Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
South America, Argentina, Mercedario, First Winter Ascent

Mercedario, First Winter Ascent. Many parties had attempted the winter ascent of Mercedario (6770 meters, 22,212 feet), fourth highest in the Americas, but all had had to retreat under extreme conditions. In June, Mauricio Fernández, Carlos Domíng...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, Pakistan, Karakoram, Batura Muztagh, Peak 5,772m, Attempt

Peak 5,772m, attempt. Our three-man team (Wojciech Chaladaj, Jakub Galka, and Marcin Kruczyk) hoped to attempt unclimbed Purian Sar North (6,247m) in July. However, the bag containing the majority of our climbing gear was lost at Heathrow Airport ...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
North America, United States, Alaska, Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains, Mount Bona and P 11,920

Mount Bona and PI1,920. On May 30, Paul Claus of Ultima Thule Outfitters landed Ruedi Homberger and Stefan Wyss of Switzerland and myself at approximately 10,300 feet on the upper Hawkins Glacier under the immense south face of Mount Bona (16,421'...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, India, Trisul

Trisul, 23,360 ft., which for twenty years was the highest summit ever reached has just been climbed a second time, when on June 21st, 1933, P. O. Oliver and Kesar Sing effected its ascent. The first ascent was made on June 12th, 1907, by T. G. Lo...


Accident Reports ANAM
Avalanche and Climbing Alone—Colorado, Mt. Ypsilon

AVALANCHE AND CLIMBING ALONE—Colorado, Mt. Ypsilon. At 8:43 a.m. on July 6, 1976, Christopher Sommer telephoned ROMO Dispatch to report an overdue friend, Jim Boicourt (29). Sommer believed Boicourt to be in the Ypsilon Lake area. A trailhead chec...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, China, Qionglai Range, Siguniang National Park, Tan Shan and Putala Shan, First Ascents via Difficult Rock Routes

Tan Shan and Putala Shan, first ascents via difficult rock routes. My wife Tanja Grmovsek and I planned to visit the Qionglai Mountains in the spring of 2003 but due to the outbreak of the SARS virus just a few days before leaving for China we had...


Accident Reports ANAM
Accidents Occurring in 1958 not Previously Reported, Wyoming, Sherman Mountains

Wyoming, Sherman Mountains—On October 16, Jim Burton (18), Floyd Young (18), Slyvan Brown (18), and Terry Richardson started to climb Piton Perch a rock climb of 200 vertical feet.Three of the climbers ascended Piton Perch and the fourth climber s...


Accident Reports ANAM
Fall on Ice, Placed No Protection, Alberta, Rocky Mountains, Mt. Deltaform

FALL ON ICE, PLACED NO PROTECTIONAlberta, Rocky Mountains, Mt. DeltaformJock Richardson (19), Cam Cairns (19), and Mike Down (20) started at 0330 hours on 17 August 1977 to climb the first steep pitch on the north face glacier route on Mt. Deltafo...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, India—Garhwal, Shivling and Bhagirathi III Attempts

Shivling and Bhagirathi III Attempts. Fabrizio Defrancesco, Stefano Nicolussi and I hoped to climb the Indo-Tibetan Border Police route on the west ridge of Shivling and the southwest buttress of Bhagirathi III. We got to Base Camp at the foot of ...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, Nepal, Mount Everest, West Ridge Attempt in Winter

Mount Everest, West Ridge Attempt in Winter. Over the winter of 1980-81 Adrian and Alan Burgess, Brian Hall, Paul Nunn, Alan Rouse, Joe Tasker, Dr. Peter Thexton and I attempted the west ridge via the Lho La. We were accompanied by a three-man fil...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
South America, Ecuador, Tabernáculo, South Face, 1981

Tabernáculo, South Face, 1981. This peak at the center of the horseshoe of the Altar Range was ascended for the first time in 1972 by a German expedition, which used the northeast slopes. In the last days of 1981 two Ecuadorian groups placed a hig...


Accident Reports ANAM
Fall on Snow, Climbing Unroped, No Hard Hat, Inadequate Footwear — Colorado, Crestone Needle

FALL ON SNOW, CLIMBING UNROPED, NO HARD HAT, INADEQUATE FOOTWEARColorado, Crestone NeedleOn September 11, 1982, Duane Best (22), a Western State College student, fell more than 80 meters to his death while ascending Crestone Needle with a companio...


Accident Reports ANAM
Various Falls on Rock (22 Leader Falls)—Mostly Inadequate Protection, Off Route (2), Rappel Error, Inadequate Belay, New York, Mohonk Preserve, Shawangunks

VARIOUS FALLS ON ROCK (22 LEADER FALLS)–MOSTLY INADEQUATE PROTECTION, OFF ROUTE (2), RAPPEL ERROR, INADEQUATE BELAY New York, Mohonk Preserve, ShawangunksThere were 24 climbing related accidents reported from the Mohonk Preserve this year. The maj...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, Pakistan, Kanjut Sar, West Face

Kanjut Sar, West Face. Our expedition consisted of Masashi Tera- moto, Koichi Fujii, Masanobu Kaneko, Hiroshi Sakai, Nobuaki Miyano, Koji Shibuya, Tatsuhiko Kamachi, Dr. Michiro Kawano, Etsuo Masada and me as leader. We climbed the west face, wher...


Accident Reports ANAM
New Hampshire, Mt. Lafayette

New Hampshire, Mt. Lafayette. On 22 July Gregory Sherblow (17) and Stewart Putnam (17) were camped on top of Mt. Lafayette. A lightning storm developed and a bolt of lightning struck about 35 feet from their tent, smashed a boulder, and sent groun...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, Nepal, Dhaulagiri

Dhaulagiri. A 12-person expedition from Torun, led by Wojciech Szy- manski, included Austrian Sepp Kathrein and German Dr. Ewa Demand. After setting up Base Camp at 15,100 feet on April 22, they placed Camp I at 18,975 feet on the northeast col fi...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, Nepal, Gangapurna

Gangapurna. A Polish expedition led by Wojciech Maslowski climbed Gangapurna by the east ridge, placing four high camps on the mountain, the highest at 6800 meters. They sent three teams to the summit: on October 23 Kazimierz Kiszka, Ryszard Knapc...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
North America, United States, Alaska, Hunter, New Start of Lowe-Kennedy Route

Hunter, New Start of Lowe-Kennedy Route. In late May, Paul Teare and I made a second attempt at a new route on the north buttress of Hunter from the southeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier. This second attempt also failed because of overly warm con...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
Asia, India—Garhwal, P 6561 Attempt

P 6561 Attempt. Greg Collum, Steve Mascioli and I attempted the first ascent of P 6561 (21,525 feet), which might be called the western summit of Santopanth. We tried the south ridge, the same route attempted by the British in 1985. We established...


Climbs And Expeditions AAJ
North America, United States, Utah, Echo Rock, Window Route

Echo Rock, Window Route. Echo Rock, a few miles southwest of the Moab airstrip, was first climbed six years ago. In 1974 Ken Wyrick, Terry McKenna and I made a new route, the north edge, on this 275-foot sandstone citadel. We started on the east f...