Accident Reports ANAM
Yukon Territory, Mt. St. Elias

Yukon Territory, Mt. St. Elias. The accident happened on the 37th day of the expedition, when the party consisted of Stan Adamson (28), Lucille Adamson (28), Susan Deery (24), John Hall (27), and Toby Wheeler (22). On 5 July the expedition was lan...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
North America, United States, Wyoming—Wind River Range, Ross Lake Cirques Area

Ross Lake Cirques Area. Brian Underhill and I spent two weeks in early August in this area, which offers the northernmost climbing in the Wind River Range, being several miles north of even Downs Peak. As inaccessible as any part of the range, the...


Accident Reports ANAM
Avalanche, Fall on Snow — Ski Mountaineering, Ignored Recent Avalanche Activity, Misjudged Snowpack, Using Ski-Cuts to Estimate Stability, Trying to Stick to a Schedule, Alaska, Mount McKinley, West Buttress, Rescue Gully

AVALANCHE, FALL ON SNOW – SKI MOUNTAINEERING, IGNORED RECENT AVALANCHE ACTIVITY, MISJUDGED SNOWPACK, USING SKI- CUTS TO ESTIMATE STABILITY, TRYING TO STICK TO A SCHEDULEAlaska, Mount McKinley, West Buttress, Rescue GullyOn June 25, a climber (34) ...


Feature Article AAJ
1929. East Ridge of the Grand Teton

1929. East Ridge of the Grand TetonChris JonesRising dramatically from the surrounding plains, Wyoming’s Tetons are a climber’s paradise: beautiful, accessible, good rock, great climbs. The highest peak in the small range, the 13,767- foot Grand T...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, Nepal, Western Nepal, Janak Himal, Nilgiri Northeast, South Ridge, Asceng

Nilgiri Northeast, South Ridge, Ascent. On, April 5, the Groupe Militaire de Haute Montagne left for Nepal, returning to the Himalaya after more than five years of polar expeditions. The objective was to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Mau...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, Tajikistan, Pik Chiringyad, West Face, Second Ascent

Pik Chiringyad, west face, second ascent. In a four- day round trip from base camp the five-member Russian team of Alexander Novikov, Maxim Pankov, Nicholay Sinushin, Andrey Satanin, and Michail Volkov (leader) made the second ascent of the 1989 R...


Feature Article AAJ
Free, Fast, and Clean, The Future of Yosemite Climbing

Free, Fast and CleanThe future of Yosemite climbingby Chris MacNamaraOn a brisk fall night on the top of El Capitan, Eric Sloan and I sat huddled around a fire, warming our bones after a day of replacing bolts on the top of the Big Stone. Out of t...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, India—Garhwal, Jaonli Attempt from the South

Jaonli Attempt from the South. Although Jaonli (6632 meters, 21,760 feet) has been climbed several times from the Jaonli Bamak on the north, the whole east side above the Khatling Glacier was unvisited. Our Anglo-Irish veterans party, two in our m...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
North America, United States, Idaho, Chimney Rock, North Face

Chimney Rock, North Face. The first ascent of the North Face of Chimney Rock was made by Don Bergman and Ed Cooper in July. This is only the second route, and the possibility of many additional difficult routes exists. Easy scrambling on the north...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, Sikkim Himalaya, 1952

Sikkim Himalaya, 1952. For one continuous year I had been tied to a desk in the teeming, sweltering city of Calcutta and it seemed time for a change. The Sikkim Himalaya, only a few hours away by plane, offered excellent mountaineering possibiliti...


Feature Article AAJ
Altitude Sickness and Climbing

Altitude Sickness and ClimbingCharles S. HoustonUNTIL quite recently the effects of high altitude were of interest and importance only to that small school of fanatics who make the summits of high mountains their goals, and there was little scient...


Feature Article AAJ
Kichatna Spire's East Face

Kichatna Spire’s East FaceScott WoolumsWE COULD HEAR THE roar of powder avalanches coming. Seconds later they would hit our porta-ledges, smashing the tent flies against our faces while we waited out a 48-hour storm. The spindrift had already soak...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, Pakistan, Trivor Ascent and Momhil Sar Attempt

Trivor Ascent and Momhil Sar Attempt. Masahiko Miyoshi, Morikatsu Hashimoto, Hidetoshi Nakama, Masahiro Izawa, Atsushi Endo, Hiroshi Kobayashi, Nabuaki Tuchizawa and I as leader reached Base Camp at 4300 meters on the Momhil Glacier on July 27. We...


Club Activities AAJ
The Mountaineers

The Mountaineers. The Seattle Mountaineers climbing program, under the leadership of Barbara McCann, continued with expansion of its traditional alpine program by again offering courses and seminars in sport climbing, water ice climbing and other ...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
North America, United States, Alaska, Glacier Bay

Glacier Bay. This expedition was Prof. Cooper’s fourth to this locality, the previous ones having been made in 1916, 1921, and 1929, while the writer had been there once before in 1926.1 Both of us continued our series of observations of the glaci...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
North America, Canada, Nunavut, Baffin Island, Mount Thor, Midgard Serpent

Mount Thor, Midgard Serpent. John Rzeczycki and I spent August 10 through 25 climbing a new line on the west face of Mount Thor in Auyuittuq Park, Baffin Island. The line we chose took us through the center of Thor's west face, avoiding the loose ...


Feature Article AAJ
Kayaking and Climbing in the Karakoram

Kayaking and Climbing in the KarakoramAndrew Embick, M.D.THE KARAKORAM RANGE can be thought of as the edge of the Asian continental plate uplifted by the Indian subcontinent sliding underneath. While the Himalaya is composed of the sedimentary sur...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, India—Garhwal, Ascents of Khamengar and Parahio and Exploration in Kulu, Spiti and Lahul

Ascents of Khamengar and Parahio and Exploration in Kulu, Spiti and Lahul. Our expedition of Kaivan Mistry and me and Kumaoni porters Har Singh Sr, Har Singh Jr and Kesar Singh and Manali porters Yog Raj Thakur and Surat Ram was joined in the firs...


Feature Article AAJ
Climbs in the High Andes of Peru

Climbs in the High Andes of PeruWilliam F. JenksA record of three short expeditions in the Peruvian Cordillera, with an appendix listing Peruvian peaks, climbed and unclimbed, worthy of attention of American mountaineers.FEW American climbers are ...


Accident Reports ANAM
Rappel Failure—Mid-Mark on Rope Came Off, Distraction, California, Yosemite Valley, Reed's Pinnacle Area

RAPPEL FAILURE—MID-MARK ON ROPE CAME OFF, DISTRACTION California, Yosemite Valley, Reed’s Pinnacle areaOn September 13,1994, John Pinchott (31) and Joel O’Connell spent the day climbing short routes at Reeds Pinnacle. Pinchott finished by top-ropi...