Drakensberg Mountains, Monk's Cowl (3,224m), Janschek-Mackenzie-Manson. The Drakensberg Mountains (Quathamba in Zulu, translated: “the barrier of spears”) are not very frequented by climbers. Interest in this area has waned more and more as the at...
JUNEAU ICE FIELD RESEARCH PROJECT, 1954Since 1948 the Juneau Ice Field Research Project has conducted in the Juneau area a long-range program studying the relation between glacier behavior and climate. The Project has been supported by the Office ...
Kangchenjunga Attempt and Tragedy. Our expedition consisted of Hannes Grimm, Walter Hadersdorfer, Edu Koch, Dr. Gerhard Reif, Michael Saumwe- ber, Karl Schrag and me as leader. On March 4, we left Basantpur with 156 porters. After traveling throug...
In approximately one month Darren Benton, Jesse Burkhardt, Mikey Church, Jim Donini, Jennifer Flemming, Chris Weidner, and I completed first ascents of four peaks in the Gorno-Badakshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) region of eastern Tajikistan. We als...
FALL OR SLIP ON ROCK, FAILURE TO FOLLOW ROUTEWashington, Mount ThompsonOn October 15, 1983, Edward Henderson (47), Johanna Backus (45), Sherman Ackley (46), and Roger Ehret (52) set out to climb the West Ridge of Mount Thompson. Although the weath...
Dhampus. Patrick Monzat led a group of 17 French climbers to Dhampus. On October 29, Monzat, Jacky Guichaoua, Francette Jarry, Roland Lavisse and nine teen-aged girls climbed the southwest ridge to complete the sixth official ascent. The next day ...
Mountain Light: In Search of the Dynamic Landscape. Galen Rowell. Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, 1986. 224 pages, 80 color photographs. $35.00.I once read in a review of another of Galen Rowell’s books the complaint that Rowell’s photographs we...
MoskenesØy Island, Helvetestind, west face, The Next Best Thing and Norwegian Sheep Ranch. On July 3 Adam Stack and I climbed a six-and-a-half pitch line on what is locally known as Den Franske Pillaren (the French Pillar) on the west face (Hell's...
Manaslu. In 1956 the Japanese made a fourth and successful expedition to 26,658-foot Manaslu, the world’s ninth highest peak. Having briefly scouted out a route in 1952, they returned in 1953 to climb to within 1250 feet of the summit. In 1954, th...
FALL ON ROCK, PLACED INADEQUATE PROTECTION, WEBBING PARTED, INADEQUATE CLOTHINGWashington, North Cascades, Eldorado PeakThe accident occurred some time between 1100 and 1300 on Wednesday, July 18. Five climbers had started out together from a camp...
HAROLD L. PINSCH 1917-1999The mountain rescue community, and in particular Olympic Mountain Rescue (OMR), lost a strong advocate and well-respected friend with the passing of Harold on August 30. Harold was a really unique person; no one but he wo...
On November 20, as my friend Chris Pruchnic (42) and I walked early in the morning to our original destination, the Black Lake Slabs or West Gully ice climbs in RMNP, we talked at length. Chris, about running—a 100 mile race which he had complet...
Conspiracy of FoolsThe second ascent of La Conjura de Los Necios reveals plenty of adventure between the holts on El Gigante.Andrej GrmovsekIn the spring of 2002 my fiancé Tanja Rojs and I drove from Colorado to Chihuahua’s Canon de Candamena. Our...
Highest Peaks in the Arctic and AntarcticFor some years Mt. Forel (11,100 ft.), climbed by a Swiss party in 1938, was the highest known point in Greenland. In 1930 the late Gino Watkins saw from the air a group of peaks in Lat. 69°, Long. 30°, abo...
Topoz (Yak, 4,600m), Inek (4,560m), first ascents. On the drive from the Torugart-Too [see Littlejohn report, above] to At Bashi, we visited one of the most important historic sites in Kyrgyzstan: the Tash Rabat Caravanserai, a fortified “castle” ...
California, Royal Arches, Yosemite—On April 3, 1955 Donald Tocher (28) was a member of a four-man climbing party. All were experienced and able climbers who had climbed various routes on the Royal Arches previously. The party was roped and properl...
Over the Col de Balme in 1883CHARLES FRANCIS JUDSON1DURING the years of 1882-84 it was my good fortune to be a a pupil of Sillig’s School, located at Vevey-la Tour on Lake Geneva, conducted by Mrs. Edwin and Edouard Sillig. A pleasant feature of t...
FALL ON ROCK, PLACED INADEQUATE PROTECTION, PROTECTION PULLED OUT, TRYING TO LOOK GOOD California, Donner Summit, Nova ExpressOn June 16, 1993, I was attempting to lead a route which I had tried twice before but had never led. I’ve been climbing t...
Have you ever dreamed of a comer of paradise and then, in the realization of the dream, found it to be truly immense? So it befell us for one month in the heart of Madagascar. In the southeastern part of the island, in the Andringitra National Par...
Khangri Shar (6,811m) is one of many unclimbed peaks in the Nepal Himalaya opened for climbing by the Nepalese government in the fall of 2002. It is located west of Pumori in the Khumbu Himal in northeastern Nepal. The Changri Glacier flows into t...