War Comes to the AlpsUrsula CorningON the 24th of August, 1939, the streets of Chamonix are as full as ever, but it is a strangely different crowd which surges up and down the way to the station. Gone are the familiar figures with sack and axe, ru...
The Peak Experience, by Carroll Seghers II. New York: Bobbs-Merrill,1979.Although The Peak Experience is informative in parts and easy reading, this is not the book I would recommend you give your sister, wife, girl friend or daughter who has neve...
Central Puscanturpa, Insumision. Spanish climber David Rodriquez Lopez opened a route, Insumision, on Central Puscanturpa (5442m), a beautiful mountain. The route ascends an oblique couloir that goes almost directly to the summit. The 450-meter ro...
Chacraraju Este, South Face Accident. Up the south face we went, first climbing a hanging glacier, up and around ice bulges, across a schrund and onto the nearly vertical main upper wall. The southern exposure and continual stormy weather meant in...
After acclimatizing on the Normal Route, on the summer solstice I scoped the 3,000m south face with intent to attempt a new route on the left side of the face, between the original French Route and the Romanian variation to the Slovenian Route. ...
INADEQUATE PROTECTION—RAPPEL ANCHOR FAILURECalifornia, Starlight PeakOn September 15, 1987, Ed Wallacer and A1 Johnson were climbing the northwest ridge of Starlight Peak when they decided to retreat at 1430.Upon reaching the Thunderbolt/Starlight...
California, Tahquitz Roch. Sometime before noon on 9 May, John Guth (19) and Ronald White (20) began an ascent of a route called The Error (5.6) on the north side of Tahquitz Rock. After an initial false start at the base of the rock, they found t...
In early January 2012 Jose Bonacalza, Sasha Gal, Ezequiel Manoni, Pablo Pontoriero, and I left Bariloche with a four-day good weather window. Our objective was a new route on Cerro Trinidad. To be efficient we divided into two groups. While one te...
WEATHER, FALL ON SNOW, EXPOSURE Alaska, Mount McKinleyOn February 16, 1989, a four-man Japanese expedition flew into the Kahiltna Basecamp to begin a winter ascent of the West Buttress. The group leader, Noboru Yamada (39), was climbing Mount McKi...
Aconcagua, Southeast Ridge. Mauricio Fernández and Carlos Dominguez of Mendoza reached the base of the south face of Aconcagua and camped at the Plaza Francia. After acclimatizing, they climbed to a gap at 5000 meters and descended east from the l...
On June 7, Belgian climber Joris Van Reeth of Borgerhout (27) was killed in a fall while climbing the Cassin Ridge. He was leading a highly technical section of the route known as the Japanese Couloir when his anchor appeared to fail and he fell...
Shivling’s East RidgeLight is right: A rapid alpine-style second ascent of a Garhwal testpiece by Mark RicheySwinging in space 7,000 feet above the Tapovan meadows, I reached down and touched my leg. It felt as if I had taken a full swing from a b...
Denbor Brakk, west face, Dancer in the Dark. In July Marcin Tomaszewski and I, both from Poland, arrived in the Nangma Valley. First we aimed for the west face of Amin Brakk. This wall harbours a couple of A5 routes and is said to be 1,600 meters ...
Inspired by impressive photographs of Pik Granitsa, provided by Paul Knott, who visited this area in 2005 (AAJ 2006), Michal Kasprowicz, Wojtek Ryczer, and I attempted peaks around the head of the Fersmana Glacier in the central section of the Wes...
Mountain Names. Robert Hixson Julyan. The Mountaineers, Seattle, 1984. 233 pages, black and white illustrations. $11.95, Cloth; $8.95, Paper.Being a trivia buff, and a climber, I was very happy to receive a copy of Mountain Names for Christmas rec...
Nanga Parbat (8,126m), new route on Diamir Face. Of the five expeditions to Nanga Parbat, only two were successful and a total of 14 climbers reached the summit, bringing the total number of ascents of the mountain to 216 from 1953 up to its Golde...
La Barre des Écrins, by Henri Isselin. 229 pages, with bibliography, 2 orographie maps, 2 sketches, and 18 photographs. Paris 8c Grenoble: Arthaud, 1954.Henri Isselin says in his preface that his book is just a tale of the many ties which bind men...
K2’s West FaceTeruo Matsuura, Waseda University Alpine Club, JapanIn THE PAST, four parties have succeeded in climbing K2, three by the Abruzzi Ridge; only an American party climbed the northeast ridge, though they too traversed to the southeast r...
1951-20072008TotalTotalGeographicalNumber ofPersonsNumber ofPersonsDistrictsAccidentsDeathsInvolvedAccidentsDeathsInvolvedCANADA*Alberta5201421033British Columbia317119641Yukon Territory372877New Brunswick100Ontario37967Quebec311063East Arctic8221...
The Gunks Guide: Rock Climbs in the Shawangunks of New York. Todd Swain. Alpine Diversions, New Paltz, 1986. 318 pages, black and white photographs, sketch maps. $20.00 (paper).The Shawangunks is the finest rock climbing area in the Eastern United...