtesgadener Alpen

Berchtesgadener Alpen, a collection of articles, issued by the German Alpenverein. 232 pages, with 100 illustrations, and a sketch map. Munich: Bruckmann, 1950.Certainly very few mountains in the world have been so intensively climbed over as the ...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
South America, Argentina, Southern Patagonia, Chalten Massif, Agujas Saint Exupery, Rafael Juarez, and Poincenot, Traverse

Agujas Saint Exupery, Rafael Juarez, and Poincenot, traverse. Beginning on February 18 Jonny Copp and I enchained Saint Exupery, Aguja Rafael Juarez, and Aguja Poincenot in a 52-hour roundtrip from Polacos high camp. After oversleeping we left Pol...


Accident Reports ANAM
California, Yosemite, Washington Column

California, Yosemite, Washington Column. On 4 September Ralph Love (36), and Rex Allen Spaith, Jr., were attempting the South Face of Washington Column. Ralph led the pitch off Dinner Ledge, and was at the base of the roof, trying to figure out ho...


Editorials And Prefaces ANAM
Accidents in North American Mountaineering, Twenty-Seventh Annual Report of the Safety Committee of the American Alpine Climb

This is the twenty-seventh annual Report of the Safety Committee of the American Alpine Club and the fourteenth in conjunction with the Alpine Club of Canada. Its publication was delayed by human frailties; the Committee expects to do better next ...


Accident Reports ANAM
Avalanche, Inadequate Equipment, Poor Position, Failure to Heed Forecast, British Columbia, Rocky Mountains, Mount Field, Silk Tassel Falls

AVALANCHE, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENT, POOR POSITION, FAILURE TO HEED FORECAST British Columbia, Rocky Mountains, Mount Field, Silk Tassel FallsOn February 2, 1992, two parties of two set out for Silk Tassel, a grade 4 ice climb near the Trans-Canada Hi...


Feature Article AAJ
Mount Huntington—West Face

Mount Huntington-West FaceDavid S. RobertsIT was darker than dusk. The two of us stood in the gloom of Alaskan midnight on the last day of July. Ed said, "How do you feel?”"Pretty tired. I feel I’m getting overcautious. How about you?”"No,” he ans...


Feature Article AAJ
Bright Star

Bright StarEdward WebsterBright star, would I were steadfast as thou art— Not in lone splendor hung aloft the night And watching, with eternal lids apart,Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite,The moving waters at their priestlike task of pure a...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
South America, Argentine-Chilean Patagonia, Fitz Roy, Guided Ascent

Fitz Roy, Guided Ascent. Possibly for the first time, a client was guided on a major Patagonian route. In the 1992-3 season, Italian guide Marcello Cominetti first hoped to lead Cesare Sartori up the Maestri Compressor Route on Cerro Torre, but th...


Accident Reports ANAM
Fall on Snow — Failure to Clip in to Fixed Rope Alaska, Mount McKinley, Denali Pass

Early in the day on May 25, several groups went for a summit attempt from the 17,200-foot camp. The Alpine Ascents guide stopped by the NPS tent to let Rangers know that they would be attempting to summit. At 2315, NPS volunteer Mik Jedlicka ...

| Published 2011


Feature Article AAJ
Climbs from the Klutlan, 1951

Climbs from the Klutlan, 1951Alfred W. BaxterTHE Stanford Klutlan Expedition represented an extension to Alaskan terrain of mountaineering doctrine and practice developed on the Sierra Club Expeditions to the Coast Range of British Columbia in 194...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, India, Himachal Pradesh, East Karakoram, Padmanabh, First Ascent

Padmanabh, first ascent. Almost all the unclimbed 7,000m peaks surrounding the Siachen Glacier were scaled in the 1970s by expeditions entering the region from Pakistan. Padmanabh remained virgin. The period allocated to climbing during our traver...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, Nepal, Dhaulagiri IV

Dhaulagiri IV. On May 9 two of the Osaka Mountaineering Federation party reached the summit of untrodden Dhaulagiri IV (25,135 feet) by its western approach, but they failed to return. They fell into the Konabon amphitheater from 24,600 feet where...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
North America, United States, Alaska, Mount Marcus Baker, Second Ascent, and Mount Goode, First Ascent, Chugach Range

Mount Marcus Baker, Second Ascent, and Mount Goode, First Ascent, Chugach Range. On April 20 Eric Barnes, flying for Alyeska Air Service, set Helmut Tschaffert and me down at 8000 feet on the Knik Glacier between Marcus Baker (13,176 feet) and Goo...


Feature Article AAJ
First Ascents in the Mont Blanc Alps

First Ascents in the Mont Blanc AlpsJohn HarlinL’Aiguille du Fou’s South FaceIT had been three hours since the first wisps of high cirrus appeared from the west. The sky was now overcast and lowering. The summits of the Jorasses were put to sleep,...