Mount Whitney, Direct East Face, Winter Ascent. In February Mike Graber, Ron Kauk, and I skied into the cirque under Mount Whitney to attempt the long Grade V route to the left of the normal east face. After setting up camp we fixed a pitch up to ...
Wyoming, Devil’s Tower. On 23 July James A. Dunn, Robert C. Smiley, and Stephanie Sisca had signed out for an ascent of the Durrance Route. Dunn was leading with Smiley belaying on the first lead, the leaning column. Dunn had advanced to a point 8...
Baron Falls Tower, Carpal Tunnel. John Frieh and I headed out to Idaho’s best-kept secret, the Sawtooth Range, in mid-August with the intent of spending four days climbing some of the excellent established routes in the area. We forwent the usual ...
FALL ON ROCKAlberta, Banff National Park, Lake Louise, Back of the Lake Crag, Ash WednesdayOn October 10, T. (24) and his partner D., were climbing at the Back of the Lake crag area near Lake Louise. T. was leading the 10.b route Ash Wednesday whe...
On March 13, Ben Trocki and I climbed a new line on the east face of Awful Peak (the 8,170' peak that borders the west side of the unnamed glacier below the north face of Awesome Peak). We never came up with a name, so I’ve started calling it 13 A...
Ama Dablam, North Ridge. Our expedition was composed of Casimiro Ferrari, leader, Bruno Lambardini, Giuliano Maresi, Mario Panzeri, Daniele Valsecchi, Dr. Sandro Giati and me. Having left Italy on March 24, we were at Base Camp at 5100 meters thre...
HANDHOLD CAME OFF–FALL ON ROCKWyoming, Grand Teton National Park, Symmetry SpireOn July 28, Laura Plaut (35) was treated and evacuated from near the summit of 10,546-foot Symmetry Spire after she fell about 100 feet, shattering her left elbow and ...
Southern Ice Cap, Integral Crossing. From November 1, 1998, to January 30, 1999, four Chileans (Pablo Besser, Rodrigo Fica, Mauricio Rojas, Jose Montt) made the first integral crossing of the Southern Ice Cap. Further information is lacking.Hernan...
Everest Attempt. The Snowbird Everest expedition began with a casual visit to Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism and then a letter to Austrian Hanns Schell, Everest’s permit-holder for the post-monsoon season. Karen Fellerhoff gained from Schell the admi...
FALLING ROCKWashington, Mount StuartOn August 12, 1984, Allen Kearny (26) was descending Ulrich’s Couloir with three friends when one of them dislodged a large, loose rock which fell on Kearney, causing him to fall 18-20 meters. He and his friends...
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...