Thor Peak, Northwest Face. After studying aerial photographs all winter, Leigh Ortenburger was convinced that Thor Peak had a 1200-foot northwest face which should at least be investigated during the summer. An additional attraction to this route ...
FAILURE TO TEST PROTECTION, ANCHOR SLING FAILURE, FALL ON ROCKAlberta, Rocky Mountains, Spray SlabsSpray Slabs is a practice area near Banff. In July, 1990, a leader (46) climbed a short distance above his belayer, clipped into a very old 9 mm web...
Batura Attempt. Our expedition set out from Hasanabad for Batura on July 2. We walked for three days through an inhospitable land to 3800 meters, where the porters refused to go on, frightened by the glacier crossing. We had to ferry our loads fro...
Manaslu Attempt. A six-man Italian expedition led by Oscar Piazza got up to 7300 meters on the east ridge of Manaslu on May 1 but had to give up there.Elizabeth Hawley
Hualcán, Southwest ridge. J. Curry Slaymaker and David Ciochetti made the first ascent of the southwest ridge of Hualcán (20,096 feet) on July 7. A camp was established at 17,000 feet above Laguna Cochca, where a third member of the group, Dan Lan...
TALCOTT MINER BANKS1905-1983Talcott Banks was perhaps better known as a sportsman and a devotee of the musical arts than as a mountaineer. He was bom in Englewood, New Jersey, June 23, 1905. After three years at Hotchkiss he attended Williams Coll...
Mt. Everest, Russian attempt. Two Sherpas who have arrived in Kathmandu report details on the Russian Everest attempt. After being flown to Lhasa in mid-October, 1952, aided by local porters, the expedition took longer in its approach than they ha...
Dhaulagiri, Post-Monsoon Northeast Ridge Ascents and Attempts. A party of five Spaniards to the normal northeast ridge was led by Xavier González. On October 2, Jordi Corominas completed the 51st ascent of the peak. Japanese under the leadership o...
Shipton Spire, new routes and attempts. The expedition of the Slovak Mountaineering Union was in Pakistan from July 17 to September 8. Our main goal was to climb Shipton Spire and some surrounding peaks. The expedition had 10 members: leader Igor ...
FALLING ICE – GAVE WAY, FALL ON ICE, CLIMBING UNROPEDUtah, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Great White IcicleOn December 31, Gene Rawson (37), a solo ice climber, was near the top of the final pitch of the Great White Icicle. Rawson was waiting for anot...
The Prow, Steamboat Rocks. Steamboat Rocks are a large group of quartzite buttresses, ten miles from Kingston on the Coeur d’Alene River. At least six of them are over 500 feet high. The south-facing apron of the first buttress provided possibly t...
Various Ascents in the Waddington Range. May can be pretty fine in the Coast Mountains, but it can also be pretty darn bad. Last May was the finest ever, and an unusually large number of climbing parties happened to be on hand to enjoy the fruits....
FALL ON ROCKNew Hampshire, Cathedral Ledge, RecompenseOn June 18, Mark Gallagher (48) was climbing Recompense when he fell, hit a ledge, and suffered a compound fracture of his lower left leg. Gallagher said he had climbed Recompense several times...
Langar, 1974. In A.A.J., 1975 on page 216 we reported that Italians had climbed Langar but details were lacking. On August 5, 1974 Sergio De Infanti, Mario Qualizza and Aldo Scalettaris reached the summit of Wala Peak 193, which lies just north of...
Hindu Kush. A small German expedition, led by Harald Biller and composed of his wife Alma, Theo Stöckinger and Hans Vogel, traveled by road from Europe to the Panshir valley in the Hindu Kush, north of Kabul. Continuing from the end of the road on...
Mount Booker, Northeast Face. Unless you have climbed in Washington’s Cascade Pass area you have undoubtedly never heard of Mount Booker as it is greatly overshadowed in height by its neighboring peaks and the only routes on it had previously been...
STRANDED, INADEQUATE CLOTHING AND EQUIPMENT, EXCEEDING ABILITIESCalifornia, Yosemite Valley National Park, Fairview DomeOn August 20, 1994, at 2100, climber Ray Pichette reported to Tuolumne Meadows rangers that he had passed a slow party of two o...
Glacier Point Apron, Hoser’s Highway. Eric Sanford, Greg Davis, Scott Woodruff and I on April 20 put up a new route on Glacier Point Apron, starting between Patio and Goodrich Pinnacle. We followed the obvious water groove to the Oasis. Ten pitche...
Kinnaur, Naufragi. From August 15 to September 8 I soloed a big wall south of the Kinnaur-Kailash Range. The wall lies roughly northeast of Sangla in the Baspa Valley, on the southern flanks of Raldang (5,499m). Before I left for India, the only i...
Washington, Cashmere Crags—On May 31, Ray Riggs (52) a member of the Mountaineers and a veteran climber slipped and fell to his death while descending the steep rocky cliffs above Nada Lake in the Cashmere Crags. He was a member of a six man party...