The Ultimate Challenge: The Hardest Way up the Highest Mountain in the World, by Christian Bonington. New York: Stein and Day Publishers, 1973. 352 pages, 24 color plates, 31 black-and-white plates, 6 line drawings, 1 pull-out map. $12.50.Some cli...
K2, via West Ridge. Our international expedition was led by Englishman Jonathan Pratt and me from the United States. We made the second ascent of the west ridge, which was first climbed in 1981 by Japanese Eiho Ohtani and Pakistani Nazir Sabir of ...
CIRQUETRYTrundles from God and other tales of Speed and Freedom in the Cirque of the Unclimhables, Yukon Territory.Jonathan CoppThe Beaver roared, its circa 1957 pistons pounding as we looped skyward within a mountain cirque, trying to gain enough...
Walking in the Alps, by J. Hubert Walker, xii + 274 pages, with photographs and maps by the author. Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd, 1951.“How does one set about an Alpine journey? How is a man who has never been to the Alps to find out wher...
Mount Hajdukovich, Delta Mountains, Alaska Range. On March 18 we drove from Fairbanks to Mile 1388 on the Alaska Highway and lurched five miles further to our first camp at the end of an old 4-wheel-drive road along the east bank of the Little Ger...
BRADFORD FULLER SWAN1907–1976With a heavy heart we write these lines in memory of Brad Swan, who with gentle irascibility brought wisdom and manners, good judgment and humor to us all. Brad was not a great mountaineer; his alpine accomplishments w...
Huantsán Norte, Loyacjirca, and Quitaraju, Cordillera Blanca. On July 5 three Oregonians, Dave Jensen, Dean Caldwell and I started to climb Nevado Huantsán (20,981 feet) from a base camp at the head of the Quebrada Shallap. Our porterless party sp...
STRANDED, CLIMBING ALONE AND UNROPED (PARTY SEPARATED), EXCEEDING ABILITIES Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park, Glencoe SpireOn July 20, 1994, a member of the Paul Petzoldt 70th anniversary climbing party heard cries for help coming from the south...
The Monitor and the MerrimacRon OlevskyTHERE ARE JUST two seasons for climbing in the canyon country of the desert, too hot and too cold. Often they are separated by a matter of minutes and one does not necessarily find them when one expects. Whil...
The Good, the Great, and the Awesome: The Top 40 High Sierra Rock Climbs. Peter Croft. Mammoth Lakes, CA: Maximus Press, 2002. 243 Pages. $30.00.How would you feel, having invested in a guidebook, reading in it this? “Above looms THE corner. If yo...
The Ohno Wall, Mount Moby DickDavid Peter JonesI first heard about the immense granite west face of Mount Moby Dick while talking with Bob Kruszyna in 1970 after his return from three weeks in the Battle Range of the southern Selkirks. He describe...
While walking back from Island Peak I saw what I thought was a series of ice runnels on the northern flank of Tsuro Ri, the shoulder on the northwest ridge of Ama Dablam, and decided I had to try them. I believe every mountaineer has demons that t...
Chomolhari (7,326m), alpine style ascent. On 7 May Roger Payne and I (both British) made a rapid alpine style ascent of the south ridge of Chomolhari (7,326m) in Yadong County. We had been aiming to climb a new route on the northwest ridge of the ...
Sierra Classics: The 100 Best Climbs in the High Sierra. John Moynier andClaude Fiddler. Chockstone Press, Evergreen, CO, 1993. 316 pages. $25.00.When this new book first caught my eye on the shelf of a Yosemite climbing shop, my mouth watered in ...
Colorado, Animas Peak—On July 24 during the annual summer outing of the Colorado Mountain Club, a strong party of Elwyn Arps, William Davis (31), John Filsinger, and Gus Hallum (33), was formed to make the climb of the north face of Animas Peak, a...
It was cold and clear on the summit, without a breath of wind. Unlikely conditions, considering where we were. Laid out before us were the iconic peaks of the Nepal Himalaya. Mountains you dream about while growing up. Mountains I had already seen...
Mount King George. The decision last winter of the Canadian government to rename East Hubbard Mount Kennedy generated much climbing interest. It quickly became obvious that anyone wanting the first ascent would have to go earlier than the usual cl...
Mountain and Caving Film Festival, Huaraz. Acceding to a request of the Revista Peruana de Andinismo, the French Ministry of Youth and Sport sent 17 mountaineering and caving films to Huaraz. The famous French climber, René Desmaison, presented hi...
Chilean Patagonia, Various Ascents. On Monday, December 29, I crawled out of my cave at 5 a.m. I didn’t think the weather was terrific, so I went back to sleep. I woke up and started to the gear stash cave at 9 a.m. I organized things and at noon ...
Alberta and the Silver Ice-AxeJOHN C. OBERLIN“WE CAME from Japan so far called by this charming great mountain.” The paper was carefully folded and tucked in a recently emptied tin can to be placed in the hurriedly constructed cairn on the summit...