Queenstown region, summary. Queenstown’s Wye Creek became New Zealand’s focal point for sport-mixed climbing over the past winter. A number of climbers based themselves in the Wye valley cirque and developed mixed climbs up to grade M11. First to ...

Big Bend Gendarme, Mean High Tide. This route climbs the obvious crack system on the southwest face, facing the Big Bend shuttle stop. It can be recognized by the rubble stack in the fifth-pitch chimney. It reaches the top of the spirelike formati...

DROPPED GEAR, INADEQUATE FUEL AND FOOD, WEATHER, DEHYDRATION, EXHAUSTIONWashington, Mount Rainier, Liberty RidgeA cell phone call late June 30 revealed that Mike Matelich and Larry Sverdrup were stranded on Liberty Ridge and in need of assistance ...

Cruel Finger. This narrow, spindlelike spire of granite lies in the Nightmare Needles of the Cashmere Crags, above grotesque "Fire Spire" and "Little Snowpatch," some 2500 feet above the deep valley of Ingalls Creek but still below the snowy crest...

Sigurd and Other Peaks, Pangnirtung Pass Region. Baffin Island. Our five-man expedition had very good weather. On August 15 Sylvain Grand Maison, Patrice Lanciault, Marc L’Heureux and Raymond Sénécal ascended to the east ridge of Adluk via a 45° t...

BAD WEATHER, HYPOTHERMIA, FROSTBITE, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENT, INEXPERIENCENew Mexico, Wheeler PeakOn May 14, 1982, Steve Hendley (20) and Chris Dolby (20) were descending from the 4300-meter summit of Mount Wheeler when they began to encounter interm...

FALLING ROCKOregon, Mount Jefferson, Milk Creek GlacierWhile crossing the north couloir of Milk Creek on July 1, two climbers (both 32) were ascending out of the bottom of the couloir on firm snow. One was crossing the bottom of the couloir when a...

Chimborazo, North Ridge of Veintimilla Summit. On December 20-22, Byron Sykes and I, with support from Jens Larsen and Jorge Davila, climbed the striking line of the prominent north ridge of the Veintimilla summit (20,561') of Chimborazo. By 3 p.m...

Cerro Negro, Ice Cascade. The 250-meter-high ice cascade hanging on the south side of Cerro Negro, a peak northwest of Santiago, has long been a challenge to local climbers. C. Buracchio and I first climbed the mountain (4975 meters, 16,324 feet) ...

Peak 7,030' (Mt. Bearzi) and Peak 6,230'. In July Carl Dietrich and Kale Sommer made the third ascent of Peak 7,030', located six miles northwest of Devil’s Thumb in the Stikine Icefield, via a new route from the east. From the Burkett Glacier, th...

U. S. Grant Peak (13,692 ft.) offered a first ascent to a party of eight under the leadership of Father H. M. Walters. The ascent along the southwest ridge was not very difficult.

Taruca Umana Valley and Cerro Auchuma, Various New Routes. Based on a conversation with Sue Savege, we decided to concentrate on further exploration of the Taruca Umana valleys and of the unexplored Cerro Achuma and Cerro Jankho Willkhi ranges. We...

Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park. On 26 July Charles Darling (37) and Vincent Larsen (38) were descending the Middle Teton Glacier near the end of the moraine. Mr. Darling started to glissade and then either slipped or stumbled in attempting to ...

INADEQUATE EQUIPMENT, FATIGUE, SLIP ON ICE British Columbia, Selkirk Mountains, Adamant GlacierOn August 4, 1986, a party of four left camp around 0630 to climb East Blackfriar. It wasnearly 1500 by the time they reached the summit. They returned ...

Satopanth. On July 3 Franz Huber, Thomas Kürschner, Berndt Ritschel, Armin Siwy, Georg Welsch, our liaison officer Murthi and I with 16 porters reached Base Camp at Nandanban (14,450 feet). After a number of days of excursions over the debris-cove...

Climbs on the Colorado Plateau in Arizona and Utah. In early 1991, Bill Hatcher, Barry Ward and I climbed The Teapot (III, 5.8), an interesting 350-foot formation near Jacob’s Ladder on the Navajo Reservation. In June, I made the first solo ascent...

FALL ON SNOW, SPRAIN/STRAINAlaska, Denali National Park, Mount McKinley, West ButtressThe “To Zee Top” expedition started their attempt of the West Buttress on June 9 and proceeded on a normal schedule for the climb. After spending several days at...

Kahiltna Peak, Mount Crosson and other first ascents. Only one party had previously walked the entire length of the Kahiltna Glacier; that was six years ago when time restrictions prevented their doing any climbing on the way. (Beckey, Harrer and ...

“Bhrikuti, ” Ascent. Identifying mountains in remote parts of Nepal is not always easy, as a Spanish post-monsoon expedition to Bhrikuti (6364m) in north-central Nepal learned. The few maps of the area that exist have many mistakes, and the local ...

Cerro Trinidad, Water Music. Cerro Trinidad dominates the Cochamó Valley. A German team, supported by British climbers Tony and Sarah Whitehouse, put up a new free-climb- ing route in the center of the big, challenging northwest face of Cerro Trin...