Everest, record day and first snowboard descent. May 23 saw the record for the number of climbers reaching the summit in a single day completely smashed. Before last year the record stood at 40, these ascents taking place on the May 10, 1993. On M...
Kumbhakarna—My WayTomo Cesen, Planinska Zveza Slovenije, YugoslaviaFOR A YEAR, I debated with myself whether to try to climb Kumbhakarna solo. At one time, 1 spent an entire fortnight thinking of nothing else. After all, its direct north face was ...
Sunset Slabs. In January and February, Steve Spaar, Mark Lane, and I made the first ascents of some fine routes on this remote rock. The rock is located on the south side of Bear Peak just northwest of the Devil’s Thumb. The extremely long and dif...
Cordillera Real, Various Ascents. Bolivia, and especially the Cordillera Real, is being visited by many Argentines. In early July, 1995, a large group made various ascents. The most remarkable was a new route on Pirámide Blanca (5230 m) which Mari...
Kingdom of Adventure: Everest, by James Ramsey Ullman. 402 pages, with illustrations and maps. New York: William Sloane Associates, 1947. $4.75.This is a uniquely arranged collection of extracts from the standard accounts of the several British ex...
Karcha Parbat. An Indian expedition led by Narayan Chandra Paramanick climbed Karcha Parbat (6270 meters, 20,571 feet) on August 28. The summiters were Pallab Das, Amlan Bhattacharjee and porters Jeet Singh Thakur and Labatram Thakur. Another team...
El Escudo, Cara Este, Attempt. It was reported that Joan Jover (Spain) and Italian Carlo Banbolini climbed a 600-meter obvious couloir in the middle of the east face. They were forced to retreat 200 meters from the summit due to the bad quality ro...
Kanchenjunga and Yalungkang. Our 22-man expedition reached Base Camp on the Yalung Glacier at 18,000 feet on March 16. We started up the British first-ascent route of 1955 and established Camps I, II and III (Advance Base) at 20,175, 21,150 and 23...
FALL ON ROCK, FAILED TO FOLLOW ROUTE, INADEQUATE PROTECTION, NO HARD HATColorado, Rocky Mountain National Park, Hallett PeakOn July 28, Frederick Sperry (28) was attempting to lead the second pitch of the Culp Bossier Route (III, 5.8) on Hallett P...
Makalu, West Face, Attempt, Ascent and Tragedy. A 30-member team that had as its goal an alpine style ascent of Makalu’s west face, with Makalu via Makalu La as an acclimatization climb, was arranged in Russia last spring. The essential part of th...
California, Mt. Shasta. On 21 August, William John Mihm, Jr. and Stephan Tillman were climbing Mt. Shasta on the North West slope with improper equipment. When they got to the 12,000-foot level they decided to start back. They were standing at the...
Goat Perch, Weekend Warrior. On June 5 Dave Hopper and I made the first ascent of Weekend Warrior (IV 5.8 Ml-2) on the Goat Perch, in the Sawtooth Mountains. The route followed the narrow, northeast-facing couloir between the Goat Perch and Eagle ...
Baffin Island, A Glimpse into the Future. Prolific big waller Mark Synnott has made three trips to Baffin Island, including last year’s (see above) on which he made an aerial reconnaissance of potential objectives. An overview of some of what the ...
Auyuittuq National Park, Cumberland Peninsula, Baffin Island. This was a busy climbing season. Nine mountaineering groups totaling 39 people from five countries visited the park for climbing or skiing. Mountain climbers comprised 9.4% of the park’...
FALL ON SNOWBritish Columbia, Coast Mountains, Powder MountainOn May 26, 1983, Scott Hagarty (21) was ski mountaineering with three friends on the Powder Mountain snowfield. He fell while skiing down a 30 degree corn snow slope. His ski bindings r...
Tana and Bremner glaciers, first ascents. On June 8 Paul Claus landed Mike Crafts, Phil Tatman, Ben Traxler, and me on the col between the Tana and Bremner glaciers. Paul had not landed before in this area, which is covered on the Bering Glacier q...
FALL ON ROCK, HAND-HOLD BROKE OFFAlberta, Banff National Park, Lake Minnewanka Valley, Devils Gap, MacadamiaOn July 31, a 30-year-old climber suffered serious injuries after falling 40 feet while leading Macadamia (5.9) near Devil’s Gap in Banff N...
Himalchuli Tragedy. A nine-man Japanese expedition, led by Hisatoshi Takabayashi, hoped to make a new route on Himalchuli, the south face to the west ridge. Shunji Nishida and two Sherpas reached 21,325 feet on the west face on September 30 where ...
McKinley South Face, New Route. Josef Rakoncaj and I came to Alaska at the end of April. We flew to the Kahiltna Glacier. We climbed slowly as high as Denali Pass on the West Buttress. After acclimatizing to the altitude and cold, on May 17, Rakon...
Landscapes of Alaska, by members of the U. S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Park Service, U. S. Department of the Interior, edited by Howel Williams, 148 pages, 23 illustrations, 6 maps, 3 figures, glossary and index. Berkele...