On September 22, William Tharpe (28) died in a rappelling accident on Snow Creek Wall near Leavenworth, Washington. Tharpe and his partner, M (27), were climbing Outer Space, a popular, six pitch, 5.9 route. M led the route’s crux 5.9 pitch abov...
Cochamó, El Escudo, Flakes of Wrath, and Cerro Trinidad, E.Z. Does It. In January 2009 northern Arizona climbers Cullen Kirk, Zach Harrison, and I established Flakes of Wrath (IV 5.11+) up the center of El Escudo, between the routes Pulso and Icar...
RAPPEL ANCHOR PULLED OUT, INADEQUATE BELAY, INEXPERIENCE Colorado, Eldorado SpringsOn May 8,1986, a novice female climber (23) was on the west wall of Redgarden Wall in Eldorado Springs State Park when her male climbing partner rappelled to the gr...
The 1931 journal of the Alpine Club of Canada sets a high watermark of excellence for this standard publication, now rounding out a quarter of a century of service to American mountaineers. Twenty articles and many valuable notes make up the 205 p...
Alberta: Mt. Paul, Maligne Lake. On 28 July 1950 two parties of the Alpine Club of Canada's summer outing crossed the lake from their campsite by boat in order to reach Mt. Paul for some practice rock climbing. In moving from the lower boulders to...
Aguja Guillaumet West Face, Solo, 1990. With my wife Rosanna, I arrived on November 24, 1990 at Base Camp at Piedra del Fraile. I wanted to climb the west face of Agjua Guillaumet over a new route for the first 600 meters where I planned to join t...
Foregoing Chalten’s legendary New Year’s Eve fiesta, Neil Kauffman and I launched into the hills. We caught a few hours of sleep at the Piedra Negra bivouac, grabbed our previously-cached gear, and headed over Paso Cuadrado and down onto the Nor...
On May 14, a climber (22) led Washington Irving (5.6), and at the top of the pitch, he clipped his rope into a fixed anchor. His partner began to lower him. When the climber was about 15 feet from the starting ledge, the end of the rope slipp...
Gaurisankar Region. The Merseyside Himalayan Expedition under the leadership of Alfred Gregory spent two and a half months climbing and exploring in the little-known region between Guarisankar and Cho Oyu. They first climbed two peaks south of the...
Mount Stanley, North Face. My cousin, John Waterman and I started in a large couloir just left of the point directly below the summit. Our route was in the center or left of the face. The standard ice route on the north face is at the right end of...
Mount Birdwood, East Face. On February 27, Keith Haberl and I climbed a new line of water ice, snow gullies and mixed ground that led directly to the summit of Mount Birdwood. The route is visible from the Burstall Pass parking lot, forty minutes ...
Northern Selkirks. On July 31 Colossal Enterprises reconvened near Downie Creek on the western side of the northern Selkirks. The party consisted of W. L. Putnam, W. Blesser, Paul Doherty, J. Williamson, W. Herlihy, J. L. Stackpole, S. J. Smith, H...
Everest, Hornbein Couloir from the North Face Attempt. Our expedition was composed of Luis Fraga, Luis Bárcenas, Juan Agustín Casillas, Iñigo Mauleon, Pedro Holst, Bicen Itxaso, Cristóbal Salas, Fernando Garrido and me, all from different regions ...
Various new routes and repeat ascents. From March 31 to April 24 the Freewall Team of the German Alpine Club visited the limestone walls of Taghia. After two years of successful training, where they learned the fundamental climbing tricks, from ai...
FALL IN CREVASSE, UNROPED, CLIMBING ALONE, INATTENTION Alberta, Rocky Mountains, Mount AthabascaNick M. registered at the Columbia Icefield on July 21, 1992, for a solo climb of Mount Athabasca (3490 meters) the following day. He intended to start...
“Real” Mera Peak, Attempt. In the 22 years that the trekking-peak system has been in use in Nepal, the highest of those peaks, Mera, has become hugely popular. The normal route to the 6470-meter summit is technically easy and attracts about 1,000 ...
Dhaulagiri. On April 23, Peter Rohrmoser, Erwin Reinthaler and I left Pokhara with our liaison officer and eight porters to cross the Ghorapani Pass to Tukuche and the Dhapa Pass to Hidden Valley. We had to wait there for some days because five of...
Huacshash, Southern Cordillera Huayhuash. After our Bolivian climbs (see that section), we went through Cajatambo and ascended the Quebrada Ularagra to establish Base Camp a mile northeast of Huacshash at 16,400 feet on the slopes of P 5295 (17,37...
Nanga Parbat, Rakhiot Face; Chongra Main, west ridge, first ascent; Chongra South. Italians Simon Kehrer, Walter Nones, and Karl Unterkircher climbed new routes on 6,830m Chongra Main and the Rakhiot Face (north face) of 8,126m Nanga Parbat. The l...
Valdez Glacier Region. Although the Valdez Glacier region is one of the most historical areas of Alaska because it was used by thousands of prospectors during the gold rush of 1898 as a route into the interior, apparently no climbing party had eve...