Climbing from the Baird Glacier’s unnamed south arm (“Burkett Glacier” to climbers) in June, Max Hasson and Jens Holsten made several impressive ascents. They made a free ascent of Burkett Needle (ca 8,500') via a new variation (5.10+) to the 2,50...
CHARLES STACY FRENCH 1907-1995Charles Stacy French, American Alpine Club member since 1937, and former Director of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Plant Physiology and Professor of Biology at Stanford University, died October 13 at the ag...
FALL ON SNOW, FAILURE TO FOLLOW ROUTE, INADEQUATE EQUIPMENTCalifornia, Mount WhitneyAndrew Richey (24) and his partner were attempting to climb the East Face of Mt.Whitney, but got off route and were in a couloir to the south of the route. When it...
Mt. Stephen, Great Western. Great Western lies on the north face of Mt. Stephen (3,199m) in Yoho National Park, by the town of Field. The line follows a series of mixed gullies, ice runnels, and hanging ice pillars. The ice pillars do not always f...
JEAN JUGE1908-1978Last August American mountaineers learned that Professor Jean Juge of Geneva, the man who for years had been the principal driving force behind the Union Internationale des Associations d’Alpinisme, had died on the flanks of the ...
Chola Shan, Slovenian Activity. During the UIAA International Training Camp, we climbed three new routes on four new peaks between 5000 and 6000 meters. On the north face of Slovenian Peak (5500m), Miha Manence, Matej Brjnik, and I climbed the new...
Papsura, Kulu. Nearly thirty years ago Colonel J. O. M. Roberts made one of his characteristic sallies to the head of the Tos Nullah, a tributary valley of the great Parbati system, and made the first ascent, among others, of White Sail on the nor...
FALLING ROCKWashington, Mount Ranier, Disappointment CleaverOn September 23 about 5:30 a.m., a rock struck and killed noted double amputee climber Ed Hommer. Mr. Hommer and three companions were climbing the Disappointment Cleaver route in prepara...
Rocky Heights—A Guide to Boulder Free Climbs 1980, by James S. Erickson. Published by the author. 280 pages, illus. Price $10.00.This is the finest climbing guidebook yet published. It is comprehensive, accurate, concise, compact, sturdily bound o...
ShiprockBestor RobinsonRISING out of the Navajo country in northwestern New Mexico is a 2000-ft. volcanic plug of tuff-breccia shot through with a few basalt dikes. This is Shiprock. According to Navajo legend it has been ascended twice. It was, t...
WEATHER, INADEQUATE CLOTHING AND EQUIPMENT, HYPOTHERMIA, FROSTBITEWyoming, TetonsOn September 12, 1985, at 0815, a check of climbing registration permits at the Jenny Lake Ranger Station revealed that two parties were overdue from climbs on 9/11/8...
WILLIAM ROBERTSON LATADY 1918-1979Bill Latady’s death at his home in Hingham, Mass. in October was a shock to his many friends and associates here and abroad. In his 62 years of vigorous life, he pursued several exciting and rewarding careers and ...
High Adventure: A Biography of Reinhold Messner. Ronald Faux. Victor Gollancz, North Pomfret, Vermont, 1982. 180 pages, 45 black and white photographs, 2 maps. $22.50.For many years, I have been a Reinhold Messner buff. I think that I have read al...
REGIONAL SAFETY EFFORTSThe Pacific Northwest Mountain Rescue and Safety Council was conspicuously active in rescue work in 1951. The Council also has directed its efforts toward development of specialized search and rescue equipment. An item of pa...
Aguja Standhardt (2,730m), south face, first complete ascent via El Caracol; other ascents. In 1977, when Aguja Standhardt was the most compelling unclimbed peak in the Fitz Roy range, Brian Hall and John Whittle (U.K.) attempted a line that trave...
Connecticut—Sleeping Giant State Park: On July 25, 1953, Thomas Beck (16) and Terrance Lockavitch (16) were climbing up the face of anabandoned quarry on Mt. Carmel. When they were 15 to 20 feet from the top Lockavitch felt they should not continu...
Alberta, Canadian Rockies, Mt. Athabasca. On 20 May Ed Bennington (24), John Root (25), and Barry Watamaniuk (24) were travelling behind another party of three who led a route through the icefall which deviated somewhat from the traditional route ...
Last Climb: The Legendary Everest Expeditions of George Mallory. David Breashears and Audrey Salkeld. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1999. Numerous archival photos. 240 pages. $35.00.How would the discovery of George Mallory’s body...
FALL ON ROCK, SELF-BELAY ERROR, MISTAKE WITH ASCENDERS, "SUMMIT FEVER"California, Yosemite Valley, EI CapitanIn late afternoon on June 3, Steve Gomez (37), Eric Sorenson (34), and Dave Goodwin (41), reached the last pitch ofMescalito (26 pitches, ...
Like the Sirens who lured Ulysses to a blissful yet certain death, the northwest face of the Devil’s Thumb continues to tempt the alpinist onto her flanks. Yet those who approach this beckoning alpine maiden should have themselves strapped to the ...