Hayburn and Baxton, Sawtooth Range, Winter Ascents. On February 25 Loren Adkins and I made the first winter ascent of Mount Heyburn. (Beckey’s April 1961 climb was made under spring conditions.) Throughout the climb it snowed lightly. We climbed t...
Bella Coola Region, Coast Range. In late July my wife, Frances, and I flew to Symphony Lake (formerly Ape Lake), 32 miles southeast of Bella Coola. Providing access to a variety of excellent climbing, this lake has been visited frequently in recen...
STRANDED, UNABLE TO RETRIEVE RAPPEL ROPE Pennsylvania, Delaware Water Gap NRA, Mount MinsiOn August 27, 1994, at 2020, park dispatch received a phone call stating that there was a stranded climber on Mount Minsi. Douglas C. Meyer and Mark C. Hover...
Ruiz-Tolima Group, Central Cordillera. Paul Monohan, Mickey Nowak, Ollie Wallock, and I on January 3 climbed Nevado de Quindío, (c. 4800 meters, 15,748 feet) from the west, a new route. We reached the ridge crest at a break in the cornice, travers...
Echo Tower, East Face, Fisher Towers, 1979. I climbed solo the virgin east face of Echo Tower in March, 1979. It is virtually all artificial, every pitch A3 or harder. I spent 3½ days and one night on the wall. Descent was by rappelling, possible ...
Paria Point, South Face, The Futura Wall. Troy Anderson, Todd Stephens and Nathan Brown put up The Futura Wall (V 5.10 A3) on the south face of Paria Point from March 25-27. The climb begins 100 feet to the right of Wind, Sand and Stars. Descent w...
Kimtah Peak, Northeast Ridge. Located on a ragged ridge, Stimson Bullitt and I completed this fun climb in August. Our approach was from the south to the Kimtah-Katsuk Col, down onto the Katsuk Glacier, across the glacier and onto the northeast ri...
HEAT PROSTRATION California, Yosemite ValleyDavid Kays (22) and Ken Corathers (29) were climbing the North Buttress of Middle Cathedral on August 2 when they reported by CB radio to friends on the ground that they were out of water and unable to c...
Mount Logan. The Arctic Institute of North America, Kluane Station, carried on a successful research season on Mount Logan with the establishment of laboratory and living quarters at 17,400 feet about midway on the Logan Plateau. During the last d...
STRANDED, OFF ROUTE, INEXPERIENCECalifornia, Yosemite Valley, Royal ArchesOn July 8 around 2330, Yosemite dispatch received multiple 911 calls reporting cries for help coming from the wall near the Awahnee hotel. Ranger Keith Lober investigated an...
Pumori, Ama Dablam, and a Season-Ending Storm. These two popular destinations had eight and 17 teams on them respectively. A total of twenty-eight people summitted Pumori by its standard route up the southeast ridge and face, and altogether 67 cli...
Llullaillaco. This peak (22,058 feet) in the Puna de Atacama was climbed for the sixth time in modern days on December 13 by Miguel Gómez, Captain Hector Miranda and Luis Allende from their third high camp. The group was made up of four civilians ...
Pioneer Peak, North Face. While on Adamant Gary Colliver had noticed an ice face on Pioneer Peak which he assured me was 65°. I have never seen any ice face this steep, though sections of one may be, so I was skeptical of his mathematics. But what...
FALL ON ROCK, CLIMBING UNROPED, INEXPERIENCEAlberta, Rocky Mountains, Cascade MountainOn August 19, 1981, T. W. was hiking to the Cascade Amphitheatre, a hanging valley which is passed on a scrambling route to the summit of Cascade Mountain. En ro...
La Hoja, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Expeditions to the Pingo Valley, Clarification. Between January 5 and February 6, 1996, Sven Bruchfeld (24) and Christian Oberli (24), both Chileans, made the first ascent of the east face of La Hoja in Pingo Valley...
Blue Ridge Section. In 2010 the Blue Ridge Section continued to meet at the Rhodeside Tavern in Rosslyn, Virginia. In April four members—Daniel Ressler, Hunt Prothro, Rob Borokantics, and Simon Carr—presented an overview of Sierra climbing, rangin...
Makalu Attempt, Makalu II Ascent. Makalu, the world’s fifth highest peak, has had 14 ascents since the first by the French in 1955. Our expedition was fortunate not to have any other expedition on the mountain and we were able to choose our route ...
Yanawaka, Attempt and Possible First Ascent. On July 1-2, Pedro Arias, Juan Padilla and I attempted Yanawaka (La Peña Negra de Parón, ca. 4900m) via a line up the center of the peak’s vertical north face. (The locals of Paron that I asked in 1985 ...
First winter ascent of Cerro El Plata by a new route on the South Face. In July, four of us, Augusto H. Mengelle, Carlos G. Vittone, Jure Skvarca and I made the first winter ascent of the south face of Cerro El Plata (20,702 feet) by a new route. ...
Mount Everest, Winter Attempt. Our expedition was led by Michel Metzger and composed of Marc Batard, Alain de Blanchaud, René Ghilini, Yves Laulan, Michel Mabilon, Michel Piola, Jean Bourgeois, Pierre-Alain Steiner, Emmanuel Schmutz and me. We got...