Everest attempt. Raging winds brought progress on our four-man attempt on the south pillar of Everest to a standstill as the jet stream lowered prematurely. Despite our 70-day vigil at 5500 meters and over, the outrageous winds never abated and th...
Pucahirca Oeste, attempt. In late June John Miller and I set out for the Pucahirca group, assisted by a Mountain Fellowship Grant from the AAC. After acclimatizing in the Ishinca Valley, we were unable to establish a new line on the north face of ...
RAPPEL FAILURE, INADEQUATE PROTECTION, FALL INTO CRE VASSEWashington, Mount ShuksanOn August 25, 1984, Richard Michelson (48) fell into a crevasse while descending Hell’s Highway on Mouont Shuksan when an anchor pulled out. He had three companions...
Gangapurna Attempt. After the leader, American Scott Woolums, had to drop out sick on the approach march and one Briton left the team at Base Camp, co-leader Sandy Allan, Swiss Toni Spirig and Canadian Paul Teare were the entire team. With heavy s...
The Western Hajar are a range of limestone mountains of varying rock quality. The main walls rise up to 1000 meters and, with respect to technical rock climbing, have been subject to very little exploration. On the southwest edge of the range, ove...
Cochamó, Pared de Paz, Nueva Perspectiva and Joe’s Pocket Monkey; Pared de Profetas, En la Senda de Gigantes. With the gracious support of a Mountain Fellowship Grant from the AAC, I organized a team—Benjamin Deering, Jonathon Estep, Chris Harknes...
Siula Grande, Los Rapidos. On July 3 Marjan Kovac and Pavle Kozjek (both from Slovenia) and Aritza Monasterio (Spanish Basque living in Peru) climbed a new route on the northeast face of Siula Grande (Los Rapidos, 1000m, ED, 90° [crux]/55°–70° [av...
Alpiniste, Est-ce Toi? by Alain de Chatellus. 174 pages, 15 illustrations. Paris and Grenoble: B. Arthaud, 1953. Collection Sempervivum. Price, 690 frs.M. de Chatellus’ subject is that always fascinating one, the psychology of the mountaineer. Mor...
FALLING ROCKS–PULLED LOOSE BY CLIMBING ROPESColorado, Rocky Mountain National Park, The DiamondAround 2 p.m. on August 7, two climbers (ages unknown) retreated from the Dunn-Westbay (V 5.10 C3). One of the duo was rappelling to Green Pillar Ledge,...
Valley of the Gods, Southeast Utah. Driving south from Mexican Hat, you get fleeting glimpses of thin sandstone towers to the west before the highway bends its way toward the Arizona border. An arrow on a wooden sign points down a dusty road to th...
Cerro Standhardt, Potter Route and other firsts. I arrived in El Chalten on January 29 to meet Dean Potter, who had been in Patagonia for a month and had a high camp set up at Noruegos, for the Torre group. The weather turned good the minute I got...
New York—Tongue Mountain Cliff, Lake George: On October 12, 1952 two members of the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club Michael Marx and Peter Robinson, invited two Holyoke girls, Mary Frymoyer and Edith Swanson, to do some climbing on Tongue Mountain. ...
Kane Peak, Kokanee Group, Selkirks. In the latter part of June, Pat Hoadley, Stu Krebs, Stan Shepard and I packed in to the Joker Lakes in the Kokanee Group of the southern Selkirks. On June 23 we made what was apparently the first ascent of Kane ...
HAPE, FROSTBITE, PARTY SEPARATED, INEXPERIENCE, WEATHERAlaska, Mount McKinleyOn June 10, 1990, at the top of the West Rib (5975 meters) on Mount McKinley, Miroaki Ito (38) died from pulmonary edema. Ito had been left here, since he was feeling poo...
The Ascent of Mount BonaAllen CarpÉTHE St. Elias range, which borders the coast of the Gulf of Alaska from Cross Sound to a somewhat indefinite boundary with the Chugach mountains west of Mt. St. Elias, contains some of the grandest elevations of ...
It is, hands down, the hardest face in the Canadian Rockies. Five thousand feet of sheer, black, and north-facing limestone, steeper than the Eiger, one and a half times as high as El Cap, a great dark cape of a peak. Hundred- foot seracs calve ...
Hand of Fatima, Suri Tondo, north summit. In February Eliza Kubarska and I, from Poland, arrived beneath the famous sandstone towers known as the Hand of Fatima. Our main objectives were a new route on one of the main towers that make up the Hand ...
From Vinowara to JallawayaAn Etymological Explorationby Liam P. O’BrienThe Vinowara region of the Cordillera Real of Bolivia begins at the 5200-meter Chachakumani Pass located just south of the Chachakumani massif. The range then continues southea...
LOSS OF CONTROL—VOLUNTARY GLISSADE, UNROPED Alberta, Rocky Mountains, Mount FisherFisher Peak (3053 meters) was the day's objective for Thomas W. (36) on July 22, 1992. He bicycled in from Elbow Falls with his friend J. M. to get close to the moun...
Peak 6571m, West Face. Peak 6571m in the Khumbu region lies six kilometers south of Ama Dablam and five kilometers east-northeast of Kangtega on the divide between the Hinku and Mingbo watersheds in the Hinku Himal subrange. On the Schneider Khumb...