New York (Adirondacks), Mt. Colden Dike. On September 11, B. Krumiak (20), K. Haight (20), and M. O. Rosenheimer (23) were descending Mt. Colden Dike. As Krumiak lowered herself over a large egg-shaped boulder it pulled loose. Both fell about 40 f...
Merra, third known ascent. A month after the Russians summited Merra (6,334m), the mountain was climbed again, this time by a French party that appears to have more or less followed the Russian route. Lionel and Vincent Palandre, Nicolas Rosset, a...
FALL ON ROCK, HANDHOLD BROKE, SOLO HIKING/SCRAMBLINGAlberta, Jasper National Park, Mount WoolleyLate in the afternoon on August 5, D.E. was approaching the col between Mounts Woolley and Cromwell, en route to the Lloyd MacKay—Mount Alberta Hut. D....
Valdez Ice Festival. The Fifth Annual Valdez Ice-Climbing Festival, sponsored jointly by the American Alpine Club and the Valdez Alpine Club, was a great success. More than 60 participants came from Fairbanks, Anchorage, Cordova, Talkeetna, Girdwo...
El Capitan, Magic Mushroom (with variations), first free ascent. One might think that after 10 years dedicated to free-climbing a single wall, I might crave something different, something more. When does a life-driving pursuit turn into a life-con...
The Patagonian Season, 1983-4*. The Patagonian Andes are being more frequented, like all the spectacular mountains of the world. This spring (September to December) the weather was passable, without being good, despite the fact that Europeans, who...
In July, Chris Brown and I set our sights on a large, east-facing dihedral on a broad wall just northeast of the famed Third Pillar of Dana. When viewed from the edge of the Dana Plateau, this “wall” reveals itself as a long and complex ridg...
Peak 4810, East Face. It was reported that the northeast face of 4810 was climbed by Alexander Odintsov and Igor Borihin from St. Petersberg via the Directissma (EDsup VI+ A4) in August, 1995. [While the report refers to the face climbed as being ...
Aconcagua, South Face. We two and Daniel Weitz made an ascent of the French route on the south face of Aconcagua. We began the route to the left of the buttress to avoid the danger of rockfall on the right side. After three bivouacs we got to the ...
Chomoyummo, 1986. As preparation for the 1987 Kangchenjunga expedition, the Indian Army Assam Rifles climbed Chomoyummo (6823 meters, 22,368 feet) in northern Sikkim. (The first ascent was made by Dr. Kellas in 1911. It was again climbed in 1945 b...
El Capitan Climbed by a Paraplegic. Mark Wellman, whose fall on another Yosemite climb in 1982 rendered him a paraplegic with paralyzed legs, completed the climb of the Nose on El Capitan with Mike Corbett on July 26. He had to inch himself up wit...
LOSS OF CONTROL ON RAPPEL, FATIGUE, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENT, IMPROPER TECHNIQUE Arizona Creek CanyonOn October 9,1986, Steve Herrman (32), while on a technical rescue practical drill, was rappelling off the 60 meter headwall of West Fork on a single ...
Kishtwar Shivling. Dick Renshaw and I made the first ascent of Kishtwar Shivling (c. 6000 meters, 19,685 feet). This beautiful and difficult mountain is in the Padar region in the eastern part of the Kishtwar range, lying on the ridge between the ...
Tasermiut Fjord, Nalumasortoq, Left-hand pillar British Route, second ascent. John Dickey, Evan Stevens, and myself arrived in Nanortalik in late July. The starting point for our expedition was a lot more hospitable than we imagined, providing gro...
Huascarán Sur, North Face. In 1990 after my solo ascent of the Richey- Brewer route on Chacraraju, I tried to climb an obvious line on the north face of Huascarán Sur, but was driven back by dangerous falling ice and rockfall. In 1991, it was cold...
California, Sierra Nevada, North Face University Peak. On 15 August at about 6:00 p.m. while descending the North Face from a successful ascent via the Southeast Ridge (Class 2), Kurt Benkman (16) slipped and fell 400 feet to his death. Benkman wa...
AVALANCHE ON ICE CLIMBBritish Columbia, Rocky Mountains, Mount StephenOn December 28, 1988, John Owen (30) and David Franklin (33) walked from Field along the railway tracks to a point below “Extra Light,” an ice climb on Mount Stephen. From there...
Monte Rosa (A.A.J., ii, 512). T. Alston Bishop, the second American to ascend Mont Blanc twice (No. 49 and 66), also made two ascents of Monte Rosa, his second ascent being guideless with Frederick Gardiner and J. E. P. Gage, August 8th, 1876. A. ...
Fuller Buttes, Songs to a Morning Star. In November, Mike Graber and I climbed a route on the east face of eastern Fuller Butte. We began climbing in cracks 20 feet right of a large, curving dihedral. The crux proved to be the second pitch which i...
Belltower Point. Steve Must and I made a new route on the north face of the first prominent rock formation at the entrance of the canyon of the Popo Agie River in July. It featured long slab runouts and some good cracks (II, 5.6).Fred Beckey