ALBERT WALTER BAILEY1917-1958The many friends of Walt Bailey were greatly shocked to hear of his untimely death in Peru on June 29th. Walt was a member of the North American Andean Expedition which was attempting the ascent of Mount Alpamayo (20,0...
I really wanted this one. So far, the great mountains of Asia had largely defeated me. Six big trips over 18 years had produced two summits and plenty of abseiling practice. In the last few years I had begun to question the investment, to consider...
STANDARDS FOR PROTECTIVE HEAD GEARAnalysis of the reports of previous accidents leads to the following conclusions:Presently used hard hats (as distinct from a helmet), even though only moderately efficient, are saving lives and reducing injuries....
Names in the Gangotri Region. The glaciers of the area are often named for their appearance. “Varn,” meaning “colour of the skin or complexion,” appears in several glacier names. Raktavarn Bamak (Reddish Complexion Glacier), Swetvarn (White Comple...
Bear Tooth, Climbing Is Believing. Yusuke Sato, Fumitaka Ichimura, and I flew in to the Buckskin Glacier on April 7. Our aim was the east face of the Bear Tooth, on which we had been driven back in 2006. However, we found the face drier than two y...
North Summit (13,500 ft.), the northern summit of the South Lookout group, was attempted by Charles Kendrick, Bob Scott, and the writer. This climb failed about 30 feet from the summit because of bad weather and lack of time. The climb was difficu...
On August 12, Mikey Schaefer and I flew with Temsco Helicopters from Petersburg, Alaska, to a camp below the southeast face of Devil’s Thumb. Our objective was a complete traverse of the Devil’s Thumb massif, climbing over the summits of the Witch...
The Right Mountain: Lessons from Everest on the Real Meaning of Success. Jim Hayhurst, Sr. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1996. 209 pages. $24.95.The Right Mountain, by Jim Hayhurst Sr., is not really about mountains or climbing them. It is a wo...
Everest, West Ridge Attempt. Bad flying weather at Lukla prevented our beginning our approach march together. Jim Bridwell, our climbing leader, with Andy Politz, Randall Grandstaff, Greg Sapp, Kevin Swigert and Fletcher Wilson, got out ahead and ...
Watkins Mountains, two possible first ascents close to Gunnsbjorns Fjeld. Named by the Vikings “Hvitserk” or “White Shirt,” Gunnbjørns Fjeld stands as the Arctic’s highest mountain. Its 3,693m summit is not technically difficult to reach, but a go...
Number of Accidents ReportedTotal Persons InvolvedInjuredFatalitiesUSACANUSACANUSACANUSACAN195115221131952313517131953242712121954314131819553439286195646725413195745532818195832392311195942256231019219604746412378194196149961144510144196271190164...
Huantsan Sur, Death or Glory. The northeast buttress of Huantsan Sur is approached from the east side of the range. Unlike the heavily frequented west side, the east is another world. A four-hour bus drive dropped us in the quiet town of Chavin. W...
RAPPEL ANCHOR FAILURE, FAILURE TO TEST ANCHOR, INAD EQUATE PROTECTION, WEATHERWyoming, Middle TetonOn July 31, 1984, Daniel Meteer (30) and Christopher Page (32) were retreating from an unsuccessful climb of the North Ridge of Middle leton. In the...
RAPPEL FAILURE/ERROR–NO BACK-UP BELAY AND NO KNOTS ON ENDS OF ROPESWyoming, Devils Tower National MonumentOn May 17, Jacqueline Weimer (27) sustained fatal injuries after falling approximately 100 meters while rappelling adjacent to the popular El...
Governor Spotswood’s Tramontane ExpeditionA writer in the Alpine Journal, in a reference which now eludes us, once suggested that we had in America a predecessor of the Alpine Club in the Tramontane Club of Virginia, founded in 1716 with the purpo...
The Great Glacier and Its House. William Lowell Putnam. The American Alpine Club, New York, 1982. 224 pages, duotone photographs, maps, appendices, bibliography. $37.50.The hotel is gone and the passenger trains, now rarely on time, go by only onc...
All 14 8000-Meter Summits. There were successes for three men approaching their goal of summiting all 14 8000-meter mountains, Fausto De Stefani and Hans Kammerlander of Italy on Kangchenjunga, and a Spanish Basque, Juanito Oiarzabal, on Dhaulagir...
WEATHER, EXHAUSTION, HYPOTHERMIA, INADEQUATE CLOTHINGWashington, Mount Rainier, Muir SnowfieldAbout mid-day on Saturday, May 2, Tim Stark (57) and his nephew Greg Stark (26) set out from the Paradise (5,440 feet) to Camp Muir (10,100 feet) plannin...
From the foregoing review of alpine accidents in 1950, it is clear, as it was in last year’s report, that there is still a need for more training of the inexperienced and young, and that this training must continue to be organized and actively car...
FALL ON ROCK, FATIGUE, DEHYDRATION, OVEREQUIPPED,INEXPERIENCE ON BIG WALLS California, Yosemite ValleyOn June 4, 1988, at 1200, disptach received a call from Wesley Walton concerning an injured climber on Half Dome. Walton had talked with people o...