Free HallucinationsDefining a new game: "free aid” on the Hallucinogen Wall, in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colorado.Jared OgdEnIn 1980, four climbers must have been hallucinating when they set out for a new route in the Black Canyon of the ...
Tiquimani, New Route. In August, 1997, Spaniard Pere Vilarasau soloed the imposing Tiquimani in an impressive five hours round-trip. The 5519-meter mountain northeast of Huayna Potosí (misnamed Cerro Illampu on the IGM maps) has seen few ascents i...
Classic Climbs in the Caucasus. Friedrich Bender, translated by Jill Neate. Diadem Books, London, Menasha Ridge Press, Birmingham, Alabama, 1992. 316 pages. Photographs, maps. $24.95.This beautiful pocket-sized volume is sure dramatically to incre...
Pisco Este, South Ridge, Pukarashta, West Ridge and Other Peaks, 1980. Englishmen Derek Howard and Nick Kekus made a new route on Pisco Este from July 1 to 3, 1980. They climbed a direct line up the south ridge after a difficult icefall approach. ...
FALL ON ROCK, WASPSNew York, ShawangunksOn July 15, a 23-year-old man was climbing Fat Stick, a 5.7 route, when he was stung by wasps. He fell about 60 feet, sustaining only minor injury to an elbow and hip. (Source: Brad Snyder)AnalysisLast year ...
FALL ON SNOW—UNABLE TO SELF ARREST, CLIMBING UNROPED, NO HARD HATMontana, Glacier National park, Rainbow PeakOn July 3, Mark Robison (24) and Christopher Foster (23) fell 2000 feet to their deaths. They had nearly summitted Rainbow Peak when the l...
Gul Lasht Zom South and Gul Lasht Zom Southeast, Hindu Kush. Our 12-member Italian expedition reached the roadhead at Shogrom and in three days got to Base Camp at 4650 meters below Istor-O-Nal on the Upper Tirich Glacier. On August 9, we crossed ...
Dragontail, Northwest Face. In early April John Wasson and I climbed a route on Dragontail to the right of Serpentine Arête. We started the climb on a thin ice smear, and the next four pitches were on good ice leading up to a big snowfield. At the...
California, El Capitan Peak. On December 2, David Gunn (19) and a group of twelve other teenage hikers embarked on an ascent of El Capitan Peak, a prominent landmark near Lakeside. During the ascent of a brushy scree slope one member of the party ...
Dharamsura (White Sail Peak), Ascent. A Japanese team led by Zennosuke Sakurazawa climbed Dharamsura (6445 m) by the east face on September 7. Summitters were Z. Sakurazawa, Yusuo Kurasawa, Tstuomu Aoki, Takashi Chiko, Masanobu Ouchi, Fatehchand a...
Summit Chief Mountain, Alpine Chicken. Alpine ice climbing in Washington is so suck. From time to time, however, the weather does conspire to create decent enough conditions to grovel one’s way up a face using crampons and ice tools. Such was the ...
ROCK AND SNOW AVALANCHEAlberta, Rocky Mountains, Mount KitchenerTwo climbers, both in their early twenties, were attempting the Grand Central Couloir on the north face of Mount Kitchener on August 22, 1982. Due to bad conditions, they decided to a...
HAPEAlaska, Mount McKinley, West ButtressAt 1245 on Mayl 1, George Payot (63), a member of the Denali French Expedition, approached the NPS 14,200-foot camp complaining of shortness of breath. Payot stated he first began experiencing respiratory p...
Silverstar Mountain, 1986. A new route was made in September 1986 on the northeast buttress and finally the east ridge. Dave Beckstead and I found interesting, sometimes very challenging climbing on the slabs and towers of this ridge. The route be...
Southwest Section. We had four main events in 2011, finishing strongly with a successful winter dinner. The Section enjoyed good climbing and friendship January 15-16 at Joshua Tree with the Southern California Mountaineers Association. Included w...
Nanda Devi East Ascent and Tragedy. An expedition of Indian paratroopers was led by Major Kiran I. Kumar. After reaching Base Camp at 16,250 feet in the Nanda Devi Sanctuary on September 7, they set up Camps I, II, III and IV on the southwest ridg...
Altitudes of Nepalese Peaks. The reader will notice that many of the altitudes of Nepalese peaks are different from what had previously been accepted. The new altitudes are those given the Editor by Dr. Harka Gurung and are based on the latest ava...
Haramosh. An Austrian expedition, led by Heinrich Roiss and including Rudi Ebner, Stefan Pauer, Dr. Franz Mandl, and Dr. Rudolf Hammerschlag, made the first ascent of Haramosh (24,270 feet), which had been attempted in 1957 by the Oxford Universit...
Chomolhari, Chamolhari Range. It was reported that a joint Japanese/Chinese expedition climbed Chomolhari (7326 m) on the Tibet/Bhutan border from the Tibetan side by a new route. Further details are lacking. (Yama Kei)
Jichu Drake, 1984. Our party consisted of Ataru Deguchi, Noboru Sudo, Keiichi Sudo, Masahiko Chigara, Takuo Kikuchi, Kenzo Shinmazu, Moriya Hara, Shoji Seki and me as leader. We made Base Camp on May 4, 1984 at 4500 meters by a glacial lake east o...